Interview Beth Woodward Author of Embracing the Demon
Give a warm welcome to Beth Woodward, author of Embracing the Demon!
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Beth Woodward and Embracing the Demon, Book Two of Dale Highland Series. Pssst… Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!
What inspired this particular story?
Writer’s Digest used to run a monthly flash fiction contest where they ran a prompt, and you could submit a 750-word or less story based on it. The prompt one month was, “You wake up covered in blood, with a knife in your hands, a dead body next to you, and no memory of what happened.” Most people, in that situation, would probably have a reaction of, “Oh no, this couldn’t be! I would never kill anyone!” But my twisted brain came up with a character who woke up, looked around, and thought “Oh, no, not again.”
I was too late for the flash fiction contest. But I really like the piece, so I brought it to a writers’ workshop I participated in at the time. I got peppered with questions about why this particular woman would kill the man. Someone even suggested she was possessed. But my mind just started spinning and I thought, “What if the demon is just part of her?”
The original flash fiction piece became the prologue of The Demon Within. It’s one of the few parts of the story that’s remained relatively unchanged from the first draft onward.
Did you tell friends and family that you were writing a book? Or did it take a while to come out and tell friends and family you were a writer?
I’ve been writing since I was a kid, so my friends and family all knew I was a writer. But what has surprised me through the years is how many people—friends, family members, and significant others—treated it like a pipe dream, as if I were saying, “I want to be a fairy princess,” instead of a real, attainable goal. This attitude diminished my confidence in my writing, and I was reluctant to share it for a long time.
So my advice to anyone who wants to be a professional writer is to support yourself with people who support and encourage you. It’s a tough road, but it is achievable. I’m lucky that the people I’m around now, especially my husband, always cheer me on.
Why do you write what you write? Ie. Contemporary, paranormal, suspense, etc.
I write science fiction and fantasy because I love the idea that the world is more than what meets the eye. Working within the sci-fi/fantasy realm gives you the permission to invent and create and just be as weird and crazy as you want. Sci-fi and fantasy allow you to explore the world—or an entirely new world—through the realm of possibility. They remind you to always keep yourself open to possibility.
I also tend to include a lot of romance in my stories because…well, because that’s what I enjoy reading. My favorite kinds of romances are what you might call “complicated romances.” Much as I dig reading contemporary romances, there aren’t very many things, logically, that can keep two consenting, modern-day adults from being together. But the sci-fi/fantasy aspect adds a whole new layer of complication. We can’t be together because our races are bitter enemies, or because you’re mortal and I’m immortal, or because I can only come out at night and you live where the sun never sets. My favorite romances are the ones where you have no idea how the leads will get their happily ever after, or if they even can. That’s what keeps you turning pages.
You’ve got a time machine, a cloak of invisibility, and one hour. Where would you go, and what eavesdropping would you do?
I lost both my parents young: I was 13 when my dad died and 30 when my mom passed away. I’d love to see them again one last time. I’d go back to a time when they were really happy, maybe to their wedding day. I’d toss the invisibility cloak (I hadn’t been born, so no chance of being recognized), don my very best 80s shoulder pads and poofy hair, and crash the wedding. The good news is, it’s one place where no one would be surprised to see someone who looks suspiciously like the bride. (“Oh, don’t you remember me? I’m cousin Sally!”) The bad news is, my parents’ wedding was very small, so hopefully my time would be up before anyone realizes the bride doesn’t have a cousin Sally. Maybe I’ll bring the invisibility cloak, after all…
A sneak peek between the pages of Embracing the Demon!
He wore a gray suit with a dark shirt and a blue tie that fit him so perfectly I knew it must have been custom made for him. His dark blond hair had been combed and gelled into submission. Normally, it stood up in random spikes around his head—not as a stylistic choice, but because he had the tendency to run his fingers through it nervously until it went in about 14 different directions.
Until that moment, I hadn’t been convinced he’d survived the fall off the roof of Amara’s estate. Every night in my dreams, I stared at his broken body, tears running down my face. I wasn’t sure why I cried: because I had killed him, or because he had destroyed me.
But here was John, very much alive, looking like the fantasy of some billionaire boss about to have hot monkey sex with his secretary on the desk. He didn’t look like the John I remembered, who’d spent most of our time together wearing blood-covered t-shirts. Which one was the real John, I wondered, the suave businessman or the urban warrior? And then I noticed the pin on his lapel: a flaming angel that matched the ones on the others’ pendants. John had declared his allegiance, and it wasn’t to me.
“My apologies for the mess,” he said. “Ephraim, Leah, please clean that up. Make sure you dispose of the body well. I don’t want him coming back to haunt us one of these days.” A man and a woman jumped out of their seats and scooped up the body, leaving just a puddle of blood behind. Guess they’d be getting that later.
John turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s not forget why we’re here. This illness is already devastating our community, and it’s getting worse. The Zeta Coalition created it with the intent of wiping out supernaturals—angels and demons. And if we can’t cooperate, they will succeed.”
“She’s the daughter of our worst enemy!” someone shouted.
“Amara is dead. And Dale is not Amara.” He paused. “Covington is right. We need more information if we’re going to survive this, and Dale is our best hope of gaining access to their records containment facility.”
“What about taking an army and storming the compound, like we talked about a few weeks ago?” someone asked.
To my surprise, it was Tina who answered. “The compound is too heavily fortified, and its underground architecture would make it difficult to strong-arm. We’ve run the scenario many times, accounting for the different variables. The most likely outcome is that we’d end up trapped down there while the Zetas pick us off.”
“There must be another way,” a woman said.
“Maybe, but this is the best way,” John replied. “We all know Dale can do things that no one else can. Her return may have been a coincidence, but we should use that to our advantage.”
“I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” I managed to get out through gritted teeth.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Beth Woodward, Embracing the Demon, Urban Fantasy by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.
Great interview! Thank you for having me.
My pleasure!