Chronic insomniac Apryl Baker gets inspired to write while listening to music…we just hope this particular writing process doesn’t wake the neighbors! The author of The Bloodlines series shares here her journey to getting the new work published.
Snap…crackle…pop. The sounds of bones breaking and shifting and of muscles tearing haunt Alexandria Reed.
For the last five years, Alex has been locked up at Compton Academy, a “school” for the emotionally challenged. She calls it the politically correct way of saying they’re all nuts and Alex has no doubts she’s insane. She comes home to Jacob’s Fork to face the demons she left behind her after deceiving the doctors into believing she’s well. Soon after her arrival home though, news of her estranged mother’s death brings her uncle back into her life and she and her brother, Jason, learn a terrifying secret about their family.
After questioning her sanity for the last ten years, she discovers the night terrors she’s suffered for so long has become a reality. She and her brother are now being hunted because of the secret her family has killed to protect. Her world has been turned upside down, every belief she held true destroyed. Aided by her new friends, who have some dark secrets themselves, can she and Jason survive long enough to figure out the secret behind the secret?
YOUNG ADULT: What made you decide to start writing?
Apryl Baker: My dad told me I was writing stories since I was old enough to hold a crayon. He said I’d come up with these crazy adventures based on a few scraggly little lines I drew on a piece of paper. Writing is something I’ve always done. I used to make up stories in school with my friends starring in the main roles. They loved it. As I got older, I just kept writing. I love it and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t write down something, be it in my personal journal or for some other crazy idea I can’t get out of my head.
YA: Take us through a typical writing day for you.
AB: I try to set aside at least an hour a day to write, but typically I end up writing between the hours of 3am to 5am. I’m a chronic insomniac and my best ideas are born in the middle of the night listening to whatever suits the mood I’m in. I always encourage people to write to music. Music is an expression of thoughts and feelings, of emotions we don’t have an outlet for sometimes. It can inspire plot lines, it can cure you of writer’s block, or it can just soothe a tired mind. I love listening to Valora, My Chemical Romance, The Fray, Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and yes I adore One Direction. Their lyrics inspire some of my flirty writing!
YA: Can you describe the path to getting this work published? What were the challenges? What was easy about it?
AB: Getting published is hard. You have this great idea, you work for months on it until it’s finished. Then you decide to test the waters. I had the fortune of getting some great advice from an agent. They recommended an online writing group, www.thenextbigwriter.com. Those guys ripped my work to shreds. I almost quit the comments were so harsh, but I realized they were trying to help me. I met some really great writers on that site and I wouldn’t have had my books published without their help and support.
YA: What were your specific influences for this book? Films, literature, other stories?
AB: Music actually influenced this book, specifically Valora’s I Waited For You. The heartbreak in that song inspired so much of the darkness and the heartache in this story. Alex and Devon have spent their entire lives waiting for something, they just didn’t know what until they met each other. That song helped me sort through their pain and bring their story to life.
YA: If you hadn’t become an author, what path would your career have perhaps taken?
AB: Goodness, I have done so much in my life already. I am not someone who can just sit around all day. I actually work in retail management. I get to meet thousands of people. These people inspire me so much every day. If I didn’t write, I’d still be in retail. I love the people, I love the challenge of a sale, and mostly I just love meeting so many different people.