Books for YA!: Author Interview: Dawn Husted, author of SAFE

Today, is the release of SAFE, a post-apocalyptic novel and to celebrate this momentous day, we have Dawn Husted here to ask her a few questions regarding about her book and about herself. And at the end of this interview, you have an opportunity to win an ecopy of this book. Isn't that amazing! So without further ado, here's Dawn Husted! *cue applause

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I love pizza, because I don’t have to cook anything. I started drinking coffee when I became a mom and a writer. And I have a fondness for animals.

2. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? Did you want to become a writer ever since?

My passion for writing didn’t begin until 2008. Before that, I focused on school and graduating. I can’t say that I’ve ever truly known what I wanted to do as I grew up, but I’ve always had a passion for helping people. In 2000, I went overseas for a summer and helped build an orphanage. That event changed my life, and I hope to go back one day. For now, writing fulfills an area in my life giving me an outlet for my thoughts. And there are a lot of thoughts!

3. What inspired you to write SAFE?

I loved the idea of a teenager discovering the reality of their world to be faulty; each one of our lives is what we are taught. When these truths are found to be a lie, a person’s reality changes dramatically. I wanted to write a science fiction book and was obsessed with the notion of a post-apocalyptic time period. These concepts sum up SAFE.

4. Where did the idea of this post-apocalyptic world come from?

Post apocalyptic books are fun to read, because it gives the reader a glimpse into a possible reality. Yes, SAFE is science-fiction, but I wanted it to be believable. And writing a post-apocalyptic book opened up a lot of doors; I didn’t have to stick to the perimeters the world has made up to the year 2013. I was able to decide what normal was like for people that had survived the apocalypse in the future.

5. What was the hardest part of writing your book? What was the easiest?

The hardest part was taking my time. I had all of these ideas and scenes I wanted to write, but I also needed to explain situations leading up to them. I had to carefully weave the smaller plots into the larger one, and tie up all the loose ends.

The easiest part was choosing Penny as the main character.

6. What's your favorite scene or part in your book?

My favorite scene is a fight that takes place towards the beginning. I can’t give away too much detail, but it happens in a car between multiple guards, one being Penny’s boyfriend.

7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating this book?

Editors and beta readers are worth the wait. Having both helped the story in more ways than I can count. And I think the readers will appreciate the changes, even though they’ll never see the unedited manuscript. And I’m eternally grateful to have had them read the story prior to publishing.

8. Which of your characters would you say you're more similar with?

And why? I don’t think any character in particular. There might be pieces of me, here and there, in the story. That’s hard to get away from when you’re the one writing it. But I did my best to have each character be uniquely their own.

9. If you could talk to one of your characters, who would it be and what would you say to them?

I would like to talk to Camara. She’s a character in the book that the reader sees briefly, but not in depth. She has a lot of wisdom behind her thinking and her decisions. I would love to ask her how she got to where she is now. I bet the conversation would be interesting!

10. Give 3 reasons why people should read SAFE?

1. It doesn’t get better than young-adult fiction.

2. It has a heroine tale.

3. The book follows a boy and a girl, and their journey is one to read!

11. Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?

You’re amazing and I hope this will be one of those books you can’t put down!

Author Bio:

Dawn Husted started writing in the fall of 2008, but she didn't began publishing her work until 2011; After marrying her husband, Dawngraduated with a Bachelor degree from Texas A&M University and spent the next couple of years trying to figure out what she wanted to do. In 2008, she dabbled with writing a book intended for her eldest child and soon published it three years later. Since then, the Windor Series was published (available for free on her website). In 2012, another book became available titled Silently Screaming, a literary fictional work geared towards the young adult genre. Currently she just released her newest novel, SAFE. A young-adult (post apocalyptic science fiction) book.

Author Site: http://dawnhusted.weebly.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDawnHusted
Facebook: https://facebook.com/DawnHusted

Title: SAFE
Published Date: August 1, 2013
Genre/s: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic,
Synopsis:

A science fiction novel in a post-apocalyptic setting; Penny, a teenage girl, has been genetically mutated along with other inhabitants by a vaccine given to their great-grandparents who settled the Land, an island. This particular serum caused everyone to develop vine like marks all over their bodies, along with enhanced abilities passed down through the generations. Penny finds a shift in her reality that causes her to fight for survival as she searches for the truth, even if it puts her at odds with the only person she can trust.

56,000 words and approximately 220 print pages.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

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