Romance Week: Interview & Giveaway with Maria V. Snyder

For those looking for Adult Romance posts for Romance Week - hop on over to Aislynn's blog - she has author Genevieve Graham with a guest post and giveaway!

Today YA author Maria V. Snyder is stopping by for a quick interview. The second novel in her Healer Series, Scent of Magic, just recently released on December 18, 2012. You can check out an excerpt here.

1) Touch of Power has such an adventurous feel to the story, what made you decide to add the romantic element to the Healer Series?

All my books have a touch of romance in them and for me it adds to the story and characters.  Even with all the magic and intrigue and action and suspense, there is still time for two characters to fall in love.  And I see their relationship as a partnership.  They find someone who they can trust wholeheartedly and who can be counted on to help them.  That is, when they’re around. Lol -  I have a tendency to split couples up and send them in opposite directions, which creates more conflict and tension.

2) How did you come up with your character names for the Healer Series?

Before I write a new novel, I browse through my favorite baby name book (From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names) and chose ones that catch my eye and mean something fitting for that character.  I find one girl name and one boy name for each letter of the alphabet so I don’t confuse my readers.  When I went through for Touch of Power, I found Kerrick’s name which means Chief Hero (perfect – right?).  I wanted to use the name Ava for my healer (it means Life), but I’d used that name for a short story titled Sword Point.  I started writing the book using Lexa as my main girl, but it sounded too modern.  I returned to Ava and tried various spellings and found Avery.  Not wanting her to be confused for a man, I changed the spelling to Avry.  Avery means Elf Council.   Btw – I used Lexa for my short story titled, The Coldest Game, which I wrote while working on Touch of Power.

Belen’s name means An Arrow, Loren’s is Crowned with Laurel (I originally had his name as Vinn, but thought it was too close to Finn from Spy Glass), Tohon’s means Cougar, and Quain’s means Clever (this one doesn’t quite fit him).  Flea’s name was the nickname of my son’s friend, Ben.  Ben played soccer with my son and was the youngest/smallest member of the team, but he was fast so the other boys called him Flea.  I liked it.

3) If you were stranded on a deserted island, what five books would you want with you?

I know this question is for me to name my five favorite books that I’d read over and over, but since I’m very practical, I’d say I’d want three survival books with me, a book on how to use the plant life for medicines, and a blank journal so I can write my thoughts down. :)  I’m not big on re-reading books and while I have my favorites, I rarely read them twice.

4) If Hollywood optioned one of your series into a movie, which series would you hope to see on the big screen and who would you want to play the lead characters?

I think of all my series, the Insider books would best translate to the screen.  For Trella, the actress would have to be small and petite in order to be able to fit into the ducts and pipes of the world, and Riley needs to have black hair and blue eyes.  Both should be young. As for which actor and actress, I’ll have to let others pick them.  I see so few movies and TV shows, that I don’t know the younger generation of actors.

5) What are you writing at the moment? Can you give us a sneak peek into your current WIP?

I’m working on book 3 of my Healer series, Taste of Death.  It’s due to be released in December 2013.  In this book, Avry and Prince Ryne clash over their differences in opinions.  The war isn’t going well for Prince Ryne.  Cellina has taken over Tohon’s army of the dead and plans to finished what Tohon started.  And there’s a new enemy called the Skeleton King who is planning on taking advantage of the chaos and he has a taste for death. ;>

6) What is your favourite Valentine's Day tradition? Chocolates, dinner out, mushy cards?

My husband and I used to go out to a fancy restaurant with a few other couples each year, but the last few years we’ve been so busy!  Hmmm…I need to fix that. :)

Thank you for inviting me to be a part of Romance Week.  If your readers would like more info about me and my books, I have the first chapter of all my books on my website as well as a number of free short stories they can read (including stories with Yelena, Valek, Ari and Janco).  You can find the excerpts here.    

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About the author:

Maria lives with her family and a black cat name Valek (a.k.a. the bug assassin!) in Pennsylvania where she is at work on another book and/or a short story (yes this is purposely vague - as you can see, Maria is very busy and updating her website takes time that she just doesn't have. Oh, all right, but if this information is out of date, don't blame Maria :)

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