Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve published one book, Royal Deception, the first book in my YA fantasy trilogy. The second book, Runaway Deception, is finished but not polished; it still needs a cover.
I’m a Bible-believing Christian living in Colorado, and I teach math (gasp!) at a high school. I love biking, cooking, reading, writing (obviously), solving puzzles, and petting kitties. Oh, and volunteering in the local church’s Children’s Ministry.
I promise I’m not weird, but I did get both a math degree and an English degree from CSU. I also was homeschooled, but, really, I’m totally normal otherwise. 88% normal.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Royal Deception was inspired by a game my sister and I played a couple times, where we pretended our arms and feet were swords. Thus came the blade shifters. Also, I had a land of shapeshifting, a retelling of The Lion King, and a couple other retellings I wanted to fit into the land. Out of this conglomeration came the Royal Deception trilogy. A couple of friends had to convince me to cut the story into three parts, however; I was rather reluctant for a few years.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I skip around from chapter to chapter and don’t write in chronological order. Kind of like I’m filling out this interview.
Whenever I wrote essays I had to trick myself into writing because I disliked it so much. Whenever I write stories, I’m reluctant because I know I won’t be able to stop for several hours. I sit at the computer . . . and then it’s four hours later.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Bible, for one. I wouldn’t be anyone or get anywhere without Jesus Christ my savior.
Also, Brandon Sanderson. His magic systems are so imaginative. I want to make my worlds and characters as rich as he makes his. Also, his dialogue is perfectly witty and snappy and so character driven. I haven’t read anything by him that I disliked.
Rachel Aaron. She has tight plotting, brilliant set ups and “WOW” moments, and super fast pacing. Her blog is great, too.
What are you working on now?
The third book in the Royal Deception trilogy, Rebel Deception. It’s tough to bring together these characters and nations I’ve been writing about for seven years, and it’s hard to know I’ll have to let them go.
It’s neat, though, because Lana gets to be more of a main character than she has, and I’m bringing her story line and threading it with the other character’s lines, and it’s just epic.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads or Facebook. Maybe I should be less old-fashioned and figure out how to use Twitter and Pintrest. I don’t plan on spending much money until the second book comes out in a few months.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Get a cat to sit in your lap and give you an excuse to keep writing and not get up to do laundry.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read a lot. Write a lot.
What are you reading now?
Many things, always. Inkspell, Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians, One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Heritage, and Jeremiah.
What’s next for you as a writer?
A quartet (Tamora Pierce made some awesome quartets) about a girl who is bitten by a dragon and grows dragon wings, joining an elite society of Govnia’s protectors, the green dragon people. What are they to do when attacked on all sides? How do they handle realizing that red dragons are not as extinct as they thought, and that the red dragon people have decided Govnia is their land.
I have to finish the Royal Deception trilogy first, though.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bible
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Legend of Eli Monpress series by Rachel Aaron
Dragonback Adventures by Timothy Zahn
Author Websites and Profiles
Denae Christine Website
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