Thursday 5 July 2012

Author Interview with Nikki Jefford

I'm super excited to have author Nikki Jefford with us today for an interview!  

Nikki is the author of the Spellbound Trilogy, the first book of which is one of Shut Up & Read's book of the month!





A Resurrection Spell Gone Wrong

Two months after dying, Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body. As a witch, can anyone blame her mother for attempting to bring her daughter back to life? Now Gray is stuck sharing her sister’s body in twenty-four-hour shifts.

Raj McKenna is rumored to meddle in the black arts, not to mention he’s after Gray’s invisibility spell, and worse—her heart. But Raj might be the only one powerful enough to save Gray from fading away forever.

The race is on for Gray to find a way back inside her own body before Charlene purges her from existence.


Entangled made it into the YA Semifinalists in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Indie Books of 2012!  Check it out here:  http://thekindlebookreview.blogspot.com/p/ya-semifinalists.html


Get your own copy today from Amazon!


 Thanks Nikki for stopping by our blog!  When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
From the moment I picked up a pen.

How do you choose your character's names?
I use baby name websites. I also work in a shipping department and my co-workers keep a list of interesting names taped to the wall for me. Last year my co-worker was preparing a package for someone named Graylee and mentioned I might want it for a story. It grabbed me at once.


Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do to get over it?
No problems with writer’s block. Laziness is another matter. If I get hooked on a TV show I start slacking off, watching back-to-back episodes and I end up falling way behind on my writing.

What are you working on now?
The third and final installment of the Spellbound series, Enchantment. After that I’m returning to a vampire slayer series I started before Spellbound.

If you had it to do over again, would you change anything about the Spellbound series?
Several people have mentioned that the beginning of Entangled (S1) is slow and it really gets going after Graylee dies. For a while I wished I started out with her dying from the get go, but not anymore. I tried reworking it just to see and what it did
 was weaken the entire story. 

There’s a lot of humor in the first chapters. My favorite encounters between Gray and Raj are before her death. The only scenes in which Gray and her twin interact are in those opening pages as well as the intro to Nolan, the warlock she thinks is a nice guy. Books need time to introduce characters and build relationships.

If you were a witch, what abilities would you like to have?
Teleportation, definitely! I don’t get to travel anymore, which bums me out. Mostly I’d use it to teleport to Alaska so I could have dinner with my mom and I’d use it to get to work because I don’t like commuting. 

Who designs the covers for your books?
I choose the images for my covers and decide on colors, flowers, and fonts. Then I have Najla Qamber put it all together. 

What were your feelings when you saw the finished product of your first book?
Like a mother being handed her first born! LOL Complete joy and excitement. Publishing a book has been my lifelong dream. 


What are you reading now?
George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy novel A Storm of Swords, Book 3 in the Game of Thrones series (over 1,000 pages)! It is pretty dark and twisted – right up my alley! LOL


Follow Nikki!


7 comments:

  1. LOVE THE COVERS! I WILL BE READING THIS SOON!

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  2. Great interview! Can't wait to hear about your vampire series next, Nikki!

    Much love,
    Rachael
    xo

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  3. Well, I was going to say how gorgeous the covers are, but that's just obvious, isn't it? ;)

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  4. Awesome interview Nikki!!! I cant wait to read your next Series!!!

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  5. Ooohhh I'm all about the body switching!
    This series shall be added to my TBR list.

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