Thursday, August 23, 2012

Author Spotlight: Wynne Channing


WYNNE CHANNING


Wynne Channing is a national newspaper reporter and young adult novelist. Wynne loves telling stories and as a journalist, she has interviewed everyone from Daniel Radcliffe and Hugh Jackman to the president of the Maldives and Duchess Sarah Ferguson. The closest she has come to interviewing a vampire is sitting down with True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard (he didn’t bite). She briefly considered calling her debut novel “Well” so then everyone would say: “Well written by Wynne Channing.”

Connect with Wynne





Thank you Cami for hosting me on the What Kills Me Blog Tour! Really happy to be here.

Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?

In What Kills Me, a single moment destroys a 17-year-old girl’s entire life. Axelia suddenly finds herself alone, hunted, and well...dead. I wanted to convey this: bad things happen. You cannot control them and you cannot always avoid them. You can only endure. Bravery isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the guts to move forward despite it. And you are braver than you think.
Axelia must find the courage to face an army of vampires desperate to kill her. Let’s hope we never have the same bad luck.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I get writer’s block, like most writers. The toughest part is beginning.

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?

What Kills Me is my first novel. I wrote several when I was young...but they’re ridiculous. So by default, What Kills Me is my favorite. (Though, the sequel that I’m working on is pretty fun too.)

If you had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?

Honestly, I have no clue. If it were up to me, I hope that a new actress got to play Zee so you couldn’t associate her with anything else. I’m always a tiny bit sad when I see movie stars in literary adaptations — it’s not how I pictured the character in my mind...

When did you begin writing?

I think I was writing stories before I could form words. I drew a lot of picture books.

How long did it take to complete your first book?

Six months. Then I hid it away for a year, unsure of what to do with it.

Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?

Oh, so many. Roald Dahl. Stephen King. Christopher Pike. Jane Austen. As a kid, I made myself blind from reading in the dark instead of going to sleep.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?
When my character says something that makes me laugh. Awesome.

Describe your latest book in four words.

A fight for survival.

Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?

I am a feature writer at a national newspaper so I’m writing articles every day; I’m currently preparing for the madness that is the Toronto International Film Festival next month which is non-stop interviews with stars, movie-watching/reviewing and writing. When the film fest is over, I will get back to writing the sequel to What Kills Me, due out next summer.





What Kills Me is now $.99 on Amazon and Smashwords


About the book: An ancient prophecy warns of a girl destined to cause the extinction of the vampire race. So when 17-year-old Axelia falls into a sacred well filled with blood and emerges a vampire, the immortal empire believes she is this legendary destroyer. Hunted by soldiers and mercenaries, Axelia and her reluctant ally, the vampire bladesmith Lucas, must battle to survive. How will she convince the empire that she is just an innocent teenager-turned bloodsucker and not a creature of destruction? And if she cannot, can a vampire who is afraid of bugs summon the courage to fight a nation of immortals?





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