Today we are excited to introduce you to one of our newest authors, S.D. Grimm. Sarah’s first love in writing is young adult speculative fiction. When she’s not writing or editing, she enjoys reading (of course!), making clay dragons for her Grimmlies store on Etsy, practicing kickboxing and Brazilian jiu jitsu, training dogs, and doing anything outdoorsy with the family. Her office is anywhere she can curl up with her laptop and at least one large-sized dog. Her debut novel, Scarlet Moon, releases this month with Enclave.
Join me in welcoming S.D. Grimm!
1) Tell us a little about your books.
Scarlet Moon is my debut novel. It’s a fantasy about Jayden, a seventeen-year-old, dagger-wielding, storm-detecting orphan who is the only hope of saving a magical people known as the Feravolk. Maybe they should have thought of that before they killed her family.
It’s the first of three books that will release through Enclave.
2) How do you write? What’s a normal writing day like for you?
I’m not sure normal is the right word, but when I write I sit with my laptop somewhere or in my little cubby in the basement, and I turn on some music and I write. Prepping for that includes thinking about upcoming scenes, which I do while I do chores, or take a shower, or right before I fall asleep. I have been caught brandishing a wooden spoon in the kitchen while simultaneously cooking dinner and “head-writing” a fight scene. *blushes*
3) Who are your books aimed at? If applicable: What are some of the challenges of writing for your audience?
My books are aimed at older teens who love a sword and sorcery type fantasy. I’m not a teen anymore, so the challenge is of course making my characters authentic and people teens and young adults this age can relate to and also writing a character-driven story. I love to do both of those things, and that’s the kind of writing that comes naturally to me, but still, it doesn’t make it easy.
4) What was your favorite book as a teen?
Watership Down by Richard Adams.
5) What is the one author, living or dead, who you would like to co-write a book with someday, and why?
Maggie Stievater. She’s my current favorite author because she writes young adult protagonists who are authentic and character-driven stories with amazing plots. And I met her once and she seems really to cool to hang out with.
6) Describe your feelings when you opened the box and saw the first published copies of your very first book?
It was like that moment in the movie Tangled, right before Rapunzel saw that which she had waited her whole life to see: the floating lights. I was excited, scared, giddy, and nervous at the same time.
7) What are your hopes for your future as an author?
To write books that people can feel, believe, and experience emotionally. Books readers can’t walk away from, even after they’ve closed the cover.
And to write as many as I can.
8) What do you want readers to take away from your book?
Real, true love always protects. No matter the cost.
Don’t give up. See things from a different perspective. And never stop persevering.
9) In what ways does your faith impact how you approach writing?
I think in the same way it impacts the way I approach life. It’s a living part of me, alive in everything I do. And I look at writing as a partnership with God. I hope he’s alive in my stories in a way I could never put him in there. I invite him to make himself a part of them in the only way he can—which is better than I could ever attempt to write him there on my own, I think.
10) What can you tell us about any future releases you have planned?
So, the second book in the trilogy comes out in April of 2017—so you only have to wait six months!—and the final book comes out in October of 2017. Both books are written and in various stages. I also have another book finished and my next ideas range from cyberpunk to urban fantasy to magical realism with Vikings.
11) Star Wars or Star Trek?
Star Wars.
12) Soft shell or Hard Shell tacos?
Give it to me crunchy.
13) Favorite color?
That cerulean blue of the pre-night sky that’s just dark enough to where you start to see the stars.
14) Favorite dessert?
Cannoli!
15) Do you listen to music while you write? If so what are some examples?
Yes! It depends on what type of scene I’m writing. I love most forms of rock—especially rock alternative—a lot of alternative, and I’d have to say the theme song for Scarlet Moon would be “Running Through the Storm” by Scarlet White, but honorable mentions would be “Storm” by Lifehouse, “Stand my Ground” by Within Temptation, “Dirty Paws” by Of Monsters and Men, and Imagine Dragons’ “Warriors.”
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Thank you so much for joining us, S.D. Grimm. Readers, don’t forget to pick up your copy of Scarlet Moon! And here is where you can find Sarah online:
http://www.facebook.com/SDGrimm/
http://twitter.com/SDGrimmAuthor
