Interview with Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hey guys! I am so excited to post this interview with Jennifer L. Armentrout as my first interview ever! Her books, Half-Blood and Obsidian are both out now and are AWESOME!

Question: Obsidian and Half-Blood have very different mythologies. Does it get confusing writing two separate series at once?
Answer: Because the two mythologies are so different, its easy to keep them apart. The characters at times, not so much. So I have to be careful that one character's personality doesn't seep into another character's.


Q: How did you come up with the mythology for Half-Blood? I think that Deity Island is a cool idea. Why did you choose to set most of Half-Blood on an island instead of in a city or town?
A: I picked an island, keeping with the whole Greek thing. So I started looking at places and I wanted something not as well known in the US and found Bald Head Island. Then I just sort of added another island. 


Q: Both Alex from Half-Blood and Katy from Obsidian are from Florida originally. Is that a place that you used to live, or a favorite place to visit
A: My sister lives in Florida, so I try to keep with places I'm familiar with.


Q: Where did you get the inspiration for your characters? (Specifically Daemon, Katy, Dee, Alex, and Aiden)
A: That's a hard question. Each of them came into their own for different reasons. I try to always write strong heroines, because I'm not a big fan of the ones who always need to be taken care of or don't develop from needing rescuing to being the rescuer. Katy has a little bit of me in her--her love for books. Alex has a bit of my snarky personality. I like the whole silent and strong type, so that's how Aiden came about. And Daemon? Well, who doesn't love a bad boy? Dee is probably the most like me in real life. I am as hyper and random as her.

Q:  I have to admit, I generally don’t like sci-fi, but I LOVED Obsidian. I like that Daemon and Dee are aliens because they are different from most of the other YA not-human characters. Why did you choose to make Daemon and Dee aliens instead of supernatural creatures?
A: When I started off writing the series, I knew they were going to be aliens and I was going to keep it sci-fi light. Originally, I never planned to write a book about aliens and the whole idea for Obsidian started as a conversation between my editor and me and rolled from there. 


Q: If you could invite one of your characters to dinner, which one would you choose and why?
A: I think it would be Katy, because we'd have more in common. And we could talk about books. Win. Win.


Q: How long have you been writing? Was Half-Blood your first book?
A: Half-Blood wasn't the first full length book I wrote, but it was the first to be published. I've been writing since middle school.


Q: What are some of your favorite books?
A: Oh boy, ready for this? I LOVE the Soul Screamers series, Carrier of the Mark, Touch, Torn, Demon's Trapper's Daughter, Unearthly, Minder Series, Divergent and more, I'm sure. 


Q: Can you tell us about your writing process? Do you outline or just write freely?
A: I write freely with very little outlining which I think scares my editors. 


Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
A: Keep writing. You have to keep writing through the whole process.


Thank you Jennifer for the interview! I look forward to reading Pure and Onyx when they come out. In fact, I'm counting the days until their releases!


To learn more about Jennifer  L. Armentrout, please visit her website. 


Check out Half-Blood and Obsidian today!

Half-Blood:
Amazon.com: Print
Amazon.com: Kindle E-book

Barnes and Noble: Print
Barnes and Noble: Nook E-book

Obsidian:
Amazon.com: Print
Amazon.com: Kindle E-book

Barnes and Noble: Print
Barnes and Noble: Nook E-book