Spotlight Sunday:
Sara O. Thompson
So, we've really been slacking with our Spotlight Sundays. Like... it's getting ridiculous.
How are you guys supposed to know what's new in the author world and who is the newest big deal if we don't show you!?
With that, we're going to kick them back into high gear starting with Sara O. Thompson!
I met Sara here recently at a book signing and she was a hoot! We joked, we laughed, we said awkward hings to each other. All in all, I really enjoyed her company.
Her book caught my eye. Let's be real... we ALL judge books by their covers. They need to be eye popping and stand out. And that's exactly what drew me to Sara's table. Then her personality was energetic and bubbly, and top it all off with the description of her book. Just wow. It was like, the total package on what readers look for.
So I asked Sara if she wanted to be apart of our Spotlight Sunday and so here we go!
*Pst... stick around til the end for something special*
Q: What is your name?
A: Sara O. Thompson
Q: The Title of your Work or Group.
A: Otherwhere: Muddy Waters
Q: Where are you from? (Does not have to be the name exactly.)
A: Louisville, Kentucky, is on my birth certificate, but I have an old soul. Could be from anywhere.
Q: In what genre do you write?
A: This book is Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Crime.
Q: In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book/series you just read to your friend, what would you say about it?
A: It’s about a Witch who gets wrongly convicted of killing her whole family, and she’s in a psych hospital/prison. The FBI comes to get her out, but only if she will help them solve supernatural crimes. Hijinks ensue. It’s a little bit funny, there are some interesting ideas about religion, and several urban fantasy tropes are either discarded or turned on their heads.
Q: What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline, etc. Or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens?
A: So, I used to be a pantser, and now I’m a hybrid pantser/plotter. For the Otherwhere series, I wrote a synopsis/outline for the whole thing: ten books in all. It’s about 80 pages long and the closer you get to the end, the vaguer it becomes. I wanted to leave room for changes between now and then.
Q: Have you ever written anything and thought, “The world has to see this!!”?
A: Uh, yes, duh. (ha) In fact, I’m thinking of publishing a collection of my grocery lists as a coffee table book. The sequel will be all the doodles I’ve made in my notebooks while writing these books.
Q: Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do it all yourself?
A: I have a phenomenal team at Curiosity Quills Press and my cover is all their work. Eugene Teplitsky does an amazing job. It’s one of the reasons I signed a contract with them: I looked through their covers and loved them.
Q: Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read a lot. I want to know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn’t do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.
A: David Foster Wallace. The man was a genius and I’m so sorry that he’s gone.
Q: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
A: I am the architect of my own miseries. I tend to bite off more than I can chew, and wonder if it was too much. Then I spend months trying to iron it all out.
Q: Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
A: Wow that’s….meta… I don’t know. This makes me think of how Tori Amos wrote a book about her creative process and she talks about the songs following her around for days until she writes them down. She gives them names and so forth. I don’t have that so much, but I sort of wish I did. I start with the big picture and reverse engineer it.
Q: Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
A: They all have little bits of me. I don’t think you can get around that. A sculpture has the sculptor’s fingerprints in it. The song has the singer’s specific timbre in it. My books are in my voice. If you know me, you can hear that when you read what I’ve written.
Q: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
A: I have two books that I shopped around for a while. I learned so much in that process, I don’t have any anger or bitterness about having all that work go unpublished. I have four or five ideas I’d love to work on that are all sitting in Scrivener files, waiting for me to add to them or start working on them.
Q: Is writing your full time job, or are you “keeping your day job” so to speak?
A: I have a full-time job in marketing. Until my kids are much older, or I hit the bestseller list, I suspect that will not change.
Q: If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be and why?
A: I’d love to meet Nickola Tesla. I think he’s fascinating and also, we have the same birthday.
Q: There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?
A: I wrote a book I wanted to read. I kept picking up books I thought were what I wanted to read and they just…weren’t. I want to focus on female familial relationships and those complexities, rather than romantic entanglements. I wanted humor and magic and bourbon and a heroine I’d want to hang out with, so that’s what I wrote.
Q: In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don’t have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?
A: My book has only been out for three months and I’m still learning. When I find something, I will tell you all!
GIVEAWAY TIME!!
Since we now know all about Sara and her newest novel let's do a Giveaway for it!
To Enter to win a SIGNED copy and some really awesome SWAG you must:
1. Like Sara's FB Page
2. Share this Spotlight Sunday/Giveaway
3. Comment on BOTH this Facebook post AND Sara's Page
GOOD LUCK!
Synopsis:
Twenty years ago, the boundary between worlds dropped. It will be a while before the political, social, and religious upheaval settles down but the good news is: now you can book a vacation to Valhalla as easily as you can go to Las Vegas. Your real estate agent might be a Wood Sprite. Your mechanic might be a Minotaur. For better or for worse, Supernormals are part of Earth life.
Five years ago, Tessa Reddick was convicted of killing her entire family: 37 Witches from one of the most powerful covens in history. She’s been locked up at Lakeland Psychiatric hospital, still grieving but mad as hell at whoever-or whatever-put her there.
Half an hour ago, a handsome FBI agent showed up to spring Tessa from the joint - but there’s a price. A series of murders is picking off Supernormals and the feds need the help of the last known Reddick Witch.
Determined to learn who set her up for the fall, help solve the FBI crimes, and maybe get closer to her mysterious (and seriously hot) Dark Elf partner, Tessa is more than willing to play Witchy Nancy Drew.
But Tessa has few friends left and something is coming for her, too - maybe it’s the one who framed her and killed her coven, or perhaps a new foe with a taste for Witch’s blood.
Solving crimes, doing magic, drinking bourbon. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.
Five years ago, Tessa Reddick was convicted of killing her entire family: 37 Witches from one of the most powerful covens in history. She’s been locked up at Lakeland Psychiatric hospital, still grieving but mad as hell at whoever-or whatever-put her there.
Half an hour ago, a handsome FBI agent showed up to spring Tessa from the joint - but there’s a price. A series of murders is picking off Supernormals and the feds need the help of the last known Reddick Witch.
Determined to learn who set her up for the fall, help solve the FBI crimes, and maybe get closer to her mysterious (and seriously hot) Dark Elf partner, Tessa is more than willing to play Witchy Nancy Drew.
But Tessa has few friends left and something is coming for her, too - maybe it’s the one who framed her and killed her coven, or perhaps a new foe with a taste for Witch’s blood.
Solving crimes, doing magic, drinking bourbon. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.
Now give me your links so we can get people to your book sites!!!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSaraOThompson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThWritingSpider
Blog: https://thewritingspider.wordpress.com/
Website: http://www.saraothompson.com/
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ycxjg484
Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/y8p3f7v6
Audible: http://tinyurl.com/y7k6zdt2
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thwritingspider/
-Courtney Moctezuma
