An Interview with Mindee Arnett

The Reading Cafe is happy to welcome Mindee Arnett our guest today. She is here today to discuss her new book, The Nightmare Affair, (our review below this post), which was just  released this past Tuesday.

Here is a snippet about Mindee:
Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space. She has far more dreams than nightmares.

Now let us meet Mindee.

Hi Mindee.  Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions today. We are always looking forward to reading about the author behind the book.

Mindee: Thanks so much for having me. I’m happy to participate.

TRC: Will you please tell us about yourself?

Mindee: Sure. I’m a Whedonite, Whovian, and all around fangirl, although I’ve never done any real cosplay, I’m ashamed to say. I’m also a horse nut and animal lover.

TRC: Have you always been interested in writing?

Mindee: I’ve always been interested in storytelling, for sure. As a child, I would make up very elaborate and plot-driven stories for my toys. My She-ra dolls would battle monstrous villains and fall in love with He-man or Bow. My Breyer Horses were often captured by evil horse wranglers who would tie them up, only to have the other horses come rescue them. Very epic stuff here, I’m telling you.

My interest in writing grew naturally out of my love of reading. My mother is a voracious reader and so is my sister, and they were a huge influence on me as a young reader.

But the idea of writing my own stories down didn’t occur to me until the 6^th grade when my teacher assigned us a weekly story assignment. She would give us writing prompts and then turn us loose. This was an eye-opener for me. A real life changer. I owe her a huge debt.

TRC: What is your writing process?  Do you like to write at specific times, in a special place?

Mindee: I’m not very particular about time or place. With my busy life style—full time (non-writing) career, kids, husband, animals—I have to be able to write anywhere and anytime I have available. The only process I follow is that I have to do a “warm-up” before starting. I always read/review the previous day’s writing and make any edits that occur to me. This warm-up gets me in writer mode and helps me remember the tone and voice that I’m going for in a particular scene. Unfortunately, this means that starting a brand new story is always the hardest for me. It takes me forever because I have to do it cold, but I get there eventually.

TRC: Is The Nightmare Affair your first novel? Can you please describe your reactions when you found out your book was going to be published?

Mindee: The Nightmare Affair is actually my fourth completed novel. And by completed, I mean beginning-middle-end. My previous novels were complete in this sense, but none of them went through the same rigorous editing/revising that Nightmare did.

My reaction when I first found out was complete and utter joy and complete and utter disbelief. To this day, I’m still experiencing that. I’m so happy it’s happening, but it all seems unbelievable. Totally surreal.

TRC: The Nightmare Affair is the first book in your The Arkwell Academy Series.  Can you please tell us how you come up with the idea of this series?

Mindee: The series evolved naturally through the events of the first book, but I can’t talk about that much for fear of spoilers. I will say that I wanted to write a mystery/detective series set in a fantasy world. A lot of The Nightmare Affair was inspired by my love of Veronica Mars. Dusty is a little like a fantasy version of that character, only she’s way more of a wannabe than Veronica.

TRC: Would you please tell us the premise behind The Nightmare Affair?

Mindee: 16-year-old Dusty Everhart is a Nightmare who must identify a murderer at her magical high school by following clues in her crush’s dreams.

Links to order The Nightmare Affair: 
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository/ Kobo

 

 

TRC: The Arkwell Academy is YA Contemporary Fantasy. What exactly is Contemporary Fantasy?

Mindee: I consider a contemporary fantasy to be one set in the modern world but which takes place primarily within a separate fantasy world. So it’s a world within a world scenario. Like Harry Potter, for instance. Harry is set in the modern world, but the wizarding world is isolated from it. The modern world only serves as a surrounding frame. This is also true of The Nightmare Affair. The modern world surrounds Dusty’s world and it has an influence on it, but Arkwell is complete fantasy. The only actual human in the story is Eli. The rest are all magical creatures.

TRC: You also have another YA series due in 2014, Avalon (formerly Finding Eden) is the first book in this Sci-Fi Thriller series.  Can you please tell us the premise of this series?

Mindee: Avalon is about a teen mercenary, Jeth Seagrave, who is leader of a group of talented thieves, and who find his life on the line when he takes on a high risk job for his crime lord employer in order to earn a way out of the life for him and his sister. It was pitched as Firefly meets White Cat.

TRC: What are you currently working on?

Mindee: I recently turned in the first draft of book two of The Arkwell Academy series as well as edits for Avalon. I’m now working on an Avalon prequel right now and hope to start book two in that series soon.

TRC: What books, authors or people in your life have influenced your writing?

Mindee: I’m a huge fan of both Stephen King and J.K. Rowling. But one of the authors who influenced me most is Jennifer Roberson. I adore her Cheysuli Chronicles series as well as her Sword Dancer series.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

Mindee: Again, thanks for having me! (And I mean that in a totally non-ghoulish kind of way)

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: Sushi and Mexican. Either one and I’m happy.

Favorite Dessert: Chocolate cake.

Favorite Author: Stephen King

Favorite Novel: Harry Potter (What? It’s really just one looooong novel, right???)

Favorite Movie: Too many to mention. I love everything from Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (original only) to Wonder Boys, Pride and Prejudice, and The Avengers.

Favorite TV Show: Firefly, followed closely by Veronica Mars, Doctor Who, and the BBC Sherlock. I also love Justified, Supernatural, and Castle.

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Dark all the way!

Thank you Mindee, for answering our questions. The Reading Café wishes you the best of luck with The Nightmare Affair.

If you would like to learn more about Mindee, you can find her at the following links:
Website: http://www.mindeearnett.com/
Twitter:
Facebook:
Goodreads: