Blog Tour Interview: Dark Promise by Julia Crane and Talia Jager

Title: Dark Promise
Author: Julia Crane, Talia Jager
Print Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Valknut Press
Release Date: July 28, 2012
ASIN: B008QI80MS
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Rylie has it all - great friends, dream boy, loving family. But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, her perfect little world shatters. A stranger claiming to be her real mother appears with a secret: Rylie is a faery whose powers will be unleashed on her birthday. Captured and forced into a new life, Rylie struggles to keep everything she loves and discovers a terrifying truth: some promises cannot be broken.

Interview

1) Hi Julia! Hi Talia! I am so excited to have y'all with us today. Could you both tell us a little about yourselves?
 
Julia: Well, I currently live in Dubai and love to travel. I have three children: two teenagers and a toddler. I'm addicted to coffee and carbs, but only eat carbs on the weekends. I've always dreamed of becoming a writer. It's still hard for me to believe I have seven books published. 
 
Talia: Thanks for having us. I'm married to a wonderful man, and we have six children. With all the drama that goes on in this house, I always have something to write about. We live in Texas. I'm more of a homebody. I like to relax by reading a book or watching TV. I love writing and have 7 solo books out plus 2 with Julia.
 
 
2) Could you tell us about Dark Promise?
 
Julia: Dark Promise was a lot of fun to write. Rylie's world goes from stable to unknown very quickly. She has a lot to deal with emotionally. She's in love with one boy, but promised to another. She finds out her parents are not her biological parents and that her real dad traded her for access to dark magick. That's a lot for a teenager to take in.
 
 
3) How did the idea for Dark Promise come about?
 
Julia: Talia had the idea and asked if I would be interested in writing the story with her. 
 
Talia: The beginning of the book just popped in my head one day. I asked Julia if she wanted to write it with me.
 
 
4) Are your characters based on anyone you know?
 
Julia: Not this time. I usually do use characteristics from people I know on my solo books. 
 
Talia: Not really. Sometimes I take a trait from someone I know in real life and use it on my characters. 
 
 
5) What is your writing process? (Do you right outlines? Do you know how a story is going to end when you start it? Is it harder to write with someone or alone?)
 
Julia: I'm a pantster. I write as I go and the ideas flow at odd times, usually while I'm doing the dishes or something else mundane. With co-writing, you can't really do that. So we discuss our ideas and compromise. It is faster to co-write, because we bounce ideas off each other. 
 
Talia: Usually I don't do an outline at all. I just sit down and write. With my fantasy or paranormal books, I seem to need a basic outline. Just an idea of what's going to happen when. Especially when time is different between the two worlds. I knew exactly how I wanted Dark Promise to end and I have a scene in mind for the second book. But, if there's a third book, I'm undecided. I love both Adam and Kallan. It's easy to write with someone else because somewhere I get stuck, and Julia knows exactly what to write. 
 
 
6) What is your favorite genre to read? 
 
Julia: I'm all over with reading. If I had to pick a favorite it would be psychological thrillers. I love the human mind. 
 
Talia: Young adult. I do read some medical thrillers and romance, but not as much.
 
 
7) What are you reading right now?
 
Julia: A perfect Evil by Alex Kava
 
Talia: I began helping my daughter understand A Separate Peace, so I'm reading that.
 
 
8) What can we be excited about that is coming from you in the future? 
 
Julia: In October I'll be releasing Lauren which is a spin-off from my series Keegan's Chronicles. Talia and I are also working on the second book in the Between Worlds series. 
 
Talia: I have a couple YA dramas started. One about cutting and a different about a teen searching for her biological father. Julia and I are in the middle of book 2 in The Between Worlds series.
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions!