Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ S.D. Ferrell

Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!

This week's featured author is S.D. Ferrell

S.D. Ferrell is a writer, self-published author, and creative artist. Ms. Ferrell was born the 1st of October 1960 in Norfolk General Hospital, in Simcoe Ontario Canada. She grew up on a small hobby farm just outside of Simcoe in Windham Centre, with her parents, six sisters and one brother. Her fondest memories of childhood was on the farm and the time she spent outside with her siblings. They had grand adventures in the forest that curved around the property. She remembers a majestic willow tree with long flowing branches that grew beside the laneway – they swung from those branches until they were giddy with laughter. There were also cherry trees in the front yard that she climbed, and sat on the branches for what seemed like hours on end. Among the leaves she was free to allow her mind to take flights of fancy. Nature; was a wonderful playground for a little girl with a vivid imagination who would one day grow-up to be a writer. Is it any wonder, Ms. Ferrell says that my debut novel starts in a forest and one of the main characters throughout the series is a tree. S.D. is a proud mother to five daughters and a grandmother to fourteen wonderful grandchildren. She presently resides in Simcoe Ontario and is working on the third book in the series, The Long Road Home. She is also working with an artist on the 4th and final installment in the series, The Keeper’s Guide. Author Website / Facebook / Wordpress / Evee Fex Chriszt: Artist’s Link / Amazon The Summer Splash Book Tour gave me the opportunity to go one on one with S.D. Ferrell and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to: Question: What genre would you say the book falls into? Answer: The genre is fantasy adventure. Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about? Answer: No, the story is for readers of all ages. I have readers as young as nine reading it, and as old as eighty. However the story does get considerably darker from one book to the next. Question: What is your favourite Quote? Answer: Oh, there are so many. I have a cheeky and sassy sense of humour which tends to find its way into my writing. I am also big on dialogue and love writing it. I can’t pick just one quote. But I do have a favorite line, which appears very near to the end of The Valley Time Forgot. - “Little did they know how grand the adventure would be.” Question: What advice do you have for new writers? Answer: Carry a note pad and pen with you everywhere you go. Once you open that creative writing portal, inspiration will find its way to you, in the oddest of places and circumstances. If you don’t have a photographic memory you will need something to capture the inspiration with. Date and note where you wrote the idea. You never know, you might one day need to tell interviewers where and when the inspiration first came to you. Question: Where do you write? Answer: I write wherever I can take my laptop. I have spaces in my house that lend well to creating in; a nook in my kitchen, the front or back porch, the art studio in the basement, my bedroom and or the living room. I also have been known to visit a coffee shop or two. Question: Are your characters real to you? Do you speak to them? Answer: I think they are real to me in the moment that I am creating them and interacting with them as their story unfolds. Actually, I think they speak to me, I am just open to hearing them. I always say, “I am just the vessel that my character use to tell their story.” Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore? Answer: I don’t really choose to ignore any advice. The advice just may not be relevant to what I need at the moment, but I bank it, because it could be handy later on down the road. I was told by an author though, after she read an excerpt from The Valley Time Forgot, that people don’t talk that way so I shouldn’t write it that way. I was immediately on the defence and felt like she was trying to control my writing voice by comparing it to hers. I later then picked up J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit and decided, after reading it, that there is nothing wrong with my writing voice and the author’s advice was not based on valid criticism. Question: Which do you prefer Novels or Novellas and why? Answer: I don’t really have a preference for either. The Whipple Wash Chronicles are full length novels, and my other two books are a series of short stories. Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)? Answer: The stories are full of characters that have been inspired by family members, friends and co-workers. In most cases I took their name and rearranged the letters to make a new name. In other cases I just gave them a new name. Each of them knows what character I gave them. However, I have also given movie stars; like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock,) a secondary character in the series. Of course he doesn’t know that I have, but one day perhaps we will have that conversation. Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)? Answer: I don’t have a favorite food, I like most everything. However, I do go into quite a lot of detail about the food my characters like to eat. Question: Do you have a writing Motto? Answer: No I don’t. I tend to have life mottoes that come to me usually within the first couple months of the New Year, which are not to be confused with resolutions. Here are a couple of examples. I like the 3rd one in particular, it seems to be a recurring one. 1. There is a thin line that separates dreams from reality, all you have to do is escape one to experience the other. 2. Good things come to those who believe that it can, and take action to ensure that it does. 3. When life tries to knock the stuffing out of you, bitch slap it back with a crowbar. Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to. Answer: Interesting question. The date would be September 19, 2014 and I would change it to September 19, 2014. Basically, a do-over. I had grand plans for the book launch of The Shadow of Erebos. I had arranged for the launch to take place on September 21, 2014 because that was the first day of the Fall Equinox and the same day the story begins in the book. Everything was planned to a tee; guest readers, music, professional photographer, swag that was made to reflect the equinox gifts that the characters in the story had made, and a cake in the shape of a book with one of the characters flying off the pages. Our M.P.P. was even going to be there to present me with a certificate. The books were to arrive on the 19th but they didn’t. Even though I had had several conversations with the printer who guaranteed that they would be there. I was so distraught I cancelled the event, without thinking it through. The books arrived on the 22nd 1 day late for what was sure to be an epic book launch. If I could relive that day, I would have gone through with the event and made my excuses as to why the books were not there, instead of disappointing my fans and my special guests who had arranged their schedules to support me. A valuable lesson learned. Thank you for joining me this week! Don't forget to join me next week for my surprise guest interview!