Move over Vampires and Werewolves and Make Room for Witches and Seances-A Sit Down with Paranormal Author, Tricia Drammeh

When my sister and I first stepped out the the Blogosphere, This author was the first to welcome us with open arms! Not only does she give excellent writing advice but she's in the business of promoting other great authors in her writing journey!

1.Hey Tricia, why don't you give everyone the scoop on who you "are" and a glimpse of you past and current works!

Hi Twinjas! Thank you so much for having me on your blog. Well, I'm the mother of four kids and currently make my home in New Hampshire. My husband is from West Africa and we have interracial kids, so diversity is something that is very important to me. My published works include The Claiming Words which is a multicultural fantasy series for young adults, The Séance which is a horror/paranormal novel for teens ages thirteen and up, and The Fifth Circle which is mainstream fiction for older teens and young adults. 

2.In your past work, a book respectfully titled "The Claiming Words", you featured many characters of color and now in your current release, "The Seance", you're exploring different religions as well! What amount of research goes into making your stories "just right"?

I don't do much research in terms of creating diverse characters, though I did research Wicca and psychics when writing The Séance. In The Séance, the main
character's love interest is a practicing Muslim from Saudi Arabia. My husband is a Muslim, so I didn't really have to do any research when discussing aspects of Islam.

3.I'm sure as a white writer you probably get questioned a lot about including diversity in your books. Was there ever an initial fear of "getting it wrong" when it came to creating diverse characters?

When writing The Claiming Words, I did have some fear that I might offend people by trying to write from a black character's point of view. When the movie The Help was first released, there were people who were very upset by the dialect used. When writing Rachel's character, I tried to steer clear of stereotypes while staying true to her character. In The Claiming Words, I was very cautious in my approach, but in the next book in the series, Demon Fire, I tackled the issues of racism and how some people react negatively toward interracial relationships.

4.What kind of mark do you want to leave in the world of writing?

I hope to create characters that speak to a variety of young adults from different backgrounds, religions, and cultures.

5.Do you have any advice for aspiring writers based on your experiences in the publishing world?

My first piece of advice would be to very careful when it comes to making publishing decisions. If you do decide to go with an agent or publisher, have an experienced intellectual property attorney review any contracts before signing.

My second piece of advice would be to write what you want to write. There is so much advice out there and people who will try to tell you vampire fiction isn’t popular or there’s too much young adult fantasy. Write what you want the way you want to write it. 

6.Has there ever been a character you connected with sooo much that made you think you wanted to be a writer?

Over the years, there have been dozens of characters I’ve connected with. Every book I’ve read has probably contributed to me wanting to write. I fall in love with books very easily.

7.Over here at Twinja Book Reviews we only review books that feature marginalized people as the main protagonist or lead love interest, How important is it to you to incorporate diversity in your writing?

Diversity is important to me; however, I don’t deliberately set out to write diverse characters. My characters seem to evolve independently. I think they often take the form of multicultural characters because of my own background. People advise authors to write what they know—my family is made up of Gambians, Latinas, Caucasians, and Australians, so it’s only natural my characters would be multicultural.

8.I hate to make you choose but do you have a favorite genre to write in?

I love fantasy and paranormal. 

9.What can we expect next from Tricia Drammeh?

Expect to see another year of interviews and book reviews on my promotional blog, Authors to Watch. I’m hoping readers can also expect to see the sequel to The Séance sometime in the next year as well as the sequel to The Claiming Words.

10. Where can potential fans brush up on what you're working on now and projects in the future?

All my book links as well as my blog can be accessed through my website: @Tricia Drammeh

Don't forget!We're hosting a month long giveaway for all the authors we featured!Don't miss a chance to win Tricia's Book.You'll be a new fan!


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