Today’s special author guest is middle-grade author Cherie Colyer. We’re chatting about her new ghost adventure Friends to the End.
During her virtual book tour, Cherie will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bio:
C.L. Colyer found her love for writing in first grade when her class was sent to the library and asked to find a book for their first book report. While she doesn’t still have this book report, she’s very proud to say she got an A on it. Her favorite thing about the book was that it had no words. That’s right, not one! That gave her the freedom to interpret the pictures in any way she wanted and write her own story.
This sparked her love for writing essays. It wasn’t until she was an adult that she sat down and penned her first novel. This story has a special place in her heart because it’s the story that helped her discover her passion for writing. She has since written several books, many of which may never see the light of day, but all of which helped her learn to combine her passion for writing with her fascination with all things mythical. You’ll find examples of this in her novels.
She lives in Illinois with her family.
Welcome, Cherie. Please tell us about your current release.
Twelve-year-old Zach is convinced he’ll never be happy without his best friend Jeremy by his side. But both of their lives changed with a bang five months ago, and as far as Zach’s concerned, it’s his fault Jeremy will never see his twelfth birthday.
When Zach moves with his family to a Chicago suburb, he quickly becomes friends with a group of thrill-seeking kids trying to find a disappearing haunted house. But Zach’s not worried. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, so he follows them into a wild, dangerous encounter that becomes a battle to decide what’s real and what’s not.
What inspired you to write this book?
The inspiration behind this story was two-fold. The adventure came first. I envisioned four friends creeping around an ancient old house, trying not to draw attention to themselves as they searched for a way out. Who they were hiding from and why they were in danger came to me quite out of the blue as I drove by a road not far from my house. Tucked between the homes on what would otherwise be a peaceful rural road is the second most haunted cemetery in Illinois. I passed this road everyday as a teen as the bus took me to school. I’d heard the stories of apparitions seen floating above graves or walking down the road. This cemetery quickly became the inspiration for my fictional town.
But Friends to the End isn’t just a ghost story. Zach, my kind-hearted and brave (even though he doesn’t realize it just yet) protagonist is dealing with the loss of his best friends. His personal journey was born by the overwhelming and heartbreaking loss of innocent lives that happen in Chicago and other cities everyday. Having lost his best friend to the violence, Zach battles the ghosts in his past as he battles the all too real ghosts in the book. He’ll need to be brave if he hopes to make it out alive.
Excerpt from Friends to the End:
We stopped a few yards from the cemetery, our mouths hanging open and our eyes wide.
“Please tell me you see that,” I whispered.
“If you mean the white lights floating above the ground,” Josh said, “we see it.”
“They’re orbs,” Morgan corrected, as if knowing the proper name for the glowing spheres made it okay to see them.
“Orbs?” Josh asked.
“Spirits of the dead,” I replied, remembering what Morgan had told me.
Dom scooted his bike closer. “Maybe we should ask them if they’ve seen the house.”
“Seriously?” Morgan asked.
“Yeah.”
Morgan shook her head, causing her ponytail to swing from side to side. “Oh, no! I learned my lesson the last time we were here. I’m not stepping one foot off the shoulder of the road.”
“Your right foot is in the grass,” Dom said, shining his flashlight on her sneaker.
Morgan scowled and repositioned herself to have both feet on concrete.
Three iridescent orbs floated over headstones. I thought about the movies that warned people to stay away from the light. Maybe they weren’t warning us about a bright beam of light, but instead small glowing balls. Maybe if one of them touched you, the spirit would take over your body. Maybe they were waiting for someone to be stupid enough to come closer. I suddenly wondered if I’d met anyone who’d been possessed by a spirit and immediately thought of Olivia and her strange habits.
Then I told myself I was being ridiculous.
Or was I? Think about it. How would anyone know if a ghost hitched a ride with the person in front of him or her?
What exciting story are you working on next?
I have another middle-grade adventure coming out later this year. In this new story, a ten-year-old boy thinks tutoring another boy is the answer to his extremely dire problem: his older brother is going to feed him to monsters for ruining his treasured Sherlock Holmes mystery. He quickly discovers, to his horror, that his new student is a monster’s grandson.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
After I wrote my very first novel. It was never published, but that story made me realize how much I enjoyed writing books.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
No, I have a pesky day job, which I do enjoy. I’m an advanced technical associate for a major telecommunication company. That’s a fancy way of saying that I help keep customers’ data and voice networks working.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I tend to switch tense a lot in my first drafts. It’s really quite annoying.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A witch. I remember seeing Escape from Witch Mountain and thinking it would be so cool to have magical powers.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I had so much fun writing Friends to the End and sharing a little about myself on Lisa’s blog. And I love hearing from readers, so leave a comment, and I’ll check in to answer them.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon author page | Bookbub author page | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Apple | IndieBound | Everywhere else
Thanks for being here today, Cherie!
Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for hosting!! I had a lot of fun with the interview, and I’d love to hear from your followers. Tell me in the comments your quirks or what you wanted to be when you grew up!
I liked the excerpt.
Congratulations on your recent release of Friends to the End, Cherie, I enjoyed the interview and the excerpt and your book sounds like a great book for kids to read and I love the cover! Good luck with your book and the tour! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a spectacular week!
Your story sounds so good! Loved the excerpt.
I enjoyed reading the excerpt – well done!
Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks, everyone! So glad you enjoyed it.
Great excerpt and giveaway. 🙂
I love the cover and the excerpt.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Hi! I’d tell my younger self to follow the dream of writing sooner. I hadn’t really thought I could be a writer or realized how much I would enjoy it until my husband nudged me give it a try.
That is excellent advice!
Interesting excerpt! Good luck with your book tour!
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
Hi Barbara! Not really, although my YA and adult work is published under my full name and my middle grade is with my initials.
I wonder why authors would write under pseudonyms?
What is your favorite childhood book?
Hi Tracie! I loved Escape from Witch Mountain when I was young. I read and reread that book many times. I’d love to find a copy with the original cover. (Or the cover I remember.)
Do you have a writing routine?
This sounds like a good read.
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Hi Barbara. This really depends on which draft I’m working on. The first draft can be exhausting. But I love to revise, so I find that energizing.
Do you prefer sweet or salty foods?
Salty, definitely. Unless it’s french fries and a milk shake. I like these together.
Do you have a favorite way to relax?
My favorite way is to go for walks, but it’s freezing here, so I’ve been binged watching shows. My favorite so far this season is The Witcher.
I’m working on a middle-grade historical fiction (with a time slip). Have you done something like this before?
Hi Nancy!
I haven’t written historical fiction or a time slip. But I love the idea and I think kids will too!
Where do you get your ideas for writing?
Hi Barbara.
I get my ideas from all over. I shared what inspired Friends to the End in this post. The idea for one of my YA books came from a church I happened upon on a two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. (It was a bit creepy.) Sometimes a person will pop into my head. That’s how the protagonist in my upcoming middle-grade novel come about.
Do you do anything special to treat yourself after finishing a book?
I don’t. I really need to start though. I’m thinking of a large taffy apple from my favorite candy shop would be nice. Thanks for giving me the idea!!
Happy, happy Monday!
What advice do you have for writers?
Hi Barbara!
I always tell writers to finish the first draft. So many times, I’ll have a writer tell me they keep revising and never make it to the end of the novel. But the first draft is messy, but if you can get the story down, you can then go back and fix what needs to be fixed. I also think it’s very important to read wide, to see how others put their scenes together.
Thanks for leaving a question!!
What part of the book was the most fun to write?
Hi! I had a lot of fun writing the scenes with the ghosts. Especially once Zach and his friends find the vanishing house.
I so enjoyed reading the excerpt- well done!
Thanks 🙂
I am adding this book to my to be read soon list!
What is the first book that made you cry?
Hmm… I can’t remember the first book, but one of the last was The Fault in Our Stars.
What’s the best way to market your books?
I’m still working on this! But I think word of mouth is wonderful. If you enjoy a book or are excited to read a book, tell your friends!
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I have seven published novels, 2 coming out this year, and at least another dozen on my computer. I couldn’t pick a favorite!
How did you decide on the cover for this book?
I filled out a questionnaire giving the general idea of what I might like and the talented cover artists at my publisher did the rest. I think Diana Carlile did an amazing job on the cover.
How many hours a day do you write?
How do you select the names of your characters?
If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
Hi Barbara! Let me try to answer your questions all at once.
I write about an hour a day during the week and longer on weekends.
Names for my characters come from many places. It could be a name of someone I met or it could be a name I found by searching sites like Behind the Name.
I have a full-time job, so if I didn’t write I supposed I’d wear just the one hat as a network engineer.
Depends on the book. I have a few I wrote in six months and others that took years.
With Friends to the End, there is a scene where we find out what happened to Zach’s best friend. That one was difficult to write.
Thanks for leaving your questions!
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
What, to you, are the most important elements of good writing?
What inspired the idea for your book?
I think I would have a hard time putting this book down after starting to read it.
I’m adding this to my to be read soon list.
The excerpt was so good, draws me to reading this.
Do you have plans for writing another book?
I so admire anyone with the ability to be a writer.
Where do you get your ideas for writing all of your books?
Do you reward yourself with something special when finishing a book?
Did you get a lot of encouragement when you decided to become an author?
Have you ever started a book that you decided not finish?
Doing some different from my usual comments –
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
I enjoyed reading about the author’s history.
Do you have a favorite author and/or genre?
Did you have any writing schooling?