Claire Farrell: Interview and Giveaway

Happy New Year!  We kick things off with Claire Farrell chat for a bit about her vampire urban fantasy, Thirst.  It's the story of Ava, a half human, half vampire that's been trying to stay under the radar of the supernatural world.  Unfortunately through circumstances out of her control, she's been pulled into a war between the two main vampire clans and will have to make some unlikely alliances if she wants to survive.

At the end of the interview we'll give you the details on how you can win an ecopy of Thrist

ParaYourNormal The vampires in Thirst are pretty monstrous. They're nothing like Twilight or The Vampire Diaries and seem to go back to the old days of vampire fiction. What made you go in that direction?

Claire Farrell That’s what vampires are to me – monsters.  I can’t quite connect with the idea of vampires as sparkly, attractive beings.  When I came up with Thirst, I wanted to create a world that occurred organically so I went back and figured out a line of events that might have happened and how that would have influenced the supernatural beings.  In Thirst, vampires have lost their edge a little, purely to survive an evolutionary turn against them.  The way they live works for some of them but most are itching to get back to what instinct demands, murder and indulgence.  For now, they are contained but everything changes.  

PNR  Do you have any formal training in writing?

CF  No formal training.  In fact, I left school early – at 16.

PNR  Wow.  What made you leave so early?

  
CF  I wasn’t learning anything, basically.  I went to a good enough school, had some amazing teachers but, for various reasons, in my exam years we ended up with substitute teachers who had a habit of running out of the classrooms crying.  I wasn’t learning, felt frustrated and left.  I had a lot going on personally so I think I just wanted to control some aspect of my life.  I worked a little, took a computer course in a government funded organisation and was offered a job there.  I took it, moved on to work for a solicitor and then stopped working when I had my children.  So, no regrets.

PNR  Who influenced/encouraged you to write?

  CF  Writers like Roald Dahl made me think it was possible to be a writer and a couple of my primary school teachers actively encouraged me.  One in particular let it be known she expected to see my name on the cover of a book one day. 

PNR  What sorts of things were you writing that made your teachers encourage you to pursue writing further?

CF  They had me writing everything and anything.  Poems, short stories, novelettes and even songs.  I was very young at that stage.  I’m almost certain they set up little writing contests just so I would win.  They helped inflate my ego, I’m sure the world thanks them.  Various teachers would have me write a poem or a short story then send me around to the other teachers who would read them and reward me.  We would make little books out of everyone’s stories and mine was always the tome bulking up the one page tales. At the time, it was a given that I would be a writer because I was told it so often by them.  I have to point out that I wrote nothing good or original back then!

PNR  Were there any scenes that came up spontaneously in writing Thirst?

           

CF  Most of them.  I had a very vague idea of actual scenes and veered completely away from any written outline I had.  As I wrote the story, more and more character backstories showed themselves so they influenced the scenes.  In particular, Eddie’s scenes and his story developed by themselves.  I had a vague idea of his purpose but as I wrote his scenes, more and more ideas popped up – I did a little research and was astonished to find lore that actually fit.

 

PNR  I loved Thirst so of course I want to know if there's a follow up in the works and if so what, if any details can you give?

CF  My ROW80 project is to work on the sequel of Thirst, which is Taunt.  I wrote a rough draft for NaNoWriMo but I need to rework it based on ideas I had for further along in the series.  The series is kind of unfolding to be quite pulpy but it’s pretty much the most fun I’ve had writing. 

In Taunt, everyone is feeling the consequences from Thirst – Ava is unsure of herself and her new relationships.  Daimhín tests Ava, Max’s coven are hanging around.  The Council play a big part in the second book and Ava is introduced to a lot more “creatures.”  She also discovers more about her heritage, Peter’s past and even Max’s motivations.  We start to see some of the bigger picture.

Big round of applause for Claire!  You can find her on her blog, facebook, twitter, and goodreads.

If you'd like to get a copy of Thirst, you can find it on Amazon, Amazon UK, and Smashwords. 

And now for the giveaway!  The rules are simple.  First, follow this blog and then answer this question in the comments:  Who is your favorite vampire?  This can be from books, TV or film, go nuts!