MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NATALIE J. DAMSCHRODER

 

 

What’s your name and what genre would you consider your books to be?

I write adult romantic adventure and paranormal romantic adventure under Natalie J. Damschroder, and YA paranormal adventure (with romance 🙂 under NJ Damschroder.

 

Tell me about your book. How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?

My most recent release is Manifest Destiny, a YA ghost story. I was inspired by the movie Heart and Souls with Robert Downey Jr., but with a teenage girl in foster care. For her whole life, three ghosts have been her only family. But now she must choose between being normal and being alone.

The Light of Redemption is my second superhero book, an adult paranormal romance. The heroine is a superhero in a small town who suddenly has to face big-city challenges.

 

 

How did you get interested in writing this particular genre (historical novels, mysteries, sci-fi, children’s books, etc.)?

I like writing books where the stakes are both global and personal. Adventure means saving the world (or part of it!) and romance gives them something more directly meaningful to fight for. I like writing paranormal because I can make everything up, and “what if” has no limits!

 

What kind of research did you do for this book?

I hate research, so mostly I use it for small details when I need them. An example is that Harmony Wilde (aka Eclipse), the superhero in The Light of Redemption, is a librarian by day. So I consulted a real-life librarian to make sure I had some of the details right.

 

Can you tell me about your Series?

My superhero series starts out with The Color of Courage, where Daley Charm is an empath in Washington, DC. Her team is a target of CASE, the Citizens Against Superhero Existence. CASE comes to small-town Pilton, Ohio, in The Light of Redemption. In both of those books, CASE is a tool used by personal enemies of my heroes. But in the third book, which I’m working on now, CASE is the real Big Bad and it’s time to (hopefully) take them down.

 

 

Do you have a favorite book out of this series?

It’s always “the book I’m working on now.” LOL

 

Where did you get the inspiration/idea for your series?

I first wrote The Color of Courage over 10 years ago, before Marvel and DC began duking it out on TV and movie screens for superhero dominance. 🙂 wanted to explore everyday superheroes, people who aren’t as “larger than life” as they typically are, people who have to deal with getting dumped by boyfriends and paying bills. I also wanted to explore some lesser superpowers and the vulnerabilities that go along with them.

 

Was it always meant to become a series?

No, not in the beginning! But things always seem to trend that way.

 

What’s a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

I have a couple of day jobs, so my writing is pretty haphazard. I don’t get to do it at a specific time, usually. When the weather is good, writing outside is the best. My brain is most cooperative then. 🙂 I set daily goals based on a variety of things, sometimes including a deadline.

 

 

Do you have a new book in the making and if so, what’s the name of your upcoming book?

I’m working on multiple projects! The most immediate one is The Restoration of Hope, the third superhero book.

 

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?

They’re super-important, because I have to live with them for a long time, so they have to be names I like. Usually, the meanings aren’t specific; it’s just what fits the character best.

 

Where do your ideas come from?

Everywhere! Anything I read or watch or talk about can spark an idea.

 

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Doing it when I’m tired, which is far too often thanks to my day job schedule.

 

 

What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?

I could probably think about this for a long time and come up with a bunch of different answers. But the one that jumps immediately into my head is that my book has been painted onto the side of a bookstore! Cupboard Maker Books in Enola, PA, has been adding book spines to their outside walls for many years, and this past summer, I got to be one of them. They had a big unveiling ceremony and everything.

 

What’s the best thing about being an author?

There’s nothing like reading a book for an opportunity to fall into someone else’s “life” and experience things I’d never get to experience in mine. If I can give that to someone who reads my books, that is the best feeling.

 

Have you always liked to write?

Ooh, really good question. Because most of the time people ask if you’ve always written. Which I have…but I DIDN’T always like doing it. I wrote stories in a book I made myself when I was six. And my friends and I always made up and then acted out plots and scenes. And then in high school and college, everyone told me writing was my talent. But I hated it. Partly because I wasn’t writing things that were fun to write, and partly because my mother was a writer. I wanted my own thing. But after college we got our first computer and it became pretty clear that writing romantic fiction was my calling.

 

What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?

I always say, “If you can quit, do it.” This business is HARD. It takes a huge investment of time, energy, and identity and doesn’t always give enough back to be worth it. But the reason I say that is because whenever someone (including myself! LOL) says that to me, everything in me says “no way!” I can’t possibly quit. Which means I have to face all the hard stuff.

Of course, for anyone who wants to write for the love of writing and doesn’t need to turn it into a business, that advice is meaningless. To them I just say “follow your heart!”

 

 

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?

I do! The joy of a good review far outweighs the sadness of a bad one. I’ve learned to let the bad ones roll off me. Everyone deserves the purity of their opinion! And no book can be loved by every reader. I try not to respond to the ones by readers, because that’s not an author’s place. I do try to thank all reviewers, however. But I have, on a very few occasions, interacted with a reviewer whose experience wasn’t a good one and I felt I could do something to rectify or make up for that.

 

Where did your love of books come from?

My mom, and my soul. LOL My mother taught me to read very young, and it’s always been one of the main driving forces in my life.

 

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

The best writing does both!

 

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

The answer to this is “both,” too! I want to offer a unique experience in some way, but there are also things that I refuse to mess with. There WILL be a happy ending to my story, especially when it comes to the romance.

 

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

I have been soooo blessed to have a multitude of writer friends, and also writers who barely know me but who ended up unknowingly mentoring or guiding me in some way. I learn something from each and every one.

 

 

Where can your fans find you and follow??

Easiest thing to do is to visit http://njdamschroder.com/contact/ and/or http://nataliedamschroder.com/contact-natalie/. Then they can choose their favorite way to keep track of me and my books!

 

 

Thank you for taking your time to do this interview ❤️

Thank YOU so much for inviting me! I really appreciate it!