Nichole Chase Author Interview & GIVEAWAY!

In between chasing my energetic daughter, reading, and painting, I write novels. I am the author of Suddenly Royal, Flukes, The Dark Betrayal Trilogy, and several short stories.

So happy to have had a chance to personally meet and interview Nichole Chase; she crowned me a princess that day and I gladly accepted!  Just to give you a visual, she came to the Minneapolis author event and wore this beautiful black and white dress and a princess smile.  She gave out wands to those who bought a book and signed it, and spoke to all her fans with grace.

Now let’s start the interview:

When did you first start writing your first book?

Nichole: I’ve been writing for years and have lots of projects that I started and never finished. In January of 2011, I began to earnestly work at finishing a project that had consumed my imagination.

I see that you are from Savannah, GA and the Mortal Series is based in the same location. How did you get your inspiration for writing this series?

Nichole:The Dark Betrayal Trilogy was inspired by the downtown portion of Savannah. Unlike a lot of modern cities, the downtown portion of Savannah is made up of historic buildings and squares. I was driving through and happened to be listening to the radio, when I noticed a girl walking across one of the squares and she kept looking over her shoulder. That’s all it took. Savannah has a long history of paranormal activity, so my imagination immediately grabbed hold of an idea and ran.

Were The Dark Betrayal Trilogy stories the first books you wrote?

Nichole: I’ve written five novels, one short story, and two pieces of short fiction for anthologies. While I’ve written a few stories here and there, Mortal Obligation was the first to see the light of day. Once I finished the trilogy, I wrote Flukes. And most recently, Suddenly Royal.

What kind of work did you do before you became an author and did you know that this is the path you wanted to take your career?

Nichole: I went to college for Art History, but ended up working in a small medical office for several years. I wanted to write, dreamed of writing, and I gave writing a shot.  I gave myself a year to finish my story and publish – to see how it would do. I’ve never looked back. (Andrea — I love that!)

What kind of problems, if any, did you come across in getting published?

Nichole: I’m self-published, so I had to learn the in’s and out’s of everything. There was no easy guide. I took my time, followed forums, chatted with other newbie authors, and tried to learn as much as possible. There were times where I wanted to pull my hair out but it’s been worth every hardship.

What’s the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the biggest compliment?

Nichole: Criticism can be difficult, but usually I’ve found that the most useful and honest criticism doesn’t hurt. Reviews where people just bash your book, or hate on your characters just because they can – those were painful at first.  They weren’t offering input on how to make your story better, more that they were just being mean to be mean.

The best compliment in the world, is when someone tells me they stayed up all night to finish reading my book. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost sleep over a book that I had to finish! So for someone to experience that with my books, is an amazing thing.

Is there anything you would like to say to your fans and readers?

THANK YOU! A BIG massive thank you.

Andrea’s Book Blog believes in helping people help themselves; what charity or foundation do you support?

Nichole: I recently ran a charity auction “The Corn Family”, and all proceeds went directly to the family. Also, I took all of the donations and funds from the Paypal account set up under the name (For the Corn Family) for a friend that lost her husband and father of her three children and raised $16,000.  I also support my local pet adoption foundation and donate to animal shelters. Animals play a big part in my life and in my stories.

Below is an added short interview with Nichole during the Minneapolis author event. I hope you enjoy! 😉

Suddenly Royal Giveaway!

I’m giving away a signed copy of “Suddenly Royal” by Nichole Chase, which recently hit on the NY times best seller list.  Find out who Prince Yummy is in Suddenly Royal. All you have to do to enter is make a comment on this page and your name will be put in for random selection.

This Giveaway will last until Friday May 31, 2013! midnight Eastern time. The winner will be emailed and will have 24 hours to answer back before we go to the next person.  Good luck!

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