Author Interview Faith Bloom
May's interview is with Author and Poet Faith Bloom. Faith has been writing poetry for a number of years and will soon be releasing her first novel later this year.
I certainly can relate to Faith's answer to the second part of question 4, as I am sure many authors can.
I hope you enjoy learning about Faith.
1. Do you remember the first book you read that had an impact on you - in what way and what was the name of that book?
I guess that would be The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I had to read it while in school and I loved the story. It became my favorite when I realized the story was an allegory of the story of Christ. I realized then that writing could be an adventure and wasn’t always something easily explained. It had to be understood by the reader.
2. When did you first realize you wanted to write?
It was in elementary school, I believe in the fourth grade. I had to write a poem for my class’s participation in the Christmas program. I wrote a poem about Santa’s reindeer planning a Christmas party. My teacher loved it! I realized how much fun I had writing poetry. Then in the sixth grade, I started to write my first book. It was about some kids and a vampire. I had gotten up to seven chapters and a friend of mine wanted to read it and never gave it back. I hope she liked it!
3. Who is/are your favourite author(s)?
I love Nicholas Sparks’ books. All of his stories are clean and have meaning to them. They have beautiful settings and are about relationships.
4. What is your favourite thing about writing? What is your least favourite thing writing?
My favourite thing would be coming up with new ideas and new characters. It’s exciting to dive into something new with each story that I write. It’s fun coming up with plot ideas and how I want the story to end.
The thing I like the least would be distractions. I get distracted easily from writing. I get into something that needs done around the house or appointments I need to get to and I lose focus. I need to learn to spend time on a regular basis for writing.
5. Where do your ideas come from?
I’ve had a lot of ideas from life in general, things I’ve experienced. I got an idea for a story I want to write with my son from a dream I had. The whole book played out in my dream. I’ve gotten ideas from songs. Some songs I’ve loved have given me inspiration to write poetry or a short story. And sometimes I see something on television. In a movie or even the news.
6. I’ve often found that creative people have more than one talent, what is yours?
One “talent” I have is I can walk into anyone’s house and rearrange, declutter and organize them within one day. I can play the flute, but I’m horrible at reading music. Over the past few years, I’ve been making videos, websites, publishing and editing books for friends. I happen to think I’m pretty good at it.
7. If you could jump inside of a book for one day (as an observer) what book would it be?
Maybe that would be Eat, Pray, Love. My husband and I separated 8 years ago and I had to start all over again at the age of 38. I should have read this book then! It is full of exciting characters, yummy food, spiritual insight, and a great sense of humor as the character, Elizabeth, is redefining herself. I would love to follow her journey as she travels to other countries on her quest for self discovery.
8. When you create characters are they completely made up or do they resemble or remind you of people you know?
Sometimes I think I am completely making them up in my mind, but later I realize that they resemble someone in my life. Probably because I believe you write what you know. I think a lot of authors write characters about people they know or have met and don’t realize it right away.
9. Have you ever created a character “out of thin air” only to run into someone in real life that reminds you of that character either in personality or their features?
So far, that hasn’t happened to me. But that would be awesome!
10. What are you working on now and can you tell us about it?
I’m working on my first novel. It’s going to be a series of books called Unbreakable. It’s the story of a young woman named Ava and her journey through life and abuse that she endures. It’s going to be a trigger for some people but I’m writing it in hopes it will help others who have gone through similar situations. It will be released later this year.
You can find and follow Faith Bloom on the links below.
faithbloom@outlook.com