Author Interview: Elizabeth Marx (+Giveaway)

Windy city writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no town like Chi town. 

INTERVIEW

Describe your book in one sentence.
If Locke and Keleigh can’t locate a potent artifact, the battle brewing between ancient knowledge and modern communication will destroy everything—even their love.

What inspired you to write All’s Fair in Vanities War? Did you take ideas from other books and movies?
My daughter wanted me to write a YA novel. I always wanted to write about hereditary witches and I was toying with the location of Salem, the largest group of settlers in that area, were the English and the Irish in the Boston area. The English and Irish decent led me on the path to the druids and Celtic mythology. While researching that, I came across the concept of a Seer. She died a fiery death, grew gianormous wings and wouldn’t leave me alone; she kept poking me and telling me what to do. Finally, I gave up and let her run the show and once you’ve read the book you know she has a lot to say.

You can like The Seer on Facebook at http://facebook.com/TheSeers7DeadlyFairyTales

Did you do any research before you started or during the writing of the book?
I did a lot of research on witchcraft, Celtic mythology, magical creatures, symbols and magic, druids, paganism before I started writing. Then as I went along if I got stumped I would do research to help me along. When I was done with the first draft I traveled to Salem and visited all the locations in the book, especially American’s Stonehenge which is in Salem, New Hampshire (about 45 minutes from Salem, MA), as well as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. I love history and mythology so it was a lot of fun to tie so many things together with the sinister history of Salem and the Witches Museum.

Which scenes were the hardest to write?
Death never come easy, while The Seer came to my imagination already dead, sprouting the scrolled up wings, I thought I had to show her death. I felt I owed her that much, since she sacrificed so much to tell the tale.

How long has it taken you to write a book?
I worked on All’s Fair in Vanities War for more than a year, but it wasn’t my sole project. If I had to estimate, I could probably write, self-edit, professionally edit, format, and do cover design in about six months. That’s if The Seer decides to cooperate, I might add.

What’s the best part of writing for you?
The best part of writing is the ability to explore new worlds, to create them, like magic from nothing but crumpled pieces of paper, to nourish them with words and then to harvest them for other people to enjoy.

Are you working on anything other projects except writing, right now?
On the home front, I moved over the summer to a larger home, and I’m an interior designer, so next up on the list is all the light fixtures have to be replaced and then custom window treatments for the formal living room and dining room.
I’ve been spending most of the last three months on marketing my books, which is all new to me because I didn’t blog. Once my website, which is under construction, goes live, I will add blogging to my daily routine.

Anything special you want to share with us?
I’d like to share some of the artwork that inspired me while writing All’s Fair in Vanities War. I’m a very visual person so whenever I get stuck I look for a image to help me along. Enjoy!

Thanks a lot for the interview!! And i have to say that i love visual interviews! They are always more special!

Salem’s always held sinister secrets. No one understands this better than a sixteen-year-old girl who dies on Halloween night and is reborn a Seer.

The Seer can’t imagine anything worse than being an invisible teenager with enormous black wings. Until she finds out she’s been sacrificed to watch over Locke’s new flame.

Locke Cavanaugh is a Druid, and part of the Order, a clandestine organization entrusted with keeping its members cloaked in the Ordinary world. Physically scarred from the accident that took his girlfriends life, Locke is searching for the OtherWorldly magic that damaged him, because only those without blemish can rule the Order. And once at the helm of the Order he has every intention of finding those responsible for her death.

On the West Coast, Keleigh Flaherty witnesses her parents’ murder by beasts that should only exist in nightmares. She is whisked off to the safety of Salem, where she learns how potent and dangerous her concealed Vate talents are. Keleigh wants to be Ordinary, but when her mother reaches out from the OtherWorld, and implores her to find a forgotten relic she’ll have to use all her ExtraOrdinary powers to locate it.

As Locke and Keleigh join forces, they unravel the Order’s involvement in the witch hysteria and murmurs of a Celtic prophecy. While Locke’s affection for Keleigh blooms, The Seer is torn between her duty to protect Keleigh, and her desire to stop Locke from making the ultimate sacrifice in order to earn Keleigh’s love . . .

But if they don’t find the witches bottle before the
ShiningOnes do, someone stalking Keleigh from the shadows will take her instead and plunge all worlds into chaos.

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ENTER FOR THE 50$ GRAND PRIZE OF THE TOUR

You must "LIKE" The Seer's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TheSeers7DeadlyFairyTales), then post one of her best lines from All's Fair in Vanities War on the wall. Yes, this means you have to read the book in order to participate.