Looking for a great summer read? I would love to introduce you to my friend and fellow author, Danielle Bannister. Her debut novel, PULLED, is available through Amazon Kindle. Don’t have a Kindle? No problem. She also offers her paperback through Amazon.
Interview with author Danielle Bannister:
Hi Danielle, can you tell my readers a little about PULLED?
I’ll give you the back cover description.
Naya Adams has given up on feeling loved. A walking cliché, Naya lost her parents in a freak car accident at thirteen and has been living with her detached foster ‘adults’ ever since. When Naya enrolls in one of the most respected theatre programs in New England, she is more than eager to trade in her pain for the spotlight. College would finally be the fresh start she’d longed for.
Unfortunately for Naya, her high school boyfriend, and abuser, Seth, tags along–trapping her in the cycle of tarnished love.
Accustomed to emotional numbness, Naya enters her first acting class, unaware of what was waiting on the other side of the door: her Twin Flame. Rarer and more intense than soul mates, Twin Flames search for centuries looking for their other half. It is in another student, an olive-skinned and terribly scarred sophomore named Etash, that Naya will discover what being loved really means.
Although they both try to resist each other, their bond is ultimately too strong. Together they’ll learn that this is not the first time they have been pulled together, nor will it be their last.
But how will her abuser react to Naya’s new flame?
I know life can get pretty crazy for you. How do you find time to write? With two small kids, a husband and two part time jobs, it’s not an easy thing to do! But the one thing I have learned is that onceyou decide to ‘become a writer’ you need to make writing a priority. Which means, for me, scheduling writing time. At the same time, however, you need to berealistic. The housework still needs to get done, dinners still need to be cooked and children still need to cuddle. It’s all about finding a compromise that worksfor you. My deal with myself is to write 1,000 words a day or edit for 2 hours during the 5 day work-week. That’s what I can do right now in my life. For others, it may only be 500 words, or a just a journal entry. But committing to do something is the first step.
Wow. With all of that on your plate, how long did it take for you to complete PULLED?
A little over two years. Of course, at the time, I was also homeschooling my then 7 and 5 year old. Now that they’re in school, I’m clipping along at a faster paceon the sequel. But I think it’s important to point out that writing and EDITING take time. Two years is not an unheard of amount of time to write a book. That’sbecause the last thing you want to do is try to push unedited versions of your manuscript off to agents or self-publishing sites. This is especially important to self-published authors, like myself. The industry already thinks of the self-published book as less then ideal. No need to fuel their debate with a book that’s full oferrors!
When I read PULLED for the first time, I fell in love with the concept of twin flames. How did the idea to write this novel come about?
Honestly, it came from a dream, as cliche as that may sound. It wasn’t an entire dream, just an image actually,but it was such a powerful one that it wouldn’t leave me. I’d never written a book before, or even a short story. I was a just 35 year old mom who had her BA intheatre, but worked in a law office! I had no business or training to write a novel. But the image kept burning itself into my head–demanding to come out, so Istarted writing. Before I knew it, I had ten pages down. At that point, it was the longest thing I’d ever written. The writing muse bit me that day, and I’ve been writing, researching and taking classes ever since.
PULLED received some great attention this year during Amazon’s Break Through Novel Award. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that.
A fellow writing friend of mine(me!) said I should enter thiscontest that Amazon hosts every year. It’s a contest for novels that haven’t been traditionally published. I ended up making it all the way to the quarter-finals–which means my book was one of 250 out of a pool of 5,000 entries. It was quite a nice feeling having your first novel ever make it that far! It was sort ofvalidation that I could do this.
Breaking into the writing business isn’t an easy thing. What piece of advice has helped you through the rough times?
It has to be this quote: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as yourheadlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
― E.L. Doctorow
That quote is the best way to describe how I feel about how characters can really drive your story if you just get out of the way and let them take the wheel.
Want to know what readers are saying about PULLED:
“It usually takes me weeks to read a book. I’ll read a few pages here and a few there. This one truly “pulled” me in. I couldn’t put it down, I finished it in two days! I thought it was a great story and very well written. I felt immediately connected to the characters and couldn’t wait to find out more about them.” Kristan Sola
“I loved this book! “Pulled” kept me entertained from the first page to the last…including the Epilogue! This book was different than any other book I have ever read and I couldn’t wait to see how things were going to turn out. It truly was a great read and I can’t wait to read her next book!” Sarah Morris
Want to learn more about Danielle Bannister?
You can follow Danielle at her author website http://daniellebannister.wordpress.com
Danielle, thank you so much for sharing your amazing novel, PULLED with us. Want to read a sample of PULLED? Just follow the link below. (I highly recommend that you do!)
Amy Miles Books 
he he. 🙂