Author spotlight with Courtney Breazile

Courtney, what has been your biggest influence on becoming a writer?
Everything I have read. I have always loved books and all the enjoyment I found in them since I was a child, I wanted to create and share with others. Every time I read a great book, I thought about how much I wanted to write something like that.

How did you feel when you got your first publishing contract?
So excited and scared. I didn’t know how I was going to get out of my shyness to be able to advertise myself and put myself out there.

How do you categorize yourself: pantser or plotter?
I am definitely a pantser. I usually sit down with a vague plot line and a great opening scene in my head, but no real idea of where I am going. I really like the story to flow and not feel like I am stuck with an idea I already came up with.

What makes a book great in your eyes?
It makes you want to ignore everything around you just so you can finish it! I do that often, just ask my family.

What is the biggest piece of your advice you can give a beginning writer?
The best piece of advice I have ever gotten, and use quite a bit is, when you’re stuck, go back, re-read what you have written and figure out where you deviated from the book you were intending to write.
It works for me, I would recommend it to others.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Oh yes, and they are my little secret…

What influences your writing? And why?
I am influenced by a lot of things. What I read, what I watch, my dreams and sometimes just what I hear from people around me. I often look at people or situations and think of how it would look in a story. I don’t think I am ever not getting ideas and storing them in my head for later.

Name one thing readers don’t know about you.
Okay this is kind of funny but…I have never mowed the lawn! Seriously, I was a spoiled child I guess. I never mowed the lawn and never lived without a man to do it for me. I plan to keep it that way, a small but very attainable life goal I think.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on edits for the third book in the Immortal Council Series and also something new I am not quite ready to announce.

Who is your favorite all-time author?
I don’t have a favorite, there are so many that I love. One that stands out that I have loved for a long time is Stephen King. I love horror.

Are love scenes easy/difficult to write?
It depends, some are easy and some are more difficult. It depends on how much personal experience I have to relate to the scene.

Do you write in one genre or several different ones? And why?
There is always romance behind my stories, but I have written historical, horror, urban fantasy and contemporary. I write whatever feels good at the time. I like not being bound to one particular genre.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
On a tropical beach, always on a tropical beach.

How do you deal with the dreaded writer’s block?
I try and force out words sometimes, just to see if I can get the flow going. If that doesn’t work, I read over what I have written or I get away from it and take a break. Sometimes start writing something else.

Do you have another career besides writing? What is it?
I have a degree in elementary education and teach preschool.

What’s your biggest reward in being a writer?
Knowing that I am doing what I have wanted to do since I was a kid, knowing that I am not one of those people who sit back and say I could do that or I want to someday, I am doing it and that feels great.

To date, which is your favorite story? Which one did you have the most fun writing?
My favorite story so far is Keeping Blood, the second in my Immortal Council Series. I absolutely love the characters in it and how it really created the series. I started writing it first, then went back and wrote Blood Visions, the first in the series.

How do you go about developing your characters and setting?
I take notes when I am beginning a story on the character. I picture them in my head and go from there. Setting is the same, I feel like the books play out as a movie in my head as I write.

If you had the opportunity to say one thing to your readers, what would that be?
I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Visit Courtney at: www.courtneybreazile.com