Of Debut Tales and Scarlet Moons

One of the most rewarding parts of this Storyteller's road I walk is getting to see other authors share their tales with the world. S.D. Grimm's debut novel, Scarlet Moon, releases tomorrow!

(I'll wait for you all to go preorder before continuing.)

I had the pleasure of interviewing S.D. recently and thought I'd share with you all. Enjoy!

What is Scarlet Moon about? 

Told from multiple point of view characters, Scarlet Moon is a young adult fantasy about Jayden, a seventeen-year-old, dagger-wielding, storm-detecting orphan who can save the race of people known as the Feravolk from a sorceress queen bent on annihilating them. Maybe they should have thought of that before they killed Jayden’s family.

What was your inspiration for writing Scarlet Moon? 

I love animals. The novel I wrote prior to this one (which sits in a proverbial dark, secret drawer) was about animals. All the characters were animals. And one day I decided to get serious about publishing. Then I decided I was going to write about people. I still wanted animals to be a big part of the story so I chose to write about a race of people who can commune with nature. These people basically get certain talents or abilities from animals—and they reciprocate, giving animals certain abilities too. Then I researched some really cool animals, including mythological ones, and the story world really grew from there. 

Why do you write speculative fiction? What draws you to it?
Magic. I love the endless creative possibilities of fantasy and sci-fi. Something about this genre sparks to life the kid inside me that makes me want to share the wonder I experience in believing and hoping and knowing the impossible is somehow possible. I like to encourage others to embrace that inner child and believe it too.

1.    How would you like to be remembered? 

Wow. Going deep. I would love to be remembered as someone who showed love and let the light of Christ shine through her. As a writer, I’d like to be remembered as someone whose books—no matter how dark they got—always ended in hope. 

Why do you write? 

I can’t not. It’s part of who I am. But aside from that, I write because being creative draws me closer to my Creator.

Now you're getting into profound stuff! With that in mind, do you have a favorite Bible verse? 

A few. One really good one is Micah 6:8 He has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Everyone seems to have a "how I got published" story. What's yours?
Well, I started writing this novel titled Scarlet Moon—actually it wasn’t titled that until much later—after writing as a hobby for years. I wrote the story until I had 330k words. It was pretty epic. And then I let a few people read it: adult men. They told me in no uncertain terms that it was written for a young adult audience. Huh. So I started researching what it takes to get published. I learned I had a long way to go. And I’m still learning, but after refining, learning, honing my craft, learning how to query, entering and winning contests, finally starting to get good rejections, getting short pieces published, attending conferences, hiring and editor, and a lot of networking, I finally arrived in the right place at the right time. And I was offered a contract for Scarlet Moon from more than one publisher. And I was offered representation on a different novel—yet to be published—by two different agents. I feel like the journey is actually just starting.

Who is your favorite fictional character? 

This changes all the time, and I can never pick just one. I love Captain America, Kenshin Hirmura (anime), Tadashi from Big Hero 6, and Bigwig aka Thlayli. 

What fictional character(s) best describes your personality? 

Well, I’ve been called Rapunzel from Tangled. I think that scene in tangled where she flits back and forth between feeling horrible and amazing for leaving the tower pretty much nails it. That and the singing while cleaning. Holy awkward, Batman.

What do you hope readers will take away from Scarlet Moon?

 Persevere. And real love always protects, no matter the cost.

Finally, where can we learn more about you and your book? 

My website http://sdgrimm.com

You can order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Scarlet-Moon-Children-Blood-Book/dp/1683700503/

And you can totally come to this facebook party and try to win a copy. :D https://www.facebook.com/events/183601465406699/


p.s.: S.D. also has an Etsy shop! There's all sorts of fun stuff to check out.