Monday, October 8, 2012

Chatting Away with Danita Minnis


Hello, readers! I hope you are all having a day filled with blessings. I've been counting mine and this author is one of those blessings. Danita Minnis is an author I met during a "summer camp" for writers. 


Welcome, Danita! Let's get started. Why don't you tell us how you became a writer? How does your family feel about it? How would you describe your books to someone who has never read them?

Until about five years ago, my writing was a means to an end, a utility. At that time, I was a singer who needed songs to sing, and so I wrote them. I didn’t realize I was a writer of books until I started having dreams about this man who was trying to stay alive. He was in one perilous situation after another at the oddest times. I would drive to work and beyond my windshield was this man, trying to dodge a car that was coming head-on for him. To be honest, some of the ‘scenes’ I saw over a three-week period had to wait for the second novel in the Cardiff series. It was just too much to put into the first book.
My family wasn’t as surprised as I was when I told them I was writing a novel. I must admit to some consistency. My sisters and I used to walk ten blocks to the library every Saturday. We would each bring home an armful of books to read for the week. Our reading obsession grew as we got older and to this day, you will find us reading something, talking books and making recommendations. Anne Rice, Stephen King and Dean Koontz have made lots of money off of my family. J
If I had to describe my stories, I would have to say they are dark fairy tales for adults. I am drawn to horror as much as I am to love. I can’t resist other-world themes, they just catapult me to a great adventure, some place I’ve never been. 
Who doesn't love fairy tales? In my opinion, the darker the better:)


What a beautiful cover! Do you have an excerpt or blurb to share with us?
Blurb- Angelina wants to go unrecognized when she leaves her family’s Yorkshire estate to play in a symphony in Italy. When she starts running she has no idea just how much she is running from: a stolen Stradivarius, a birthright of mysterious powers and a past that got her killed over two hundred years ago. 
Falcon wants the Stradivarius in her possession, and goes undercover to track down a thief. But he is not the only killer in search of the violin.
il Dragone, a devil-worshiping cult, wants revenge for a past only they can remember.
Falcon’s Angel is a paranormal romance of love that ended in tragedy in eighteenth century France. That love is tested in a fight of good versus evil some two hundred years later. This time around Falcon and Angel have an opportunity to put a stop to the cycle of murder and mayhem, if only they can remember.

Excerpt- They were walking through the ancient Roman marketplace, which was deserted now. When the girl got closer to the church built on the site of an old temple, the man began to close the distance between them.
Falcon shook his head as she reached the church corner. She never noticed the man who was just a few feet behind her now. When the man pushed her into the gloom around the church corner, they were lost from his sight. The girl screamed.
Sprinting, he rounded the corner. About ten feet away, the man was trying to wrestle the violin case from her against the wall.
Falcon pulled out his gun and aimed. “Let her go.”
The man turned toward him, and the girl pulled at his ear. The man bent, holding his stomach. He made an inarticulate sound before running away along the side of the building into the darkness.
Falcon darted past the girl and followed the man into the shadows.
What the hell?
Something flitted overhead, darker than the darkness in which he now stood alone. He pointed the Glock upward even as a figure walked up the side of the building. It looked like a black cloud but more solid than it should be.
Before he could get off a shot, the darkness disappeared over the side of the roof.
Staring at the dead end in front of him, Falcon put his gun away. No doors or windows on either side.
Where is the guy? Must be a hidden door somewhere, he’d check it out later.
Falcon turned back toward the girl. Beyond her, across the street, the man he had been chasing got into a car.
“No way,” he murmured as the car sped off. No way could the man have gotten past him in the alley.
The girl had both arms wrapped around the violin case in front of her. She was leaning against the church wall, crying.
A street lamp flickered on above them, belatedly bathing the passage in revealing light. She did not seem to realize that he was there.
“Did he hurt you, Signorina?”
She looked up. He lifted his gaze from her heaving chest.
“Grazie,” she whispered, wiping her face with the back of her hand. She shook her head. “I am fine.”
“You should not be walking alone at night.” The harsh reprimand in his voice surprised him. She was very young. Her tears wrought such vulnerability that he softened his tone when he came to stand in front of her. “Do you know that man?”
“No, I have never seen him before. But … he knew me.”
“What did he say to you?”
She looked down at the violin.
He stared at her until she looked up. Ah, she had just found her story. It was in her eyes, and it was not the truth. The fear in her eyes told him that story would never change.
Where can readers find you on the internet?


BIO- If you asked Danita Minnis which is easier, writing songs or writing novels, she would say it was the former. Melodies and rhymes are second nature. What her characters want is another thing entirely. With her debut novel, Falcon’s Angel, she learned to listen to her spunky heroine and sinfully confident hero. They’re funny and in danger, and that’s just the way they want it. Lesson learned: don’t try to save them.

When she’s not writing, Danita exercises her lungs at her son’s soccer matches and their favorite theme park, because everyone knows it’s easier on the stomach to scream your way down a roller coaster.
You can find Danita here: http://danitaminnis.danitaminnis.com/
Falcon’s Angel is available now: http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/books/falconsangel.htm


Now for some fun:
Ten Tantalizing Teasers-
Plotter or Pantser? I am both. I build the framework of my story first. I know the way I want it to end and usually have an idea who’s going to survive. However, I’m a Pantser at times because my characters always throw curve balls at me and I let them fly. It’s an adventure because this can and has changed a plot or two, and ended many lives! 
Which Goddess best defines you? Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love!

Favorite Dessert? Tiramisu – I can’t help myself!
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate!
Favorite scent? Michael Kors
Coffee, tea, soda, or water? Perrier water
Do you have to set the mood to write? Nope. All I need is my laptop on a flat surface. I just tune everything out. It comes from years of reading on a crowded subway. All New Yorkers are bred to maintain the New York Poker Face amidst the madness. I don’t see anything else but the words on that page. At home, the television could be on and I wouldn’t even know what show is playing.
Do you have a favorite character? Falcon is my favorite right now. He is a ruthless killer but he is such a good, loyal guy. He knows Angel is the girl for him and he just doesn’t ‘see’ any other woman that way. *sigh.*
Morning, afternoon, evening, or late night writer? Lately, it’s been anytime. Whenever I have the opportunity. An hour before my alarm rings in the morning if an idea can’t wait.
If you weren’t writing, what would be your occupation? I’d still be singing, somewhere, even if it’s just at weddings. 
Thank you, Danita, for stopping by today! I wish  you much success with your writing and singing:) And my dear readers, I hope you enjoyed chatting with Danita today. Be sure to leave any comments or questions you may have for her!
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