Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books discussion
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Fall From Grace
Author Interview of the Month
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Author interview with Christine Zolendz
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Thank you so much for the great interview! Your books are excellent and definitely pulled us in. Can't wait for more!
Thanks for the interview. I relate to the idea writers are storytellers first. Thjey should be! Lol. :) Good luck with your books, they look great!
Thanks for the interview!!! I gotta say the Shane train was AMAZING!!!! I can't wait for more! Great interview! :)
Gracias!! great interview. I would also love to be able to read Shane's POV.
Thank you for the interview! I must say that both your books kept me up in the wee hours of the night! I can't wait for more of your work.
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Oh, and I love the shout-out to my girl CJ!! ;-)
Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Fall From Grace (other topics)Saving Grace (other topics)
This is our 34th author interview and its conducted by one of our moderators. Please read this interview and we hope you will able to pick up lessons about her experience. If there are any questions you would like to ask Christine please post any comments here. Thankyou..
1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Even though I wrote Fall From Grace and Saving Grace, I still don’t view myself as a writer. I see myself more of just a storyteller. For the last two years I’ve been on child-care leave with my youngest daughter. I’m actually a NYC public school teacher. But, ever since I was little the only thing I ever wanted to really do with my life was make books. Whether is was writing them or illustrating them I wanted to be a part of the process.
2. How long does it take you to write a book?
Both books took me about two months to write.
3. What do you think makes a great story?
For me it’s when an author can make their reader feel what’s really happening in the story - whether the plot is good or bad, or even if the story has been done a thousand times before.
4. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I don’t have a work schedule. I really wish I did. I write when my daughters are playing, during naptimes and when everyone is asleep in the wee hours of the morning. I usually walk around like a zombie; exhausted and bleary eyed. And, there have been numerous times when I’ve had to edit out my children’s conversations in my story because they are talking to me while I type and I end up writing what they are saying.
5. How do you balance family and writing?
I don’t think I have figured that out yet. I’m always sitting with my laptop writing, or reading with my iPad, even if I’m giving the girls a bath. I just always write when there’s a story in my head.
6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
I like to experience everything that I write, or research it - or ask people who have lived through the experience so I could get it right. When Grace drinks in the books and she gets drunk, I did too. The whole part about the Book of Enoch is actually true. That book was found written on the Dead Sea Scrolls and there was a band of angels called the Watchers in that story, so I just added to that story.
7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
The most surprising thing to me was that people liked them and wanted the story to continue. While I was writing Fall From Grace I kept stopping and telling myself how much the story stinks, but I kept writing it because it wouldn’t stop coming to me. So, yeah I was pretty surprised that there was such a love for the story from readers.
8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?
So far I have just written FFG and SG. My favorite is FFG just because it still gives my butterflies in my stomach when I read it.
9. Are your characters based on anyone you know?
Not really. Grace and Lea have a lot of me in them. Not that I am mean or snobby to people, but I’m always cracking wise-ass jokes. The characters banter back and forth like I would with my friends.
10. Do you have a favorite place you love to write?
My favorite place is in my living room on my couch.
11. How hard is it to get published?
Nowadays to get published with a publishing company seems impossible to most writers. I’ve never sent FFG or SG to any agents or publishing houses. I went the Independent author way, so for me it was easy. I wrote a book, got an editor and uploaded it to Amazon self-publishing and that was it.
12. What do your family and friends think about your books?
I didn’t tell anybody what I was doing until I finished the books. When I was done and I published both books I gifted them to my mother and she raved about them. My husband hasn’t read them, but he knows the story since I always try to bounce ideas off him.
13. What do you like to do when you are not writing?
If I’m not writing, I’m busy taking care of my girls and cleaning up after everyone. If I have time to myself, I’m reading or drawing.
14. Do you have any suggestions to help aspiring writers better themselves and their craft? If so, what are they?
Read. Read as much as you can and see how other people express themselves. And if you really want to write, do it. Don’t think about what other people might say, what reviewers may call you, just do it.
15. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to write and illustrate children’s books. Or be a truck driver (I know that’s weird for a little girl, but I think it was because when I was a teen everybody kept telling me I had a mouth like a truck driver!)
16. What are your favorite books and which authors inspire you?
My favorite books are from Indie authors like me, because they are raw and entirely from the writer and not editors. The authors who inspire me are so numerous that I could take pages upon pages to name them. Everything I read inspires me. I love Colleen Hoover, CJ Roberts, Megan Hart, Jenn Sterling, Addison Moore…the list could go one forever really.
17. For an aspiring writer what do you feel are certain do's and don’ts for getting their material published?
Do get an editor to reread your work and correct all the spelling and grammatical errors. (I know I still have a few editing issues in my books, but I did have an editor!) Don’t feel bad if critics say things about your writing; learn from it-make yourself a better writer with it. Although, you shouldn’t listen to everything reviewers and critics say – one woman called me an alcoholic because I wrote about Grace drinking too much with her friends. Another person wrote that I knew nothing about motorcycles because Grace could have never rode in front of Shane on her bike the way she did along the beach. Like I mentioned before I like to experience the things I write about – so I drank ONE night, I barely ever drink and yes you can ride a Harley like that. We own three Harleys in my house and I have definitely rode on one like Grace did!
18. What are you working on now?
Right now I’m playing with Shane’s point of view of the whole story. It’s sort of just an exercise for me to see what it’s like to think like a man. A lot of people are asking me to publish it when it’s finished and I probably will, but it will be the same story just through his eyes. I have also been thinking about another story-which is completely contemporary fiction with no paranormal elements. It’s sort of a story about something that happened to me when I was younger and about people I once knew. But who knows, that’s the best part about being an Indie writer – it’s all up to me if I want to publish it or not!