We haven’t had an interview in a while, but today I’m thrilled to welcome literary ninja Tenaya Jayne! I’m on her street team and I absolutely loved her debut novel, Forbidden Forest, which is free on Kindle Unlimited! You can read my review here and click on the book covers for the Amazon pages. Without further ado, Tenaya Jayne, everyone!
Nationally Bestselling author Tenaya Jayne has always walked a shaky line between reality and fantasy. A nomad by nature, she’s lived all over the US, and now resides happily in the Midwest, with her husband and sons. She’s an advocate for Autism awareness and women trapped in abusive relationships, and feels everyone has too much pain to not enjoy an escape into a fictional fantasy world. Her passions include reading, independent and foreign films, cooking, and moody music.
First off, can you sum up the latest book, Blood Lock, in a tweet, 140 characters or less?
Nope. *insert helpless laugh. I suck at twitter.
Ha! We all have our weaknesses. Where did the initial idea for Forest and Regia come from? What story/experience/event do you think inspired the series most?
My muse was being petulant. I was supposed to be writing a sequel to Blue Aspen, when Forest and Syrus took over my brain. You’re an author, you know what I mean. I think I needed Forest. She came to me and gave me an outlet and voice for a number of things I’d been going through. The night she fell into my head, it all happened so fast. I built Regia from the ground up in a few, adrenaline filled, hours. I had no idea, at the time, Regia would be my whole writing life for the following six years.
I do know what you mean. Characters really can help us work through tough times and I know many of mine have done that for me, too. What does your typical writing day look like?
I drop my son off at school, hit the gym for an hour, head home, shower and then write. I write a few hours and then my alarm goes off, letting me know I have 15 minutes before I have to leave and pick up my son from school. I have to drive 20 minutes to the school, but that suits me fine because I always do my best brainstorming while I’m driving.
I find that driving, and being on the treadmill are the best things to get my head in the right place for when I actually get to sit and hit the keys. I don’t work on the weekends, and the summer is really hard as well.
Sounds like a pretty structured regimen! Do you have a go-to source for story inspiration? What is it?
Bottom line is music. Without music, inspiration is faint. Aside from that I’m inspired by other art forms: dance, paintings, and movies. Art evokes emotion. I’m an emotion junkie.
Feelings are vital to creating art and we all have to find our muses! Throughout this series, you concentrate on different characters in different books. What is your biggest challenge in writing such an array of main characters?
I connect with some more than others. I love all of my characters, but they are like real people. You have best friends, friends, acquaintances and enemies. It’s like that for me with my characters.
Understandable. We all have our favorites. 😉 Do you use any tricks to get into the head of the character you’re writing that day?
Music is the key for this. I have extensive playlists for every book I write. Each character has their own playlist aside from the main list. Every character along with every couple has a “sound” So for example, in my current WIP, when I need to get into Tesla’s head, I listen to Halsey. That is her sound.
Halsey? I can’t wait! Besides a laptop/notebook and pen, what is the one thing you couldn’t possibly write without?
My beloved jawbone speaker, a tall glass of iced tea, and long phone calls with my best friend, Amanda. She’s great to brainstorm with.
It’s awesome to have friends for support. How about your weapon of choice in the Hunger Games?
A backpack full of grenades.
Coming Soon
I’m pretty sure that’s cheating, but okay. Werewolves or Vampires?
Both, unless they sparkle.
No, this is a sparkle-free zone, haha. Hogwarts house?
Gryffindor but I’d have a Slytherin boyfriend. J
Good choice of partner. (As a Slytherin, I say that in a purely objective and unbiased manner.) Thanks for stopping by!
Don’t forget to check out Tenaya and her books. You can find her conquering the internet in various places here:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | YouTube | Pinterest | Amazon | BN.com
