PEACE LOVE BOOKS : Ramblings of a Book Dork: FEARLESS PROMO by Devon Hartford w/ Author Interview and GIVEAWAY

Title: Fearless

Author: Devon Hartford

Release Date: August 1, 2013

Blurb ~ After moving from stuffy Washington D.C. to laid back San Diego, Samantha Smith hopes to shed her troubled past and reinvent herself as a freshman at San Diego University.

Her parents are pressuring her to major in Accounting, because it’s the safe thing to do. But Samantha really wants to try something more adventurous.

When she crosses paths with a handsome tattoo-clad bad boy, her life is turned upside down, and Samantha finds herself juggling more adventure than she ever dreamed possible.

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Author Bio

Devon Hartford spent most of his life in Southern California, frequenting many of the locations in Fearless. Devon also paints. His background in the arts was the inspiration for this book.

Interview with Devon

What made you start writing? Were you an English major or just a fellow reading junkie?

I was not a big reader as a kid. It wasn’t until I discovered A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony that I actually enjoyed reading for the first time. I instantly wanted to devour as many Xanth books as I could swallow. His stories had romance, fantasy, and magic. They took me to faraway, exotic locations that I dreamed of visiting. Not long after that, I began dabbling with writing stories of my own. Clunky at first and uncertain, my writing came in fits and starts. Much of what I wrote early on was never finished. I was not an English major, but I did take a few creative writing classes along the way. The assignments for these classes led to my first completed short stories. When a filmmaker friend turned me onto Syd Field’s well-known screenwriting book Screenplay, it showed me how to think about longer stories. Syd Field did a wonderful job of breaking film structure down into a visual form, highlighting the basic fact that every story should have rising action with a beginning, middle, and end. Later, I came across Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell, which I highly recommend to aspiring writers. It takes the visual approach in Screenplay and tailors the thought process to novelists. If you are a visual person like me, both books are invaluable. Your writing readers can also search online for articles describing the W plot, a newer version of the same general ideas. Author Mary Carroll Moore has a great video about W plotting on Youtube.

What made you write a romance, I'm sure many people are wondering, seeing as you’re a guy and all?

When I started reading some of the New Adult novels that have come out in the past year, I recognized in many of them a story that I was already telling in some of my early work. Namely, damaged characters who are avoiding the pain from their pasts and are forced by circumstance to confront it; in so doing, the characters find redemption and heal themselves. I think this is a universal theme in many films, books, and TV shows. The other factor was recognizing that I could play around with the college setting. I wanted to explore the fantasy that I’m sure many of us have had, that college would be the place where we meet our one true love. So I went about crafting the most thrilling college romance story I could imagine.

I noticed Fearless is part of a series, I need to know, are there any cliffhangers? And how many books will there be in the series?

Fearless ends with a soft cliffhanger. I wrapped up some of the main issues that coursed through the pages of the book, but left some things unaddressed. Nobody is hanging in life-or-death jeopardy, but there is a lot of uncertainty. For Samantha, the young heroine in Fearless, there are a number of brewing conflicts that are hinted at, but won’t erupt in full volcanic force until book 2, Reckless. In Book 3, Painless, I will wrap everything up with a neat bow.

Would you consider Fearless part of the New Adult genre?

Definitely. It’s intended for young people at that age (or older readers who want to relive that age) when they are officially in control of their own lives for the first time, but struggle with the immensity of holding the reins. It’s a time of infinite possibility, and for some, seemingly infinite self-doubt and uncertainty. Will Samantha buckle down and pursue the Accounting major like her parents want? Or will she rebel and chase after an Art degree instead? I also delve into the blossoming sexuality that most people experience at this time in their lives. As many of us know, it doesn’t always unfold smoothly or even romantically the first time. I wanted my novel to take the reader through the most exciting, fulfilling, and comfortable initiation into the world of physical love with another human being that I could depict.

How do you feel Fearless compares to popular novels like Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and other authors work like Abbi Glines and Colleen Hoover whom are all missing that Y chromosome you possess?

I chose to write Fearless from the heroine Samantha’s point of view. I worked very hard to make sure that I had what I considered an authentic nineteen-year-old girl’s internal voice, and that her behavior was believably female and realistic for her age. In that respect, I hope my Y chromosome will not be noticed at all! :-) Except, of course, when it comes to the actions and dialogue of the hero and other male characters. :-D

Last but not least, tell readers why they NEED to read Fearless...

If you have ever felt like you were living the wrong life, and dreamed of trying something more risky, adventurous, and fulfilling, but were afraid to try, and thought partaking in such a journey with the perfect guy would make it even better, then you NEED to read Fearless. Especially if you ever dreamed of being an artist. My love of drawing, painting, and the world of art is woven throughout Fearless.

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