Author Interview and Giveaway!

Hi everyone, I'd like you to meet Chelsea Cameron, author of The Noctalis Chronicles.

Nocturnal will be on sale for 99 cents on Sunday!

I'm also holding a giveaway for Chelsea, so make sure to check out the details of the giveaway at the end of this post!

Author Bio:
Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA writer from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader, world's worst video gamer and contributor to YA Indie. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, vacuuming and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head.
Can you tell us about your books?
Nocturnal, which is out now is a story about a girl named Ava who has a mother dying of cancer, a tenuous relationship with her father and a growing attraction to a boy who isn't human. It's a series about love and loss and what it means to be human. It also features a snarky best friend named Texas, cemeteries, earth-shattering cheesecake, flying, promises, and there might be some kissing in there, too :) The first two books, Nocturnal and Nightmare are out. This is a four-book series and the third book, Numb should be out in July/August, with the final book coming out in the late fall.
My next book, Whisper is set to release June 6, and is the first in a trilogy. It's a lot lighter than The Noctalis Chronicles, and features a girl who is alive, a boy who is not, and a mission to deliver a message from beyond the grave. It's also about sisters and family and what you would do for the ones you love.
Where did you get the idea for The Noctalis Chronicles?
This is going to sound crazy, but I had my very first inkling of an idea after watching an ad for Desperate Housewives. They showed and image of a woman plucking an apple from a tree. I don't know why, but this triggered an image of this guy with long black hair that covered his eyes. That was my first image of Peter, and he's been the same ever since. I had that idea back in 2009, but didn't start writing it until 2011 when the story wouldn't leave me alone.
How many books will there be in the series?
Four in this series, and four in the Whisper series, which includes a companion novella.
Have you always wanted to be an author?
No! If you asked me fourth grade if I would ever want to be a writer, I would have screamed that and run away. I HATED writing in school. But I've loved books since I was old enough to understand what they were. I'm an only child, and I live in a very rural area. I was also an outcast in school (not to be a Debbie Downer), and books were my escape. I can honestly say that they saved my life. I thought of authors as amazing, magical people who occupied a special space that mere humans couldn't visit. Like angels or wizards. They lived apart from Normal People. I don't know where I came up with this idea, but I held onto it until seventh grade. I had a teacher who encouraged me, and she got me to sign up for Honors English, and I figured out I was actually pretty good at writing.
Fast forward to making college decisions and I went with journalism (print, specifically) because I couldn't stomach the teasing that goes along with being an English major. (No offense to English majors. You guys are braver than I was) So there I was, writing articles like crazy and I was enjoying it, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. I confessed to my dad that I wanted to write books and he told me to go for it. So I started one and didn't finish it. I wrote another. And rewrote it. And rewrote it. For four years. I discovered there was nothing more I wanted to do than write books all day, every day.
And that concludes my long-winded response to how I became a writer.
Are there any future projects you are working on?
Whisper is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. I'm confident I can get it out for June 6, but there are going to be a lot of late nights. I'll finish this year with all four books in The Noctalis Chronicles and all three books in the Whisper series being released. I've started planning my writing for 2013 and they include a contemporary, a dystopian and another paranormal romance. I'm not stopping anytime soon :)
What kind of books do you like to read? Do you have a favorite book?
What kind of books don't I like to read? Actually, I have an answer for that. Textbooks. I hate those. As for genres, I love, love, love YA. That's where my heart is. Because honestly, I'm still a 17-year-old girl inside. There is something so magical about YA and I can't get enough of it. Some of my faves are: Twilight (oh yes, I'll admit it), The Hunger Games, Ella Enchanted, Harry Potter, Dearly,Departed, Obsidian, Callum & Harper, Jenny Pox... I'll stop there.
When I'm not in YA-land, I read a ton of classics. Jane Austen, the Brontes, etc. I love Victorian Gothic stuff. I also read as many books about writing as I can. I'm also fond of quirky non-fiction books about interesting things. I loved The Botany of Desire. And I think Gone with the Wind and To Kill A Mockingbird are the two greatest books of all time.
What is your favorite snack?
Chocolate is pretty much my religion. White is my absolute fave, because it's basically pure chocolate fat, but I love all chocolates. I do not discriminate. One of my fave writing snacks is graham crackers with Nutella on one side, and Fluff on the other. Instant s'more, no fire required!
What is your favorite movie?
It's a tie between Gone with the Wind and Anne of Green Gables. I could watch those two movies every day for the rest of my life and be happy.
If you could have any supernatural power which would you choose and why?
I've gotta go with apparition. For those non-Harry Potter people (do such people exist?), it's the ability to travel from one place to another in an instant. You'd never be late for anything and you'd save so much money on airline tickets and gas money.

To enter the giveaway, simply make a comment to this post by May 12, 2012. I will randomly select two lucky winners who will win an ebook of Nocturnal!