If you missed my review, you can catch up on that HERE.
Be sure to leave a comment after the interview for a chance to win the entire set of Tamporlea ebooks!!! Giveaway details are at the bottom of the post.
Tamporlea
Tiffany Lovering
GL: Everyone has to do it… Please give us your introduction!
Tiffany: Well, let’s see, I’m a 30 year old single mom from upstate New York. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember but just recently decided to put my work out there because my daughter begged me to. I spend most of my time reading and working on different crafts like scrapbooking.
GL: Now, tell us all about Tamporlea.
TL: Tamporlea is about a 17 year old girl, Jasmine, who is faced with the decision of becoming Queen of a magical gypsy kingdom called Tamporlea. The trilogy takes you on her journey of making that decision and implementing changes to benefit both the kingdom and her. Tamporlea faces a war and betrayal amongst their people and some of Jasmine’s decisions are more controversial than anything that’s happened in the kingdom’s history.
GL: What inspired you to begin writing Tamporlea?
TL: I had taken a photo of a small mountain in Vermont several years ago that I had stumbled upon. For some reason it just really sparked some creative energy and I started thinking of characters, Orion was the first. I’ve had many ideas over the years, but what made me actually decide to complete this project was that my daughter really wanted me to finish it and see it published.
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| The inspiration for Tamporlea. Isn't it serene?? |
TL: My characters are never specifically based on anyone I know and I just let them develop as I write. However, I base relationships off of real life quite often. For example, Jasmine’s close relationship with her mom is based off of my relationship with my daughter.
GL: Which character was the most difficult for you to develop?
TL: Jasmine because she is a very strong girl but she seems to be contradicting herself all the time. Right up to the very last line of the trilogy, I was frustrated with Jasmine’s character because although she wants to do the best she can for Tamporlea, she’s also very selfish.
GL: I’m a big sucker for animals in stories. What inspired Casper’s character?
TL: I love animals so much and I think that they feel what their owner is feeling. I think that bond is beautiful and so innocent compared to human interaction. The relationship between Jasmine and Casper was completely inspired by my love of animals.
GL: I think animals (particularly pets) always add that little something extra to the story--an extra bit of heart.
GL: Who designed the beautiful cover?
TL: Laura Feher is my designer and she is amazing. I found her through another author who had a wonderful cover. She’s quick to respond and somehow she knows exactly what I am thinking even with my poor descriptions. There are usually just a few changes to her first draft and then the cover I had in mind is created.
GL: It is amazing (as is the Unjust cover!)!! And, green is my FAVORITE color! ;-)
GL: Did you hit any roadblocks along the way, either while writing or during publishing? How did you overcome those?
TL: I encountered quite a few roadblocks in the beginning. My first mistake was thinking that I could actually control my characters and make them do what I want. HA! I think there comes a point while writing where you just have to write and not think about the outline as being the only way. Once I came to that realization, Tamporlea flowed pretty well.
GL: I read that you donate 10% of the proceeds from your sales to charity. Is this true? What organization(s) do you support?
TL: 10% of profits from Tamporlea were to go to the Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando Florida (WROH Florida) because the “Lea” part of Tamporlea was the name of a beautiful lion I fell in love with from WROH. Unfortunately, WROH is closing very soon so I am waiting to see where Lea goes and 10% will go to that organization.
I donate 10% of profits from all of my books to different organizations that usually go along with the book in some way. Here’s the breakdown where my current 10% goes to:
Tamporlea- Wherever Lea the Lion is rehomed.
Unjust- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Reunification – Any Soldier which sends care packages to soldiers overseas who have little or no family to send them letters, care packages and support.
Alone- End Physical Punishment of Children (EPOCH-USA) and Coalition for the Homeless
GL: I totally understand how difficult it is to squeeze in writing when you are a mom. How do you manage to get any work done? Do you have a specific routine or do you just grab any second you have?
TL: My daughter, Allison, is 9 years old and it was actually her idea that I start publishing my books, so she actually doesn’t mind me writing during the day. That being said, I don’t want to take too much time away from her so I end up writing late at night after she’s in bed. I’m usually awake until 3am. It’s less of an issue when she is in school because I can just write while she’s there, but over the summer, coffee became my midnight snack.
GL: Do you have any advice for authors who are considering self-publishing?
TL: Be organized and set goals. While writing, set a goal for the day (mine is 5000 words per day). Try to stick to a schedule for writing, marketing and editing. Also, never write and edit in the same day because they use different parts of the brain and you’ll easily miss things you wouldn’t normally miss.
GL: What are you working on now? Do you have any other books/writing that you would like to tell us about?
TL: I am working on several things right now. My next novel is unnamed but is about a girl in college who is a little too obsessed with her boyfriend. I’m also working on a Gilmore Girls Facts/Quiz book. My most ambitious project currently is a choose your own adventure horror novel for teens that will be around 1000 pages and will have several storylines.
GL: Choose your own adventure? How fun!! I can’t wait to check that out!
GL: What is your favorite book of all time?
TL: The Host by Stephenie Meyer because I love the way that she intertwines reality with Science Fiction and she also has a lot of different aspects of love in the book that I find fascinating.
GL: I love that book too!
GL: What has been your most embarrassing mommy-moment so far?
TL: When Allison was about three I was a vegetarian and she was just learning that pork is pig, beef is cow. We walked into a McDonalds and there was a very large lady eating a hamburger and Alli so gracefully pointed at the woman and shrieked, “Cow! Cow!” I just about died.
GL: Ahhh…kids… You gotta love ‘em! :-)
GL: Everyone has a guilty pleasure (triple chocolate chip cookies, steaming hot baths & good books, a terribly addictive television show…). What is yours?
TL: When I feel the need to relax I go to Starbucks and buy a French Vanilla Cappuccino then I go home and watch Gilmore Girls (I own all 7 seasons on DVD).
GL: If you could travel anywhere (real or fictional), where would you go?
TL: Fictional: Hogwarts!
GL: I’ll meet you at Platform 9 ¾!!
Thank you so very much for hanging out with us today! I'm really looking forward to checking out Unjust and Reunification. Best of luck with everything you are working on currently!
Where to find Tiffany:
Blog: http://tiffanysuelovering.blogspot.com/
Website: http://tiffanylovering.webs.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tamporlea
Where to buy Tiffany's books:
Tamporlea (Tamporlea 1): Amazon, B&N, Smashwords
Unjust (Tamporlea 2): Amazon, B&N, Smashwords
Reunification (Tamporlea 3): Releases September 27th!!
Alone: Amazon, B&N, Smashwords
GIVEAWAY:
Now, here's your chance to score all three ebooks from the Tamporlea trilogy!!! Answer the following question in a comment and be sure to include your preferred email address:
There are different levels of power within the walls of Tamporlea. Some are guards, some are healers, some are readers (can read and memorize a ton of info in seconds), some are enchanters (can place protective spells, etc.), etc.
What unique Gypsy power (from the book or your imagination)
would you have if you were a citizen of Tamporlea?
Good luck!!
