Featured Interview With E. L. Tenenbaum
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a native of Southern California, which is a great place for anyone, especially a writer to be from. Why? Because it’s Southern California. Although I’m still living out here, I’m always ready to embrace to big wide world beyond, and love traveling to new places!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Since I was kid, my parents couldn’t put me to bed at night without a stack of books in my crib. Growing up, I spent more time reading than doing homework, but hey, reading’s good for you, too!
I never really tried writing anything outside of short skits and parodies until I wrote and directed my first jukebox musical for community theater. From there, I started writing screenplays, one of which became my first novel! Now, I can’t write enough.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like different things about different books and writers, so it’s always hard to narrow it down…
Growing up, I preferred reading historical fiction, but my tastes have expanded greatly since then. At this point, reading a good book, or good writing, is more important to me than specific genres.
As far as inspiration, I believe who I look to depends on what I’m writing. Also, as mentioned, I think there’s almost always something you can take from any book you read and store it away for a time you may need it to push your writing forward.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is my first book!
The Sapphire Legend is a (very) low fantasy, young adult novel, and Part I of II. Part I has just been released with Fire & Ice Young Adults Books, and they’ll be releasing Part II at the end of this year. I’m not exactly sure how long it took me to write, but I can tell you that I worked just on the edits for over a year!
The Sapphire Legend is about a young girl named Sapere, who’s different from the rest of her tribe because she has a special gift that only men are supposed to have. She tries to learn how to use her gift, but must keep it a secret because she’s afraid of being ostracized if anyone finds out. When her tribe is attacked and she makes it to safety with some survivors, she’s really put to the test as the gift she doesn’t want anyone to know about can really help them.
As times passes, Sapere has to figure out who she really is, despite her tribes expectations of who she should be. Sapere must choose between being different and staying true to herself, or staying quiet and fitting in.
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