Today on Wednesday’s Writing & Words, I’m excited to introduce S.I. Hayes, author of Epic Fantasy Trilogy, The In Dreams Series & Centuries of Blood.
Thank you so much for stopping by today and letting us delve into your creative mind!!
Blurb:
Three men, a single heart. What’s a girl to do? Especially when one of them has fangs…
16th Century England. A land at war. It’s people fighting, dying for a king who chases skirts and takes heads on a whim. It is a time of reformation, of love, lust, betrayal and secrets. Catharine Morrigan Cecil is but sixteen years old as the tale unfolds, but her soul screams to be free of Glastonbury. Named for a child lost, she is chained to a life she doesn’t want. Promised to a man whose ways foretell an unhappy life while still in love with another who will not fight for her.
Left rejected, in a reach for freedom she runs. Finding a mysterious town with an even more mysterious stranger. Alexandarious (Darious) is young, strong, and Immortal. A Blood Devourer. Knowing his nature, Catharine Morrigan dares to give him her heart. She has pierced him through and through, but his people are warring and her safety is in peril. He wants and needs the beautiful woman “Morrigan” is becoming. But his heart knows better. She deserves a full life, one he cannot give her.
The marriage bed awaits her as the Ottoman War zone calls him. The pair must separate to save the people to whom they are bound. While Darious fights for his Lord and Lady, Morrigan must fight for her survival at the hands of the man she calls husband.
Can they beat the odds, find each other once more and prove that love truly is Eternal?
Interview
- Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Are you married? Any kids? Where do you live?
My name is Shannon Hayes, I write as S.I.Hayes. I’m not married, no kids, and I’m a recent transplant to Richwood Ohio. I grew up in Milford, Connecticut and until the move out west I was an Ansonia, Connecticut resident. I’ve been writing forever and publishing as an Indy since 2012.
- What genre do you write? Why do you like that particular type of story?
I prefer to toe the line on several genres quietly calling myself a Jack–of-all-trade-paperbacks. *Smiles* I tend to stay in the Paranormal and Epic Fantasy niches. But they run amok and bounce into Erotic Elements and I have a penchant for Dramatic Flair. I don’t know if it’s for a like of a particular genre or sub-genre that I write. I don’t usually know what area a work lies in until it’s done. I plan my work but only the beginning and the end. The middles sort of take me on a little adventures making me ask questions like, “Hmm, do they really want to do that? Perhaps I should roll for initiative? And Screaming I need action Points!! <- Those are D&D references for those who are not gamers.
- What are your fondest memories of writing or reading?
Fond reading memories? What an odd question. I suppose I have them, what they are however may take time to unveil. Although I have a bit of an Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles addiction. I can remember taking out the first four from the library when I was 13 and binge reading them over the course of 36 hours running on coffee and no sleep, so I could move on to the 5th book as it was just hitting shelves. Fun times indeed.
My best writing memory? Writing Awakenings: The Wrath Saga with Will Van Stone Jr, we started it in middle school and it took us forever to finish it!! I actually lost the manuscript a few times! And we kept having to start over from scratch! See we worked longhand writing the whole thing out then typing it up. We used to actually just sit there and run our moths about the scenes, and write down the good stuff. Dialogue, scenic descriptions, etc. That was good. If you have the opportunity to work with a likeminded partner I do recommend it.
- What are some of your favorite authors and books?
Hmm, let’s see… I mentioned The Vampire Chronicles, from Anne Rice. The Frankenstein Series from Dean Koontz. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Diaries of the Family Dracul from Jeanne Kalogridis. There’s a bit of a pattern here… Gone with the Wind from Margaret Mitchell, The Inheritance Series from Christopher Paolini. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from Douglas Adams… The list goes on and on. I also love Mark Twain and Charlotte Bronte. Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare.
- If you could describe what writing means to you, how would you do so?
If you want to be a writer you have in my opinion two options.
1: Go to school, where you will learn structure, and tactics designed and aligned by dead famous people, and probably lose you taste for writing altogether.
