Interview With Melissa Fox, Author of Wraith Redeemed

I’m delighted to welcome fellow Wild Rose Press author Melissa Fox here today for an interview and a look at her new paranormal romance, Wraith Redeemed. Don’t forget to enter below for a chance to win in Melissa’s giveaway!

Hi Melissa, so glad to have you here today. Tell us a little about Wraith Redeemed:

A second chance, lovers reunited story, with a demon-slaying hero who owns up to the fact he done the heroine wrong. He’s determined to earn her forgiveness—and save her life in the process.

Blurb:

Demon-slayer Conor O’Shea is about to engage in the most dangerous encounter of his life—facing the woman he scorned.

For years, Merry Bradbury’s world revolved around Conor O’Shea. After his sudden betrayal leaves her alone and heartbroken, she comes home to settle her past and move into the future. The last person she expects to see is Conor.

Conor never wanted anything more than forever with Merry. Discovering he is a Wraith warrior, honor bound to fight demons, destroys that plan. Merry is his Amorta, his one true soul mate, but he leaves to keep her safe from the evil that stalks him.

Eight years later, Conor’s worst fear is realized, and he returns to defend Merry from his enemies. Can he save her from an unspeakable fate and reclaim her heart? And if he does, will Merry be able to accept all that he is?

What are you working on now? Do you have any releases scheduled for this year?

WRAITH REDEEMED was released by The Wild Rose Press on February 15, and the second book in the Wraith series is contracted and undergoing final edits right now. WRAITH ENCHANTED is Jonas’s story, Conor’s good friend and fellow Wraith warrior. If all goes well, that should be released sometime in the fall, I hope!

How do you come up with ideas?

I pick up ideas from everywhere, and most of my stories start with the hero. I love me a good hero. One of my WIPs started life when I went to lunch with my husband, and while we were eating, one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen walked in with his friends. In a Coast Guard uniform. Everyone in the restaurant stared at him—patrons, staff, busboys. And I thought—hmm. What’s his story? What must that be like? What kind of girl could handle that kind of gorgeousness? Later that weekend, I had fifteen thousands words of an idea. Another grew from attending a criterium road bike race. A person on a motorcycle—the motor referee—leads the racers, and that caught my attention. How did he come to do that? What kind of qualifications and experience? Is it his own motorcycle? I’m asking all these questions about the motor ref, who looks all mysterious and in charge, while everyone else is cheering the racers. When I got home, I did some research, and later that weekend, I have the start of a story. I never know what will intrigue me and trigger my imagination.

Where do you start when writing? Research, plotting, character, or…?

I always seem to start with a character, a scene, or an emotion, something that triggers my imagination, my feelings of romanticism or conflict. Ideas first come to me in pieces and then usually a rush as everything starts fitting together. Research comes in later, when the characters insist on doing, being, or knowing something I don’t. I don’t write in order, make an outline and follow it from beginning to end. I get scenes in my head, characters talking, lamenting, cheering, and I write down the story they tell me. Plotting, planning, and arguing with them is so much fun.

What is the best thing about being an author?

Being able to experience emotions, places, and events all over again or for the first time. Falling in love, fighting, making up over and over. Imagining scenes and then making them come true. Living a fantasy and limited only by imagination. It’s hard, often heartbreaking and exhausting, but the personal fulfillment is priceless.

What did you learn from writing your first book or what do you wish you’d known before becoming published?

I’ve learned so, so much and keep learning every day, every manuscript, every experience. I’m constantly finding methods and tips to improve my writing and storytelling, so many I wished I’d known before my debut came out, but I’m grateful for each new bit of knowledge. Even my imagination couldn’t fathom all that is involved in writing a manuscript, the publishing process, editing, preparing, and marketing…Oh, the marketing…

What do you like to read?

I read everything. If it’s in front of me, if I find it interesting, I read it. My interests change with my mood. Sometimes I want a happy, light romance, sometimes intrigue, psychological suspense, a little horror, drama, intensity, I want to bawl, I want to laugh, I want to be scared and then be lifted and faith restored. I feel fortunate that there are so many talented writers out there to share those experiences and their imagination.

Who first introduced you to the love of reading?

My parents introduced me to reading. They both always had a book with them, especially my dad. He’s also a huge movie buff, so he introduced me to the love of storytelling in a more visual format. Books and movies were such a big part of my life growing up, as was the support of my parents in anything I did. They supported my voracious reading habit and addiction to getting lost in a good story, as well as my fledging writing all my life. They’re amazing people.

These are few of my favorite things:

1. My family, both immediate and extended

2. Evenings spent with good food, good drink, and good friends.

3. Getting lost in a good story.

Excerpt:

“Stay here,” Conor told her. “Don’t move, no matter what you see. No matter what happens, Merry. Stay right here.”

He waited until she nodded her assent before he turned. The woman hissed, and his shoulders rolled as he took a step toward her. Merry’s eyes grew round when long-bladed weapons appeared in his hands.

“Wraith,” the woman snarled, lowering herself into a half-crouch.

The wicked blades twisted in his hands to point in her direction. He took another step toward the redhead, unnaturally swift but pure and beautiful in his power.

“Go now,” he said in a quiet, even tone. “And I’ll let you live one more day.”

The woman’s attention left him for an instant to settle on Merry, her eyes narrowing with speculation. A slow, feline smile curved her red lips.

“You think you can protect her,” she purred. “How sweet. I’m going to find out if she is as delicious as she smells after I’m done with you.

Bio:

After being rationed books by my parents like most kids get rationed candy, I turned to writing to tide me over between fixes. Having lived in the suburbs of the Mid-West, desert of the Southwest, foothills of the Rocky Mountains, I’m now on an island in the Puget Sound with my husband and dogs.

You can find Melissa at:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

You can find Wraith Redeemed at:

Amazon.com

The Wild Rose Press

Giveaway!

Melissa is giving a lucky entrant one free copy of Wraith Redeemed in print or any e-format and a $25 Amazon gift cert.

To enter Melissa’s Rafflecopter giveaway

: Click Here :