Author's Slambook: Gretchen McNeil, author of Possess, Ten and 3:59

Author Bio:
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Author of YA horror novels POSSESS, TEN and 3:59 (Fall 2013) as well as the upcoming YA mystery/suspense series Don't Get Mad, beginning in 2014 with GET EVEN and continuing in 2015 with GET DIRTY. Gretchen also contributed an essay to the Dear Teen Me anthology from Zest Books.

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and is a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels. She is repped by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Favorites

1. What is your favorite color? Red

2. Favorite food? Is champagne a food?

3. Favorite movie of all time? Clue

4. Favorite song? "Pictures of You" by The Cure

5. Favorite book of all time? Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

All about Writing

1. How did your interest in writing originated?

I literally woke up one more while I was going through my divorce and thought, "I'm going to write a novel!" I did, and it was horrible. But I got addicted to the process of storytelling.

2. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

I write best in the morning, though since I still work a part time day job, I pretty much cram the writing in wherever I can. When I'm on deadline, I pick a daily word totally (usually 1000-1500 words per day) and try and stick to it!

3. Do you work with outline or just write?

Outline. At least for the first Act of the book, and maybe bullet pointing major events beyond that. Pantsing scares me.

4. What was the hardest part in writing your book? The easiest?

Hardest part for me are the romantic scenes. I find myself rolling my eyes at my own writing. Easiest parts are quipping dialogue. I love smart, sassy characters!

5. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I'm a social creature, so I'm out a lot -with friends, family, my fiance - concerts, theater, happy hours. I like to spread it around.

Finish the sentence

1. The difference between fiction and reality is the writer can control fiction.

2. Research is what I'm doing when I'm awake.

3. I can write better when I'm highly caffeinated.

4. Sleep is an excellent way to not kill people.

5. A room without a book is a prison.

Books

Title: 3:59
Genre/s: Young Adult,
Publisher: Baltzer and Bray
Expected Publication: September 17, 2013
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Synopsis:

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.

By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.