Interview with a vampire? Or rather: XXXataktoulaXXX

This Lovely lady was one of the three to answer my question on my Candy Bowl. For her wonderful memory and love of a wonderful movie, she won one of the interview positions :) Here are her answers!

Q: What is your favourite genre to write in?
I believe each genre has its own magic so I like all of them. I have realized though, that I tend to write more fantasy chaptered stories and more tragedy oneshots, if that says something... tehe

Q: What is your favourite genre to read?
Fantasy, romance and dark type of stories as well as dark erotica (not the bad written porn ~ that, I hate).

Q: What are things that attract you to other people's work?
Well-written characters and all the things that I like in stories in general.

Q: Who, or what, inspires you to write?
My inspiration comes from novels such as the Vampire Academy and the Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead as well as the Night of the House series by P.C. Cast, the Pretties series by Scott Westerfeld were awesome as well as Anne Rice and many others.

Mangas such as Eichi, Haou Airen, Akuma na Eros, Asterisk and a bunch which I don't remember at the moment cause honestly I have read every completed shoujo/yaoi/yuri manga there is till now.

Anime such as 07-Ghost, Pandora Hearts, Monochrome Factor, Death Note, Nana, Loveless and much more seeing as I have watched more than two hundred anime series.

Movies like Queen of the Damned, Twilight, City of Bones, Taken and TV series like True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Breaking Bad, Charmed and others.

There are also photographs and songs that inspire me as well as my especially my strange dreams.

Q: What do you find, is the best time of day to write?
At night because everyone else is sleeping and I can fantasize freely the characters and everything else without anyone bothering me.

Q: Do you have any special rituals you do before, or as you are, writing? (such as music...eating..anything!)
I enjoy writing in dead silence or with music that inspires me.

Q: What was the first book you had ever read, and what was it about?
Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. The movie was awesome as well and it's my favourite one.

The story follows Lestat, a vampire who woke up from sleeping for years and Jessie who reads his diary. She learns for his past and goes out to look for the mysterious rock and roll, vampire idol. When the mother of the damned, Akasha awakens, she abducts Lestat while he's on stage and she makes him, hers. Lestat upon seeing Jessie again, he will help his maker Marius kill Akasha and turn Jessie to a vampire because otherwise he would have to let her die.

Q: What was the last book you have read, and what was it about?
As all of you know I am obsssed with vampires and I totally adore dark romance stories. The last series I finished reading was the Georgina Kincaid (or else called Succubus Blues) by Richelle Mead.

Succubus - An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men. See: Georgina Kincaid.

Georgina is a succubus who falls in love with a well-known author named Seth. Seth learns she's a succubus while he's a human and they still try to make their relationship work. Not to mention all the immortal beings and the drama that follows her.

I would put Succubus Blues on the urban fantasy. Georgina is a realistically flawed woman who has literally managed to pave the way to hell with good intentions. Georgina is a succubus and although she has to regularly feed by sucking the life force out of men as she has sex with them, her heart really isn’t in it. She isn’t an evil character; she doesn’t enjoy her life as a succubus and her character is written in such a way that she comes across as a hugely likeable person. Until the back story is filled in by the author it is quite hard to imagine how she ended up a succubus in the first place. It has a mystery plot that will keep the reader guessing and an interesting mythology of divine and evil creatures. Populated with angels, demons, imps, vampires and a whole host of other mythical characters Succubus Blues should satisfy even the most demanding urban fantasy reader.

Q: If you had to recommend a book, what would it be?
All of Anne Rice's work as well as Richelle Mead's.

Q: Do you think that reading other peoples work has helped you develop as a writer?
Yes because while reading other people's works can show you many different writing styles and ways to portray each genre as well as the differences between characters. It always amazed me the idea of what a writer can create.

Q: Is there any type of genres that bother you, when it comes to reading them, and if so, why?
Sci-fi, I'm just not that much into it. If it's well-written, I will read it but there aren't that many sci-fi stories which are well-written. At least that's what I think.

Q: What type of writing program do you use, if any?
Microsoft Office, this is where I type everything.

Q: Would you like to be published one day, and if so, what company would be your pick!?
My dream is to get published, so I hope to make it happen in the future. As for the company, when the time comes, we'll see.

Q: Do you like stories that you can imagine yourself being the lead character in, or do you prefer to be a sort of third person, looking from the outside?
Both have their own magic, don't you think? If the main character is one I would like to see myself as then that's great, but there are times when it's better looking from the outside. I think that when you are in lead character, you get the better feel of their emotions and when you are in third POV (sort of), you get better the surroundings and the plot as well as hidden things which you might have not noticed if you were in character.

Q: How do you feel about having your work online?
Absolutely awesome. It's the only way to get my work read by others and get feedback which helps me get better with my writing.

Q: Are you happy with all of your work, or do you think there is some things you would change?
I want to stop switching tenses because I tend to go from past to present without realizing it. I also want to learn how to develop more nicely my characters while making them different from each either. Like with dialogue, someone says a sentence and if the characters are well-developed, you know that only that one character could have said that. I like these types of characters the most. And, I am already getting over my show, don't tell problem. Slowly, but I'm making progress.

Q: Apart from reading/writing, what do you enjoy doing the most?
I enjoy clubbing, yes, night life in Greece is the best. Other than that I enjoy movies and TV series as well as mangas and anime. I also enjoy to paint on canvas even though its been so long since I painted, and I like to draw anime sketches and tattoos.

Q: How much of your writing reflects parts of you?
My first work, DraMarian Genesis which was a co-write with one-upon-a-time had many parts of me. Especially Marian's character and the situation she got herself into. I don't do that anymore thankfully. Now I create characters from scratch and when I write, I get so much into character that I think of myself as the main character with a different personality, name and surroundings. It's amazing what writing has to offer.

Q: Are you a fan of Original Fiction, or Fan Fiction, or both?
Truth be told, for me it's not if its an original fiction or a fan fic. What matters is how well written the story is and if it can pull me in. If a story has these two things, then I will read it faithfully to the end no matter what kind of fiction it is.
With that being said, I like both kind of fictions but I prefer original fiction over fanfics because most original fiction writers want to get published while fan fiction writers show their love for their fandom. I also have to say that I admire fan fiction writers who write their stories with a way that a reader can read them as original fics.

Q: If you were stuck on an island, what book would you have with you, to help you pass the time?
Something I haven't read yet which for the moment would be the third book of The House of Night series by P.C. Cat or the first book of the Dark Duet series by C.J. Roberts.

That concludes this wonderful and enjoyable interview with a vampire ;)
Please be sure to check out her work - she's really good.
October 31st, 2013 at 09:41am