#CMCon18 Beach Bonfire Q&A with Nazarea Andrews

As one of the #CMCon18 featured bloggers, I get to have a little fun with a few of the fabulous authors who will be hitting the beach for Coastal Magic 2018 by showcasing their many stories.

Writing short stories, even mini-fiction, can’t always be worked into a writing schedule; so for those authors who may not be able to let their characters play in the sand, I’ve invited them to a beach bonfire to have a drink, listen to the crashing waves, and answer a few questions of my own.

Joining me in the sand is Nazarea Andrews, author of the World Without End, Wicked Ever After, Hollywood Secrets series!
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Nazarea Andrews

Can you tell us a little about yourself, something readers may not have heard before?
I was home-schooled as a child, and the only team sport I ever participated in was synchronized swimming. It was a lot of fun.

The official bio reads: Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

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Can you introduce us to the world(s) that you have created?
Oh man. Ok, settle in. There’s my zombie apocalypse in THE WORLD WITHOUT END series and the spinoff THE ENDLESS WORLD series. It’s set twenty years after the zombie outbreak. There’s the Green County series, contemporary romance set in a small town in Kansas. Girl Lost and Forever Found retells Peter Pan at a private college in the coastal northeast. There’s a sprawling space epic filled with worlds and aliens and a complex government in Gentle Chains. The thing is–I love worldbuilding and I love telling many stories. So there’s a lot, in my backlist.

Will this be your first Coastal Magic or are you a veteran? What was it about Coastal Magic that drew you to it? Why have you continued to return?
This is my first!! I’ve heard such great things and I’m super excited to meet readers there!

If you’ve been before, what is your favorite CMC memory? If you’ve never been, what are you looking forward to?
I’m a shy introvert, but I adore events and meeting people who are as passionate about stories as I am. So I guess I’m excited about that! :)

What was your inspiration when you created your characters and the worlds they live in?
The world around me. I tend to watch and listen (music is a HUGE inspiration for me) and ask questions and from that, stories spin out.

Is there any character that didn’t make as big of an impact on the story that you thought they would?  Is there a character who stayed on the page longer than you thought they would?
Not much about the not as big an impact–but I never can tell who among my characters will standout. There is one character in Black Collar Syndicate (written under the pen name AN Latro) that died in the first few chapters. It was actually the first scene we wrote, his death. In the years since and all the writing my coauthor and I have done in that series since, Caleb has spun tens of thousands of words, and spawned three novellas. The boy is noisy and I adore him.

Is there any part of your series, any of your series, world(s) that you would like to expand on in the future?
I’d like to go back and write a collection of stories from the beginning of the apocalypse. Because The World Without End  is set twenty years after the apocalypse, I never really explore that and I would love to go back and do that.

Which do you find is more central in your writing: the characters or world creation? Why?
Characters. Worldbuilding is wonderful and if it’s done right, the setting should be part of the cast of characters, but without characters to care about, people who fill up a world–it doesn’t matter how perfectly built the world is, if there isn’t someone in the world to love.

Does your mood ever affect the direction that your stories take? Has any of your stories began one way, but by the time you wrote The End, had the mood drastically changed and how did it affect the story?
Yes, often. I go into stories with ideas, but only the characters can tell me how the stories play out.

When you’re not writing, what are you reading?
Anything that sparks my interest. Right now, Blood Type by K.A. Linde.

Which authors do you read and/or think “Damn! I wish I had thought of that”?
Lani Taylor and Heather Lyons

If you could be one urban fantasy creature/person/magical thing, what would you be and why?
A phoenix, I think. They sound badass.

If you could be one of the characters in your book for one day, who would it be and why?
Um, none. I put those poor people through hell. I don’t want to live through it. (Maybe Chosi. She has a dragon, even if she is a slave. Dragons are cool)

Design your own apocalypse – What constitutes an effective apocalypse and what mechanism would work best?
I’ve done this, a few times. The thing is–an apocalypse is such a strange and living thing. It’s affected by the world it destroys and the world that rises from the ashes. There’s a thousand different ways to do it, and a thousand stories to tell about it. Might be why it’s such a fascinating thing to write about. 

Don’t miss your chance to meet over 50 fabulous urban fantasy, paranormal, and romance authors at Coastal Magic next February! This super casual book-lover weekend happens on Daytona Beach, and gives everyone the chance to hang out with fellow readers and amazing storytellers.

REGISTRATION is now open! If you haven’t been to Coastal Magic yet, you’re missing out on a lot of fun. Be sure to keep up with all things Coastal Magic, by following it via your own personal social media drug of choice: Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest | RSVP at the Facebook Event.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.