- Where do you get your inspiration from?
Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. Whether it be something I read in the news or a song that comes on at the right time. Seriously. That’s happened. One time I was driving down the road and a Fall Out Boy song came on and BAM! An entire scene flooded my brain which became the start of a book that isn’t finished yet.
- Who was your mentor that inspired you to write?
I wouldn’t really say I had a mentor. I did however have a best friend who also loved to write. We’d both dropped it a while go in lieu of life, which happens. But even when we were teenagers we actually bonded over writing. We’d talk about the stories in our heads and the characters we were developing. Fast forward…er…several years later and we both started talking about getting back into it at the same time, a summer later we each had a first draft of a first book. Both of which were great for being the first but clearly weren’t ready for publication. I guess you could say we mentored each other.
- Do you do any research for your books? If so, what do you research?
I do research for my books. What I research depends on the book. In Up for Grabs, I researched what amount someone might reasonably get for their virginity. In Up for Forever, my research revolved more around geography since they go to NYC and I’ve never been. For a paranormal (which my very, very first book was), I researched magical powers and geography and a bunch of other things.
Each book is so different, so how you attack it is an individual thing.
- Do you have a favorite character? More than one?
I love all of my characters, even the idiots. Lol. As for a favorite, at this point I’d have to say Flannery. She tackled a topic I feel passionately about, the shaming rape culture we live in and the world where women aren’t supposed have complete ownership of their bodies. But more than that, I think she’s the most like me.
No. I did not sell my virginity to pay for college but personality-wise she is so much of me. After my mom first read Up for Grabs she called and said, “Flannery is you. I see so many Heatherisms in this.” ☺
- Have you been to any of the places you write about?
Actually, I’ve been to a lot of the places I write about mostly because I set a lot of stories in Michigan where I was born and still live. I’ve been to Ann Arbor, actually go there at least four times a year, where the Up for Grabs Series characters live. Detroit, The Thumb (as Adam calls it), these are places I know well.
In another NA series I’m working on they don’t live in Michigan but since they do live in a resort town, I modeled it after Mackinaw City, one of my favorite places ever. I do try to have my characters go places that I have been because I like the accuracy of it however, as is the case in Sam’s story from the Up for Grabs series, when it’s not possible, I research the hell out of it and luckily I have friends who have been a lot of the places I haven’t or have relocated many times in the military. I pick their brains when I have to.
- How do you choose if a novel becomes a series or even a novella?
For me so far it’s about the characters. When I wrote Cain and Flannery in Up for Grabs I knew that Kendra, Adam and Sam had to have their own story. There was something there. Cain got a novella from his POV because he literally wouldn’t leave me alone. I wanted to do NaNoWriMo, a month of writing every November, but he had other plans. I will say, however, that if the characters don’t demand their own book, I won’t write it. When I try to force a story it turns out horribly.
- Do you listen to music when writing?
For the most part, no. I find it too distracting. But sometimes I do. I have to have a certain song in mind and put it on repeat so that it almost becomes background noise. However, I will do a playlist that gets me in the mood for certain scenes. I’ll listen to that to get in the mood then turn it off and get to work.
- How did you choose what genre you are writing under?
It’s the story and the characters. I write the story and pretty early know if it’s going to be New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult, whatever. I don’t write for a certain genre but rather let the story guide me.
- Who is your favorite author? Have you met them yet?
One favorite? That’s like picking a favorite child! lol
Nyrae Dawn is one of my top favorite. I have not met her in person yet but do talk to her online pretty often. And send her weird pictures (like a creepy, masked Michael from the Halloween Movies) of what I will look like when we do meet.
- What is the one place you have always wanted to travel to?
UP FOR FOREVER BY HEATHER YOUNG-NICHOL – DIGITAL ASSETS
Tour Date:
August 31-September 11, 2015
(Please note that tour posts must be up by 08:00 hours EST)
Link to the Tour Schedule:
(Please do not post the actual tour list as it may change throughout the tour)
Link to Goodreads:
Purchase Links (Up for Forever):
Purchase Links (Up for Grabs):
Giveaway Information: Contest ends September 25, 2015
- One (1) winner will receive a digital copy of Up for Forever by Heather Young-Nichols and a $10 Amazon GC (INT)
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ABOUT UP FOR FOREVER:
Title: Up for Forever (Up for Grabs #2)
Publication date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Author: Heather Young-Nichols
For Kendra Roberts, love is for fairy tale princesses who don’t live in the real world. Mr. Right? What a joke. It’s more like Mr. Right Now.
But imagine her surprise when she realizes it’s been two whole years, and Mr. Right Now has become something more. How the hell did that happen?
Panic sets in when Kendra finds out that Adam Burger might be planning a future for them and making her his “Mrs.” Mrs. Burger.
Not. So. Fast.
Kendra ends things with Adam, feeling bad for letting things go this far.
After months of trying to convince herself she made the right decision, a mutual friend’s wedding throws them back together again.
In one mind-blowing moment, Kendra comes to the crushing realization that she’s been in love with Adam all along.
But when Adam seems to have already moved on, will Kendra fight for their forever after? Or will she let her once Mr. Right Now go and become someone else’s Mr. Right?
ABOUT HEATHER YOUNG-NICHOLS:
Heather Young-Nichols was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan and graduated from nearby Saginaw Valley State University with a degree in sociology. The only thing that rivals her love of reading is her love of baseball. When not with her husband and three kids or the cat that likes to bite, she is working to bring the characters in her head to life.
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