Thank you Tina for this interview, and goodluck with your book!
The interview
1. Tell us something about yourself. How it started your passion for books, for written?
I started out wanting to be on Broadway, actually. But I was also a huge reader. When I got out of college I ended up in a job where I worked odd night shift hours and I couldn't do theatre...so I started writing. I miss the collaboration of theatre, but at the same time I love that writing lets me control the entire story myself, and decide what things are important to me to write about.
2. What inspired you to write this book?
I had just finished a quirky YA urban fantasy, and I wanted to write something entirely different. I had a novella that had been a finalist at the Writers of the Future contest, and I realized I had a lot more to say about the characters and the world. Ironskin let me explore some things I was thinking about beauty and power, while at the same time telling a simple story of love and growing up.
3. Music is part of your inspiration?
Sadly, I can't listen to music while I write - I get too distracted! I did listen to the Jane Eyre soundtrack in the car at the same time I was doing revisions, though. (I mean, during the months I was doing revisions...not that I was revising in the car...)
4. See the world through new eyes since you become a writer?
My main interest in both writing and acting has always been obsessing about what makes people tick. I want to know why people do what they do, and how they interact. So I've always been a people-watcher, I guess!
5. What was the think of the first person who read your book?
The folks in my crit group were the first three people to read it. They were overall positive, which was quite a relief. And then they pointed out all my regular first draft problems, like I rush the ending and don't put in any setting, lol. I always have to fix those things in draft 2.
6. If in real life you could choose to be one of the fantasy characters, what would it be? Why?
If I were going to be someone in my book...well, perhaps it would be cool to be Dorie. I mean, she's very odd, but I think what happens to her in the future is going to be interesting. When I was little I was obsessed with the Oz books, so I would have told you Dorothy or Ozma...or actually probably Trot, because she gets to see the mermaids in The Sea Fairies.
7. Got any other passion besides writing?
Yup, definitely the theatre. I sadly don't have time to audition for anything these days, but I've been having a lot of fun podcasting for Escape Pod and Podcastle, and for my own mini podcast, Toasted Cake. I also love to draw, which is why I ended up working as a face painter. I've been doing that for about seven years now, and it's still tremendously fun. I love talking to the kids about the sort of things they like.
8. What advice would you give writers who are starting out?
Keep at it! Don't be afraid of rejection! I've got about 30-40 story and poem sales, many to top SF markets...and it took me 500 rejections to get there. My acceptance rate is WAY better these days, but when I just started out, it was very slow-going. Also my favorite writing advice is to find what you love and then put in lots of it.
9. A message to readers from Romania:
Thanks so much for reading this interview! Thanks to Maria for having me on her blog!
Summary
Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.
It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.
When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.
Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.
Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.
About the Author
Writer, face painter, deeply committed to pie for breakfast.
I use LibraryThing to list the eleventy billion books I own, so I decided to use GoodReads to list the books I'm reading. I loved doing the Summer Reading Program as a kid and keeping a list of the books I read (um, way more than would fit on their little form). So since 2004 I've been keeping a record for my own amusement. And trying to do less re-reading. (But I love re-reading!)
Occasionally I rate a book or make comments on it, but mostly I don't. (I have a new baby. He eats all my time.) So the absence of stars does not mean I didn't like it. :)
Source about the author: Goodreads - Tina Connolly
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