An interview with Taylor Lavati, author of The Thousand Year Curse

Being a teenager isn't all fun and games for seventeen year old Ryder. After being thrown down the social hierarchy, Ryder Mason has one goal for her senior year- survive.

 

Within the first month of school, Ryder goes from bullied teen to a cursed half goddess with two boyfriends. As if that wasn't enough, she travels into the Underworld to confront Hades about the curse and her missing mother.

 

Ryder delves head first into a Godly world as her two knights fight to seek her approval, her best friend's loyalties are tested and people's true intentions are shown in the first Curse Books novel.

 

*Author Disclaimer* Book contains adult situations.

(For younger audiences skip chapter 16)

When naming your characters, do you give any thought to the actual meaning?

I love naming characters for this reason. Every single name has a meaning and I think that really says a lot about characters personalities whether you mean to or not. Most readers don’t look into it but as a writer it’s fun to have hidden meanings. In one of my books, I stuck with my Greek theme and found Greek versions of names for almost all of the characters. It’s fun.

Have your personal experiences affected your writing?

Definitely. I mean as a writer, you write what you know. I like to draw certain things from my life and bring them into my characters or books. I don’t directly create characters or situations from my life but it definitely influences it. I think it would be impossible not to use your life in some aspects.

What genre of books do you like to read? Do you limit yourself to only the genre that you write yourself?

I love reading true fantasy novels and lately have been into the college/new adult craze. Since I’m a twenty something I do enjoy reading about people my age. I don’t limit myself when writing. I just finished a book about a drug addict and my last book was a young adult fantasy. I write whatever I feel at the moment so I’m definitely not limited.

Were you always good at writing?

It’s funny because just this past weekend, I was cleaning out my attic. I found some old boxes with papers in it that had old report cards. Up until 5th grade, I was awesome at writing. But I remember in tenth grade, I had a bad teacher. I failed English class and had to go to summer school. But overall I think I was always good at writing.

How do you get started with writing a story?

The first book I wrote, I still have in my computer. I just had this epiphany and started writing. I had never written a novel before so I didn’t know what to do but I just went with it. Now I have more structure since I’m on my fifth book. I like to outline and create character sheets and then I start.

What advice would you give to people who "run out of creativity" when writing?

Whenever I find myself getting bored or not knowing where to go with a plot or story, I just take a step away and give my mind a break. Another good thing to do is to do some writing prompts. I have a weekly blog post where I write from a prompt and I find it very helpful. It gets my mind focused on something other than my WIP and it actually kick starts the creative juices.

Are you a full time author?  If not, what’s your paying job?

I am not a full time author. I also am a student full time studying Early childhood education. And then on top of that I work full time at a gym in my hometown. So I’m definitely busy but the good thing is, I can get some writing done at work and I find myself writing little bits in class.

Available at Amazon

Taylor Lavati is a twenty two year old student in a small town in Connecticut. She aspires to be a Kindergarten teacher but has always had a soft spot for English. Her small town doesn't have much to offer so her free time is spent reading, hiking with her dog and boyfriend or watching reality television. Her favorite genre to read changes on a daily basis but her top three consist of contemporary romances, paranormal romances and fantasy novels.

 

She enjoys writing books that are different and original with dynamic characters. Her dreams are usually the source of her creative plots. She plans on writing as long as the ideas keep coming to her.

Places to find Taylor Lavati:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads