Author Interview: Karen Metcalf

The Book

Title: In the Storm
Author: Karen Metcalf
Format: eBook
Genre: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Young Adult, Short Story
Rating: 4 stars
Read my review for In The Storm.
GoodReads | Smashwords | Amazon

Karen was nice enough to offer a giveaway for In The Storm to two readers! Scroll down to the bottom of the interview to read the giveaway rules!

Author Interview

1) Hey Karen! After reading In The Storm, it wasn’t all that difficult to come up with some interview questions for you 😉 Let me start by asking the question that’s been on my mind the most: Where did you come up with the idea for writing In The Storm?

I grew up on the coast of North Carolina where they have the absolute best thunderstorms. During one, I thought about how they are the perfect personification of anger, and wanted to create a world that would reflect someone’s inner emotions. Mitchell was the first character I developed, and Carly was next, as his caretaker.

2) Was there any particular reason why you choose to write a novella rather than a full-length novel? Because I can imagine finding a publisher for a smaller work of fiction is a lot more difficult than finding one for a novel – and it’s not like getting published is easy either way.

So true!  I just wrote until the story was finished, and it happened to be pretty short. I didn’t see anywhere that I could add the thousands of words that would make it full-length, and anything else felt like fluff.  So I researched novellas and stumbled upon Vagabondage Press who was just beginning to consider publishing novellas.  It was just perfect timing and a lot of luck!

3) Could you tell us something about the road you travelled from having a finished manuscript on your computer to actually finding a publisher?

I sent it to friends and family first. A distant relative used to be an editor, and he really convinced me that it was worth publishing. Without his feedback, I probably would have stopped there. There are very few places that will publish novellas, so I did not originally hope to see it published as a stand-alone piece.  I was originally submitting to a few fiction competitions and literary magazines. Vagabondage Press publishes the Battered Suitcase magazine, which includes novellas.  I planned to submit to them, just to get my name out there, when I stumbled across a blurb that they were looking for novellas to start a new line of digital novellas.  I admit, I was very lucky, and only had two rejections from competitions before Vagabondage signed me.

4) In The Storm is the first book you wrote and published. What was the most difficult thing you encountered in the writing process?

The writing was easy!  I wrote it in only about a week or so, and the words just flew out of me. I happened to be on Christmas Break in college and had the time to give it a shot.  I had more trouble with promoting it as I am working and going to school full-time. It has all happened so fast. I think it is harder after the first one has some success.  I just hope to live up to how happy I am with my first one. The biggest challenge is how very fast it all happens. I did not expect that!

5) I must say that my favorite character to read about was Morgan. Who was your favorite character to write, and why? And also, who was the most difficult charachter to write, and why?

Morgan wrote himself. I didn’t do a lot of planning with him and he just developed with the story. I am very happy with the result. Carly was much more personal. I had to go to the emotional places she went, which was tough, but rewarding.  Her and Mitchell have a special place in my heart for the awful things I put them through.

Richard was more difficult.  I am lucky to have never known someone so awful, and really wasn’t sure how far to go with him. I hate him.

6) Are you currently working on something else? If so, could you tell us something more about it? (And please tell me it’s a sequel to In The Storm!)

I haven’t taken a sequel off the table, but I am working on something separate. I don’t yet know what the future holds for them, but it stays in the back of my mind all the time.  I won’t say too much about my current piece but it will be in the same genre and longer.

Thank you so much for answering my questions!

The Author

Giveaway!

Karen was nice enough to offer two free copies of In The Storm to my readers. The giveaway runs from April 1st till April 30th, and two lucky winners will be chosen by a random number generator to receive a free eBook copy! The contest is open internationally.

All you have to do to participate in this contest, is leave a comment to this post. That’s all. Of course, there are some ways to gain additional entries as well! 😉

• +1 entry for commenting on my review for In The Storm.
• +1 entry for following my website through GFC (both new and old followers welcome!)
• +1 entry for subscribing to I Heart Reading by email (just enter your email in the ‘Subscribe by Email’ box at the top of the right sidebar)
• +1 entry for following me on Twitter (@iheartreads)
• +1 entry for Tweeting about this contest. Please include a link to your tweet!

Please add the number of extra entries you have in your comment below; and good luck with the contest!