Author Interview - Cambria Hebert

Hey everyone! I want to give a huge thanks to Veronica for having me by this most fabulous blog! This is my first blog tour so I am very excited to be doing this!

I am a writer, a blogger, a latter sipper! Yup I’m a coffee a-holic. I really like Starbucks. I am also totally obsessed with werewolves. Sometimes I go outside on a full moon and look in the woods to see if there is one waiting there for me… okay, I don’t do that. I don’t even live next to the woods… but if I did… 

I have been writing since I was a teenager but more seriously (as in the intent to see my writing published) for about 6 years. I didn’t actually start trying to get published until about 3 years ago. During that time I got a massive amount of rejections letters full of the word NO. I am a stubborn girl (did I mention I am a taurus?) so I kept trying. Then I heard about Otherworld Publications and they said YES! 

So here I am, gearing up for a few releases. My debut novel, Masquerade (Heven ane Hell #1), is being released on December 16th. It is a YA paranormal, you should read it. It’s really good. ;) I also have a prequel to my book coming out. It is a short story titled Before. If that wasn’t enough insanity (seriously, I think I’m losing it – just kidding!) I have another short story coming out in November. It’s a stand alone story and it is titled Whiteout. It is also a paranormal. 

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Q: Let's begin with your upcoming books, can you tell me a few things about Masquerade and Before? 

A: Masquerade is about a young girl named Heven who has it all. Popularity, beauty and a hot crush. Then she loses it all. There is an accident and she wakes up in the hospital and the left side of her face is disfigured. What’s worse is that she can’t remember the accident or how she got like that. No one else knows and the rumors fly. She is branded a freak. She hides behind her hair and walks with her eyes down. Her only friends left are Kimber and Kimber’s boyfriend Cole. But then a new guy shows up in town. Sam. He seems to see beyond her scars… he makes Heven want to do the same. But Sam has secrets… 

Before is about Heven and her life before her accident. It gives a glimpse of what she used to be like before everything changed. It also introduces Sam and the mystery that surrounds him…

Q: What triggered the idea of Masquerade, where did it all begin? 

A: I wanted to write a story about a girl who was disfigured. I thought that so many of the stories out there are about these beautiful girls who have everything. But what about the people who are reading them that don’t identify with that? What about the people who have things about themselves that make them feel insecure? Then I started to think about how Heven got disfigured… what if she didn’t know? How awful would that be? And I LOVE paranormal so I added in some of that because I thought it would be fun!

Q: How did you create your main characters, are they based on anyone? 

A: They are not based on anyone I know. A friend of mine has a daughter names Heven, so that’s where I got the name but everything else I dreamed up.

Q: What do you love the most about your novel? 

A: I think I love the story the most. How the characters start at one place in the beginning but by the end they are somewhere different. The story grows and changes but so do they as people.

Q: Where do you usually draw inspiration from? 

A: Anywhere! Anything! Sometimes I will hear something in passin or on TV and I will think well that’s interesting. And then the “what if’s” start. What if this happened or what if that happened… I also get a lot of my ideas when I am driving. It can be distracting! If you ever see me driving around town and I look deep in thought – get off the road!

Q: What do you think is the best and what's the worst thing about being a writer? 

A: The best thing is getting to create different worlds and characters. It’s my passion and I think it’s great that I can do something that I love so much every day. The worst thing is the rejections and the waiting and the self doubt. Developing a book takes a long time. It takes patience. Being rejected is never fun and then there’s the doubt. Will other people love these characters as much as I do? Is the world I painted vivid enough?

Q: How was your trip through writing and publishing so far? 

A: Overall, it’s been positive. Yes, I have a ton of rejection letters and those were hard. Rejection is never easy but I never gave up and that one yes made all those no’s a lot easier to deal with. :) I think like in life, there are good days and bad days. I would be lying if I said there weren’t days when I wondered why I do it all. But those days pass and I reminded over and over again how much I love to write. It’s a journey that isn’t over yet, I am looking forward to all the writing adventures that come my way.

Q: If you could travel back in time would you have done any of it differently? 

A: I don’t think so. I have learned a lot from the process. I think that going through the process is what got me here today.

Q: Do you have any tips or suggestions for new writers? 

A: Don’t ever give up. Even if someone tells you they don’t like what you have written. Also, Edit!! I can’t say enough about having a good editor. They are worth it and they see things that you will not. Also, get onto a networking site for writers and readers. It makes the journey and the process of writing a lot less solitary. It helps when you know others are going through the same things you are.

Q: What should we expect from you in the future? Do you have any new projects under construction?

A: Yes! I plan to write til my fingers fall off! Then I will move to audio book. Lol. Masquerade is the first book of the Heven and Hell series. It will have four books. Three are written and the fourth is underway. I hope to begin edits on Charade (#2 in the series) and hopefully see it released next year. I also have another series ready for editing, it’s a werewolf series. What? I told you I loved werewolves. I have a few other ideas under development as well.

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You can find Cambria on her website, blog, facebook, or follow her on twitter @cambriahebert.

She also co hosts a blog talk radio show on Tuesday nights at 9 pm (EST) called JournalJabber http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber

Masquerade (print and ebook), Before (Ebook only) and Whiteout (Ebook only) will be available on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and her publishers website http://www.otherworldpublications.com and anywhere else books are sold.

You can also read my reviews for Before and Whiteout.