Tuesday 8 November 2011

Author Interview: N. M. Martinez



N. M. Martinez has written Ruin.



1. What is your name and where do you call home?
I'm N. M. Martinez. You can call me Nina. I live in Monterey Bay California.

2. What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 20 or less words, what would you say?
My most recent book is my debut, Ruin. That is the name of the book and the "series." The first book is about a girl who is kicked out of her comfortable home into an area called the Wildlands. It's a place where humans were once experimented on and now they have powers.

3. Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
I do have some plans. The next novel will be out next year. It will have one character who was minor in the first book step into the spotlight. The intention with the next full novel is to continue one of the background story threads of the first book.

4. What or who inspired you to start writing? And how long have you been writing?
I was in fifth grade, and our teacher thought it'd be neat to have us all write a story that we could turn into a "book." I wrote a story about a world that was in darkness until a girl falls into the fire and becomes the sun. My teacher pulling me aside to ask me if anyone had helped me with it. At the time, I was so shy, I couldn't even answer her except to shake my head.
She was surprised. It felt good to get a reaction from someone for something I did all the time.

5. Do you gift books to readers for book reviews?
Yes, I'm very willing to send an ebook along if someone is willing to review it.

6. How did you come up with the title for your book?
The title was a process! Ruin is actually the name of the series. I came up with that by using a thesaurus and throwing out words like decay and destruction.
When it came time to do the novel version, I wasn't quite sure what I'd call the book. It wasn't until the cover was being made that I decided I would flat out call the first book Ruin.

7. Do you have a book trailer? And what are your thoughts on book trailers?
I have no book trailer, but I have been tempted to one day get video of the abandoned base that has been a big inspiration for the story and the setting. One of these days...

8. Are you a self-published / Indie author?
I will freely and proudly admit that I did self-publish. I took a lot of care with the project to make sure it was up to par with anything I've found on my bookshelf.

9. Do you have any advice for other writers? And what’s the best advice that you have been given when it comes to writing?
My advice is to always write more. The work is never done. There is always room for improvements.
The best advice I've ever been given came from Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldburg. It seriously changed my writing life. In the book, she says talks about making time to write in a notebook. Her most important tip about it is to never stop to cross out words. If you think of multiple words that would go in a space, write them all down, however many pop into your head.
It's a simple idea, but I look at it this way-- crossed out words are like a negative blog on my notebooks. After a while, those things wear a person down. Not crossing out words helps me keep everything the words flowing, so I can write more and get whatever thoughts I have down!

10. Where can your readers follow you?








Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this interview and allowing us a glimpse into your writing world!

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