Goddess Fish Promotions is organizing a Virtual Tour for GYPSY HUNTED by Andrea Drew, a paranormal (psychic) thriller available October 28, 2014 in eBook and in print late November.
****GIVEAWAY ALERT****
Andrea will be awarding a $20 amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Interview Time!!!!
What is
your biggest inspiration?
Apart from the fact that I love to write fiction, I get my
inspiration in few different ways, which when combined create the magic I need
to write a novel. I brainstorm with a
writing friend occasionally and its great fun to play around with different
ideas. The inspiration for the novel I’m
working on now, Gypsy Cradle has come about almost the same way I gained the
inspiration to write Gypsy Hunted.
General observation of people and situations around me, until I found
one small thing that gets me thinking “What if…?” combine that with recent (usually criminal)
events reported in the media and a whole lot of imagination and in a rush of
enthusiasm and excitement a novel begins to take shape.
Where did you get the inspiration
to write (book name)?
A friend and I Eve are both busy working mums but decided to meet
up every couple of weeks to motivate each other and play around with story
ideas. Originally we decided we’d motivate
and inspire each other ideas wise, and be accountable to each other and report
back on short stories we’d written, as we planned to enter our short stories
into competitions.
I found a short story competition with the theme of “Time” and
came up with an idea that involved a telepath or psychic and threw around some
ideas with Eve. That week I started
writing the short story but found I couldn’t stop I was fascinated by the story
and characters, a fantastic feeling.
From here I kept on going and would bring in pages and pages for my
writing buddy. Eventually it was getting
so long that it was costing me a fortune in printing and taking Eve a long time
to read. So I realized then it would
become a novel, and so it has!
What research went into (book name)?
Originally there was no research at all done I was swept away by
the idea for the story. As time went on
though I realized I knew nothing about police investigation. I read a book called “Howdunit book of police
investigation” by Lee Lofland which was invaluable. As the book is set in Melbourne Australia, I
also, believe it or not googled Australian police weapons, vehicles and procedure
and there it was!
The characters are a combination of people I’ve met and
imagination. I’ve started a little
research on the next book which involves poisons, which is fun! My husband says he feels a little afraid
though.
Why did you pick (genre)?
I didn’t really write for a genre but before writing
my first novel, as a reader I gravitated toward mystery/thrillers and so
decided this would be the best genre to write in, write what you know and all
that. However, I mixed in a few other
elements and genres that I enjoy. So
Gypsy Hunted is primarily a thriller/suspense but also has elements of
paranormal and romance in there without going overboard. Basically I wrote what
I wanted to read. I do like
sci-fi/fantasy as well, and may venture into that genre, but then again I may
not! I have three Gypsy Shields novel
books planned out so will write those three first then reconsider.
What's in a name?
A title to me has to not only communicate the story, but also
needs to excite and entice the reader.
Hopefully Gypsy Hunted does that.
Having said that, the title for this book was originally Gypsy
Hunter. It was intended to be a verb in
that Gypsy, the main character is being hunted, so the title referred to the
bad guy hunting her. However after
surveying it (I survey just about everything, it’s the copywriter in me) I
found people thought Gypsy Hunter was the main characters name, so I changed it
to Gypsy Hunted to hopefully reflect the fact that the main character is
hunted.
Your favorite aspect about
being an Author?
That I can create characters and world and the story goes where
the characters and I want it to. I also
like the idea of writing a character that is likeable but has human
faults. There’s nothing worse for me
than a perfectly evil villain, or a perfectly good person. We’re just not made that way, we can be a
complex mix of good and evil. I love
writing a good story but a realistic story, something where the reader turns
the pages to find out what happens next, but with relatable events and
characters with real life problems.
Creating worlds, scenarios, characters and events is the best kind of
fun there is!
The hardest part about writing
is…
Setting aside the time to write.
Who the hell invented housework anyway?
Also when I’m writing the first draft, most authors let go and let it
all come out in a rush. I do that to a
degree, but it’s not easy. I’m so
tempted sometimes to go back and fix sections when I’m still in the early
days. Also writing every day can be a
challenge. I recommend this to all
writers, but in the chaos of life, family and business responsibilities it can
be difficult but I try to do so, even if it is only a couple of hundred words
on frantically busy days.
A day with (you) behind the
scenes.
I wake up bleary eyed and head downstairs to help get my three
children ready for school. Once the
chaos and arguments about socks and lunches is over, I come back home (I have
an office attached to the house) and check emails and phone messages. If I’m very lucky, I can get started on
fiction writing straight away and will spend around 2 hours writing. This gets me anywhere between 500 and 2000
words. From there I respond to client
emails and phone calls, write resumes and copy and intersperse it with
housework (*sigh* if and when I become rich, my first investment will be in a
housekeeper)
Around 3.30pm I pick up said children, then its witching hour with
dinner baths and bed. Then if I haven’t
collapsed with exhausted, I’ll do some marketing work on the books.
