Blog Tour Interview & Giveaway - Little Red Gem by D.L. Richardson

Tour Page

Little Red Gem

by DL Richardson
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Book Description:
Love can make you do crazy things as Ruby Parker discovers when she dies and returns from the grave to unearth how much Leo Culver loved her. With the aid of bad advice from a ghost who is trapped by a curse, a little bit of magic courtesy of her unsuspecting half-sister, and a televised music talent show coming to town to hold auditions, Ruby Parker makes more of a mess in death than she ever did in life. Can she fix everything before it’s too late? Or will she spend eternity as a ghost, haunted by the unknown depths of love? Either way, one thing Ruby learns is that while love can make you do crazy things, it can make you do amazing things too. But at what cost?

Buy Links:

Amazon Kindle ¦ Paperback ¦ B&N ¦ Smashwords ¦ Powell's ¦ Createspace ¦ hBook Depository

Author Interview

1. Tell us a bit about your writing background. How did you get started writing YA Paranormal?

I started writing fiction in 1996. I wrote two novels and started about ten others but got no further than the first few chapters. It was while playing bass guitar and singing in a rock band that I decided to switch my creative focus to writing. I sold my equipment and haven't stopped writing fiction since.

I was always a bookish person, and novels are known to spill out from all crevices of my house, yet growing up my parents couldn't afford to buy books so I was often found in the library on a beanbag with my nose in a fictional world. My favourite novels are those from my childhood: The Hobbit, Tuck Everlasting, Black Beauty.

I write short stories as well and got a few published, then in 2011 I decided that my stories were well suited to young adults and immediately found success when my novel The Bird with the Broken Wing was accepted by an American small-press publisher. Two more YA novels followed, however I’m also getting back into writing books for adult readers.

2. Who/What were your earliest influences?

I began writing at a time when my favourite novels were from horror writers such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, and I penned a few tales about vampires and supernatural monsters though most of these earlier works remain unfinished. I am now getting back into writing horror/suspense/sci-fi for adult readers and I have an apocalyptic series planned, which I hope to release this year and then I’ll pick up the dystopian novel I put aside to the apocalyptic series.

3. Did you face any early challenges to finding success in writing?

Yes, publishing is a highly competitive business and all writers think we are better than what we really are so we will submit novels for years and not really grasp why we keep getting rejected. I’m also learned on the job, as I don’t have any formal writing qualifications and this may or may not have impeded my writing. But when “The Bird With The Broken Wing” was published I could then see why my earlier works weren’t. They just weren’t as good.

You have to strive to be a great writer and always strive to improve. Successful novels need great plot, great characters, great writing and it takes time to be great. My writing has improved enormously over the years, I still wouldn’t say I’m great but I strive for it. However, I still read through ‘The Bird With The Broken Wing” and think, wow I really like that story and I wouldn’t change any of it structurally, but I recently did a bit of tidy up edit to get the text to flow a bit better.

4. What are your favorite books as a reader today? What qualities in them appeal to you?

I grew up reading books by Dean Koontz and I still read his books, new and old. I also like to try new authors so I’ve got a few books on my kindle to read and review. I didn’t realise this until I began writing how helpful reviews can be. Word of mouth sells more books than any other form of advertising and the best way to do that is to write reviews or promote books you really love via social media. The most recent books that I read that I absolutely loved were Robocalyse by Daniel H Wilson, and The Hunger Games trilogy and I plugged them to everybody! They were great books.

Speculative fiction is my preferred genre. I’m not much of a contemporary fiction reader, though I do love Marian Keyes novels. I read a range of genres but basically books that keep me turning the page is what appeals to me. As a writer I’m always trying to make sure that my writing is page turning.

5. What do you do outside your writing life?

I renovate my house, I do gardening, I exercise and walk the dog. I also play the guitar and piano though not as often as I would like. I get a bit obsessed with writing and tend to put everything else on hold. I also fantasize a lot about running away to a property on a lake and hiding away from the world.

