Hey Guys!
Recently I had the opportunity to talk with Allyson Gottlieb, whose debut novel, Darkest Legacy is now available on Amazon (checkout the links below to purchase :-))!!
Me: Let’s start out with some of the basics…I have to say, I love your cover! It’s very intriguing. Did you do it yourself? Or hire a cover designer? What was the inspiration behind it? (Scroll down to see it)
AG: I most definitely did not do this myself –it wouldn’t have looked half as good if I had! When I first started looking into cover designers, I was dismayed at the prices. Don’t get me wrong, there are some absolutely fantastic designers out there that would be worth every penny, but the problem was that I didn’t have the bank account for that! So I started asking around and seeing if any of my friends knew someone who was into graphic design. The referral actually came from a girl I didn’t know that well, but when I met with this guy, within half an hour of our meeting he had drawn that symbol with the lines exactly as it appears on the cover, and I just fell in love with it. (I actually had to fight him to keep that exact image; he wanted to try making it more symmetrical or something.) I really had no ideas of what I wanted my cover to look like besides putting the symbol on it, so he came up with all the rest after I gave him a brief rundown of the plot. AND I spent a fraction of what I might have elsewhere (he actually had to be convinced to take more money!). As for what it is… well, that’s part of the story, a rather important part actually, so I can’t exactly go giving it away, now can I?
Me: Whenever I start developing a story, I always start by naming my main character. How did you pick Tamara’s name?
AG: There’s actually kind of a funny story behind that, so I’m glad you asked. I took the name “Tamara Kingsley” from a fanfic I was writing with my friend, involving reincarnation of one of our favorite and sadly deceased characters on the show. In that story, the way his love interest was figuring out that he had been reincarnated was because he was writing a book that was basically his memories from before (ie a lot of events from the show). So one night we were writing part of the fake book and we needed a pseudonym for a vaguely antagonistic character from the show. I’m also a hard-core Once Upon a Time fan (apologies in advance for any spoilers), and this was just after the episode where Neal’s fiancée Tamara is revealed to be a lying manipulative skank had aired. So I suggested Tamara.
Then a few days later I was plotting Darkest Legacy, and I had my basic idea but no name for my main character… and I thought of Tamara Kingsley. The rest is history. (I wrote most of my first draft while OUAT was on a break, so when it came back it was kind of hard to reconcile my Tamara with the one on-screen; they could not be more different!)
Me: I see that Darkest Legacy is your first published book…do you have a stash of unfinished/unpublished manuscripts sitting on your computer? If so, do you plan on revisiting any of them?
AG: Haha, I have a stack about a mile wide of half-plotted ideas, including some that are quite old and rather cringe-worthy now (I really ought to clean out my computer again soon, shouldn’t I?). Several of those will end up being written at some point. And there is one full manuscript for a YA contemporary novel, quite a bit longer than Darkest Legacy—about secrets, friendship, and mystery at a wealthy boarding school in upstate New York—that was recently finished and is now in the editing stages. It’s the first of a projected trilogy that I plan to try to get published the traditional way, some time much further down the road.
Me: Is Darkest Legacy going to be part of a series? Or is it a stand-alone book?
AG: I wouldn’t call it a series, per se, but I definitely have plans to write at least a couple more books in this “world.” One is a direct continuation of Darkest Legacy—kind of a sequel and a prequel at the same time is what I always say, because Darkest Legacy has two different timelines—and that will hopefully be available around Christmas. It’s called Darkest Shadows. Then I also have another story planned that revolves around someone who has direct ties to one of the main characters in DL and DS but doesn’t play any significant role in either of the books. And who knows? There’s definitely room for other stories in this world, and other characters living in it (in my head) that could be explored in more depth. I love authors like that—Abbi Glines is one that comes to mind instantly—who write books about people who were side characters in a previous work.
Me: Do you ever get writer’s block? Is there something specific you do to help you work through a scene when that happens?
AG: Oh, I am the queen of writer’s block. *laughs* The way I usually work is that I have at least two different projects going at the same time—usually one fanfic and one original, plus it’s not at all uncommon for me to spend a few days frantic brainstorming for a fabulous new idea that pops into my head until I finally run out of steam—and when I get burned out on one, I just switch. This happens WAY more frequently than I’d like, though, and switching isn’t always the greatest strategy because sometimes then I get stuck on the other thing!
Honestly, I’ve tried lots of different so-called “cures” for writer’s block and I doubt any of them really made a difference. Usually what happens is that I’ll end up getting re-inspired by something (can be anything) and then I’m off in a flash again. My progress tends to be very stop-start; in fact, it’s really a miracle I get anything done at all. If you ever find the magic solution, please, send it my way!
Me: When I told my parents that I wrote a book, my father’s first question was, “Is there sex?” After he read the book, he said, “I liked it, but you left out the girl’s chest size in your physical description of her.” Yeah he can be sort of a perv. How did your friends and family react? Did you get any bizarre comments/questions about your writing?
AG: Okay, ew, your dad sounds kind of gross… sorry. Um, my parents haven’t actually finished reading it yet—they’re both super busy and not big readers, and so I never pushed it and they never asked for advanced copies—but obviously now that it’s live, they’ve each got copies. My dad, predictably, did his usual grammatical nitpicking on a phrase that shows up early in the book, which was a little annoying. But I’m waiting to see their reaction to the scene when Tamara and her guy become, you know, lovers. It’s done very tastefully, with a fade-to-black kind of thing before they go any further than kissing, but it’s still my parents, you know? And my parents being the kind of people they are, I just know they’re going to comment.
Me: If you made a Darkest Legacy soundtrack, what would the first three songs be?
