Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Interview with Jill Cooper, author of Dream Slayer



Dream Slayer is a YA Urban fantasy novel that will be released June 29th, 2012. 
When your dreams come true, sometimes you get more than you bargained for...
Natalie Johnson has always dreamed she’s someone else; calm, beautiful, in control. A chosen warrior with a maniacal arch nemesis and a dreamy boyfriend, the type that can make your knees quiver and your heart melt.
Real life is much different. She’s tormented by a bully and endures the sharp tongue of her father, but finds solace in her dreams.
When her bully ends up dead, de ja vu from a dream hits her hard as everything around her begins to fall apart.
Whatever killed Sarah in her dreams is now in reality, hunting her from the shadows. And it wants her dead.
Somehow as the lines between reality and nightmare blur, Natalie must discover hidden strength to pull her friends and family back from the brink of madness.


Book Trailer:


Interview with Jill
Can you tell us how the concept of Dream Slayer came to you?
I grew up with few friends just like Natalie does and when I would read or write sometimes I would daydream I was someone else. Sometimes I’d be a super spy, or I’d be popular and get to save someone’s life. It was always action packed and the idea grew from there. The dreams are so important to the story it dawned on me early they had to be the major plot line in this book. The idea came to me that the characters would exist in both worlds, albeit with different personalities. So, if something happened to you in the dream world, it also happened to you in the real world. And Volia, The Dream Slayer was born!

What was your favorite part of writing The Dream Slayer?  
My favorite parts are the dream sequences which are part of Natalie Johnson’s imagination so anything can happen that she can dream up. So there are pop culture references and movies are brought to life in her town because she thinks it’s fun. People she knows become part of her dreams and play different roles. So it was fun taking someone or something and spinning it on its head into something new.

In that situation the only thing that limits what happens is my own imagination. It’s one of my favorite parts of any of The Dream Slayer novels.

Close second is when Natalie realizes she doesn’t have to be mousey and afraid if she doesn’t want to be. Gurl power to the tenth degree!


Why do you write? Have you always wanted to do?
I started writing at a pretty young age. I was about 10 when I realized I loved to write and got a thrill out of writing fiction stories. By the time I was twelve I was writing longer fiction and trying my hand at fleshing out romance mysteries. I became serious about it as a teenager and spent a lot of time reading and studying the craft and only recently did I feel like I improved enough to try my hand at it professionally.

How you write? Do you make yourself write a certain number of words per day?
I write at the kitchen table with my 2 year old running around me! When I’m just starting a project I aim for 2,000 words a day. When I’m wrapping it up it tends to jump to 4,000. Once you know how the book is ending, the words just tend to flow. It depends on the day too and how my toddler is doing that day. Nap times are great. When she’s awake I’m 100% Mom.

Did you try to get a conventional publisher or agent interested before you opted for self-publishing?
I did! I had some interest and some full requests from agents. A few close calls. I decided I just wanted to do it myself and see what happened. I really believed in Dream Slayer and I wanted to get the series out there to the public. So far I have been really pleased and love hearing from people who have read my book. I see myself self publishing more works in the future, but some I will probably try the traditional route too.


Are you working on any upcoming projects? If so, can you tell us a little about them? Oh, yes, I always have a few projects going in the fire at a time. I’ll tell you a bit more about them. There’s The Dream Slayer sequel Demon Royale that involves a demonic queen and werewolves. It takes place during summer break so is a lot of fun before Natalie heads into her senior year at school. I’m hoping to have it out tail end of 2012. I’m working on a new YA novel, Fifteen Minutes, that involves time travel. A company allows you to go back in time for 15 minute increments to observe the past. Lara Crane has figured out to interact in the past and plans on using the system to save her mother from murder.When she gets back to the present, things don’t go exactly as planned. And there are these two boys… Lastly I’m working on an Urban fantasy thriller that involves a human sub-species being segregated from the rest of the population. It deals with racism, murder, manipulation, and love. It’s in its final stages and should be published this year. 




About Jill Cooper:

Jill Cooper loves tea more than coffee and is obsessed over finding that perfect recipe. She lives in Danvers, MA with two cats, a toddler, a husband, and a 1964 yellow taxi. Her life is chaotic, but fun. She is currently working on a new Sci-fi thriller and the sequel to the Dream Slayer. She can be contacted at http://www.jillacooper.com


PS: Jill is having a SupaAwesome giveaway and all of us are invited to enter http://jillacooper.com/content/enter-win-kindle-fire 

Also, we will be having a Twitter party with Jill on July 18th from 8-9 EST with the hashtag  #DreamSlayer

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for interviewing me! I am looking forward to the Twitter Party next week!

    ReplyDelete

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