Recently the lovely Aimee Shaye and I got to talking and I got the opportunity to interview her. Be sure to read the whole interview to get an exclusive first look at her new cover for Destroyed!! The first book in her Chronicles of the Seven Sons series.
“I am many things but normal is not one of them,” says Aimee Shaye when asked to describe herself. She is a twenty-three year old novelist whose genres include Dark-Fantasy, Romance, Erotic Romance, Science-Fiction, and Steampunk. When asked what drives her, Aimee says, “The world around me. The people I know. The love I have gained. The pain I have endured.” Though young, Aimee has experienced many things that she believes no one (man or woman) should ever have to endure, and as a result of that she has turned her pain into liquid words that fill the pages of her books, novels, novelettes, and short-stories.
Aimee Shaye and I became friends early in in my Indie Author journey and I'm very glad that we did. She has been a good friend to me. She's helped me wit promotion, helped me when I've gotten stuck and we've talked about many things outside of writing. I can't wait to see what's in store for us and hope to meet her someday soon!!
Interview
What is the last 5-star book you read? The last five star book I read was Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.
What is a typical day for you? A typical day for me, starts off with me waking up at 6am, heading to work until 5:30pm, coming home to play with my three year old nephew, talking to my fiancé, and then writing after dinner before showering and heading to bed just to do it all over again the next day.
Tell us about your main series, The Chronicles of the Seven Sons. The Chronicles of the Seven Sons is my baby. The first book in this series was actually my debut novel. I started writing Destroyed (Chronicles #1) when I was fourteen years old in English class (my 9th grade English teacher still has the first scene ever written). The series itself is dark-fantasy mixed with Greek Mythology. It centers around seven immortal men born in Ancient Greece. The Greek Fate goddesses were mere teenagers when they wrote the prophecy of the Seven Sons in order to show their father, Zeus, that they were capable of helping him with his job. Each of the Seven Sons was tortured and experimented on by Hades, in turn becoming the first of their kind (demi-god (created instead of born), dragon, broken shade, werewolf…).
What inspires you? The world around me inspires me. I could hear a certain sound or song or conversation and immediately start thinking of the next idea for a new book (that’s the reason I have 20 WIPs right now).
How do you find/make time to write? It’s one of the only ways for me to wind down at the end of the day. So I have an alarm on my phone that goes off at different times every night (it depends on how my schedule looks and takes into account who’s cooking dinner—me or mom?).
What are your plans for future projects? I have so many future projects! There will be a spin-off series of The Chronicles of the Seven Sons titled “The Hunters of the First Order.” This book spins off from where “86” (Chronicles #2) left off with the Hunters of the First Order (I refuse to spoil why).
Who are your favorite authors and/or books? There are definitely too many books to put on here so I’ll put it this way: I collect books by authors and all of those books happen to be my favorite. Those authors are: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Nicholas Sparks, Melissa De La Cruz, James Patterson, VC Andrews, Anne Rice, and William Shakespeare (Just to name a few).
What is the hardest part of being an author for you? The hardest part of being an author for me is finding time for marketing. Because I have a day job, it makes it hard to find so much time to write and promote. So I usually only market my books when I’m close to a release date.
What is your favorite part of being an author? My favorite part about being an author is being able to write the stories that I want to read. There are so many stories that people can tell but don’t, so I make it a point to tell the stories I want told. Being an author also helped me to heal after the emotionally abusive relationship I was in. I was able to take everything from my past experiences, put them down on paper, and publish them for others to read and learn from.
Do you listen to music at any point during the writing process? If so, what kind? Of course I do! I listen to rock (Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park, Skillet), pop (Backstreet Boys, NSync, Jesse McCartney), and country (Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Little Big Town).
What do you enjoy reading? I will pick up any book as long as it has a catching synopsis. I can read anything from horror to comedy.
What other things do you like to do besides reading and writing? Not many people know this, but I enjoy dancing. In fact, I am half Guyanese so I grew up listening to Bollywood music and am a self-taught dancer. My family thinks I should go on America’s Got Talent, but dancing is just a hobby, not something I want to do professionally.
Exclusive Cover Re-Reveal!!
And here, for your enjoyment, is the new cover for Aimee's first novel, Destroyed!! The first book in The Chronicles of the Seven Sons!!
Isn't it awesome?? Be sure to visit Aimee Shaye's website and Facebook page!! Thank you so much to Aimee for joining us today. Thank you for reading this interview and I hope you enjoyed it.