AG: I actually have a playlist, with something like 13 songs that remind me of Tamara at different points in the story, that I made one weekend after I was exhausted from doing the formatting and just wanted to listen to music. That will probably go up on my own (barely-trafficked) blog at some point, along with the explanations I wrote for each song, but for now, let’s see… Three songs. I’d say Falling by The Civil Wars, Lover’s Eyes by Mumford & Sons, and Warrior by Demi Lovato. As for the explanations… well, those are a tad bit spoiler-y, so I think I’ll save them for later.
Me: Are you a planner? Or a make-it-up-as-you-go kind of writer? Where do you keep the physical descriptions and personality traits of your characters? In your head? Or do you make electronic files for each? Or maybe cut out pictures from magazines and tape them to poster board around your house?
AG: Am I sensing that you’re a fan of one of those methods, Sophie? Haha, I am decidedly a planner, though that doesn’t mean I don’t have make-it-up-as-I-go moments. I used to be more spontaneous, but then several years ago I was writing a really great piece, had to take a little break from writing because of some outside commitments, and came back to it to discover I’d completely forgotten where I was going. So I lost what could’ve been a great story (my sister still bugs me about that, actually) because I hadn’t made any notes. Now whenever I get really seriously into a new story, I sit down and do what I call my chapter-by-chapter outline: basically just map out all the big and important events that need to happen and in what order, and divide them up into chapters. (For things the size of DL it’s easy to do this all at once; for longer works, I usually do this kind of outline for about half at first—but make notes on the overarching story—and then outline the other half when I’ve written most of the first part.) These are definitely subject to change; in particular, I’ve wound up having to split off bits and make new chapters because they got too long (my writing tends to take on a life of its own). As for my character descriptions, well, I don’t do anything nearly as interesting as that. Just make copious notes at the bottom of my word doc.
Me: Hahaha, um, yes. My dog sitter always knows I'm writing a new book based on when the posters on the walls change.
Me: What language do you not speak but wish you did?
AG: Hmm… I know a fair amount of French, so that counts out most romance languages I guess, since I can sort of half-understand most of them. I guess maybe German—I met a couple of German natives in New York last summer and it was always so amusing to hear them jabbering away, making these sounds that were like nothing I’d ever heard before. (One of them actually taught me a couple German curse words, but I’ve already forgotten them… damn!)
Me: Is there a certain time of day you prefer to write? Any weather that makes you want to curl up with your computer and go to work? Me, I prefer the middle of the night while a thunderstorm is raging outside.
AG: Ooh, that certainly sounds… atmospheric. I’m mostly a night writer, though I’m not quite sure if that’s an actual preference or if it’s just been conditioned into me because that’s usually when I can make the time to sit down and write. But separate from that, I like those gray rainy afternoons when clouds are covering the sky and there are big fat puddles outside and all you want to do is bury yourself under blankets with a mug of hot cocoa. (It’s worth noting that we don’t get many of these in California.) When the sun is shining, it’s harder for me to focus because I feel like I should be outside enjoying the day, even when there’s nothing I really want to do more than work on my newest project.
Me: Do you have any “weird” quirks that you thought were normal until you shared them with another person?
AG: Um… well, I hiccup when I laugh too much. Horrible, endless hiccupping fits, and then I always start to laugh again, and so it continues forever. I’ve tried every hiccup remedy under the sun, and only recently did I find one that actually works (spoonful of peanut butter—it’s a miracle worker!). And until a few years ago, I really thought this happened to everyone! I’m also pathetically easy to make laugh, and my family teases me endlessly. But I don’t think it’s anything to be at all ashamed of. Laughing is fun, and it makes you live longer—win-win.
Me: Laptop or desktop?
AG: Laptop. No question.
Me: Writing at home or a coffee shop/bookstore/library?
AG: Home. I don’t write well with any kind of distraction. My muse is even so finicky as to not like writing while listening to music, although music when I’m stuck can often help get me un-stuck… Another quirk, I suppose.
Me: If they made a movie of your life, who would you want to play you? What about if Darkest Legacy was made into a movie, who is your ideal Tamara?
AG: Forgetting momentarily about the fact that my life is not and will never be interesting enough for a movie, perhaps I’d say Lea Michele. I’ve been told that I look like her (although thankfully I’m quite a bit taller), and that I have some of the same attitude as the character she’s best known for, Rachel Berry. (If only I had her powerhouse voice…) She’s really a wonderful actress, and since music is such a big part of who I am, I like the thought of being played by a singer/actress (and one with actual talent, as opposed to just Autotune).
As for Tamara if Darkest Legacy was a movie… Well, considering where she got her name, I had an image of Sonequa Martin-Green (the actress who plays Tamara in Once Upon a Time) in my head for a while, but I sort of knew that wasn’t quite right. So I went for a while without really knowing what Tamara looked like besides some basics like dark hair, tall, etc. Right now, my ideal Tamara really is Kaz Tarshis, who plays Tamara in my book trailer. But if you want a more instant-recognition celebrity I’d say Vanessa Marano, but with longer hair (Tamara has very long hair).
Congratulations on the release of Darkest Legacy, Allyson. The book sounds awesome! I can’t wait to read it!
Any last words for your future fans?
I hope you all love my book as much as I love living in the heads of these characters! And thank you so much, Sophie, for having me on your blog.
Okay, guys! All the links for Darkest Legacy are below, make sure to get your copy ASAP!!!
Allyson Gottlieb was born in California, but can't wait to go away to college and trade sunshine, bikinis, and fruit smoothies for autumn leaves, winter coats, and hot cocoa. When she's not busy working on her next bestseller, she can be found devouring books, obsessing over far too many TV shows, baking, spending time with her family and friends... and occasionally doing some homework. She has been writing since second grade and has no plans to stop until she runs out of stories to tell - so basically never.