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  • Q & A with Ann Denton

Q. Where were you born?

A. Albuquerque, Nuevo Mexico.

Q. What are your favorite books?

A. Growing up, my favorites were by Sherryl Jordan: Winter of Fire (before post-apocalyptic books were popular), and The Juniper Game. I was also a huge fan of Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword.  Wren to the Rescue was also re-read numerous times.

Nowadays, I love lots of genres.  My all-time but only read once favorites are: Outlander, Pillars of the Earth, The Poisonwood Bible.  My self-indulgent re-read again and again loves are Harry Potter, Twilight, The Selection, Throne of Glass, Garden Spells (or anything by Sarah Addison Allen) etc. I am also a huge fan of historical romance, cheesy as that sounds. I love romance when society gets in the way and there used to be so many ridiculous rules.

Q. If you went back in time, what era would you want to visit?

A. I think about this question a lot.  I really think I’d die in a lot of former time-periods. I am directionally challenged. I got lost in the tiny town of Sienna, Italy, with a map in hand.  I also can barely cook. Though I took an entire Costume design class in college, my sewing is atrocious. And I am no weapons expert. But if I could go back in time, I would.  And probably will via writing in my next series.

Q. What inspired the TimeBend books?

A. Ha. Well, international politics is probably the most boring but most true answer. I think that the biggest wars in the world today are ethnic battles waged based on differences in belief systems. I’m very interested in international news—I wouldn’t call myself a news junkie, but a junkie would never call themselves a junkie, would they? I think that ethnic warfare is glossed over in American news but it’s an issue we need to discuss/address. And of course, I’m not talking discussion in a boring, hum-drum way.  We can inject a little magic into the discussion to keep it interesting.  Here’s a link to a site I like to check that has a nice map of conflicts and decent summaries:  http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/.

Q. Do you have a process for writing?

A. Outline, re-outline.  Then write.  Get feedback.  Rip up the writing like it’s a Picasso and shove scenes around and chapters around.  Trash stuff people hate. Up the stakes. Every character needs to have skin in the game. I love the Snowflake Method: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/.

Q. What do you do in your free time?

A. I’m a SAHM with two kids under age five, so writing is what I do with my post-bedtime free time.  (Thank you to the creators of Melatonin. Ha.) Otherwise, I’m too busy cleaning marker off my couches or blueberries off the wall to have many other hobbies.  Although recently I’ve been coercing my four-year-old into art projects. I love painting and she seems to enjoy it.  Win!

Author Ann Denton

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