Featured Interview With Angel Leya
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Angel Leya’s a quirky girl who enjoys strange facts and putting love and magical fantastical things in all her fiction, no matter the genre. On the serious side of things, she loves helping others.
Leya is also a wife, and mother of two beautiful children. She’s a transplant from rural New York, currently living in sunny South Carolina. Feel free to drop her a line anytime!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t know when I began reading, but once I got started, I had a voracious appetite for stories. My family would only go to the library once a month or so (whatever the lending limit was – we were so rural, it was quite the outing to go to the library). I would come home with piles of books, some over 500 pages, and would have them all read by the next library visit. I used to “sneak read” after bedtime by the light of my nightlight or the light from the hallway. My mom laughs to this day about being baffled at how to punish me for it. She eventually just told me if I needed a little more time on a book before bed, just let her know and I would get another hour.
I tried my hand at writing a couple of stories as a kid, but didn’t realize my affinity for writing until about 10 years ago. I never thought I could do it, but with encouragement from a friend, I tried, and I fell in love with telling stories. The editing process is killer, and I’ve thought about quitting based on that a couple of times, but for some reason I keep coming back. 🙂
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read so many books as a youth, I don’t even know my favorites anymore. The authors that stand out in my mind the most are C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and more recently Stephenie Myer and J.K. Rowling.
I’ve also had the pleasure of connecting with some incredible authors who have helped me out, and who have inspired me to go further – Olivia Folmar Ard, Laine Cunningham, Rebecca Enzor, and Chrys Cymri, to name a few.
I love stories with magic, but I have to say that my favorite genres are fantasy and sci-fi based with a strong love interest in there, and that’s what I want to write too.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Skye’s Lure is the latest available book. I was inspired when I watched the Mermaid: The Body Found on the Discovery channel. I totally believed it was true for about a day, but my mind kept spinning ideas. How did humans become mermaids? Why didn’t they connect with humans? What happened if one was caught in this day and age?
From there I started posting segments on my blog – the legend of the mermaid, the first encounter. I got some really great response from it, so I kept going. Overall, it took about a year to go from idea to posts to published book, but it’s only a novella. Full novels seem to run about 3 years for me. Did I mention editing is a long, hard process?
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