Interview
I live in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma. Mountains in Oklahoma you ask? Well…they are very old mountains and having been subject to millennia of erosion so they are…well…really big hills. Anyway, me, my husband and three kids have a small hobby farm where we raise Endangered Heritage Breeds of livestock. Right now we have pigs, turkeys, chickens, and dogs. I home school my kiddos and write the crazy worlds that spin around in my brain constantly.
2) How long have you been writing?
Well, I’ve always written poetry since I learned how to write and then rhyme. But a few years ago I was really bored and decided to write a novel.It was fun, but I didn’t know where to go from there. Last year I decided to try again with all the hoopla about self-publishing. I joined an online critique group and the rest is history.
3) Do you have a favorite place to write?
No, just alone. It has to be completely quiet with no interruptions. I usually write while sitting on my bed, on the couch,and in the car while waiting for my daughter to get out of ballet
4) Why did you decide to write Dark Night of the Soul?
I had just finished writing another book and the DNOTS story just wouldn’t leave me alone. It was actually quite cathartic for me. I struggled with suicide as a teen and beyond so it helped me work through some of my thoughts and ideas. It also gave my imagination plenty of room to roam being staged in the afterlife!
5) Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
Jayden Schroeder would have to be my favorite. She’sthe main character. She’s also a total beeoch. It was really fun getting to seethe world from her perspective and come up with all kinds of snooty bratty things to say and do. But she grows, and I was quite proud of the woman she became.
6) How about your least favorite character? What makes them less appealing to you?
That’s a hard one. I loved all the characters.They each had so many facets to them and hidden wants and desires. But if I had to rank them, I would say Shin was my least favorite. She is another lost soul who landed in purgatory because she committed harikari in the 16th century. It’s not that I don’t like her…I loved her character and she even surprised me! She just took a lot of research!
7) Do you proofread/edit your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?
I do, but I also have a critique group that helps as well as a friend who is a professional editor that gives me a little help.
8) What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I like to read, watch tv, hang out with friends and family and take care of my animals!
9) Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?
I read a lot more before I started writing, but I still do read. My favorite right now is Hugh Howey but some of my all time favorites are Stephen Lawhead and Ann McCaffrey.
10) What question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? Write it out here, then answer it.
I wish someone would ask me how I came up with the names for my American characters, because I just scrolled through census data until I fell upon them. There really is a Jayden Schroeder and Marshal Britton out there somewhere!
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
“So just to be clear,” I said. My voice shook a little too much for my liking. “I killed myself. I’m in some kind of Purgatory. I am now part of a band of demon-fighting superheroes. We go around saving other people from offing themselves in the real world by protecting their statues in this one. All while trying to earn a second chance at life. Or a chance to end it once and for all.”
“That about sums it up.” Marsh said, offering a steaming mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows.
What comes after life? Jayden Schroeder is about to find out. At the end of the road of despair, she ends it all and finds out that living might not have been so bad. Thrust into a strange and disparate world, Jayden joins a team of warriors from all places and time. Together they battle demons to save the souls of the living, all the while on the run from the end of all things - The Judgment.
Will she fight for a second chance to spare those she loves? Or surrender?
Dark Night of the Soul is a fantastical journey, both literally and figuratively for Jayden’s soul. Action adventure, fantasy, romance, and dark humor twist together to create an afterlife tale that will keep you thinking long after the final chapter.
Excerpt
My senses snapped back with sharp clarity. I laid on my back staring at dappled sunlight through a canopy of green leaves. My fingers curled around the soft dirt and twigs beneath them. I was afraid to move, unsure of where I was or what had happened. Hadn’t I just killed myself?
I turned my head enough to see forest to my right. The same on the left. I chanced sitting up a bit and propped myself up on elbows. Forest in front. My gaze fell to my legs.
“What the hell?”
I wore camo. Ugh. But I wasn’t fat. I looked at my hands. They seemed older. My boobs! They were perfect, though covered in more khaki and brown camouflage. I pulled a strand of hair in front of me. Blonde. Now my heart was pumping.
I scurried to my feet trying to take in more of myself and my surroundings. I wore full military garb with a hand gun strapped to my hip. A really big gun lay on the ground next to where I woke up at the edge of a camp with a fire and tents, and everything.
And me. From what I could see, my body looked perfect, just like Becky Greenwood, the cheer captain. I bet my face was too. I bet I even had blue eyes. I must be in heaven. But why camo?
“Damn it! Who ordered the newbie?”
I spun to face the gruff male voice behind me. There at the edge of the camp stood a group of five people that my mind struggled to assimilate. A knight in shining armor, a female samurai, and another man dressed in a gold foil jumpsuit stared at me.
The man upfront, who had spoken, wore camo pants like mine and a black shirt. A woman next to him eyed me. She looked like a druid or monk and carried a staff. In a thick Irish accent she snarled.
“Welcome ta hell, brat.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
E.M. Havens is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom who loves to read. She lives in the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma with her three kids, awesome husband, twenty-five chickens, twelve turkeys, ten guineas, nine pigs, three barn cats, two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs, a Chihuahua, one house cat, and a goose...AND she write.
emhavenswrites.blogspot.com | twitter.com/havensem
Thanks for having me today!
ReplyDeleteGood interview. Thanks for participating.
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