A Hold on Me Blog Tour: Interview with Pat Esden PLUS Giveaway

Today we're joining the blog tour for A HOLD ON ME by chatting with author Pat Esden. Come get to know more about Pat and her book. And don't forget to enter the rafflecopter at the end of the post for your chance to win a cool prize.

Hi, Pat! Welcome to We Do Write. Tell us a bit about yourself.  

Thank you for inviting me to stop by. My name is Pat Esden and I’m the author of the new adult paranormal series, Dark Heart. The first book in the series, A HOLD ON ME came out February 23.

Tell our readers a bit about A HOLD ON ME.

A HOLD IN ME is a gothic tale of love and revenge.  The main character is Annie, a twenty-year-old woman who has grownup picking and dealing antiques with her father. When her father is diagnosed with dementia, his illness forces them to return to their ancestral home on the coast of Maine where their estranged family lives.

Once there, her father’s situation deteriorates and Annie’s longstanding suspicions about her family grow ever larger. She turns to an unlikely ally for support—Chase a dangerously seductive young groundskeeper.

How did the idea of the story come to you?

Johnny Depp and our shared love for the old TV series Dark Shadows inspired me to write A HOLD ON ME. I was writing a different novel at the time, but when I heard Depp was working with Tim Burton on a remake of the show, it struck me that having fun and creating something you’ve always wanted to try was important to me as well. However, I didn’t have any desire to create a campy remake of Dark Shadows. I wanted to write a gothic novel that had an atmosphere reminiscent of the show and also to the romantic suspense novels from the same time period—but with an updated flare and sizzle to make it appealing to contemporary readers.

That's awesome. Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m a plotter. I begin with a story’s turning points, and then fill in the rest of the plot details. In the end, I have a fairly complete chapter-by-chapter outline. I also write a detailed synopsis before I start writing.

What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is writing the last third of the first draft. The beginning of the first draft is all about exploring the world and characters. It’s fun. The next third is about action building toward the climax. But when I hit the last third, I have a hard time pushing forward instead of going back to revise the earlier sections. Revision and later drafts are the part I love the most.

What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?

I have different ‘trinkets’ for every book, things that remind me of the story and give me luck. For A HOLD ON ME, I have an ancient coin with a bee on it and a small clay lamp from a dig site in Greece, and a seagull statue that I inherited when my sister passed away.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Puppy whisperer! I have a Golden Retriever puppy. I love her dearly, but having to change my daily writing schedule around her needs hasn’t been easy. I’d love to be able to lull her from wild-chewing-crazy-dog into sleepy-bundle-of-cuteness with just a couple words.

What's the weirdest thing you've googled?

This is a hard one. I’ve Google a lot of strange things. Lately, it probably would be ‘intimate massages during pregnancy’. I probably shouldn’t have used the word ‘intimate’. I got the information I wanted for the novel, but I also saw a few things I wish I could un-see.

Finish this sentence: If I'm not writing, I'm probably ...

at an auction, museum, out somewhere exploring something new, meeting new people, or asleep on the couch. Yeah, I’m a little like my new puppy: either busy doing something or I’m crashed.

Here’s the part where you thank the people who are supporting you. Let's hear your shout outs.

I belong to Waiting-On-2016 author group. I’d like to give a shout out to all the members. They are a fantastic and supportive group, and the books they have coming out this year truly open up new territories in the middle grade, young adult, and new adult categories. Check out our blog https://waitingon2016.wordpress.com or every other week there is a twitter chat where you can learn more about the authors, the topics that are important to them, and their books.  #WO2016  

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog, Pat! Good luck with your series!

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