Ten Tantalizing Questions for Lisa Desrochers, Author of Personal Demons

Do you want to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Ten Tantalizing Questions is designed not only to showcase exciting books on the horizon, but to also provide a glimpse into the interesting personalities of the authors behind them.

"There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes."- William Makepeace Thackeray

My guest today is Lisa Desrochers. Lisa is the author of Personal Demons, a novel about an angel and demon fighting for the soul of a seemingly ordinary girl. Personal Demons releases this month. Lisa stopped by to talk with us about her book and brought along a SIGNED copy and some swag for one lucky winner. For contest details see below.

LISA DESROCHERS lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. She can always be found with a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places and then take her by surprise. Growing up all over the country inspired wanderlust, and Desrochers loves to travel, which works out well since she lectures internationally on a variety of health care topics. Lisa Desrochers has a doctorate in physical therapy and maintains a full-time practice. Personal Demons is her first novel. Official Website & Blog

 INTERVIEW

In Personal Demons, Frannie Cavanaugh meets Luc Cain, a boy who brings a whole new meaning to the word “temptation”. Can you tell us a little more about the book and possibly share a favorite line, scene or passage?

Personal Demons is really Frannie’s journey. She’s tough, but insecure, and she’s taken a few hard knocks in life, so she has trust issues. When she meets Luc and Gabe she finds her reaction to them a little frightening. Gabe is sworn to protect her and Luc wont’ stop until she’s his. Some of my favorite scenes are when Luc and Gabe interact. Here’s a few lines out of chapter 4 from Luc’s POV:

“So why did they send you anyway? Seems like overkill. Any run-of-the-mill angel could fail as spectacularly as you’re going to.”

“We’ll see,” he says. I don’t like the confident smirk on his face. He knows something I don’t.

I put on my poker face as I fish for information. “You and I both know you would have tagged her already if you could. What’s the hold up? A little too much devil in her?”

He’s still smug, but the frustration in his undertone gives him away. I hit a nerve. “You’re still the same stupid chump you’ve always been. All that pride and arrogance that got you here in the first place. I’d think after all these millennia…you have no clue why you’re here, do you? What the deal is with her?” he asks.

Now he hit a nerve. I struggle to keep my composure. He doesn’t need to know he’s right. “All that matters is Frannie’s soul will be tagged for Hell—soon.” 

“Yeah, good luck with that,” he jabs. And if I could kill him, I would, but I’ve tried before and it didn’t work out so hot. Turns out the cherub is tougher than he looks.

Do you remember the first words you ever wrote for Personal Demons, and are they still in the novel today? 

The first words I wrote are the firsts lines of the actual book: “If there’s a Hell on Earth, it’s high school. And if there’s anyone distinctly qualified to make that statement, if would be me.” It probably helps to know the book opens from Luc’s POV. =)

What three words do you think best describe your novel?

Anything. Can. Happen. ;p

If you had to attach a musical score to your novel, what songs do you imagine playing during prominent scenes?

People often ask about music and whether I develop playlists for my books. The truth is, my playlists develop into books. There are some definite overriding musical themes to Personal Demons. Frannie’s character was shaped by The Fray’s You Found Me. Luc is totally based on Nickelback’s Savin’ Me. I’ll post the whole playlist on Monday 9/13 (the day before release) on my blog.

If Personal Demons was to be made into a movie, do you have certain actors you envision in the lead roles of Frannie, Luc and Gabe, or do you think unknowns would be best suited to play them? 

I just had to come up with a list of actors for my agency. Here’s who I decided on. Frannie: Chloe Mortez, Luc: Logan Lerman, Gabe: Lucas Till. They’re all perfect, really, so send some good energy out there that they’ll agree to do it! =)

 

What do you love most about the main characters of Personal Demons?

 
They’re all so conflicted. All three of them start out thinking they know what they want, but as things change they begin to question everything they believed in. Fun stuff.

Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced to publish Personal Demons? Is there anything about the process that you would do differently, knowing what you do now?

This whole process has happened so fast. I wrote Personal Demons last February and March (2009), revised in April and May, found my agent in September and sold Personal Demons at auction Christmas week. Macmillan is rushing to print for a September release. It’s been a wild ride, and I haven’t really had time to think about if I’d do anything different.

Did you do any research on angels and demons in preparation for writing Personal Demons? If so, can you share with us any interesting bits of lore you uncovered along the way?

I did research, and I use a lot of angel and demon lore loosely in my novels. I know there are some awesome angel books out there set in gothic settings, and they’re very fun to read, but I really wanted to keep Personal Demons contemporarily. I used the lore mostly to shape characters (and name them). We actually get deeper into lore as we move through the three books. I can’t tell you what the most interesting bits of lore are, because I’ve used those for the major plot twist in the series, so…

If you could inhabit the life of one literary character and dive into their world for just one day, who would you choose and why? 

Either Fred or George Weasley. Wait…one of them dies. Whichever one that is, I want to be the other one. They live in a world where the sky is the limit and they definitely know how to take advantage of that.

Can you give us any insider scoop into the second novel in the series, Original Sin? Are you working on any other projects? 

In Original Sin we begin to uncover what makes Frannie so special and why Heaven and Hell both want her so badly. We also see her come out of her shell and start to trust. Unfortunately for Frannie, things with Luc and Gabe don’t go as smoothly as she might hope. And it becomes clear that Hell isn’t going to give up easily. And, without giving too much away, not everyone survives Original Sin.

As far as other projects, I’ve got a few things I’m tinkering with, but I still have Hellbent (Personal Demons #3) to write, so I’ll be busy with that for a while.

GIVEAWAY

PERSONAL DEMONS BY LISA DESROCHERS

September 14th 2010 by Tor Teen  

Frannie Cavanaugh is a good Catholic girl with a bit of a wicked streak. She has spent years keeping everyone at a distance---even her closest friends---and it seems as if her senior year is going to be more of the same . . . until Luc Cain enrolls in her class. No one knows where he came from, but Frannie can’t seem to stay away from him.

What she doesn’t know is that Luc is on a mission. He’s been sent from Hell itself to claim Frannie’s soul. It should be easy---all he has to do is get her to sin, and Luc is as tempting as they come. Frannie doesn’t stand a chance. But he has to work fast, because if the infernals are after her, the celestials can’t be far behind. And sure enough, it’s not long before the angel Gabriel shows up, willing to do anything to keep Luc from getting what he came for. It isn’t long before they find themselves fighting for more than just Frannie’s soul.

But if Luc fails, there will be Hell to pay . . . for all of them.

**GIVEAWAY GUIDELINES**

I have one SIGNED COPY OF PERSONAL DEMONS and swag to raffle off!

1.You must be 13 year or older to enter.

2. Open to entrants with a valid U.S. mailing address only. 

3. Entries must be received by Midnight EST on September 27th 2010. 

4. Once contacted, winners have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address.

Fill out FORM here.