Curling Up With A Good Book: Rockstar Book Tours, Interview, & Giveaway: Grudging (Michelle Hauck)

Title: GRUDGING
Author: Michelle Hauck
Release Date: November 17, 2015
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse
Formats: eBook

A world of chivalry and witchcraft…and the invaders who would destroy everything.

The North has invaded, bringing a cruel religion and no mercy. The ciudades-estados who have stood in their way have been razed to nothing, and now the horde is before the gates of Colina Hermosa…demanding blood.

On a mission of desperation, a small group escapes the besieged city in search of the one thing that might stem the tide of Northerners: the witches of the southern swamps.

The Women of the Song.

But when tragedy strikes their negotiations, all that is left is a single untried knight and a witch who has never given voice to her power. And time is running out.

A lyrical tale of honor and magic, Grudging is the opening salvo in the Book of Saints trilogy.

Find it:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Michelle Hauck lives in the bustling metropolis of northern Indiana with her hubby and two teenagers. Two papillons help balance out the teenage drama. Besides working with special needs children by day, she writes all sorts of fantasy, giving her imagination free range. A book worm, she passes up the darker vices in favor of chocolate and looks for any excuse to reward herself. Bio finished? Time for a sweet snack.

She is a co-host of the yearly contests Query Kombat and Nightmare on Query Street, and Sun versus Snow.
Her epic fantasy, Kindar's Cure, is published by Divertir Publishing. Her short story, Frost and Fog, is published by The Elephant's Bookshelf Press in their anthology, Summer's Double Edge. She's repped by Sarah Negovetich of Corvisiero Literary.

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1. What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

I was between stories and looking for something new to write when I heard a song: Come Along by Vicci Martinez and CeeLo Green. Just about every major plot point in GRUDGING came from this song. I’m sure it’s not what the writer envisioned, but tons of ideas just popped into my head. “Friends, foes, God only knows,” makes for great inspiration and ultimately my title. “Dust settles, cities turn to sand.” Awesome stuff for an epic fantasy!

2. Who is your favorite character in the book?

Is this a trick question? Your main character is supposed to be your favorite, right? But I have four point of view characters and two main characters in GRUDGING. Like most epic fantasy, GRUDGING has a ton of characters. I like to switch things up, so I’ll not name any of the main characters. My favorite would be Beatriz, the mother of a main character. Beatriz gets to say whatever she likes. Sometimes she’s a little off focus, but when things get rough, she’s right on target. I guess I feel she’s the most like me at my current age. I love Claire and Ramiro, but they are younger me. I’m not one to look back and regret the younger me, so I go with the mother character.

3. Which came first, the title or the novel?

For me the title always comes later. As a pantser-type of writer, I usually don’t have much planned out for the middle or ending of a book. I fly by the seat of my pants and make it up as I go. It takes a few months to really get a feel for the story and characters, and come up with an eye-catching title. Lucky for me, Harper Voyager let me keep my title idea! Not every writer is so fortunate.

4. What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

I have to say the ending. I mean there are little paragraphs of description or inner thought where my editor put a note that it was well done. I’m proud of those small moments. And action scenes are difficult to write, so I like how they came out. But as a pantser who plans nothing, I’m pretty proud of the way the ending came together seemingly without effort. It’s hard to take four characters, each on their own character arc journey, and bring them all back around to exactly where you need them—at exactly the same time and have something to satisfy the reader. If I was going to brag, I’d say I got that in one take—to use a movie term.

5. Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you've learned as a writer from then to now?

When I started out, I can remember sweating over every sentence I wrote. It was so hard to make sure they varied structurally and length-wise. You didn’t want so many sentences in a paragraph sounding the same or starting the same. You didn’t want a bunch of sentences with boring verb choices, all full of was/were. Oh, how I worried over that, trying so hard to switch them up. All that comes naturally now. The best advice is to read often in your genre and to write, write, write. Practice does make … well, closer to perfect.

6. What do you like most about the cover of the book?

I like the mood the cover conveys. The Spanish-style helmet and sword all alone on the sand really gives it a feel of desolation, emptiness, and also possibility. Anything could happen or possibly already has …

7. What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2016?

That’s an evil question. There are so many to choose from. I’d have to say Peace Talks from Jim Butcher. I love the Dresden series so much and it’s so hard to wait for the next. I’m a total fantasy geek, especially where it comes to epic fantasy. I’m never without a book.

8. What was your favorite book in 2015?

Unexpectedly, I really enjoyed Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I say unexpectedly because I hated the first book, Red Rising. But the author managed to get me to do a complete turnaround on how I felt about the main character. That’s talented writing!

9. What’s up next for you?

The rest of this year and part of the next, I’ll be working on the second book of the Birth of Saints series, tentatively titled FAITHFUL. (Hopefully, HV will let me keep that title, too.) The first draft is half done, and I can say that the characters will be put in very bad places by the end of this book.

10. Is there anything that you would like to add?

I want to say thank you for having me on your blog, Beth. Book Bloggers are really heroes. They are so important to authors in helping spread the word. As a huge bookworm myself, I love people who love to read.

Also, if you like GRUDGING, there is a bonus chapter. A chapter was cut in editing that details what happens to the secondary character, Teresa. If you’d like a look at that, just sign up for my newsletter over at my blog.