Colorimetry welcomes Amy Lignor, author of Until Next Time
Amy, thank you so much for answering some questions!! Your book is so cutting edge, unique, I am excited to have you here today!!!
Can you share
something about where the ideas for your book came from? The Warrior/Angel Team
is so intriguing and I haven't seen that before.
I have to say
that I really love the fact that the ‘winged ones’ have come on strong and are
now trying to unseat the ‘fanged ones’ in YA fiction J
But when it came to Until Next Time, I really wanted to go in a
different direction. In the back of my
mind I was always wondering about the ‘fresh’ angels - not the ‘fallen.’ I just knew that they would have to come in
teams to this earth - one sent for protection and one sent for knowledge and
help.
When you look
around at all the trouble that teens - well, this whole world - is going
through, I was wondering if an angel might get jaded. Take an angel/warrior team who have trained
side by side with some pretty powerful
teachers, just to be placed into the mess we have here. Coming down as an innocent into a hard world
could make you change your mind pretty easily, and make you want to go back
home and simply say, “Forget it.” I
wanted to know what Emily and Matt would do when they ran face-first into
emotions like fear, love, heartache, anger - and how they would handle their ‘job’
versus their real life. This is newfound
freedom for Matt and Emily, so keeping their faith in each other in a world
that‘s trying to rip them apart was what really appealed to me.
You have a lot
of experience writing, what would you say to someone like me, who's got story
ideas and writes a lot, but doesn't know what to do to finish a book or get it
published? What is your favorite bit of advice to share?
Finishing a book
is difficult - always - because of the time factor. Jobs, school, life - everything takes time,
and by the time you get a free minute to write it’s usually time to hit the
sheets because you have to get up the next day to do it all over again. So my first piece of advice is to set aside,
even if you don’t feel like it, one or two hours where you can just sit in
front of a computer and simply go for it.
Even if you feel like you have writer’s block just write something;
I’m telling you, once you start the ideas will come. And when you’re out in the real world, carry
all those old supplies with you (LOL) like a pen and paper, because you never
know when you’ll get an idea. Polishing
a manuscript is absolutely necessary. I
have my own editing company for debut authors and I still have an
outside editor for my own work. And when
you get to that query letter and start emailing, make sure that the query
letter is short, sweet, to the point and has that one ‘hook’ that will make the
agents crave more. Most of all? Don’t give up. This is a career that includes a lot of
rejection, so be prepared to take the ‘no’ and move forward immediately.
Please share
something personal about you and your family, maybe a part of you that is in
your story?
I believed in
angels when I was thirteen and lost my grandfather. (No, I’m not going to go all metaphysical, or
anything J)
But I began to write then. I
began to sit in a room and just write about what it would be like where he
was. What the rooms looked like, and if
he and Grandma, who had already passed, were living in a home up there. Did they have a library? (Which was and is my favorite building). And were there other places to go, like maybe
a hallway of doors that opened into locales you would never even dream of. Some of these settings appear in the book
when Emily and Matt are at home hanging out and training with each other in the
‘pit,’ so I have to say those types of ‘images’ came when I was very
young. I was just waiting for that right
story to come along to incorporate them.
THANK YOU FOR COMING, AMY!!!!
Thank you for
having me!
Until Next Time,
Everybody.
Amy
The book:
Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 Summary
How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?
Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.
When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.
From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 Summary