An Interview with Maureen McGowan

The Reading Cafe is happy to have the wonderful Maureen McGowan as our guest today. 

This Tuesday, Maureen is releasing Deviants, her first book in her new YA series, The Dust Chronicles. Our review of Deviants is the post below this Intervew.

Maureen is here today to discuss her new book, as well as to tell us a little bit about herself.

Let’s meet Maureen.

 

Hi  Maureen.  Welcome to The Reading Café. We appreciate you coming by to answer our questions. We are always looking forward to reading about the author behind the book.

TRC:   Please tell us something about yourself?

MAUREEN: I have a Masters of Accounting degree and my previous career moved me from my home in Canada to California and Philadelphia for a decade. I’m now settled in Toronto, where I love the vibrant arts scene, the ethnic diversity and attending the Toronto International Film Festival. (Toronto tourism should pay me for advertising!)

TRC: Have you always had an interest in writing?  When did you first start writing?

MAUREEN: I always enjoyed writing and painting and acting, and wanted to pursue something creative for as long as I can remember, but since I was a good student, my parents and teachers counseled me away from the Arts. For better or worse, I listened—and somehow ended up in accounting!—but I never stopped writing. I became more serious about my writing after taking a break from my previous career and signing up for some classes. I soon found a fabulous group of critique partners, (who’ve become close friends), and I haven’t looked back. Better late than never, right?

TRC: What is the name of the first novel you ever published?  Please tell us how you felt, when your first book was accepted by a publisher.

MAUREEN: The first novel I had published was CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR. The news that it was going to be published came with an almost impossible deadline to finish it, so I didn’t have a lot of time to celebrate! But once it finally sunk in, I was thrilled. I got chills the first time I saw it in a book store!

TRC: What did you find to be the biggest challenge in writing your novels, not to mention publishing them.

MAUREEN: In writing, the biggest challenge for me is working through the times when I don’t think the story is working, the days when I lose confidence. In contrast, the days when the words are flowing and my fingers are flying are magical. I have to remember those on the bad days.

Publishing is a whole other story. It’s not for the faint of heart. 🙂 Let’s just say that the life of an author and the publishing process bear little resemblance to how they’re portrayed in movies. But doing interviews like this and meeting readers makes up for all the frustrations and disappointments that come with publishing.

TRC: You have written two series in different genres.  You have one that is a fairytale adventure romance, and the other is a post-apocalyptic thriller.  The fairytale is intended for middle school, and the new Dust Chronicles looks to be YA.  Which genre do you find most difficult to write and which genre are you the most comfortable writing?

MAUREEN: I absolutely love young adult fiction. I love the fast pacing, the tight storytelling and the wide-ranging types of stories being published these days for the YA market. I also love that YA books blur genre lines. For example, it’s very common to mix, say, sci-fi, suspense, romance and fantasy all in a single novel. That’s less possible in the adult world where publishers want to understand where to shelve your work before you even write it. For an author, it’s fabulous to let your imagination run free—and that’s possible in YA.

The recent batch of YA novels might be about teens, but they certainly aren’t written exclusively for teens. In fact, the majority of YA novels these days are being purchased by adults—for themselves.

I really wish more books like the ones out today had existed when I was younger—books that have big ideas and aren’t afraid explore dark subjects—books that have young protagonists, but aren’t juvenile. I enjoyed writing books for younger teens too, and have a few adult novels in my back pocket, but right now, my heart is in writing (and reading) YA. Two of my favorite books over the past year were Blood Red Road, by Moira Young and For Darkness Shows the Stars, by Diana Peterfreund.

TRC:  Deviants is the first book in your Dust Chronicles series.  Can you please tell us something about the premise of this book? 

MAUREEN: The Dust Chronicles series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where our planet has been ravaged by multiple asteroid strikes that triggered volcanoes and earthquakes and left the earth’s surface covered by a coarse dust that’s lethal to most humans and changes the DNA of others. The DNA mutation gives some people new abilities and turns others into monsters called Shredders.

In Deviants, Glory is a sixteen-year old girl who can kill with her eyes. She lives in a domed city whose authorities fear anyone with special “deviant” abilities. When discovered, Deviants are kicked outside the dome to be tortured by the Shredders. When the boy Glory’s always loved joins the secret police and betrays her, she must leave the only world she’s ever known to save her paraplegic younger brother, and herself. Plus, there’s a hot hunky guy and some kissing.

