Hello M! Thank you so
much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today! It’s such a pleasure to chat with you. So tell me…
Q) How did you dream
up the dynamics of your characters?
I think we’ve all had an experience of having a crush on
someone who doesn’t return our feelings. It’s especially tough and awkward when
that person is a friend. In the case of Cee and Marcus, I’ve more or less
eliminated the chance of them getting together because Marcus is gay. I felt
like I wanted friendship to be the key to this story. Romance will come later
in the series.
Q) Is this book part
of a series? If so, can you tell us
about it?
Yes, this is the first in a trilogy. I’m currently working
on the second book.
Q) What gave you the inspiration for
your book?
When my oldest
son (now 11) was about three years old, he got into his head that I could
transform into a dragon. I think it had to do with his having seen the Disney
animated feature Sleeping Beauty.
Anyway, later on he convinced his younger sister and brother of this, and I
used the idea of having an “inner dragon” as a jumping off point.
Q) Do you plan all
your characters out before you start a story or do they develop as you write?
They develop as I write. Rand and Guin were originally just
castoff mentions and then became key characters the more I wrote.
Q) How much real life do you put into or
influences your books?
I don’t do it consciously, but whenever I look back at something I’ve
written, I can usually see echoes of my real life experiences.
Q) What are your
upcoming projects?
The second book in the Changers series is called The Great Divide. I’m working on that
and also on a Regency romance novel titled Brynnde.
I also have a screenplay that’s on the brink of going into production, and a number
of other ideas clamoring for my attention. I get requests for more Sherlock
Holmes stories, and I’ve had a couple for more in the Peter Stoller series as
well . . . I’ll be busy for a while!
Changers: Manifesting Destiny
Sixteen-year-old Cee has a hopeless
crush on her best friend Marcus. Unfortunately for her, he’s gay. In the wake
of Marcus’s older brother leaving home to join the Aerie, Marcus has become
increasingly distant. Then, when Cee discovers she has a troublesome dragon
named Livian living inside her things grow even more complicated.
Marcus urges Cee to go to the Magi to
have Livian removed, but the more used to Livian Cee becomes, the less certain
she is about letting him go. Should she change her natural self for the crush
who will never love her anyway?
BUY LINKS
On Evernight Teen’s site: http://www.evernightteen.com/manifesting-destiny-by-m-pepper-langlinais/
On Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/658363
On All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-manifestingdestiny-2084785-140.html
EXCERPT
Heat spread through her. Cee’s face elongated, her arms
extended, her nails formed into claws, and her feet became suddenly very heavy.
The bony spires erupted from her shoulders, and Cee was compelled to double
over to allow the wings to grow.
Throughout, Cee fought the urge to resist, though her
instinct was to do just that. She wondered what she looked like, caught a
glimpse of red scales, and realized her eyesight had become sharper. All the
details of the trees around her impressed themselves upon her brain: the cracks
and flakes in the bark, the saw-tooth edges of the leaves, and every little
spot and insect thereupon.
How big was she? Cee realized she was at eye level with the
middle of the trees. She looked down and saw her friends pushing themselves
even harder against the trunks, making way for Cee’s—or Livian’s, she
supposed—tail as it snaked by.
Yes, we’re very
pretty, said Livian impatiently. But
we don’t have time for showing off just now.
The massive wings began to move, slowly at first, gathering
speed that put the force of the helicopter’s artificial wind to shame. Cee
realized she had no control over what was happening. It was all Livian, and she
was housed inside him, somehow, along for the ride.
It
was equal parts thrilling and petrifying, bursting through the treetops and
being free of gravity. Cee would have liked to spend more time experiencing it,
but there was the helicopter, like a massive black bug, and Livian went right
for it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning screenwriter, produced playwright, and author. Her
latest novel CHANGERS: MANIFESTING DESTINY, first in a new YA fantasy trilogy,
is now available from Evernight Teen.
M holds a Master of Arts in Writing, Literature and Publishing
and a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film. She has a love of
Shakespeare, having both performed and taught his work, and has also interned
on Hollywood film sets. M worked for Houghton Mifflin and Pearson before
deciding to devote her full time to writing (and occasionally parenting). She
lives in Livermore, California with her family, cat, and hamster. Find out more
about her and her books at http://PepperWords.com.
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