[Blog Tour] Author Interview + Giveaway: Susan Quinn, author of Open Minds

The Open Minds Blog Tour stops by The Fairytale Nerd for an author interview and an eBook giveaway!

Today's tour stop features the author of Open Minds, Susan Quinn.

Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times.

Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way.

She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad.

Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.

Stalk Susan here: Susan's Website/Blog | Susan's twitter | Susan's Facebook Page


How are you today Susan?
Floating in the glow of the post-Launch Party! Either that or I had too much virtual punch.

Tell me aboout your book Open Minds.
Open Minds is a story about a world where everyone reads mindsexcept one girl. She soon discovers she can jack into other people’sminds and control them, and this power finally gives her a chance at the normal life she’s always wanted. All she has to do is mindjack everyone she loves. And it gets a lot worse from there.

What is the message (from your book Open Minds) that you want to convey to your readers?
I’m a firm believer that every reader takes the message they need from a book. But one theme that spoke very strongly to me while writing OpenMinds was that intolerance can have a huge impact on people’s lives – and small acts of tolerance can make a profound difference. Kira (my protagonist) is ostracized because she can’t read minds. This isolates her in a major way. If that societal intolerance didn’t exist, many of the (bad) things that happen in the novel would never have happened. How we treat people makes a difference to more than just them.

Give me one thing that you would want to change about Open Minds.
Hmm… tough question. The story is just how I want it to be, but if I had to change something, I might add in another scene with Kira’s dad or brother. Those seem to be very popular with readers!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I tend to have one, odd “repeat” word per manuscript, and it’s always something weird like “shazam!” I mean, there’s really no need to say shazam more than once in a story, unless you’re writing about Captain Marvel! It’s a different word for each story, but I usually find those and cull them out before the final draft.

What music were you listening to when you were writing Open Minds?
A lot of The All-American Rejects and Green Day. Especially Know Your Enemy. In fact, that video would fit well in a particular scene in OpenMinds!

Who is your hero in real life? What about in books?
My mom is my real life hero – she went back to school as an adult, got a Ph.D., ran her own business. She showed me (SHOW not TELL) that you can do anything in life you set your mind to. In books, I’ve always been drawn to the heroes of science fiction – although I think I have author-heroes rather than character-heroes. I loved the way Heinlein and Asimov were unafraid to stretch the bounds of what was possible (in fiction).

What are your favorite colors?
Green, green, and green.

How many wisdom teeth do you have?
All of them. Unless the aliens took them in my sleep.

What do you miss most right now?
Sleep. Where have you gone, my lovely restful friend?

Do you trust others easily?
I do. I believe people are inherently good, until they prove otherwise.

What was your favorite toy as a child?
Star Wars Action Figures. #Geek

What is your next project?
I’m currently writing Closed Hearts, the sequel to Open Minds. I have a couple of middle grade projects in the works, but those are (mostly) on the back burner until I get Closed Hearts drafted and on its way.

Thank you so much for your time Susan!

BUY

Open Minds

by Susan Quinn

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

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