Ingrid Seymour is the author of Ignite The Shadows (Harper Voyager, February 2015). When she’s not writing books, she spends her time working as a software engineer, cooking exotic recipes, hanging out with her family and working out. She writes young adult and new adult fiction in a variety of genres, including Sci-Fi, urban fantasy, romance, paranormal and horror. Visit her here.
NAW- Tell us about your book, Keeper. How did you get the idea for the book series? How difficult (or easy) is it penning down a book series?
I got the idea for KEEPER while watching a documentary on television. The program was about Monarch butterflies and talked about their metamorphosis and their migration patterns. It got me thinking, “wouldn’t be cool if we could metamorph, too?” It all went from there. KEEPER features Morphids, a species of people who do just that.
On the second question, I thinking penning a series is challenging. Writing a standalone book is hard enough, everything has to jive and make sense within that particular book. With a series it gets even more complicated because now the author has to span consistency and logic across different stories. There is also the challenge of keeping all stories uniform in voice and style, as well as quality. Many times the first book is really good, while the others fail to hit the mark. So one more challenge is to make each one better than the last.
NAW- How long did you take to finish designing the plot? Do you outline the complete plot beforehand or write simply as the book progresses? How do you decide the title?
KEEPER is the second book I wrote and it took me 1 year to complete. I’m not an outliner. Brrr, just thinking about writing that way gives me the shivers. I’m more of a “gardener” or “pantser”, as many call the style. I sit down to write with a few high points in mind and just go at it. I let creativity take me where it will. My characters and plot surprise me all the time. It is what I love the most about the process.
As far as how I decide my titles, the question has multiple answers for me. Sometimes the name of the book just comes—no real way to explain that. Other times, I have zero. No ideas! When that happens, I like to brainstorm by writing down words that represent elements and themes from the story. Once I have a sizable list, I begin combining words to see what sounds good. When I find the right combination, it just hits me and then I know.
NAW- Tell us about the character of Greg Papilio. How did you develop the character?
Ahhh, Greg! I wanted him to be a stand-up, down to earth guy. To make him come across that way on the page, I made him a family kid who loves and respects his parents. However, this stand-up quality makes him a bit rash, so he tends to act first and ask questions later, if it means defending someone he loves. He has a pure heart and really knows how to love unconditionally. I love that boy!
NAW- Tell us about your other works.
I write in a variety of genres. I have a couple of contemporary New Adult romance books out and, of course, there is KEEPER which a YA urban fantasy. These are Indie published.
Next year, my first traditionally published novel comes out. It is titled IGNITE THE SHADOWS and it is about a teen hacker who joins a resistance combatting sentient parasites that threaten to take over the population, hiding the fact that she has already been infected and is fighting her own private battle for control of her mind. It will be published by Harper Voyager and it comes out April 23, 2015. I’m very excited about this series! It is suspenseful and action packed. You have to check it out.
NAW- Tell us about yourself. What do you do when you are not writing?
Well, I have a full time job, so I spend a lot of time programming computers and doing techie stuff. The biggest part of my life is my family, though. We are very close and do many things together. Then, when I’m not at work or spending time with the family, I like to exercise, read, watch movies and cook—especially exotic foods with many spices!
NAW- Please name your favourite poets. Are there any who you’d like to name as an inspiration?
I speak fluent Spanish so when it comes to poetry, this romance language rules! There is nothing more beautiful than a Pablo Neruda poem—even some of the translations are quite good. I always like a little romance in my books, so nothing like one of his love poems to get the mood going 🙂
NAW-What are you currently reading?
Currently, I’m reading THORN JACK by Katherine Harbour and THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater. I just love young adult 🙂
NAW- What will you be working on next?
At the moment, I’m working on revisions for IGNITE THE SHADOWS. I’m nearly done (yay!) After I’m done with that I will finish a YA horror that is about 80% done and I had to put on hold to work on revisions. Ahhh, if there only more time during the day!