Friday, May 4, 2012

Lani Woodland Author Interview


Book Nerd Interview

Lani Woodland has been an avid reader since elementary school when she first discovered the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins series. In sixth grade she began writing plays and recruiting (with force when necessary) her friends to act them out. Most of these early works were inspired by She-Ra, the epitome of girl power to her young self.

She graduated from BYU with a BS in Family Science. Lani has always loved scary stories, and has a hard time enjoying any book without at least a little romance in it. She lives in Southern California with her husband, their two children and a large collection of board games. She has worked as a spot-welder, babysitter, janitor, photographer, gymnastics coach, and movie extra. She enjoys bonfires at the beach, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, speed talking, chocolate as a cure-all, and the word "precisely".


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What was the greatest thing you learned at school? 

That I really enjoyed writing. In sixth grade we were asked to write some descriptive sentences. That one assignment helped me discover my love of writing.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? 

I wanted to be an interior decorator but that dream changed in high school. That was when I started dreaming of becoming an author.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Enthusiastic, determined, dreamer.

What is the hardest part of writing? 

Staying motivated. Sometimes editing or figuring out how to weave different parts of the plot can be hard, but once you move past that, writing is such a wonderful and fun thing to do! There is nothing like reading a scene you wrote and loving it. ☺

What part of Indelible did you enjoy writing the most? 

I really enjoyed writing the scene between Yara’s dad and Brent.

What was your inspiration for the series? 

I got the idea for the series when I visited the Queen Mary. It’s an old Ocean Liner in Long Beach that is now a hotel/museum. It was rumored to be haunted and the first idea of Yara’s story was planted when I saw the creepy first class pool.

Aside from Yara, which of your characters do you feel has grown the most since Intrinsical? 

I think Cherie has grown. She is still really into the paranormal but has learned to temper that enthusiasm with some good old-fashioned caution.

What’s one thing that readers would be surprised to find out about Yara? 

That her Brazilian heritage and name were changed really late in
the editing process. Her name was originally Abigail.

Why do you feel you had to tell this story? 

Yara’s story really spoke to me, as did the storyline. We all have things we wished we didn’t inherit from our parents; hers was a supernatural ability. Also, I love ghost stories.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie? 

If I answer that, won’t I be lying? ☺ I don’t mean to lie but I can never truly answer the question about which is my favorite book. I don’t have one. I have loads of books I love but not one favorite.

What is the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book

I had a pretty big plot twist in Intrinsical. I kept thinking, “How am I going to top that?” I finally decided that I wasn’t going to. With that decided, I worked as hard as I could to simply make Indelible the best book I could.

If you could have written one book in history, what book would that be? 

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. I’m not exactly sure what it is about that book, but I love it.

What's the loveliest thing you have ever seen? 

Watching my children sleep when they were babies.

Favorite food? 

Mexican food. Yum!

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing? 

I don’t have a laptop so my favorite place is at the computer in my living room.

Favorite Cartoon? 

My favorite cartoon is probably Beauty and the Beast. When I was a kid it was probably the Smurfs. It used to bug me though that Smurfette only had one dress.

Where can readers stalk you? 

I’m on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/LaniWoodland and Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lani-Woodland/1291563668.



Yara is beginning to understand just how much her life will change now that her Waker abilities have emerged. She has come to terms with the fact that seeing ghosts is part of her life, but she isn’t ready to let being a Waker dictate her choices. All she wants is a ghost-free senior year with her boyfriend, Brent, and her best friend, Cherie. But Yara soon discovers that there are more dark secrets in her school’s history than just the curse she broke. While an angry ghost makes Yara question everything she thought she knew about spirits, she and Brent learn that there are long reaching consequences to last year’s adventures. As new enemies emerge and old ghosts resurface, Yara finds herself in the center of another deadly mystery, and this time she has to contend with the living as well as the dead.


Lani Woodland’s Indelible is a wonderful sequel to Intrinsical of The Yara Silva Trilogy. This YA paranormal romance is packed with mystery, suspense, and ghostly action. The second book takes us back with Yara and Brent who have returned at Pendrell Academy for their senior year. With the capture of Thomas and the curse broken, this year will be different for them. However, that did not last long as Yara discovers more about herself and her abilities. Coming back from the dead entails her to tackle new fears and meet head-on with new enemies. It ultimately leads to Yara making a life or death choice that will change her life.

The pace of this incredible adventure is just right and enough to have my interest levels reach new heights. It seemed like each mysterious clue just lead to another clue. Lani’s brilliant writing style will have readers guessing through its entirety. The plot is flourishing and elaborately interlaced to make a very unique story. The development strategy thatLani uses on her characters is remarkable. They felt legit and their relationships were just as real. Lani has moved the notch on this trilogy way up high with Indelible and it prepared itself for the third and final installment.

