Author Interview: C.C. Hunter

What made you start to write?

I had to do something to get the voices out of my head.  If I tell people I imagine these people in my head and spend hours dreaming about them, they think I’m crazy.  If I tell people I’m a writer they think I’m smart.  So I decided to become a writer.   LOL. Seriously, I’ve always created stories in my head.  When I was nine and ten years old, I would create characters and think up plots and situations.  But I never considered being a writer until I was twenty-three and my husband wanted me to go to school and become a teacher.   It hit me then, that I would really like to try to write.  It took years before I sold my first book, but it’s been an amazing journey.

Is there something you love to do when you're not writing?

I love to travel, walk, especially along a beach, read, and watch a few shows on television in the evening.  I also enjoy doing workshops and talks about writing and I do a lot of that.

If you could see Awake At Dawn made into a movie or a television show who would you cast?

This question is always so hard for me to answer.  I mean, I could toss out names like Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Chace Crawford, but in truth, the roles of Kylie and the all the crew at Shadow Falls are already taken in my mind.  I know the expression on Kylie’s face when she’s really frustrated, and Amanda doesn’t make that expression.  I know how Lucas walks, with his quiet, silent movements and his how body tenses when people get too close, and Zac doesn’t do that.  I know the sexy twinkle Derek gets in his eyes when he looks at Kylie, I know how he sounds when he laughs, and that’s not Chace.  I actually have a film agent shopping around the series and all I can say is that it’s going to be hard to find people to play these characters the way I see them in my head.  However, from what I hear, writers don’t get  a lot of say in who plays the roles.  So if it happens, I may just have to adjust my idea of exactly what my characters look like.

Where did the idea for Awake At Dawn come from, and could you tell us a little about the book?

Well, the idea of the paranormal camp came from my editor Rose Hilliard.  However, I’m what we authors call a character-driven writer, meaning a story doesn’t come to life for me until I have my characters in my head. For some writers, it’s the plot or the setting.  But not for me.   Before I started writing the book, I spent a good week taking a mental trip down Memory Lane and revisiting my youth.  I recalled all the things that were important to me at that age, all the issues I dealt with, and I used them to help me create my array of characters for the series.   So many of the issues I write about in the book are issues I lived through.  For example, my parents got a divorce, I was the wallflower at school, I loved a boy but wasn’t ready for the things he wanted, and I was dyslexic.  So the beginning inspiration really stemmed from Rose’s two-word idea, but the story didn’t start coming together until I fleshed out my characters.  So, I guess you can say that the inspiration came from a lot of my own life experiences.

What is next for you?
Well, I turned in the third book, Taken at Dusk, and a month ago and now I’m working on the fourth book in the series.  It usually takes me three to four months to write a book.   The book is not even titled yet, and I’m waiting for my editor to email and ask for title suggestions.  Yikes!  Now, she’s taken some of my suggestions and sometimes my suggestions will just help us brainstorm some other titles.  We usually just start emailing each other suggestions and one of her titles might help me think of another one.  The back and for the emails can go on for a week until we both hit upon one that we really like. Then we send a few that we like to the marketing department and they choose the one they like best.
 Maybe some of you guys can help me.  So far we have, Born at Midnight, Awake at Dawn, and Taken at Dusk.  I’m thinking of using something with the word sunrise.  It usually takes me three to four months to write a book.

Where can we find you online?

Website:  www.cchunterbooks.com
Blog: http://cchunterbooks.com/blog/
Twitter:  http://www.facebook.com/CCHunterFans
Facebook: http://twitter.com/#!/CCHunterBooks

I blog every Tuesday and host a lot of contests, so I’d recommend your readers stop by my blog on Tuesdays.

-------

Thanks so much, C.C. for taking the time to answer my interview questions.