Featured Interview With Chele Cooke
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Paranormal author currently living in London, UK. I actually grew up in Warwickshire (Shakespeare country,) in the middle of nowhere, so lots of tree climbing and making your own fun. I know, I know, sounds very ‘back in my day’, doesn’t it? I was fortunate enough to spend two years of my teenage life living in San Francisco, and the city remains my favourite place. If I could go back there to live, I would, though it would be a horrible commute to my current job.
Outside of writing, (actually, including writing) I’m a bit of a dork. I wear the title proudly and one way to seriously get into my good books is to get into an in depth discussion about something completely geeky. I live in a house share with four other people and two ferrets. Would love to have a dog, but until I have more time at home, that isn’t a good idea. I cross stitch, I knit, I marathon television shows when I’m not trying to write (and sometimes even when I am.) Mostly, admittedly, I’m a bit of a hermit.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved books. As a child, I adored Roald Dahl books, my favourites being ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ and ‘Matilda’ (I can’t stand the movie, but love the musical of this one.) I am one of those people who, if I love a book, I can read it over and over and find new things to love with each reading.
Admittedly, it wasn’t until I was about 14 when I started writing. I was living in San Francisco and admittedly was a little homesick. I moved out there with my mum and step-dad whilst my dad, step-mum, and two sisters remained in the UK. My dad bought me copies of the first 4 Harry Potter books for Christmas one year (also the year they played the Stephen Fry read audiobook of Philosopher’s Stone from beginning to end on the radio in the UK,) and I just fell in love. I read them over and over and lamented the wait until the next book. With no new material in the series, I started writing fanfiction. (I wouldn’t recommend anyone reads that early stuff.) Soon, writing was a huge part of my life. I was still writing fanfiction by writing missing scene stories and writing well known scenes from other character’s perspective (apparently I write an awesome Dumbledore,) but I was also beginning to write my own fiction.
It carried on from there, and now I’m sitting here, three books published, a degree in creative writing, shortlisted for the Wicked Young Writer’s Award, and featured in the Bookseller. It’s all going pretty well.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m still a sucker for rereading Harry Potter! It has so many of my roots in there that I comfort read the entire series about once a year.
I’m rather eclectic when it comes to books. I love reading Science Fiction and Fantasy. Let’s face it, it’s my genre. But I also love other stuff. One of my favourite books is ‘My Sister’s Keeper’. The depth in that is incredible (don’t watch the movie, it’s nowhere near as good,) and Jodi Piccoult has done a wonderful job of making you fall in love with all of the characters at different times, so your perception of the issues raised in the plot is always changing.
I love epic fantasies like ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ by G.R.R Martin and ‘Sword of Truth’ series by Terry Goodkind. I also love YA books such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Basically, I’ll read anything put in front of me and see whether I like it. I find inspiration everywhere, and you never know what could spark a new idea, so might as well search through everything.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
TEETH is the first book in a paranormal series. It’s not paranormal romance, but more a general paranormal series… kinda like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, except without the slaying or chosen one. (I love Joss Whedon too, so that is a great comparison for me.) The book follows three vampires at different stages in their Unlife. You have August, who has been a vampire for over a century, Spencer, who is half a dozen years undead, and Thomas, newly turned and very confused.
I started writing this book as a bit of fun, truth be told. I’d had ideas for a couple of scenes in my head for a long time, (the now famous among readers of the book ‘Munchies’ scene was one of them,) and I decided to just start writing. I’m a member of the website Wattpad and I wanted to make something new and exciting for my readers there. I posted Teeth week on week, a chapter at a time and didn’t have a plan for the book until around chapter 10. I was just writing something fun. However, I think it was about week 12 that I realised I really had something. Readers were commenting and telling me how much they loved the characters and the story, that they couldn’t wait until the next chapter went up.
I was also falling in love with the characters. Spencer – who started out as the secondary character to the main plot of Thomas learning how to be a vampire – was quickly growing into my main character. He has such an interesting backstory, and has deep seated issues that alter how he views everything. It’s so much fun to write him. Then there is August, who started out somewhat as the antagonist, but the further I looked into him was becoming a hero in his own right. Discovering these characters organically was wonderful.
In total, it took 25 weeks (6 months) to write the first draft. By the time I’d finished it on Wattpad, I knew this was a book I would release to the general public. I spent another three months in editing, reviewing, beta reading, and cover design before I released it on the 8th of January 2015.
Honestly, I never thought I’d be a paranormal author, but this story just swept me away.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles