Wednesday 6 November 2013

Destiny By Cindy Ray Hale. (Interview & Giveaway)

Destiny Banner 1.2
This is my stop during the blog tour for Destiny (destiny Trilogy #1) by Cindy Ray Hale. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours . The blog tour runs from November 5 till November 25, you can view the complete tour schedule on the website of Lola's Blog Tours
 

Destiny

Destiny (Destiny Trilogy #1) By Cindy Ray Hale Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Blurb: Destiny Clark, a young Mormon girl living in Tennessee, is wildly infatuated with Isaac Robinson, the headmaster's son at her Baptist high school. When they're cast together in the school's production of Les Misérables, Destiny is horrified to find that she has to be publicly humiliated by acting out her true feelings of rejection onstage. As their rehearsals begin, Destiny realizes the unimaginable: Isaac has developed deep feelings for her despite their religious differences and the fact that he has a girlfriend. But will they be able to find their place amongst the backbiters of their ultra-conservative world? Weaving around Destiny and Isaac's alternating viewpoints, Destiny is the first book in a series inspired by the characters of Les Misérables and explores heartbreak, self-discovery, intolerance, and love.
You can find Destiny on Goodreads

Tell us a little about your writing journey.
I published a short story in New Era, a magazine for Teens put out by my Church, back in 2000 right before I graduated from high school. Interestingly enough, it was about Mormons and choir as well. I didn’t really plan it that way when I decided to write Destiny, it’s just something I’ve looked back on and noticed later. I’m really passionate about my church and singing in choir, so I guess it came out in my writing.

I got married and started my family really young, so I didn’t spend any time writing for a good ten years. My sister came to me two years ago with a book idea and asked if I wanted to co-author it with her. I was ecstatic about the idea of writing a book, but she wanted it to be Middle Grade Fiction and I’m more of a YA fiction kind of person. We never finished the story. She got pregnant and busy, but I kept feeling antsy to write. Eventually, I branched out on my own and started working on Destiny the following year.

At first, I didn’t know what I was doing . My original draft of my first chapter is still in a notebook somewhere, and it’s absolutely horrendous! It really should be burned!
I went to the public library and checked out a stack of books about writing and poured over them, keeping notes in a spiral notebook. It was basically a self-taught college course on novel writing with Destiny as the final project. I have come so, so, sooooo far in the past year!

What do you enjoy most about being a writer?
When things finally work out. That moment when everything’s been going wrong and you finally have this sudden burst of inspiration and that one concept fixes the problem.

What is the hardest aspect of being a writer?
When you don’t know what to say next.
Or when you’ve written 100 pages and you get feedback on it and you realize you’ve gone in the complete wrong direction and you have to head back to the computer for another long rewrite.

How much research goes into you story?
I did a lot of research on Les Misérables. I watched a non-musical version and two full musical versions in addition to several video clips on YouTube. I followed fan websites to see what people have to say about the characters. I looked up the vocal ranges of the characters on casting websites. I bought the music book and learned to play some of the songs on the piano. I even started reading the book, but it’s so long I decided I didn’t have the patience to get through it.

Much of Destiny is from past experiences. Just like Destiny, I was a Mormon girl in a Baptist school, but some of the events from that time in my life were so long ago, it was hard for me to remember what it was truly like. I spent a lot of time pouring over my old yearbooks, and I read every journal/diary I had from age 11 to 18. Also, I looked up the handbook for the Baptist school down the street from me and read through it. I looked up my old school’s Facebook page and website. I googled my old headmaster and the history of the school.  I even visited my old campus and walked around.

I had to do quite a bit of research on the paintball chapters as well. Although, there were many paintball games on my parent’s land, most of those took place after I’d already gotten married and left the house. I’ve heard  a lot about it from my younger brothers, but I’ve never played paintball. A lot of the paintball scene is taken from my years playing World of Warcraft. Also, when I wrote that scene, I’d just read the book Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. The main character, Celaena Sardothien, is a world renowned assassin who happens to be a teenage girl. A lot of Destiny’s sneakiness was inspired by Celaena.

Writers are sometimes influenced by things that happen in their own lives. Are you?
Absolutely. Almost everything in my book came from some aspect in my life somehow. For instance, I was a Mormon girl who attended a Baptist school for seven years. I was never allowed to date boys who weren’t Mormons. I never did though. Destiny is more of a “What if?” story.

Tell us about your publications.
Beyond my short story in New Era, I haven’t published anything…yet!

What is the most surprising thing about writing/publishing you have learnt?
How it happy it makes me! I’ve never felt so fulfilled in my entire life.

Top tip/s for writers.
Read the book Save the Cat before you do anything else! Beyond that, write and never stop, no matter how difficult it can be. It will be hard, there’s no denying  that, but it gets better. When it does, it’s  worth every struggle you’ll ever face.

Other than writing what else do you love?
I love music. I have my YouTube playlist broadcasting throughout my house pretty much nonstop during the day, and when it’s not playing, I’m either singing or playing the piano.
I also enjoy hiking and camping with my family.

Who is your favourite author and why?
Right now my favorite author is probably J.K.Rock, which is actually two authors, Joanne Rock and Karen Rock. They are both so amazing. They’re the kind of people who not only write incredible books, but go above and beyond to help others. I like their writing because it’s fun, relatable and deep all at the same time. Reading their books feels like hanging out with my best friends. It’s probably why we get along so well. We have a lot in common.

If you had a premonition you would be stranded on a desert island what 5 books
would you take?
The Book of Mormon, The Bible, Destiny, Pride and Prejudice, and Lord of the Rings

Five words that sum you up.
Driven, Silly, Optimistic, Dedicated, Loving


 

About the Author:
Official Author pic


Destiny is Cindy Ray's first book and will be available for purchase November 2013.





You can find and contact Cindy here:
 Website - Website for destiny - Blog - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Google+ - Pinterest

Tour Wide Giveaway!
A Destiny Swag Pack:including a signed copy of Destiny, a Destiny keychain, a t-shirt that says "I heart Destiny," a Destiny bookmark. - a $25 Amazon Gift Card - Camp Boyfriend Swag pack.
 
ENTER NOW!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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