Romance Week: Interview & Giveaway with Lisa Voisin

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

Today YA author Lisa Voisin is here for a quick interview and to share some information about her latest release, The Watcher (I will be reviewing it next month)!

1) Archaeology, angels and ancient history - oh my! How did you come up with such a combination for a young adult romance?
It's all a bit mystical, really. I've read up a fair bit about past lives and have done some regression work myself in this area, so, while this is fiction, the story itself evolved from some of those experiences.

Whether you believe in past lives or not, people claim to have had those kinds of experiences. I, too, have had experiences I cannot explain. I've felt connections to places and people that I cannot logically explain, but when I've taken a second look at those places in deep meditation, I have found ties to past lives.

And as for angels, well, people have reported experiencing them as well. When you read about angels and the idea that they may have once walked the earth, that must have been a long time ago. Since science hasn't proved their existence yet, I figured it would have been in a society we had no records of.

Most of all, the angels in my story aren't religious angels, not in the Christian sense. They represent spirit and potential, and I wanted to explore the idea of the spirit being on a journey here and the idea that a soul can be here on earth, reincarnating a long time.

So, I guess the idea just evolved from there.

2) What authors inspired you as a writer?

I've been inspired by many authors. Since I wanted to write since I was a child, every author I read growing up has inspired me. But without a doubt, I'd have to say Neil Gaiman inspired me most as a writer. I grew up on his Sandman series, and when his first novel, Good Omens, came out (co-written by Terry Pratchett), I wished I could write an adventure like that!

3) Based on the synopsis of The Watcher - I assume your characters believe in second chances, but do you believe in love at first sight or second chances?

I believe in both, I think. My conceptualization of love at first site has changed and evolved over the years. I've changed from the idealistic view that you can love someone the moment you meet them, to a place of sensing a connection to someone that goes much deeper than you know. That type of connection is profound. I have experienced it, though not with everyone. And it doesn't have to be the all-consuming "we must get married now" love. It can just be a sense of "I know you. I recognize you. It's good to see you again, my old friend."

As for second chances, I definitely believe in them! Anyone who tries to improve, to learn from past mistakes, and to atone for past transgressions has to believe in second chances. I don't believe in doing it blindly, but rather in trusting your own sense of what feels like the right thing to do.

In order to be willing to give someone a second chance, you have to be open to possibility, to forgiveness, and you have to have an open mind. Opening yourself up like that is risky, they could let you down, so you also have to have a sense of trust that goes very deep.

4) When you write, do you have everything planned out or do you just have a general idea of where you'd like to end up by the end?

I wish I could say I was one of those people who gets an idea and maps it all out. I'd like to think I'm evolving in that direction, but mostly, I have an idea, and I follow it like a thread to a story and let it grow from there.

That being said, I do roughly outline where I think I want to go, but as I get to know my characters and their choices better, the story may develop in a different direction than I planned. With THE WATCHER, I wrote very organically, which led to many revisions, and the story evolved in ways I didn't expect at first. With the second book, THE WARRIOR (working title), I knew where I wanted the story to go and wrote in that direction. I'm still revising that story, so I have yet to see how that process is working for me. 

5) Who is your favourite romance author and why?

Oh my! There are so many great romance authors out there. I tend to read romance that is more paranormal in nature, and I love YA too, so I'd have to say I'm fond of Kelley Armstrong and Cassandra Clare (her Mortal Instruments Series is filled with romance). Both write wonderful stories in amazing worlds, where I am so caught in the characters that I fall in love too. I find that no matter how great the story is, it's always the romantic elements and the relationship between the characters that keep me turning the pages.

6) If you could have dinner with five authors (dead or alive), who would you invite?

Wow! What fun that would be! Do poets and playwrights count?

I would want to invite Neil Gaiman, for sure. I'd also love to invite J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie and Oscar Wilde. I'd also need a few weeks to prepare by re-reading all their novels first.

If I could invite poets and playwrights, I'd also invite the Williams: Shakespeare, Blake, and Wordsworth. 

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About the Author:

A Canadian-born author, Lisa Voisin spent her childhood daydreaming and making up stories, but it was her love of reading and writing in her teens that drew her to Young Adult fiction. When she's not writing, you'll find her meditating or hiking in the mountains to counter the side effects of drinking too much coffee. She lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her fiance and their two cats. 

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