Ideal writing space
Actually I’m pretty happy with my writing space although of course
writing on a yacht or a beach from my laptop sounds pretty ideal! I have a writing bunker in my office, which
seats four people comfortably and has a separate entrance. The home we live in now was quite a
find. Ideally I’d write in my bunker for
weeks at a time uninterrupted but sadly my life doesn’t quite work that
way. I do have a window next to my desk
though, and can look out onto my front garden, which is lovely in spring and
summer.
Where do ideas come from?
As a writer,
I get my inspiration from the every day.
As a young girl I experienced this almost constantly. I’d look at people on the bus and train and
imagine their stories. Why were they
travelling? Who were they? What problems were they trying to solve? Married?
Alone and lonely? I find these
questions help me to this day, I will see events and people around me and ask
myself questions about them. When this
combines with a seemingly unrelated event (for example something reported in
the news) the two things mess together, and an idea for a story forms. From here I roughly plot it all out (and I do
mean roughly) and if the story is good enough and excites me enough, I’ll get
going on writing it.
by Andrea Drew
Reluctant
psychic Gypsy Shields—she prefers the term "intuition
consultant"—finds herself in trouble when, on her way home from a blind
date, she interrupts a kidnapping in progress. She attempts to intervene, and
her heroics are repaid with a collision between the attacker's van and a brick
wall. She awakens in the hospital, paralyzed on her left side and unable to
speak. This also means she's unable to share her vital information as a
witness. Fortunately, she is able to use her telepathic connection with her
niece to throw a line out to a police detective she knows: Connor Reardon, her
blind date.
Connor
will do anything to protect Gypsy, and he listens to her claims of psychic
power willingly, as he's concealing certain powers of his own. Nor are they all
he's concealing. Gypsy senses a part of her new ally's mind is closed to
her—what she cannot know is that Connor suspects the kidnapper is someone close
to him, and the kidnapping victim holds secrets that will tear through Connor's
department, putting careers and lives at risk. Including Gypsy, still in
hospital and vulnerable as the attacker turns his sights on her once again.
Can
she use her powers to track down the perpetrator and prevent her own murder?
Excerpt
As a telepath, I pick up on feelings and instinct more than
most. Other people like to call me a psychic medium, but I’m not really
comfortable with the label. Apart from
the fact that I do it for love, not money, I’m sure once someone learns I’m a
telepath they conjure up images of dodgy fraudsters on stage at mass events,
feeding grieving families what they desperately need. I’d rather not expose
myself to more ridicule than necessary. My abilities happened almost by
accident—apparently my grandmother was ‘fey,’ as my mother enjoyed mentioning.
I was sure the pinging, nagging doubt had something to do
with Aaron’s home life. “What about you, Gypsy? What do you do?” Connor relaxed
his posture, the glass poised before his mouth. He had taken on a different
look, probably from the wine, or even better, from unfulfilled lust.
“I write business plans. I’ve also been told I have pretty
damn good intuition.”
That seemed to spark Connor’s interest. He pulled at the other earlobe.
“Oh yeah? What does your intuition tell you about me, then?”
“That you seem like a nice enough guy.”
Connor moistened his lips, which quivered with what I
suspected was amusement as he sat legs wide apart
“And?”
“And you’re fishing for compliments that I’m not going to
give you just yet.”
Connor threw his head back, indulging in a belly laugh. The
rich, throaty sound filled me with pleasure. A smile I couldn’t suppress burst
through.
“That’s a fair call, Gypsy, fair call.”
The silence was a comfortable one, our shared joke
establishing the early threads of friendship.
Buy Links
Amazon US~ Gypsy Hunted
Available for Pre Order on Amazon:
Author Bio
Andrea Drew
has been a commercial copy writer and resume writer for over a decade.
She's written
for celebrity stylists, assisted business coaches and start-ups, written grants
for not for profits, delivered marketing presentations to business owners, and
attends Australian writing conventions.
Her
self-published book "Pro Resumes Made Easy" has been downloaded over
40,000 times.
Andrea has
one husband (more than enough), three kids, a pet rock (her daughters not
hers), and a house in the suburbs, where she's hard at work on the second novel
in the Gypsy series.
Email her at
andrea@andrea-drew.com.
Gypsy Hunted
her first fiction novel (her first suspense thriller set in her home town of
Melbourne Australia) is available for pre-order on Amazon prior to release on
October 28 2014.
Where can you find Andrea???
Follow the Tour!!!
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Thanks for stopping by Andrea and the best of luck with GYPSY HUNTED.
Nancy
