April 27, 2012

Interview: Tabitha Vale, Author of Pawn of Mine

About Tabitha Vale:
I'm 20 years old, from Portland, Oregon, and have a passion for writing. There isn't much else to say about me since I'm a new author! Aside from writing, I'm a college Sophomore, I've lived in South Korea, I love traveling, love Glee, Friends, and Modern Family, and I love being outside! Can you keep up with all the books I'll be publishing? Hope so!
Tabitha Vale is the author of three books:
Venus City, Ephraim City and her new release, Pawn of Mine.
Read my review for Tabitha Vale's Pawn of Mine


The Interview:

1) Can you describe Pawn of Mine in five words?
Set fire to the rain....

Hahaha just kidding. That's five words though :D How bout Clash of fire and water? Nah, doesn't have the same appeal as the Adele one. /whines/ five isn't enough xD

2) What gave you the idea and/or inspiration to write Pawn of Mine? How did you come up with such a unique world?
Actually Pawn of Mine used to be an entirely different story, and I wrote it almost two years ago. I transformed it a lot to be something that really blended my interests. I got a lot of inspiration from Avatar: the Last Airbender (one of my favorite shows I'll admit... I was only like 14 or something when it came out xD) but I didn't want to copy it or draw too much from it because I believe in making things my own. So first it started off as an idea of elemental elves... then I got this random idea while I was eating cereal (my best ideas come to me when I'm doing the most mundane things haha) about a race of people being a mixture of the elemental elves and falling stars. Then I realized that might be a little weird or too complex, so I hexed out the elves part, made it so that EVERYONE was the same sort of people so there weren't extra races, and I was left with elements and stars... and I somehow meshed it all together into Pawn of Mine.

3) Are any of the characters you created in based off of real people? 
Some are based off of other fictional characters. For example, Hazel is a mesh of Zuko (from Avatar) and Draco Malfoy, but I've also mixed in a little of my own boyfriend in there so there's something about him that I'm more familiar with. But like I said, when I base my stories, characters, or settings off something else, I never mimic the original in an obvious way. Just subtle similarities help me form a character of my own. Also has anyone watched Glee? Aurora I kind of drew from Terri, Will's ex-wife. She was possessive and a little crazy, but I made Aurora even more extreme than that. Then after I was done writing I noticed that some characters matched with other fictional people, but I did it unintentionally haha.

4) Which character can you relate to the most?
Hmm... I would say Sage, but not in the brave and fearless sense that she is. More so I can relate to her in how much she trusts herself and her goals. But still she's way more intense than me haha.

5) I especially love Saffron's name. How did you come up with such interesting names for the characters?
I'm soooo glad you pointed that out!! Naming characters is one of my FAVORITE things about writing. I have the chance to give these characters beautiful names! Why waste it? I always scour the internet for ideas, usually searching for more unique names for the main characters and allowing the minor characters to take more generic, but still good names. Saffron, Evander, and Blair were my favorite from this book, and even from my other series, Legacy of the Sares, I packed it with names that even I came up with, like Bellamine, Maydessa, and Leraphone. Course Asher, Channing, Braya, and Aspen were also cool names that I adore :D But back to Pawn of Mine... haha what else was there? Oh right. Some names even have meaning. Agni means fire, did you know? I made up Sayon and Cryent, and found Acheron around the web somewhere... xD

6) I love the cover to Pawn of Mine, is there a story behind the beautiful cover? 
Yes, a bit :) The coloring kind of portrays Sage's position as a Water controlling fire, doesn't it?

7) What was the most difficult part and/or scene to write during Pawn of Mine?
The last couple chapters were the most challenging for sure! I always like to make sure that the ending is satisfying, intense, and cleans most things up while at the same time leaving the readers wanting more, so I have to strike that balance and it's very difficult!

8) How many books are you planning to write for the Fiery Water series?
I'm thinking six. It's going to be a challenge writing a series that long, but I think I can handle it! There is still SO SO MUCH about this world that needs to be explored and so many more story lines that need to be delved deeper into that I can't imagine not pulling six off.

9) What can we look forward to down the road with Sage and the rest of the characters in the next book? (More Zane, I hope! lol)
Yes! lol lots of more Zane. He's like the second most frequent character in the book! But you can expect these characters to get a lot stronger with their abilities in starlight, and not only that, but they will discover more to their powers. More on the Ancients, more on the characters that didn't get much time in this book like Sayon, and you can definitely expect a lot more Hazel development and hmm... Agni is going to be a thorn in their side for a long time to come haha.

10) What is one random fact about you?
I've lived and studied in South Korea :D


Favorites:
Favorite Book: I can't say BOOK, but a series, and that's the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.

Favorite Author: Scott Westerfeld

Favorite Book Boyfriend: Zane... from Pretties lol. Maybe that's why that name lodged itself in my head xD

Favorite TV Show: Avatar/Legend of Korra. Just pure genius.

Favorite Band: Hmmm... no one will know them since they're Korean. On the rare chance, I say it's DBSK.

Favorite Drink: Water!

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Food: Korean food :)

***

Thanks so much Tabitha for stopping by Words, Pages and Books! It was an honor and complete pleasure. I can't wait for the next book in the Fiery Water series :)

Connect with Tabitha Vale:
Blog || Twitter || Facebook || Goodreads

Check out her books:



Venus City (Legacy of the Sares #1)
Ephraim City (Legacy of the Sares #2)
Pawn of Mine (Fiery Water #1)


1 comment:

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