2: Pick up a pen and a notebook and just write! Write until your hand cramps up and the doctor tells you that you have Carpal Tunnel. But say nay to the surgery because it will be of no use unless you plan to stop writing. If you are compelled to tell a story simply tell it for the sake of the tale.
The second option is my way. I write because I am compelled to do it. I have always had stories swirling around in my head, if I don’t get them out of me I can’t sleep. When my Bi-Polar rears its head in the Manic phase I’m a writing demon. It’s all I do. All I want to do. In the depressive phase I can barely talk let alone write. This sucks to all hell. But I eventually pull out of it. IT’s these times that the writing saves me. It’s brought me out of some very dark places and I’m thankful for the talent no matter how it comes.
- What is your favorite snack & drink while reading/writing?
Coffee and Chocolate, like everyone else. *Grins*
- Which book do you think was best adapted into a movie? Why?
Clive Barker’s Cabal. It was made into a film called Night Breed in 1990. I always loved the film. The way it took the creatures of the night and gave them a voice, a story and made them horrifying while sympathetic. Showing the outcasts and what that meant for them when faced with the human threat. I got around to reading the book this past year. As I always found the books to be better… Well now I can say that in this case, the Directors cut of Night Breed is far superior to the film. The Novella was missing something. I mean the story was for the most part the same, it was well adapted from the work. But the film was the better showcase by far.
- Which book was the least successful adaptation into a movie? Why?
Queen of the Damned. An Anne Rice novel turned book in 2002, while it was a decent film alone, it was NOT a vampire chronical. I’m sorry but they gutted the original work and slapped in bits and pieces of The Vampire Lestat, making for a lukewarm and tedious film. Just terrible…
- Write your favorite quote and explain why you picked it?
“Humans like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work.
Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit.
Story, in all its forms—of life, of love, of knowledge— has traced the upward surge of mankind.
And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath.”
I don’t remember when I came across this quote, I’ve had it on my pages for as long as I can remember. There’s just something so raw about what he says here. So utterly truthful. So on point for us writers…
- Any other things you’d like to share?
A few more thoughts to my process…
Never rush it; I learned this lesson the hard way.
With Traditional publishing there are deadlines, and pressures to produce on a schedule, but I turned that route down because I would not cut my work more. My pride and my compulsion has driven me to write, and not wish to write for anyone but me. I tell the stories as I want to read them. Full of scenic flourishing, exposition, and dialogues. I try to paint fantastic worlds within worlds that may already exist. I try to create worlds that we as readers can hold on to. I write for me, and choose to share it with all of you because I think that it’s the sharing that brings the work to life. To know that it is in the hands of a reader enriching them in some way is the most thrilling thing in the world for me. I do hope you take a chance and come walk the worlds I have created.
Candy, thanks for letting me run off at the mouth!!
LOL!! At least it’s entertaining mouth running. 😉
Bio:
Shannon (S. I.) Hayes has been telling tales for so long as she has been able to talk, and began writing them down shortly thereafter. She is the singular author of the In Dreams… Series, and a Paranormal Historical Romance called Centuries of Blood: Becoming. Shannon is the Co-Author to Awakenings: The Wrath Saga, a Paranormal Drama likened to Big Brother meets The Real World of the Preternatural, as well as several blogs and host to her own website. S.I.Hayes.com. In her own words… I have a mind that is easily distracted and prone to wandering. Tangents are my forte, and if you think my characters are going to fit a cookie cutter shape of any kind, think again. They live, they love, they eat, sleep and f***. I believe that people are inherently sexual creatures and my characters be they human or something altogether else are no exception.
I don’t adhere to a single genera, I toe the line on several and wouldn’t presume to be a master of any. So I suppose you could call me jack-of-all-trade-paperbacks.
I am a truth seeker, in my life, in my work. I’d apologize for it, but I kinda can’t help m’self. It’s my best and worst personality trait, well mostly, being Bi-Polar I guess you could say that is the worse. But I believe that the disorder has made me, well… Me.
I have taken this life and twisted, carved, shaped and molded it in to the worlds of my characters. Albeit with a chainsaw, and it has made all the difference.
Links:
Candylittle's Blog 