Monday, June 21, 2010

Interview and Giveaway: Nancy Holder -- The Evil Within

Today, I have the amazing Nancy Holder here to answer some questions about herself, and her newest release, The Evil Within (Possessions #2). 

Quick! Describe The Evil Within in 7 words or less!
ANSWER: ghosts, possessions, revenge, murder, love, chaos, heartwarming

Okay, so what's The Evil Within about (in however many words it takes!)
Lindsay Cavanaugh thought she was done with Marlwood Academy, where the mean girls, possessed by ghosts, tried to kill her.   But she has to go back.  Will Troy be her ally?  Will someone else die?  Will Lindsay accidentally make it happen?

What was the most difficult part of writing this book? The easiest?
The most difficult part was putting myself in the fear zone so I could “write scary.”  Nearly every morning, I would watch a scary movie to get myself in the mood.  I have to watch them early because I can’t handle being that scared in the dark.  Last night I had to go upstairs (in the dark) to get the Thai food my daughter left in her room (she wasn’t home) and I just couldn’t walk into her room without a light on.  For just a second, I imagined that terrifying girl in RINGU (Sadako) standing just inside my daughter’s room, staggering toward me.  I told myself she’s not real, it’s just a movie, etc., but I was petrified.  Maybe okay, maybe not Sadako but what if someone from THE GRUDGE was in there?

So I went back around the corner and turned on the bathroom light, went back to the doorway to bedroom, where I could now seen in faintly.  The Thai food was on her desk.  knew I could walk across the room, grab the container and leave, but…it was still too dark.  It was a shorter journey to her wall light, so I hopped through the dark, flicked it on, grabbed the food…and got the heck out of there.  I left the light on.  I believe in being green but there is a limit. 

So that’s the hardest part.

The easiest part is watching the scary movies.  Isn’t that sad?  Writing is hard work.  But writing the Possessions series is easier than a lot of other things I work on, because I love the characters so much.  I don’t just love the “good guys;” I love the bad guys, too.  Anger is a secondary emotion, and it springs from feeling wronged.  From having your boundaries crossed.  From being hurt.  So I feel for Mandy, Belle, and company, because they have been deeply hurt. 

This is NOT to say that in real life, one should put up with the meanness of mean girls.  One should not excuse their bad behavior by pitying them.  “Well, she’s hurt, so I’ll let her walk all over me.”  NO!  There’s a saying, “We train people how to treat us.”

But even in the darkest place, there is hope.  Mean girls can become nice women.  I have a friend who confessed to me that she was very, very mean when she was a teenager.  In fact, her confessions inspired me to create Mandy.  Some of the things she did make Mandy sound like a teddy bear.  She became extremely ill and had to stay home from school for nearly a year.  People from school came to visit her, even people she didn’t know well and people she had wronged.  And she realized that people are nice.  Not only were they nice, but they were nice to her.  She thought long and hard about what she had done.  And she changed.

Even in the darkest place, there is hope.

Anything extra that you can share about The Evil Within (like a teaser, *hint, hint*)?
One of my favorite things to write about in horror is:  What if you aren’t who you think you are?  Welcome to Lindsay’s world!

Okay, you find out you’ve been possessed by a ghost. What’s your first reaction?
Dude, I am calling the Ghostbusters in a heartbeat.  LOL.  I would not be able to get to “fascinated.”  I would be way too freaked out!

What are you working on now? 
I just finished the edits for POSSESSIONS 3: THE SCREAMING SEASONMy editor just showed me the first draft of the cover art and it is AMAZING!!!!!!

And in September, my coauthor Debbie Viguie and I have a new young adults dark fantasy series coming out called CRUSADE.  It’s like our WICKED series, only not.  It’s about vampire hunters who are headquartered in Spain.  Not all of them are human.

Would you like to add anything else?
I want to thank you for inviting me onto your blog!   And to anyone who is confused, hurting, angry:  The light you need to find is inside you.  It really is.  You are the light of the world.  Let it shine!


Thanks so much for the wonderful interview, Nancy! 


CONTEST: Nancy was kind enough to host a contest to win a copy of Possessions and a copy of The Evil Within

- International
- Ends July 5th, 2010 
- For EXTRA points, comment on my reviews of POSSESSIONS and THE EVIL WITHIN (will open in new windows)
- fill out the form HERE to enter (form will open in a new window)! 




32 comments:

  1. This sounds like what I need to jump start my summer reading. I've been in a rut and picked up more books than I'd like to admit that were just blah. I jumped from YA, to UF, to just about every genre and just have not found IT yet this summer. This sounds exciting enough for sure.

    alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com
    http://lisaslovesbooksofcourse.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I'd would be freaking out and calling the Ghostbusters too!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. awesome interview! bullying and mean girls are such a big problem especially with facebook and myspace, etc. thank you for the contest!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great interview. Really looking forward to the books.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just bought the first one! Thanks for the contest and interview!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The ghostbusters, LOL*______*
    Mean Girls are really a problem!
    She's writing a new series on vampires, great!!!
    Thanks for the contest!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like the bad guys sometimes too. :)
    They're more fun!

    These look really great. Thanks for the contest and the interesting interview!

    ReplyDelete
  8. great interview! I am sooo calling Ghostbusters too! lol

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great interview, it was inspiring and I think that's rare, I want to read these books and see if they're as fantastic as they sound!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great interview. Both of her books sounds great and creepy at the same time...being possessed by ghosts?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow! That interview was so interesting and fantastic! I'm reallyy impatient for the next book:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I enjoyed the interview. I love stories about ghosts and possessions!

    I

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great interview! These books sound pretty interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great interview! I love the part about the ghostbusters lol. The books seem interesting

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great interview, Nancy's next project sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I really loved her insight on mean girls as characters. Thanks for the interview (:

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love reading ghosts stories. And possession really sounds frightening!

    ReplyDelete
  18. The book sounds really good! I can;t wait to read it! Thanks for the giveaway! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great interview. I love hearing about how jittery scary movies make Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sweet! Fun interview! The cover for the Evil Within is spooky!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great interview!

    I don´t knew about nothing Nancy Holder, and now I have I many wishes of read Possessions and The Evil Within.

    Best regards
    ~Yelania

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love Nancy Holder, she just seems so full of life and her books are some of the best books I've read in a while. Great interview :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm so glad she's starting a new series. Wicked was good, and I was hoping for more from these two authors.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The whole series sounds very good. I am very interested in reading it. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great interviwe! Now I want to read the books ^^

    ReplyDelete
  26. What an interesting interview. I don't think 'possession' and 'ghosts' have been used in books a lot or effectively, so it'd be great to read these books. It sounds scary, though. Nice interview:)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow, thanks for the international contest!
    The books sound awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This was a great interview!
    I'm dying to get hold of the book!!
    x) thank you for hosting the contest

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great interview, I can't wait to read her books!

    ReplyDelete
  30. What a great interview, thanks for posting it. :)
    I have to add this books to my wishlist.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ohh that's amazing!! :D
    Really enjoyed the interview!

    ReplyDelete
  32. This sounds fantastic! I like that Nancy watched a scary movie before she would write, that's awesome.

    -Briana

    ReplyDelete