{Interview/Giveaway} Danielle Ellison, Author of STORM

Danielle Ellison is from a small town in West Virginia. She spent her childhood pretending to fly, talking to imaginary friends, and telling stories. She hasn’t changed much since then. You can still find her pretending to work, talking to imaginary characters, and writing stories.

When she’s not writing, Danielle is probably drinking coffee, fighting her nomadic urges, watching too much TV, or dreaming of the day when she can be British. She is the author of five upcoming novels and you can find her on twitter @DanielleEWrites.

Author Links:

An interview with

Danielle Ellison

Five words to describe STORM

Magic gets deadly—plus kissing.

How did you come up with the title?

This was a long process, actually! It had like four titles, and then as I kept revising and figuring out the story, the titles didn’t fit anymore. I wanted it to be an “S” if it could, and a shorter one-word title. We tried everything! One day, I was texting with my cover designer/friend and I outlined this problem so she could help brainstorm a title. Literally, less than a minute later, she said, “What about STORM?” and it was immediately the answer. It actually fit pretty perfectly with the story.

Pen and Carter are Enforcers, witches that hunt demons and keep humans safe. Do you have what it takes to be an Enforcer?

No way! I’m more of a “let’s watch TV and eat buffalo dip” than a “let’s go kill some demons.” I’d maybe try, but I’d not make it. I always tell my friends that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, just throw me to them and run. I think this would be the same.

How did your experience writing this book compare or contrast with writing the first book, SALT? Did you find writing a sequel to be harder or easier?

Writing a sequel is definitely harder—especially when the book has to wrap up a series too. With SALT, it was a more straightforward, world-building, one girl’s journey through this particular aspect of her life. Storm is dual POV with Carter and Penelope—and obviously the stakes have to be higher, the struggles bigger because of what happened, and still resemble parts of Salt that people loved. And I also had to make Storm accessible to new readers who haven’t read Salt! So it was definitely harder, but I hope readers still love it too.

Is there a song you could list as the theme song for your book, or any of your characters?

I’m going to say “Flirtin’ With Disaster” by Molly Hatchet. I wrote the whole book listening to the Supernatural (tv show) Pandora and using the coffitivity app, which makes everything sound like you’re in a coffee shop.

Song is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3afKw_mcY

What’s one thing in STORM that you hope readers will be most excited about?

Carter’s POV because I think readers will be surprised to see more of who he is—and that STORM has more Poncho and Vassago, two characters nearly every reader commented on wanting more of!

~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title: STORM

Author: Danielle Ellison

Release Date: Sept. 29, 2014

Publisher: Entangled Teen
Buy Links:
Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books

SUMMARY:

Up until recently, Penelope was a witch with no magic. After having it stolen by a demon when she was just a child, Penelope had been forced to rely on sharing others’ powers as she went through the grueling training required to become an elite demon hunter. Now Penelope has more magic than she’s ever known. And when you’re this powerful, who needs salt to keep the demons away?

But power has a dark side.

Carter Prescott just wants to hunt demons and be with Penelope. But suddenly, witches who formerly had no magic are developing terrible, out-of-control powers. Now the world Carter swore to protect isn’t just endangered by malicious demons―it’s threatened by the same witches who once defended it. And Carter is horrified to see his girlfriend starting to change. Stronger. More powerful. Unrecognizable. It’s just a matter of time before Penelope changes into something far beyond his worst fears...