TRC: Can you tell us a little bit of your fairytale adventure series..Twisted Tales, which currently has two books out.  Cinderella: Ninja Warrior & Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer. How did you come up with the idea of doing a different take on fairytales? Do you plan to continue this series?

MAUREEN: The publisher actually came to me with the idea of adventurous fairly tales with a choose your own adventure element—and they wanted me to start with Cinderella. Before writing the proposal that earned me the publishing contract, I wanted to test how much freedom I’d have in writing the stories. So, I asked the editor, “Can there be ninjas?”

I was joking—mostly—but when she answered yes, I immediately saw an image of ninjas dropping out of trees to surround Cinderella. Soon after, the title for Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer came to mind. I loved that title and so did the publisher—all I had to do was figure out how to tell a vampire story, adapted from a fairy tale in which the heroine is traditionally asleep! 🙂

Right now, there are no definite plans for more in that series, but I hope it continues. I’ve got several ideas up my sleeve, and kids often write me to suggest titles and ideas. Some of their suggestions are hilarious.

TRC: Do you plan to continue to write YA, or would you consider writing an adult series?

MAUREEN: I actually wrote adult books first, but none of those have found the right publisher—yet. The editor who offered me the chance to write the Twisted Tales books actually approached me, because she’d read my manuscript for a dark and sexy urban fantasy. The timing wasn’t right for that particular novel, but based on reading it, she knew I could do world-building and action.

TRC: What are you working on today?  Do you have any thoughts of a different series?

MAUREEN: Right now, I’m doing my final edits for Compliance, the second book in The Dust Chronicles series and also writing the third book that will tie up Glory’s story. Compliance, The Dust Chronicles #2, will be released in May 2013, and the third book, tentatively titled Glory will come out in either the fall of 2013 or early in 2014.

After that, I’m not sure, but I do have several new YA series ideas, including other stories set in The Dust Chronicles world, and an unrelated series I can’t talk about yet. I’ll keep you posted!

TRC: Please do.  🙂

TRC: Many authors and artists have spouses/partners who offer advice, ideas or
criticism.  Who is your muse when you are looking for ideas?

MAUREEN: I have a fabulous group of critique partners who are also very talented authors. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

TRC: Do you have a favorite place, or a favorite time (day or night) to write? 

MAUREEN: I am not a morning person. Never have been. Likely never will be. I like to write in coffee shops—I’m in one right now—and usually write in the afternoon and into the evening.

TRC: Is there anything you would like to add?

MAUREEN:  I’m so excited about this new series. While Deviants isn’t my official debut, it feels like my debut… It’s my first hardcover and my first novel that I conceived from start to finish. While it took me years to get to this place, I can hardly believe Deviants going to be out in the world soon!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: turkey dinner

Favorite Movie: just one??? Short Cuts, The Hunger Games, Clueless

Favorite TV Show: just one??? The Vampire Diaries, The Wire, Friday Night Lights, Homeland

Favorite Dessert : anything with lemon

Dark or Milk Chocolate: milk

Last Book that you read: The Hunt, by Andrew Fukada

Favorite Author: just one??? Robertson Davies, Moira Young, Carrie Ryan, Suzanne Collins

Favorite Fictional Character (not your own): Anne of Green Gables—or Zsadist from J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. How’s that for contrast? 🙂

Thank you Maureen for answering our questions.  We wish you good luck with your wonderful books now out and those soon to be released. We look forward to having you come back again.

MAUREEN: Thank you! This was really fun and I hope your readers enjoy Deviants.

If you would like to learn more about Maureen, you can find her at the following links:

Website: www.maureenmcgowan.com
Twitter:
Facebook:
Goodreads:

Maureen has graciously offered to give a member of The Reading Café a chance to win a copy of Deviants.

1.  You must be a member at The Reading Cafe. If you are not a member, please register using the Log-In at the top of the page, or by using one of our social log-ins.

2.  If you are using a social log-in e.g. Twitter, please leave your email address along with your comment.

3.  Please post a comment and say hi to Maureen.

4.  Giveaway open to U.S. or Canada only

5.  Contest runs from October 28th – October 31st.