GCC Presents: Lucienne Diver

Today Lucienne Diver is here on her Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour to tell us a little bit about herself and her new book VAMPED.

About Lucienne:
Lucienne Diver is a long-time book addict who went to work for NYC’s Spectrum Literary Agency fifteen years ago to feed her habit. Recently, she traded in her high-rise for a lake view. She now lives in Florida and works for The Knight Agency. Through various play-dates and in various coffee bars, on the backs of envelopes, carry-out bags and anything else within reach, including, sometimes, her checkbook, she's penned the serio-comic tale of what happens when a young fashionista goes from chic to eek.

About VAMPED:

From “Valley Vamp Rules for Surviving Your Senior Prom” by VAMPED heroine Gina Covello:

Rule #1: Do not get so loaded at the after prom party that you accidentally-on- purpose end up in the broom closet with the surprise hottie of the evening, say the class chess champ who’s somewhere lost his bottle-cap lenses and undergone an extreme makeover, especially if that makeover has anything to do with becoming one of the undead.

Gina Covello has a problem. Waking up a dead is just the beginning. There's very little she can't put up with for the sake of eternal youth and beauty. Blood-sucking and pointy stick phobias seem a small price to pay. But she draws the line when local vampire vixen Mellisande gets designs on her hot new boyfriend with his prophecied powers and hatches a plot to turn all of Gina’s fellow students into an undead army to be used to overthrow the vampire council.

Hey, if anyone's going to create an undead entourage, it should be Gina! Now she must unselfishly save her classmates from fashion disaster and her own fanged fate.

What people are saying:

"VAMPED is a total delight! Diver delivers a delightful cast of undead characters and a fresh, fast take on the vampire mythos. Next installment, please!" — Rachel Caine, New York Times bestselling author of the Morganville Vampires series

"I really sunk my teeth into Lucienne Diver's VAMPED. A fun, frothy, teenage romp with lots of action, a little shopping, and a cute vampire guy. Who could ask for more?" — Marley Gibson, author of GHOST HUNTRESS: The Awakening

“This book rollicked along, full of humor, romance, and action. Gina is a smart-aleck heroine worth reading about, a sort of teenage Besty Taylor (Undead and Unwed) with a lot of Cher Horowitz (Clueless) thrown in. Fans of Katie Maxwell will devour "Vamped." — Rosemary Clement-Moore, author of the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series

"Move over Buffy! Lucienne Diver transfuses some fresh blood into the vampire genre. Feisty, fashionable and fun--Vamped is a story readers will sink their teeth into and finish thirsty for more." —Mari Mancusi, author of The Blood Coven Vampires series

The Interview:

Q: Please list five songs that would be on the soundtrack to your book and explain how they relate to your story or characters.

Lucienne: Music is really important to me too. It’s funny - I don’t feel as though I know a character until I know what they listen to. That’s why VAMPED was so weird for me. I actually made up singers/groups that my main character, Gina, listened to. I think that because she was so unique to me, her music had to be as well. Her favorite singer is Su Surrus, who I think of as something like Pink, but maybe a little more punk. But Gina is so over the Baden Boys. She swears …she just keeps their poster on the wall because it picks up the purple in her comforter.

Q: Name some of your main character's favorite musicians or bands.

Lucienne: I'’ve just named two, but if I had to think of real-world bands or performers: Pink, Nickelback, Eve 6, Third Eye Blind, Green Day.

Q: Who are some of your favorite musicians or bands?

Lucienne: I like all of the above, but my favorites are probably The Indigo Girls, Joni Mitchell, U2, Matchbox Twenty, and Jason Mraz.

Q: Even though music plays in so heavily into my storytelling, I rarely can actually listen to it while I'm writing. Can you? How does music fit into your writing process?

Lucienne: Nope, I need complete quiet when I write. I free hand everything and would love to be able to listen to music when I type in what I’ve written, but I don’t because I edit in the process of committing work to computer so that it becomes almost a second draft by the time I hit “Save.”

Q: While music is my muse, I know other writers find their muse in theater, sports, art, the great outdoors, etc. What is your main muse?

Lucienne: I did theatre for years, actually met my husband when we worked as actors at a haunted house, so that’s where I developed the skill of getting into someone else’s head. It'’s probably why my work always starts off with voice and characters. Plotting is the hard part for me. I generally know all about my characters, but not exactly how the storyline will develop, not the least of which because those characters have minds of their own and often send things spinning in unforeseen directions!

I definitely have that same issue, Lucienne. Plotting is the hardest part for me, too. VAMPED sounds like a really fun book and I love that the character was so unique she needed her own made up music. Comment away about VAMPED and the interview guys!