Blog Tour; Interview with J. L. Mulvihill
Hey Guys!
Today I am the tour stop for the Boxcar Baby by J. L. Mulvihill blog tour! She is here today for an interview about herself and the book. Hope you enjoy the interview!
Tell us a little bit about yourself, anything you would like your readers to know.
Hi I’m Jen and I write books. Sorry, just a little humour there. I’m not sure what else I can tell that is not already in the bio except maybe that I enjoy writing because like reading it helps me escape into another world that I guess I created in my head. I use dot read a lot as a child but I never imagined that I would be the creator of the world where others could escape too.
How long have you wanted to be a writer?
Maybe forever, maybe only recently, I’m not sure. The thing is I have always been writing I just never knew I was a writer. My mother told me I made up my first poem when I was three-years-old. When I learned to write I guess I started writing them down. I distinctly remember writing a lot of poetry around the age of 12 and in 7th grade I wrote a short story about a pirate. All my friends told me it was very good. My locker got broken into a few days later and the only thing missing was that story, crazy right? I really did not know I wanted to be a writer until I finished my first novel and I figured since I did all that work I was darn well going to get it published one way or the other. Now I can’t stop writing.
When you’re not typing away at the keyboard coming up with new ideas, what do you do?
Like a lot of other writers I have a day job and a family. We enjoy watching movies or keeping up with Doctor Who together. Weather permitting fishing is one of my favourite pass times and watching football, I used to be a big Chargers fan being from San Diego, they have kind of let me down though.
The concept of this novel seems really interesting, is there a story behind the inspiration for it?
Not really, the idea just popped into my head one day that I would like to read about an adventure of a girl train hopping around America. I mulled it around for a while until Stephen Zimmer of Seventh Star Press approached me and asked me if I had anything in works along the lines of young adult. I told him I had an idea of a steampunk story, so he told me to send a proposal to Amanda, who apparently liked the idea and here we are.
Can you tell us a little something about the protagonist?
AB`Gale is your average teenage girl who has a peaceful life. Well I guess she is a little smarter than average since she has helped her papa tinker with inventions. However, Abby is happy despite the fact that she was orphaned as baby; this doesn’t really bother her much because the people who have adopted her have given her so much love as she grew up that it does not really matter to her where she comes from. She can at times be a little wilful but what teenage girl isn’t. Her papa has taught her to be true to what is right and to question what she does not understand or what seems wrong. Up to now Abby has been content with her life, until her world is upheaved by the disappearance of her papa.
And, does the antagonist have any pet peeves?
There are several antagonists but one in particular, Ms. Marcs who hates being made to look like a fool, or being told she is wrong about something. She hates it when it appears that she is not in control of the situation.
Were there any moments in the book that you loved writing? Could you tell us about them?
There are a couple places that made me cry while I wrote the scene and they were parts that I felt were touching moments. Unfortunately I can’t tell you about them without spoiling the story but I can tell you one of those moments is at the end.
When your creativity is running low, what do you do to find inspiration again?
I put on my Pop’s old shirt. It’s an old flannel shirt that used to belong to my grandpa and he used to tell me stories when he was alive. I feel like maybe there is magic or something it helps me to think of him and remember him telling me his stories. I also like to listen to music. For steampunk a usually like to listen to old folk music.
And finally, do you have any advice for any aspiring writers out there?
For anyone out there who wants to be a writer, if it is your passion then do it. Be fierce about it and let flow. If you truly want to get published then learn the business, don’t just think you can write a novel and be done; you have to beat feet on the pavement and earn your stickers first. You also have to be a good writer. Learn all you can about your skill by reading and talking to other writers.
and a quick fire round;
ebooks or hard copies?
Hard Copies
day or night?
Night
reading or writing?
Both
paper or computer?
Both
tea or coffee?
Both
favourite book of the moment?
Tick Tock of Oz
most memorable book?
The Fellowship of the Ring
Thank you for answering all of those questions Jen! It was lovely to get to know you better! Are you excited about this book now? Just keep on reading to find out more information about the book and Jen!
Born in Hollywood and raised in San Diego, CA, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past fifteen years. Her debut novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa, an engaing fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of steampunk, published through Kerlak Publishing. The Boxcar Baby, the first novel of her Steel Roots Series, was released by Seventh Star Press in the summer of 2013.
J.L. also has several short fiction pieces in publication, among them “Chilled Meat”, a steampunk thriller found in the Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology (Kerlak Publishing) and “The Leprechaun’s Story”, a steampunk urban Fantasy found in the anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells (Kerlak Publishing)
J.L. is very active with the writing community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower. She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, and the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group.
Born in a boxcar on a train bound for Georgia. At least that is what Papa Steel always told AB’Gale. But now, fifteen years later, the man who adopted and raised her as his own is missing and it’s up to AB’Gale to find him. Aided only by a motley gang of friends, AB’Gale train hops her way across the United States in a desperate attempt to find her papa and put her life and family back the way it was. Her only guide is a map given to her by a mysterious hobo, with hand written clues she found hidden in her papa’s spyglass. Here is the Great American Adventure in an alternate steampunk dystopian world, where fifteen-year-old AB’Gale Steel learns that nothing is as it seems, but instead is shrouded in secrets and mysteries … and that monsters come in all shapes and forms.
The Boxcar Baby is the first book of the Steel Roots series.
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