Interview with an Author Featuring Stacy Bennett

The Literary Vixen presents…

Joining us today is Stacy Bennett! Her newest release, Call of the Huntress: Corthan Legacy Book 2 released on May 11th 2021.

What inspired you to start writing?

I was always a reader and a day-dreamer. I’m not a big fan of large parties and day-long exhausting trips. But I do like to spend time alone walking in parks and as I walk I tell myself stories, flesh out characters and their dilemmas. And fall in love with them. Eventually the stories began to want to be told so one day I just started typing.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I don’t make notes about my stories. I mean hardly ever. Not on paper or napkins or receipts or even in notebooks. I just keep it all in my head. I repeat scenes over and over like a favorite trailer until I get them right and they feel like a movie I’ve already seen. At those times, when I’m really getting a lot of good info too fast to remember, I will relent and turn on the recorder on my phone. Then I narrate to myself the scenes and notes and histories. But I don’t generally return to them to listen and type them out. The act of telling myself seems to help keep it in my brain.

How do you deal with emotional impact of a book (on yourself) as you are writing the story?

I always have a box of tissues on hand. 

To be honest, it’s easier for me to deal with the emotions the story itself brings up than the emotions that come from being an “author.” Handing my words, my darlings, to strangers is terrifying. The insecurity is real and very uncomfortable. I’ve always been thin-skinned.  When the anxiety hits, the first thing I do is remind myself why I’m even publishing. I mean I could write the stories and leave them in a drawer. But that wouldn’t be right. The stories want to be told, not hoarded. 

Then I comfort myself about the vulnerability that putting a piece of art out into the world brings up. It’s normal, I tell myself. Lots of writers feel this way, I say. It’s survivable, I conclude. And it is the price of admission to this game of art that seems to have gotten under my skin. So I keep writing and keep putting it out there. Fearfully, bravely, hopefully out there.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

As of right now I have published two novels, two novellas and one short story. I also have three more full length novels waiting in the wings with two more rough ideas behind them. I don’t know which is my favorite. They all have something I love in them. I have a scary feeling that my favorite book is not yet written. Probably one of my standalones will be it, but for now, like a good mom I will say – they are all my favorite.

How much ‘world building’ takes place before you start writing?

World-building is a constant thing for me. Especially because it is fantasy, world-building is often essential to the original concept of the story and plot. I know for a fact that a certain plot element in Dreamwalker was the reason I decided I had to write it as a fantasy book. I needed magic to get where I wanted to start. But as I go along, every place my characters go, everyone they meet has a spirit all their own, a unique imprint based on each individual history. World-building is the only way to determine that history, necessary but ubiquitous and subservient to the characters’ needs.

Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?

Not a lot. I’m on social media but I’m not really forward on social media. 

I have heard from some new fans lately with the launch of Call of the Huntress. And I’m ashamed to admit that when they say they love my stories, it tickles me to no end. It makes me want to quit my day job, sit down and do another 15000 words right then. And not just any old words, but words that will thrill my readers again. That’s what I love most, knowing that they enjoy being in the world I opened a door to.

What book is currently on your bedside table?

Whatever book it is, it has been there for a while. I have found that the best way to “read” a book is to use audiobooks. Because if I have time to physically pick up a book, I should be picking up a pen and writing my sequel. I have a timeline for my next book, and I don’t want to miss it. I know Gravebriar is on the list, A Beast So Beautiful (since I have a definite thing for beauty and the beast stories), and a re-read of Leigh Bardugo’s Storm and Siege.

Describe yourself in three words.

Rebellious 

People-pleasing

Soul-diver

If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?

Cara – Emilie de Ravin

Capt Mason Khoury – Ben Barnes

Falin – Chloe Grace Moretz

Archer Tarhill – Liam Hemsworth

Maura O’Mara – Eleanor Tomlinson

Sidonius – Terence Stamp

Bradan O’Mara – John Rhys-Davies

Sorchia – Rosario Dawson

Rebeka – Kristin Ortega

What advice would you give to other authors?

Be aware of your “why.”  Really think about it. Get comfy with the knowledge of what you’re shooting for and why you want to go there, even if it isn’t something you want to share with the world. In fact, sometimes it’s better if you keep that stuff to yourself. Once you do that, everything else will fall into place.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you and your books?

I write for my characters, not really for my readers (sorry folks). My stories want to be shared. It’s hard to explain but they want to be out in the world. Like a romantic meet-cute, hanging out on Amazon for someone to stumble upon them, and maybe fall in love with them. Isn’t that what we all want?

Thank you Stacy Bennett for chatting with me! I will include her information down below. Check out her series  today!

~Synopsis~

A scarred soldier, a soul-broken girl and a defiant huntress. Three lives thrown together by fate, bound by destiny, hunted by magic. But time is running out.

Cara is a prisoner. The sorcerer Sidonius crippled her soul so he could one day steal her magic. Secluded in the Black Keep, she knows nothing except obedience and duty. She doesn’t have the strength to leave the sorcerer until she meets the captain.

Captain Khoury is a mercenary kidnapped by Sidonius as food for the sorcerer’s fading magic. An exile with his own dark secret, the captain uses Cara to escape only to find himself bound to her. Is it just her magic calling to his, or something more?

Falin is not yet a Huntress of Foresthaven. Brutal and cold, she is sworn to kill any man who trespasses that sacred forest. When the Mothers give her a task that will mark her as a traitor, she must choose between her old life and a new destiny.

As the three outcasts flee south, Sidonius chases them from the frozen tundra through Foresthaven to the mountain city of Iolair. It will take all three of them to defeat Sidnoius and stop his final spell.

Stacy lives in an apartment in New Jersey, but she’s a nomad at heart. And even though she’s stuck in the hectic wilds of suburbia, she manages to find time to wander the wooded trails and sandy beaches that soothe the soul and spark the imagination. After a challenging few years of financial stress, she is back to writing when she can find the time. Her guilty pleasure is binging Netflix with her daughter. Although she is still chained to a desk for her day job, she aspires to a day when she can spend more of her time writing new tales for her readers.

https://linktr.ee/stacybennettauthor