6. What encouragement helped you along the way?

Sadly, none. However, I am a highly self motivated person. Basically I want to be a writer and so I write. I’m not afraid of hard work, and I celebrate the successes along the way, big and small. The other encouragement I get is when a fan or reader tells me that they loved my stories. That validates what I do and it really gives me a push to keep going.

7. What advice do you have for beginning writers?

Keep writing and keep writing and then when you think you’ve done enough, keep writing some more.

If you plant a tree and it grows you’re not an expert at planting trees. If you plant ten trees and they grow, you’re still not an expert at planting trees. But if you plant trees for fifteen years, then you can be considered an expert at planting trees. Most new writers want their career to take off after one book (I’m guilty of that too), and that just isn’t the case. These days it can take ten to fifteen books before you start to see real success and this is simply because the competition is fierce. There are more writers than there are readers so you have to get good at what you do and you have to keep going. Or the other option, if you want to earn money from writing, is to consider writing something other than fiction. It came as a surprise to me to learn that many of the big publishers supplement their fiction books by publishing non fiction. Pity, because I don’t want to write non fiction. But I may have to so I can continue writing fiction.

8. What's up next for your fans?

I have a four book apocalyptic series planned about three characters who are trapped in a virtual world. I have written Book One and it is currently with Momentum Publishing for consideration, and I’m almost finished writing Book Two. This series is aimed at adult readers, but since I don’t write erotica, readers of all ages can enjoy this series. It is written in episodes, twelve episodes per book, and I can’t really give too much away at the moment.

9. What has been your biggest compliment?

In June last year I was asked to be a guest speaker at a twenty year anniversary writer’s literary lunch. I was extremely chuffed to be asked to such an auspicious event, and the feedback from the members was that they all got something out of my session, which is what I’d hoped to achieve. I gave them tips of how to prepare mentally for the writing journey and it was great to be able to share what I have learned over the years. And then, since they were such a great bunch of people, I decided to join the group.

10. Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans and readers?

Writers will write because we are compelled to. But without people to read our books we’re not reaching our full potential. But to my readers and fans I say this:

Thank you for giving me feedback through reviews, direct emails, and comments on Facebook. I’m grateful for this contact with you. I can take constructive criticism, and because I want to be the greatest writer on the planet I can’t achieve that dream without you loving my books. So please, dear readers, keep the channels open and contact me with good or bad reviews, keep me in your life like I’ll keep you in mine. And please continue to keep me grounded and help me to reach my full potential. The only way I can repay your support is to write stories that keep you hooked. My dream is to have readers say “D L Richardson is my favorite author” and that will only happen if readers keep me on my toes and tell me if I’m doing something that’s rubbish or something that’s great.

Hugs and kisses D L

About the Author
Music first captured the creative interest of young adult author D L Richardson. From choir, to her first acoustic guitar at age ten, to singing with the school band and performing in school musicals. When she left school she helped form her own rock band where she sang lead vocals, played bass guitar, and wrote all the lyrics. At age 26 she sold her equipment and focused on writing instead. She now has three novels and one short story anthology published.

Little Red Gem is a tribute to her former life as a musician and contains some of the author’s actual experiences, though she has never entered a national singing competition to capture the attention of the boy she loves. It is also a tribute to those brave young women who charge forward in pursuit of their dreams.

She lives in Australia on the NSW South Coast with her husband and dog. When she's not writing or reading she can be found playing her piano or guitars, renovating the house, or walking her dog.

Author Links:

Email ¦ Blog ¦ Website ¦ Facebook ¦ Twitter

***GIVEAWAY***

The author will award to one commenter at every stop a prize consisting of one ebook, a bookmark and a laminated pass (the passes relate to the storyline).

So to enter for a chance to win these amazing prizes just leave a comment below. Don't forget to leave an email or a way for the author to contact you.

Blog Tour Organised by: