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BEHIND THE BOOK:

Cora Carmack author of Losing It

Interview by: Deidré D.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CRAFT

TBW:    How do you pace yourself when you write?

CC:       Poorly. I’m what I call a binge writer. I can go days writing very little, and then churn out tons of work over three or

            four days. If you mean how I pace a story—it’s about balance. I think of it like a French braid—in every chapter I try to add

             a little characterization, a little plot, a little romance, etc.            

TBW:    Do you read what you write? Do you write reviews for them? 

CC:       I do, yes! I read any New Adult book I can get my hands on, as well as plenty of YA. At the moment, I don’t review

             them because between my day job and writing, my time is full.



TBW:    Do you recommend and/or prefer to work with a publishing house over self publishing? If you self publish what steps do you

            take to publish your work?

CC:      You know, I made a very specific decision to self-publish Losing It. I actually had it out with a publisher, but decided to pull  

            it because I thought it could be more successful this way, at least initially. Traditional publishing is appealing because who  

            doesn’t want to see their book in a bookstore? But I think both methods have their merits. In the end, it’s not how a book

            comes to be that matters, so much as the quality of the book and what it brings to the table. Things moved very quickly   

            once I decided to self-publish Losing It. I reached out to some blogger friends, who helped me organize a book tour. I  

            made the cover, did a final round of edits on the MS, and send it out to the bloggers. Then I started formatting it for  

            Amazon and Barnes and Noble. All during this time, I worked on building my online presence, which was pretty much non-

            existent before this. In all, from decision to publishing date it was only about a month.

TBW:    What advice can you give writers that are looking to publish their work?

CC:      Write a story that you love. I truly believe passion shows through in your writing, and readers will connect to it. If you love

            the story, no matter what happens—bad reviews, publisher or agent rejections, bad sales—you’ll be happy that

            you did it. Oh, and never stop learning! Read insatiably. Write constantly. It’s a job. Work at it. Don’t write one book and

            then sit around waiting for it to sell.











FUN FACTS



Favorite authors:       J.K. Rowling, hands down. She made me a reader,

                                       which in turn made me a writer.



Favorite book:            Harry Potter and Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly



eReader or print:       Both. It depends on my mood and the book.

Currently reading:    Just completed On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

                                      and will begin A World Away by Nancy Grossman.

October 25, 2012

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BOOK



TBW:    Where did the inspiration come from for Losing It?
CC:       It came from a lot of places. It started with a conversation with a friend about virginity, then because my brain        

            automatically searches for humorous situations—the premise just popped into my head. Then I sort of filled in the rest of

            the story with elements from my own time in college. It very much pays homage to my friends and my college experience.



TBW:    When creating your characters, was there any 'one' thing that helped mold their personalities?
CC:       For the most part, my characters kind of tell me who they are. That sounds crazy, I know. I start with a little thing, like

            someone being scared of sex, and the rest just starts to fill in. I think motivation is key though. I knew from the very  

            beginning that Bliss would both want and not want to have sex. That told me a lot about who she was.     



TBW:    Did you see any qualities in your characters that you could closely relate to?
CC:      My characters often have a little element of my personality combined with other things I’ve made up. I definitely see a

            little bit of myself in all my characters. For example, I am not at all organized and anal like Bliss, but I worry and panic a lot

            and I am awkward. So, there’s that. And of course, the genre as a whole is something I can relate to. I’m twenty-five, and  

            this thing called “adulthood” still scares the crap out of me.



TBW:    So many Contemporary Young Adult Romance novels have an angsty direction to them. Why did you choose to take your story in

            another direction? and do you think that your readers can appreciate the change?

CC:      I did, actually, make a very conscious decision to write the story as something lighter. I love a good, angsty read as much as

           the next girl, but that wasn't my college experience at all. My angst was always over some humiliating experience or 

           because I was scared about the future. And I was always, always able to laugh at myself. I think most writers want the 

           reader to be able to see herself in the main character, so I tried to provide a main character that was different than what

           was already out there. I know this story won't be for everyone, but so far people do seem to appreciate the change. Some

           needed it just as a palate cleanser between heavy reads, while others appear to have been waiting for books like this for

           a while.

 

 

TBW:   Was your Initial intention to have Garrick and Bliss end up together at the end of the book?

CC:      Always. I wanted the awkward girl to get the guy. Girls should know that they don't have to be the stereotypical pretty or

           sweet girl to get the guy. Men's tastes in women vary as much as reader's tastes in books, and you can be who you are and

           still find the right person.  



TBW:   Do you intend to turn Losing It into a series? If so, will Garrick and Bliss still be in the pages or will you introduce new characters with

           similar fates? If you do have a book two when will it come out?

CC:     There will be a series of companion novels, yes. I’m working on one for Cade right now, and have plans for a book about

          Kelsey. Bliss and Garrick will likely be mentioned in both. Those books will, of course, be different than Losing It because  

          Cade and Kelsey as characters are very different than Bliss. But you can still expect the books to be on the light-

          hearted, humorous and awkward side of the spectrum. 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEXT STEPS



TBW:   Do you have any major press/media events in the near future to promote this  book or future works?

CC:     Well, there’s a blog tour in progress now with some other fun interviews and extras. You can see the schedule on the YA

          Sisterhood blog here: http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html. Other than that, I don’t have anything

          planned. Though there are some very exciting things happening with LOSING IT behind the scenes, but I can’t say

          anything about that yet. :)

TBW:   Are you working on a new series? If so, what is it about and when can we expect  to read it?

CC:     No new series yet, but I am working on Cade’s book, as I mentioned earlier. Follow my blog at coracarmack.blogspot.com 

           and I’ll definitely let everyone know there about any news for this series or future works.



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