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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Interview with Amy Plumb, author of Die For Me



http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/4/9780062077004.jpg


by Amy Plumb

My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.
Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?

1. In DIE FOR ME, we meet Kate, a 16-year-old American who moves to Paris after the death of her parents.  At the age of 23, you also moved to Paris for five years. Can you talk about that experience and share with us a favorite memory or two about life in the city?

 

I moved to Paris a year and a half after graduating from university—with my first husband. I had found a job with an American company who had a small office outside of Paris. My salary was just enough to cover our rent, so for a while we were dirt poor. And with 2 ½ hours’ commute each day, the beginning was really a struggle. My husband and I split up after three years there, but I decided to stay in the city. It had spun its magic on me and my life would never be the same.

I didn’t leave Paris for another two years, when I went to London for grad school. I planned to move back to Paris afterward, but instead the job market took me to New York. Now my husband (#2 – and #LAST!!) and I live three hours south of Paris, and I return as often as I can.

One memory of that first year in Paris - during the dirt-poor phase. We were walking by the Paris opera, which was lit up like a birthday cake. It was cold enough to see your breath. And I spent a horrifying (for our budget) 5 francs/$1 on a little bag of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. My husband was furious and wouldn’t eat any. So I ate them all myself. I can still taste those chestnuts now—the guilty pleasure of eating such a luxury out on the street in such a beautiful place is etched permanently in my mind.


2. DIE FOR ME is a novel where the supernatural world shimmers below the surface, but doesn't saturate the story. You've described it as "plausible paranormal".  As a writer, how do you draw the fine line in determining just how much supernatural magic to incorporate into your story?

 
 
With Book 1, I really did keep magic to a minimum. I love magical books, but I felt strongly that I wanted to make this story something that readers felt could actually happen in the real world. So all of the revenants “gifts” had to be logical to me. They had to be there for a reason, not just because it was a cool idea.

I tried really hard to base everything in history as well, in order to bring authenticity to a brand new mythology. There is so much behind-the-scenes stuff that I haven’t (and might never) write about. But since it is there, in my mind, I feel it grounds the supernatural parts and helps made them believable.


3. Can you share with us a favorite line, scene or passage from DIE FOR ME?

 
 
“My mistake was inhaling as I did. He smelled like oak and grass and wood fires. He smelled like memories. Like years and years of memories.”

4. From Birmingham, Alabama to New York, London and Paris, you've been able to experience so many different places and cultures.  If you had to write the theme song for your life thus far, what would it be titled?
 

Hmm...maybe “Restless Heart”. However, if I had to choose one that already exists, I think “These Boots Were Made for Walking” would hit it right on the nose.


5. There will be two sequels for DIE FOR ME, releasing in 2012 and 2013. Can you discuss with us where you see the series heading and what we can look forward to? Do you have any other upcoming series or blossoming story ideas in the  works?

 
 
The series will become darker as Kate discovers more about Vincent and his kind. And of course, the longer Kate and Vincent know each other, the more we will see of them together! As to what you can look forward to: love, heartbreak, mistrust, deception, shock...how’s that?

As for upcoming series or ideas blossoming—I already mentioned a current project to someone else on this blog tour. So I’ll reveal to you another. In the weeks before writing DIE FOR ME, I started on another story that went on for about twenty pages before I wondered whether it was complete as a short story, or whether I should continue it. It was at this point that I came up with the idea for DIE FOR ME, and shelved the other story. But I would love to revisit it...I can almost see it as a film script rather than a book. It’s very dark. Very twisted. And definitely rated PG-13!!




Amy Plum grew up in Birmingham, Alabama before venturing further afield to Chicago, Paris, London and New York. An art historian by training, she finally traded a tiny apartment in Brooklyn for a rambling farmhouse in a village of 1300 people in the French countryside. She lives there with her French husband, two young children and big red dog Ella, and spends her time writing in a tiny ancient stone house in her garden. To learn more about the book, visit Amy Plumb's Official Website. 

5 comments:

Loren Chase said...

Loved this interview! I could clearly imagine her first husbands anger at the 5 franc chestnuts, it just felt like a French memory:) Can't wait to get a copy of Die For Me!

Deea said...

Great interview ladies! I was really curious about Amy's Paris story, hehe!:D
I'm so looking forward to reading Die for me!<3

Jessi E. said...

I can't wait to see how this series develops, for sure! I'm also curious about the other story, too. Dark and twisted sound good to me!

Tales of Whimsy said...

Your story about the nuts in Paris sound like me and my hubby. We are totally like that.

Great post!

*Astrid A.* said...

So you were definitely in love at first sight with Paris, right? Hope I could visit it some day! :)