Please welcome debut author Niki Daninger...

Please join me in welcoming my long time friend Niki Daninger. Her debut anthology Bewitching Desires was released October 1 and is available now at Barnes & Noble, amazon.com and iTunes.

            iTunes                       Amazon.com                       Barnes & Noble

Welcome Niki. First of all, congratulations on your debut book, I’m so happy for you, you’ve earned it.  Tell us a little bit about the anthology.

Thank you so much!

The anthology revolves around a coven in Savannah GA. Each story works as a stand-alone but every writer has a character that is a member of the coven and we must reference the Halloween meeting. From there, our stories can twist, turn, overlap or not. That was left totally up to us and I must say, it was great fun fitting my story in with the others.

How did these two characters come to you?

Well, originally, I turned down the offer to be a part of this project. I’d never written a short before and I did not think I could write anything in such a short amount of time. That night however, an idea struck me, and as I lay in bed, the whole story of Micah came to me. By morning, I had names, a plot and a timeline.

Micah seems like a handful. I’ve heard some authors say that it can be hard to uh, keep their characters “in line” so to speak. Did you run into that with him?

Actually no, he might be a selfish character but he was a breeze to write. I’ll be honest though, I do soooo much preparation before I write that I rarely get back-talk ;)

I am a huge paranormal fan, what drew you to this genre?

I grew up reading fantasy and some Sci-Fi. I think it was a natural progression to move to Paranormal. It’s like fantasy but in more ‘realistic’ settings. I can still write about magical beings and situations but I don’t need to create entirely new worlds.

Are there any authors in particular that have influenced you or your writing style?

I can’t say anyone has influenced my style (at least not consciously). I can’t think of a single author that made me say, ‘I want to write like they do’, but I have certainly been influenced to write in general. I could list a few but I’m going to give you my #1… Melanie Rawn. Her Dragon Prince series is the first set of books that made me want to live in another person’s world. I wanted to be one of her characters or meet them. Her world was alive and colorful and I wanted to create something that made others feel that way.

Any advice that you have for aspiring authors?

Yes, avoid procrastination – at all costs! Seriously, if you have something you need to do, get it done, don’t let it hang over you, needling its way into your thoughts. Do the laundry or clean the bathroom or check those emails. Then, give yourself some writing time and don’t let anything distract you.

Thanks so much for joining us. Bewitching Desires is available now for only $0.99 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, you can also read the first chapter on Watt pad. Just click here.