The Crossroads Tour Day 6

1. Could you tell us a little bit about the world you created in Hunger?

HUNGER, and RAGE after it, are less urban fantasy and more magical realism. So while the notion of the Riders of the Apocalypse matters to the story, it’s much more metaphorical. An anorexic teenage girl becomes Famine; a teenage self-injurer has to decide if she wants to be War. The books focus mostly on the protagonists’ issues. That changes in LOSS – which still could be taken metaphorically, but is a much more external book than either HUNGER or RAGE. Those books are extremely internally focused; not LOSS. Consequently, there is much more world building in this third book. The readers will get to see more history of the Riders, as well as a completely different side of Death, who is a recurring character in the series.


2. Would you be willing to tell us where you see the series going?

BREATH, which is Death’s book—as well as the final book in the series—reveals…well, everything. No pressure!


3. Which of your own characters do you most enjoy writing?

Death! Death, Death, Death. (Huh. Wonder what that says about me?)


4. Which of your characters do you find most difficult to write?

Characters? Hmm, that’s a good question. I don’t seem to have trouble with the characters. Finding the right story, or the right scene – or even, at times, the right reaction – is different. Lisa in HUNGER came flooding out. Missy was a little more difficult for me to understand and embrace in RAGE. In LOSS, it took me a while before I realized just how strong Billy was. Right now, I’m getting ready to sit down and write BREATH, which is Death’s book. And I’m just a wee bit freaked out. Death is my favorite of the Riders…but he’s also the most complex. And finally telling his story is sort of like…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!...I want to get it right. Because, you know, he’s Death. ;)


Find Jackie:

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1. Could you tell us a little bit about the world you created in Vamped?

The world in the Vamped series is ours, but with the living dead and other magics a reality. Gina hasn’t met a were-critter yet, but I wouldn’t count them out!


2. Would you be willing to tell us where you see the series going?

Certainly (though anyone who hasn’t yet read the first two books in the series, Vamped and Revamped, may want to skip this answer). In book three, Fangtastic, which comes out in January, Gina and her gang are still working for the Feds, who made them an offer they couldn’t refuse at the end of Vamped. Unfortunately, they’re no longer completely sure they’re on the right side. The case the Feds have them on seems fishy…tracking down killer kids who masquerade as vampires in Tampa, FL. It’s not weird all by itself that the Feds would want to solve the case, but that they’d send the Juju Brigade, as Gina calls them, after sheerly human baddies…. Compound that with the fact that the actual fanged fiends of Tampa Bay are showing an unholy interest in the killer kids, Gina is receiving mysterious messages directing her to a facility that her handlers are keeping a deep dark secret, and a few other red flags and it begins to seem that whatever’s going on might not be on the up-and-up. The fourth book, Fangtabulous, is still in the works, but I can tell you that it takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, the most haunted town in America, where some of the history comes eerily to life.


3. Which of your own characters do you most enjoy writing?

You know, usually I say Gina herself, and while that’s certainly true, I’m going to mix it up a little here. I love my goth guy Ulric in book 2:

"Relax. I'm taking you somewhere we can hear ourselves think. Unless you've got other ideas." He waggled his pierced brow at me, and I smirked before I could catch myself.
"Parcheesi," I answered.
"Strip Parcheesi?"
I sneered.
"A purist. I respect that," Ulric said. "Poker's better for that anyway."

Yeah, Ulric’s a bit, um, direct. Maybe that’s what I love about him. In fact, I kind of can’t get enough of him. I don’t want to give anything away, but he just might make a reappearance somewhere later in the series.


4. Which of your characters do you find most difficult to write?

The bad guys. To do it right, you have to get into their heads, and that’s not generally a very nice place to be. Maybe that’s why my bad guys…or girls…are more agenda-driven than pure evil. I don’t think anyone’s ever all bad or all good, though there are some that come really, really close.


Find Lucienne:

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How the Tour Works:

Each day of The Crossroads Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page, and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all of the answers and email them to bridgesocialmedia@gmail.com by October 31st at MIDNIGHT.