Blog Tour: Interview with Author Emily Rachelle

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Hey again! Today, I have the privilege of interviewing the delightful and talented Emily Rachelle, author of Sixteen, the book I reviewed on Saturday. See the review here.

All right to break the ice, let’s start with a random one:

If you could go back in time and pick your own name, what would it be? Or would you change it at all?

There was a time I would have wanted "Abigail May," but now, I'm quite happy with "Emily Rachelle."

Interesting. Both of the names are beautiful. Perhaps you could use Abigail May in a book someday. :)

How long have you been writing?

I tried my hand at writing from fourth grade through middle school, but I've only pursued it seriously since around seventh grade. So I'd guess around six years now.

Wow. That’s quite some time. No wonder you’re so good at it!

How’d you come up with this particular story?

There's several factors that were involved in my idea for Sixteen. One of these elements is common to all my books - dreams, not the daydreams or I-wish kind of dreams, but actual sleeping-head-on-pillow dreams. I had two dreams. Sometimes my dreams involve me as a 'character,' like the dream that inspired my Beauty and the Beast rewrite. One time I had a very elaborate dream in which I was a girl named Rachel living near the beach in a dystopian/communist America and dating a guy named Charlie. Anyway, these weren't like that - I was definitely me. I don't remember the first dream really well, except that I was excited. The second dream was vivid and a bit bizarre - it became the climax scene in Sixteen, actually.

That’s really cool! And that dystopian dream sounds quite interesting. Would make a great book, I think.

How long did you work on Sixteen?

The first draft took me about two weeks. The rewrites I think took around a month. The editing took way longer than intended.

Isn’t that always the way with that nasty little editing process?

What parts of the book really resonated with you as you wrote it?

The first time through, my favorite part was being inside Nikki's head. She's so different from me - it's like seeing life from a completely new point of view. The rewrites and editing, though, my favorite part was working on the romance. I always have and always will be a sucker for the love story.

That’s pretty cool. Writing from the point of view of someone so different can certainly open your eyes to other people’s perspectives.

Favorite part and favorite character?

My favorite scene is the excerpt shared earlier in this blog tour - and, actually, it's one of the newest scenes in the book. I didn't write it until the final round of edits. My favorite character changes - based on personality, Nikki; on who I'd want to hang out with in real life, Christy; on who was easiest to write, Nikki's dad.

Nikki did have a very cool personality. And Christy would definitely be cool to talk to.

Do you have any “murdered darlings?” Scenes from your book that you loved and had to cut?

Um... not really? Oh, wait! There's one scene that was The Big Important Scene in the first draft. For me, when I first wrote the book, the entire rest of the story was there solely to point to that scene. The final, published version of the book has a very shortened version of that scene. Honestly, it was too preachy and overbearing. Bored everyone to death, except me and my former youth pastor. I'm not exactly weeping over cutting it, although the younger me who first wrote the book would have put up a fight.

Interesting. Shows how much you’ve grown as a writer then, that you’re willing to cut stuff you love.

Final question, so let’s end this on a fun, random note:

Do you watch Doctor Who? If so, and you met the Doctor, where and when would you want to him to take you?

Oh yes! :D Fun time! Where: a different planet. When: Now! Okay, so obviously I know nothing about fictional planets or their history/futures/timeline/culture. Therefore, I have no idea what time I'd want to go to. I just know I'd love to planet-hop anytime!

Then again, there's one thing I've always wanted to know. It's one of those mysteries of history we as a planet have generally given up on ever solving. And it would go well with my curiosity of what it would be like to live in a past time period -- any past time period. So, on Earth, my destination would be Roanoke Colony. In fact, scratch planet-hopping. I want to know what really happened to the entire colony that vanished. In all seriousness, I think Moffat and Co. should write an episode about this. It's bothered me since third grade history.

That would be epic. You should email them or something, then help them write the episode and make a million bucks.

Thank you Emily Rachelle for coming over and subjecting yourself to my questioning!

Readers, if you’d like to get your own copy of Sixteen you can buy it on Amazon or Smashwords or try to win it over at her Giveaway.

About The Author:

Born in Panama, Emily Rachelle has traveled throughout the country and the world with her Air Force family. Currently, she lives with her parents and three brothers in middle Georgia. While Emily enjoyed reading as far back as she remembers, writing didn't come to her until she learned the forms of poetry and the basics of story in fourth grade. Since then, she's written scripts for homeschool dramas, poems for birthday presents, and stories for friends and family to enjoy. Sixteen is her debut into the professional world of words. You can find Emily at her blog, Emily Rachelle Writes, http://emilyrachellewrites.blogspot.com.

You can also find Emily on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LibraryThing.

Thanks again for coming Emily!