Author Interview

I had the honor of sharing a booth at the Orange County Children’s Book Festival with today’s guest Laury Falter, and she graciously agreed to be interviewed/interrogated by yours truly.

Laury Falter is the best-selling author of the Guardian Trilogy and its spin-off, the Residue Series. She lives in Las Vegas with her two stray dogs, Annie and Charlie, along with her husband and a pair of sadly unused hiking boots.

Onward, to Questions!

B.C. Johnson: Why do you write Young Adult?

Laury Falter: You know, I never actually write for a specific genre. It just so happens that the worlds I create, the characters I find most fascinating, and the challenges they face start in high school. Those are what appeal to me, so that’s what I write.

BC: What was your easiest book to write?

Laury Falter: My first book, Fallen. I literally finished it in a month and a half. It poured from my soul like melted butter, I think, because of its background. The story was inspired by Joyce Durham, my good friend’s mother, who passed on from cancer. When she passed, I saw the grief the Durhams endured and wished there was someone who could visit Joyce in the afterlife and carry a message back to the family. That was how Maggie, the heroine, was born. I gave her a Harley Davidson to ride, a strong personality, a man who had loved her for many lifetimes, and, hence, the character was born. The story literally came from her from that point on.

BC: What does a typical writing day look like for you?

Laury Falter: I’m a thinker, and then a doer. That is to say I think, conjure, plan before I type a single word. So I don’t write every day. But, boy, do I think about it…in the car, cooking breakfast, walking my dogs (which is actually my most productive time to plot), blow-drying my hair. I am literally thinking either in the back or the forefront of my mind every moment of the day about what to put in the book. Then, once I’m in front of my computer, the words simply flow. At that point, three hours of writing feels like twenty minutes.

BC: What are you reading right now?

Laury Falter: Oh, World War Z. And I love it! Anything with zombies is mesmerizing to me (which is why I’ll be writing a zombie series very shortly here), but this book specifically captivates me. It’s well plotted, the characters are well defined, I’ve cried on several occasions throughout it. It isn’t romance, and it’s not even in the young adult category, but I cannot put it down. Highly recommend if you like zombies!

BC: Do you prefer e-book or paperback?

Laury Falter: E-book all the way. I can download most any book the instant I want it (yes, I can be impatient); they are often less expensive than printed versions; and the pages don’t flop back while you’re trying to read. I might be a little biased, though, because I sell far more e-books than paperback. 🙂

BC: What are your three favorite words? Three least favorite?

Laury Falter: Favorite three words: I brought chocolate (substitute that last word with wine and you have a very close runner up). I have kissed people for speaking those words to me.

Least favorite three words: Neglect, cruelty, slaughter. The world would be a better place if we had no idea what those words meant.

BC: If an asteroid was going to hit Earth in one week, how would you spend your last seven days?

Laury Falter: My first instinct would be to buy plane tickets for me, family, and friends (boy, the credit card companies would just love that) and fly us over the pond to tour Europe for seven days. But, once my sanity returned, I’d decide to take every last second spending quiet moments with the ones I love, making our favorite meals, and reminiscing about the good times we’ve had together. I’m sure wine and chocolate would be in abundance at those meals.

BC: What project are you working on right now? Can you give any details?

Laury Falter: Currently, I’m finishing up the last book of my most recent series, the Residue Series. It has been heartwrenching to write about what happens to our hero, taking my breath away at times. He goes through so much to save the heroine, Jocelyn, the one he loves. Love like his should be in abundance. I will be so excited to release this book.

BC: What’s in the future for the Guardian Trilogy?

Laury Falter: Well, a Hollywood studio is currently working on making the books into movies, which would be fantastic! In the meantime, I will be writing a spinoff to the series, another young adult paranormal romance. Maggie and Eran, our two fated lovers in the series, will have a child who then grows up and falls in love with a very unlikely hero, one who Maggie and Eran would give their lives to keep her from seeing. He’s a bad boy with a dangerous past, but with a good heart…the most sexy kind of hero.

BC: Thanks for stopping by, Laury, and good luck with the movie!

Check out the first book of the Guardian Trilogy, the Best-Selling Fallen: