Interview with Alicia Leppert

Today is my big day! The day I get to interview Alicia Leppert, author of Emerald City. And when I've mentioned in past posts that she's awesome it was a gross understatement. She's amazing. The most down to Earth author I've had the pleasure to speak with.

If we had been face to face, this is how I imagine our interview would have went.

But alas, we were on opposite sides of a computer screen, or in my case, my iphone.

So here it is! My first author interview!

How long did it take you to write Emerald City?

It took me about three years to write, but for the first two or more years I was writing very sporadically. There would be months at a time that I wouldn't write at all. It wasn't until four or five months before my deadline that I began seriously writing daily.

What gave you the idea for Emerald City?

There wasn't really one thing that gave me the idea. Once I decided I was going to start writing a book, like- really doing it- I knew right away that I wanted to write about a girl who struggled with depression, and I wanted to write a love story. I tried several attempts just with those two ideas, and they all bombed spectacularly. Then one night I got really frustrated and sat brainstorming ideas. For the first time I started thinking about incorporating a fantasy element into my story, since lately that's what I had been reading, and that's when I had my light bulb moment. I knew what I was going to write my book about, and after that it just sort of unfolded.

Totally good to know. I myself have been sitting on the same book for almost a year.  A years worth of planning, a month worth of writing (for NANO) and now, it's just collecting dust on my hard drive. *Sigh* I'll get to it.

What was your query process like?

Uh...I actually had no query process. I was already in contact with someone at Cedar Fort when I began writing Emerald City. She read the first chapter and fell in love with it, and when I was halfway through writing it, they signed me. I was incredibly fortunate to not have to go through the dreaded query process.

I'd say. It makes me sick to think about sending letters out. Then again, I'm not going to be sending anything if I don't sweep my story. You know, because of the dust bunnies.

Any advice you'd give aspiring authors?

Actually, I was told this by the aforementioned contact at Cedar Fort. She said the biggest thing for aspiring authors, when trying to get published, is to know the guidelines laid out by the publishers they are sending their queries to. If it's apparent they haven't taken the time to check the website and see what the publishers want, they won't bother reading their manuscript.

Good to know. And great advice!

Edward or Jacob?

I love Jacob, but Edward will always hold a special place in my heart. (Yes, I totally just admitted that.)

It's okay. I'm Team Edward all the way. But...I'll have to say, Carlisle does it for me too.

Bill or Eric?

Feel free to laugh, but I had to Google those names to see who they were! I have never seen True Blood, and I've never read The Vampire Diaries (or watched the show) either. To be honest, after Twilight, I couldn't bring myself to get into any other vampir sagas. Twilight was it for this girl.

GASP! I'm totally team Eric. Bill is...whiney. Like you, I've never watched nor read, The Vampire Diaries. But if I could recommend another vampire series with a leading man, that in my opinion, gives Edward a run for his money, it would be The Chicagoland Vampire series. Ethan...yummy!

And that's it ladies and gentlemen. I could have asked her a million in one questions, and maybe another time I will. If, of course, Alicia agrees.

Thank you a million times over to Alicia for taking the time to sit down with me and answer a few questions. And for also including me in my first ever blog tour. Thank you to Cedar Fort for allowing me to read Emerald City via NetGalley. It was truly an honor.

If you'd like to read my review of Emerald City, you can find it here. If you'd like to follow Alicia's blog tour, you can check out the other great blogs talking with her, here. And don't forget, pick up your copy of Emerald City either from Amazon or Barnes and Noble on April 10th.

In the meantime, here are a few other links for you to check out. Don't forget, you can follow me on twitter at @hollygeauxlitly

Author Website: aliciakleppert.com   

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/alicialeppert

Author Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emerald-City/173223922777769

Author GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12582784-emerald-city

Pre-Order on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Emerald-City-Alicia-K-Leppert/dp/1599558645/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1315870734&sr=8-7  

Publisher Blog http://www.cedarfortbooks.com/

Publisher Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cedarfortbooks

Publisher Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/cedarfortbooks

Publisher GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4202252-cedar-fort