The Yara Silva Trilogy is forming to be an amazing series. Indelible is just as good as Intrinsical and is definitely a must read. The reader is exposed to more action, mystery, and character development. Lani’s writing style is gripping and instantly hooks the reader. When the last page is turned, a feeling of wanting more naturally comes and readers will have a hard time waiting for what is next for Yara and her friends.


You can purchase Indelible at the following Retailers:
    


And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you Lani for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive an Indelible Swag by Lani Woodland.
(Postcard, Bookmarks, Bracelet & Tattoo).
2 Winners will received one Bookmark by Lani Woodland.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

29 comments:

  1. I have always wanted to spend the night in a haunted house. :)

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  2. I love 5 miles from the gas station used in the original Texas Chainsaw Masacre movie! Talk about scarey.

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  3. I saw a ghost T-shirt shape floating down the hall one night when I was little.

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  4. Thankfully I have never nor do I ever want to see a ghost!! Thanks for the wonderful giveaway.

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  5. I'm the kind of person that has to see it to believe it. I've never had any sort of ghosty experience, so I don't believe in them.

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  6. Unfortunately, I don't have any ghost stories to share, but the paranormal has always intrigued me.

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  7. I always thought that my grandfather's house was hunted! Once in a while, at night, past midnight, you can hear some plates crash the floor, the chairs been move, and all, but in the morning nothing was moved or broken! :S (ileana-rafflecopter)

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  8. My grandparents own a farm with a cemetery next to it.

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  9. I've never seen or felt a ghost before, and hope I never have to! Ghosts are scary, as because they're invisible, you have no idea if they are there or not.

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  10. when i was a kid i saw a old guy in a military uniform standing in our bathroom.
    thanks for the giveaway :)

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  11. It always freaks me out when I'm in an old house and the floorboards above me creek. It always makes me think that there are restless ghosts around me! x

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  12. When I was about 9, we had a couple weird things happen in our apartment. Our Christmas tree shook for no reason. Another time a roll of paper towels was thrown off the top of the fridge. All very strange.

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  13. I don't really have any ghost stories. :( Thanks for the giveaway!!

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  14. I don't really have one.


    sry

    thanks for the giveaway

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  15. when i was kid i and my younger brother one midnight we both saw a little(but scary)girl sitting on the headboard of our parents bed and giving us an evil smile we both were scared so badly that we couldn't sleep without mom for around a week

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  16. I overheard a conversation that my grandfather and my mom had once. The thing is he passed away probably 20 years before that. I asked her about it, and it really scared her. I didn't understand it either, but it was weird.

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  17. I was living in one of the oldest houses in town when I was 14, the basement had recently been redone & we would always hear noises from down there after the workers had gone home. My bedroom was in the very back of the house, and the only other room back there was a spare bathroom that I used. One night in the summer, I fell asleep with my light on, my window & door both closed & locked and a hardcover journal open with a pen in between the pages to hold my place. Something, some noise, or a feeling woke me up suddenly and the pen was laying next to the book and the book was now closed, add this to the fact that my light had somehow been turned off and I refused to ever sleep in that room again.

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  18. I have one but it is way to long to tell.

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  19. *Fan girl shrieks* I love Lani Woodland! I so want to win this!

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  20. Unfortunately, I don't have any ghost stories to share. Thank you for the giveaway! :D

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  21. I don't really have any ghost stories. Well nothing I experienced myself anyway and I really want to keep it like that. :)

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  22. I don't have any ghost stories.... but we think our apt might be haunted... our light bulbs are constantly going out within days of putting them in. And we get the GOOD light bulbs too!!

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  23. I never had any scary stories, but once i had this super scary dream. The scary part was when i thought everything was over and then in the 5 years later thing there was the ghost eating my baby brother and telling me that she has been waiting for me.
    I'm not good with scary stories sorry:D

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  24. After my grandfather died the lamp in my room started to flicker, I used to think it was him letting me know he was there with me. :)

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  25. No stories... thankfully! I'm easily creeped out.

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  26. No stories but I love reading them!

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  27. I don't have any ghost story to share... I think that if I would ever seen a ghost, I would be already dead by shock LOL

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  28. Actually I had one :) My friend and I were visiting another town and on our way to the train station we came by an old building which had a tourist kiosk in it on the first floor and while we were deciding what to buy the guy from the second floor came and asked us if we believed in ghosts and told us the story of this exact building, that it was hounted and its story was shown on TV and so on. Well, I don't really believe in ghosts but he was so convincing that we almost believed it was true.

    That was creepy!

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  29. my bf's parents' house is haunted. there's an element/spirit living in his bedroom but doesn't bothers anybody (i hope it will never ever bother anybody in the future) and a ghost of an old carpenter who died during the construction of their house.. yikes!

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