Tuesday 26 February 2013

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - MELODY MANFUL

What is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?

Melody Manful is the name, born Ghana, and lives in Denmark, a country in Europe.

Did you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
I remember I wanted to be superman once, and then I wanted to be a pirate haha… but I've always loved to write so I always come back to it, and becoming an writer was a leap of faith I’m glad I took.

When did you first consider yourself as a "writer"?
I still don’t consider myself as a writer, maybe when my second book comes out I will, but right now it’s all… ‘Oh, look mom, I wrote a freaking long a** book! Like I really wrote a book!’ haha you should have seen me when I got the first print copy of Dominion, some shouting was involved, and some people were annoyed.

What is the name of your latest book, and if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
Dominion is a story of a young girl, Abigail, whose life changed when she found out that guardian angels existed.

Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
At the moment, I’m working on the sequel to Dominion, which will take off right after the events that happened in the first book.

What genre would you place your books into?
I’ll place it in the paranormal YA fantasy pile, because there are some angels involve.

If you had to choose to be one of your characters in your book which would you be? And why?
I’d like to be Valoel, because I’ve already got the annoying sister thing down, I should know, because I have a brother and sister who are always telling me this! And also because I think her character is interesting.

Where do you get your book plot ideas from? What/Who is your inspiration?
The idea for Dominion came from stories my late grandmother told as a child. I took some inspirations from her stories, and others from things I’ve seen and heard.

Do you have a certain routine you have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?
I don’t have a special chair, if the coach and my bed counts then yes, I do. Music, is my special routine, I either turn the volume too high up that I don’t hear anything, or, I put on some earphones and disappear into my own awesome world with guns and angels, and lots of troubles.

Do you choose a title first, or write the book then choose the title?
The book came before the title! I changed the title of Dominion, it was original called Guardian Angels, but I found it didn’t do the content of the book justice, and it was too obvious.

How do you come up with characters names and place names in your books?
I just wing it. I heard the name Tristan in the movie Star Dust, and have loved it since then. Gideon’s name I came up with, because I knew it meant destroyer from childhood Sunday school. And Abigail’s name came from an angel I met when I went to boarding school. The rest of the characters, I just wrote whatever name popped up and went with it.

Do you decide on character traits (ie shy, quiet, tomboy girl) before writing the whole book or as you go along?
I decided where I wanted the main characters to go before I started writing, meaning Gideon, Tristan and Abigail, but Abigail’s story kind of changed in the process. As for the other characters, I wrote them as I went along. Valoel however was in a whole category of her own, before I even started the story.

What do you do to unwind and relax? Do you have a hobby?
Yeah, this sometimes involves a wii, a rerun of an old football match, preferable one that Barcelona was involved, or an action movie of some sort. Sometimes, I just hang out with my friends and we sing karaoke on YouTube or go out to a cafĂ© or shop. Other times, I decide to shop online for shoes I don’t even need, because I’m a sucker for heels!

Where can readers follow you?

Your Web Site:
Your Facebook Page:
Your Twitter Details:
@melodymanful

No comments:

Post a Comment