Interview with Ella James
ELLA JAMES
When did you first decide you wanted to write?
I think I was a storyteller even before I could write. When my little friends would come over and we played Barbies, I would always narrate the scene. I loved to add drama by killing off certain Barbie. They usually had a dramatic fall down the stairs. 
I loved writing the little kiddie reports and essays in elementary school, and at the same time I was learning to adore reading. So I guess it just all came together.
Do you prefer to have fame or fortune?
Fame. And by fame I mean I want to be known for good books. The main purpose of money – besides taking care of my child – is that it buys me time to write. When I think of any sum – let’s say $200,000, I think hmm… if you lived really cheaply, that could buy you X years of full-time writing.
What is your favorite genre to write?
Romance that is very focused on the characters’ internal lives. I always start out with that, and it almost always turns into fantasy, spec fiction, futuristic fiction, or some kind of sci-fi.
What is your favorite genre to read?
Exactly what I like to write. I read the back of a book called Whisper by Heather Hildenbrand the other day, and I was like whoa! That’s my kind of thing. YA contemporary, seems very character-centric. Incidentally, she also has a book called Across the Galaxy, which sounds great to me in part because it has ‘galaxy’ in the title.
Do you have a favorite author?
Hmm. I really don’t. For years I considered Lisa Kleypas and J.R. Ward my favorites, but with indie books and the rise of so many great new authors, it’s really hard to name just one. I have favorite books. One that made me want to write YA is called The Only Alien on the Planet. It’s very sweet, and it happens to not be about an alien. It’s contemporary YA romance, only maybe not quite so easy to label because it came out before this genre got big and organized. I read it in eighth grade. 
Is there something you want to write about, that you haven’t yet?
YES. So many things! I have a TBReleased list a mile long!
What is one silly fact about you?
I think of everyone I know in animal terms. I can meet people just once and I automatically know what animal they are. It’s based on looks and personality. I’m a wombat. Watch them run and see why I was NEVER a gymnast or a cheerleader. They are not graceful creatures.
Do you have a favorite character you have written so far?
I have a soft spot for Nathan from the Stained Series and Vincent from the Princeps Series. (Princeps is not released yet, but will be soon).
Nathan reminds me a little bit of my husband and Vincent is just wonderfully complicated.
Anything you want to say the aspiring writers reading the blog?
Write a book from start to finish and then put it away for a while and write it again. After I wrote Stained, I wrote Over The Moon (Princeps I) four different times from start to finish. That’s how I really learned to write. Actually read those books on plotting, because odds are you won’t know how on your own – hardly anyone does. And read a really tiny book called The Elements of Style by Strunk & White. It’s the quickest, easiest way to improve your writing.
ABOUT ELLA:
Ella James is the award-winning author of Stained and Stolen, books one and two in the Stained Series; HERE, book one in a mysterious paranormal romance trilogy; and Before You Go, a beachy YA romance. She has a YA romance release scheduled for almost every month of 2012, including Chosen (Stained Book Three) in July and the second HERE book in August. Ella lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her wonderful husband, opinionated baby, and mopey dog. You can visit her blog at www.ellajamesbooks.blogspot.com <http://www.ellajamesbooks.blogspot.com > , or friend her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ellajamesbooks <http://www.facebook.com/ellajamesbooks > . For a list of her award-winning YA romances, visit her Amazon page at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AElla+James&keywords=Ella+James&ie=UTF8&qid=1336677919&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B005OED2DE <http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i:stripbooks%2ck:Ella+James&keywords=Ella+James&ie=UTF8&qid=1336677919&sr=8-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B005OED2DE >
I am currently reading Stained and will review it soon on Self Publish or Die Reviews
STAINED:
After a fire destroys seventeen-year-old Julia’s home and kills her foster parents, she chases the half-demon responsible across the country and back, determined to avenge her family and discover why a host of celestial baddies want her dead. With Julia is enigmatic hottie Cayne, who has his own score to settle with the half-demon, and who might be just as dangerous as the creature he and Julia hunt.
Listed as one of the Top 10 Books of 2011, Cayne voted one of 2011′s Top 10 Book Boyfriends. Recipient of the Flamingnet Top Choice Award. Nominated Best Debut Novel at UtopYAcon 2012
STOLEN (Stained Book 2):
With Cayne’s fate in the hands of his enemies and Julia spirited away to the covert Stained compound, the two are separated by impenetrable walls and a gulf of unanswered questions. Soon Julia learns the truth about the Stained and the plans they have for her, the compound is attacked, and a new group is running from an unwanted destiny, searching the globe in pursuit of the knowledge that just might save them all.
CHOSEN (Stained Book 3):
Julia has been chosen. While at the Stained compound, she was tapped as The one to win the war against the Nephilim and leashed with an illness that worsens each day she is away from The Three. Determined not to return to the frightening Chosen leaders and desperate to learn the fate of The One, Julia and Co. trek to the Swiss Alps, home of a rogue Chosen clan. In this snowy haven, all Hell breaks loose. Someone is a traitor. Someone changes sides. Someone is dragged to Hades. A new romance blossoms. An old romance is damned. And The Three will stop at nothing to recover the weapon that will help them regain power.
HERE (Here Trilogy Book 1):
Milo Mitchell’s life used to be charmed, but that was before her family dissolved, she went a little crazy, and her best friends started acting more like strangers. Spending Saturday morning in a treehouse with a stun gun for company and a herd of deer for friends is the only exciting thing in her life…until she shoots a fawn and finds her dart stuck in a guy.
Her gorgeous victim is dressed in a Brioni tux and armed with a hanky. He has no idea who or where he is. Afraid her dart caused his amnesia, Milo takes him in, names him Nick, and vows to help him solve his mystery. Soon the pair find Nick’s face in a newspaper obituary, and Nick begins to have strange, ethereal memories of Milo–who is sure she’s never met him. Suddenly Nick knows things he shouldn’t know and is doing things he shouldn’t do. When the Department of Defense shows up, Nick and Milo run–toward a shocking conclusion that could destroy both their worlds.
Nominated Best YA Paranormal at UtopYAcon 2012.
BEFORE YOU GO:
Margo Ford just became an heiress. Not the Paris Hilton kind. Her billions came after her father died and her insanely wealthy, insanely absent mother officially claimed her. Unfortunately, some terrorists noticed, and they hatched a plot to kidnap her. After a news report goes awry, reporting that Margo *has* been kidnapped, and her mother offers the humiliating sum of $500,000 for her return, Margo doesn’t want anything to do with her *#$!@ of an egg donor. Then she is sentenced to a summer of “protection” on her mother’s private island. Not the Oprah Winfrey kind. This one has an astronomical observatory filled with scientists, including Logan Greer, a super hot, super infuriating planet-hunter. Hiding out from kidnappers has never been so boring… until suddenly it isn’t anymore.
