RV: Hi! Thanks for having me. ;-)

RV:  Look at that! You’ve stumped me by asking me to tell you about myself. ;-) I write urban fantasy (both adult and YA), I drink too much coffee and too little water, I prefer salty snacks to sweet, I only watch TV shows on my DVR or on DVD (TV will not rule my life!), I love Mexican food and hot wings (though not together) and I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing with my life if I couldn’t write for a living. ;-)

RV:  Um… The writers who most inspire me are those who write in spite of everything else they have going on, because they can’t live without expressing themselves. Without telling a story. Those parents with full time jobs and kids to care for, who carve out a couple of hours in the middle of the night to develop their talents and live their dreams. That’s inspiring, and every time I get tired, or start thinking I can’t possibly edit this novel one more time, I think about those who treasure every minute they get to spend writing, because it’s been hard won. Then I shut up and do my job. ;-)

RV:  I write all the time. Seriously. This week, I’ve been up past midnight working every night. Last week was the same. My hours are kind of extreme right now, because I’m on a tight deadline, but my normal workday is still between ten and twelve hours long. If I’m not in the mood for what I need to be doing, I get in the mood, whatever that takes. Music, coffee, headphones, whatever. I love my job, and I feel like I’m one of the luckiest people in the world because I get paid to do what I love. But it’s still a job, and if I don’t take it seriously, then I don’t deserve to be taken seriously.

RV:  My first two novels (never submitted) were high fantasy told with what I later came to recognize as an urban fantasy voice. There was no market for that at the time. (There may be now. I’m not sure.) So when I sat down to write my third novel, I took a deliberate look at the market and at what I liked to read. Urban fantasy (though it wasn’t called that at the time) was where those two points intersected. I knew I didn’t have anything fresh to add to the existing vampire, witch, or werewolf cannon, and I’ve always loved cats. So I developed a character who had a lot in common with the 20 yr old I once was, and with the cats I love. And thus, Faythe was born. ;-)

RV: Thunderbirds. Yes, seriously. In SHIFT, Faythe and her Pride come up against some seriously scary thunderbirds. They may have thought cats were the biggest, baddest Shifters out there. But they were wrong. ;-)

RV: The Soul Screamers series is about a highschool junior who’s had some mental health issues in the past, and is trying to put all that behind her. Because she can predict death. Only it’s not so much a case of CAN predict as HAS TO predict. When someone near her is going to die, she can’t help screaming uncontrollably. This has some pretty serious consequences for her family and social lives, but when girls at her school start dying, Kaylee realizes she’s the only one who can stop it. But there’s a cost.

Oh, also, there are grim reapers and other scary things!

RV:  Ah, I can’t take credit for that one. Well, I mean, I did write the story. But it was Harlequin Teen’s idea. They asked if I’d be willing to write a short story prequel and let them offer it for free, in a bunch of different formats. I was cool with that, so I wrote it, but it came out longer than expected. That happens with me a lot. ;-) So it’s actually a novella, about 80 pages long. And it’s available for free as a PDF, and on Kindle, and a bunch of other places.

RV:  I am really excited! The thing I like about my Soul Screamers characters is that though Kaylee’s the main character and it’s her story, their lives don’t revolve around her. And she’s finding that out the hard way. The characters are all human (even the ones who aren’t human!) and they sometimes do the right thing for the wrong reason. Or the wrong thing for the right reason. And there are always consequences for those actions.

MY SOUL TO SAVE let me explore the concept of permanent consequences. And it gave me a great chance to send Kaylee to the Netherworld, my single favorite setting to write about. I had a blast writing the Netherworld scenes, and we’ll see even more of that in the third book, MY SOUL TO KEEP, which comes out in late May.

RV:  Oh, there’s no way I can answer that! I love them both! It’s been amazing to help Faythe grow, and watch parts of her life come together while other parts fall apart. I like torturing her, and I like watching her handle (or fumble) whatever I throw at her.

Kaylee’s an entirely different experience for me. She’s not a fighter, physically. But she’s incredibly resourceful, and smart, and brave, and maybe a little too forgiving for her own good. Her world is scarier than Faythe’s, and she’s less well equipped to handle it than Faythe is to handle her world. So everything for Kaylee is a challenge, at a time in her life (adolescence) when everything is already tumultuous.

RV:  Perspective. That’s the biggest difference. I’m 31 (shhh, don’t tell) and I still talk like a kid half the time. Though I can wax philosophic too, if that’s what you want. But I think about things differently than I did at 16. It’s inevitable. So for me, the biggest challenge is getting back to the place I was in, both mentally and emotionally, when I was in high school. There were a lot of things that weren’t up to me, and a lot of things that shouldn’t have been. But it wasn’t a question of what should be. I wasn’t out to change the world. I didn’t even know I had that ability. Or that anyone did. It was about surviving—forget thriving—in my world as it existed then. Finding people I fit in with, and clinging to them like mad when everything else fell apart. And you know what? I’m still in touch with most of those people, thirteen years later.

RV: Um… I go back and forth. My favorite Shifters character is either Ethan (I know, I know) or Jace, depending on what scene I’m writing. Though Kaci has her moments too. Jace and Kaci both have this way of putting things into perspective for Faythe. They ask the right questions. They make her rethink things she’s just always assumed. That’s a valuable perspective to have.

My favorite Soul Screamers characters are Tod and Emma. Hands down. Tod, because he’s not entirely human, and he’s growing less human every day. He remembers being alive, but he isn’t ruled by those same motivations any more. Personal space means nothing to him. He has no manners, no tact, and no sense of timing. But when he loves someone, he’ll do anything to protect him or her. Which can lead to a lot of trouble…

Emma is fanatically loyal to Kaylee, and even though she’s not the best decision maker (She’s 16, and too hot for her own good. Whatta ya gonna do?), she’s always there for Kaylee. And as the series progresses, her friendship with Kaylee will start to put Emma in a lot of danger, yet her loyalty never falters. You have to admire that.

RV: Right now, I’m about to finish up the revisions for MY SOUL TO KEEP, Soul Screamers Book 3. And that one’s intense, let me tell you. I pushed some boundaries, and pushed right past a bunch of Kaylee’s comfort zones, but I’m very pleased with the result. It’s by far the best of the Soul Screamers books so far, in my opinion. MSTKeep comes out June 1, 2010, though it’ll probably hit the shelves in late May.

Also, SHIFT comes out Feb 19^th, 2010 (Officially, March 1)

RV:  Oh, I’m everywhere. I’m very active on my blog, and on Twitter. And I check into my discussion group a couple of times a week to discuss and answer questions. And occasionally to ask a few. I do mini-excerpts on my blog sometimes, and I do micro-excerpts on Twitter as I come across lines that I like, during edits. So you never know what you’re gonna read from me… ;-)

RV:  This was fun! You had some great questions! Thanks for having me. ;-)