Blog Tour: Rain by Christie Cote

*Keep reading through until the end for multiple giveaways!*

Today I'm interviewing Christie Cote, author of Rain. I am especially excited to do this blog tour because I know her in real life. Christie and I have spent a semester sitting side-by-side in college courses, sharing our love of books and music. Now we are facebook friends. Everyday we find more and more in common - it's like our being friends was meant to be!

This is Christie. Music lover, author, book devourer,
newlywed, maple syrup connoisseur.  She's got
as much brains as she does beauty - a lot!

Now this lovely lady has published her first novel. Woo! Rain is available in paperback and e-book on Amazon. Christie currently working on getting the paperback version into some stores, such as Bullmoose Music and Barnes & Noble. While the e-book will only be available on Amazon as of now, if you have devices that do not cooperate with Amazon, you can buy the book and convert the file to one that is compatible with your reader via the program Calibre (which is free).

Rain's cover!

Rain blurb:

Taylor Sullivan took her life for granted until she received news that would change her life forever. In a state of denial she met Kyle, who didn’t end up being what she expected. She wasn’t able to escape her new reality, but with his friendship, just maybe she could survive it.

Author Bio:

Christie Cote resides in Vermont with her Husband and their dog. When she isn’t reading, writing, or dreaming up her next story, she can be found shooting targets with her bow, drawing or baking.

Rain is her first book.

Christie writes Young Adult Realistic Fiction, Fiction, and New Adult novels.

Find Christie:

| Website | Facebook | Twitter |Google+ | Instagram | Goodreads | Review Blog |Booklikes |

Without further adieu. Here we go!

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First off, describe Rain in your own words.

Rain is a young adult realistic fiction novel. It can also be considered contemporary. The protagonist is Taylor Sullivan, a normal teenage girl in high school. She has a good life with parents that love her. She has taken it all for granted, as many of us do. She receives news that alters her life completely. She fights to survive with the help of her best friend, family, and a stranger that becomes her friend.

What is one thing you want readers to know about Rain?
I’ve been careful not to give away what the main challenge for Taylor is in Rain, but you do find out in the first chapter. It is a sad and happy story and I hope readers will appreciate it.

Rain is your breakout novel. Congratulations! As an emerging author, what have you found to be the hardest part of writing a novel? What is the easiest (or your favorite) part?

Thank you! I think the most difficult thing about writing a novel is not getting intimidated by how much I have to write to produce a novel. The easiest and most fun part is just getting lost in the story and writing.

What journey led you to becoming an author? When and how did this process of becoming a published author start out? 

I have wanted to be an author since I fell in love with writing in middle school. I have been writing ever since, but never finished an entire book until Rain. I’m very proud of this story, and with the encouragement of a few friends and family I decided to go for it and publish my first book. I’m the only one who can make my dreams come true, so that is what I am doing.

The ultimate personality test: how would your main characters - Taylor Sullivan and Kyle -  describe you?
Hmmmm Determined maybe?

What inspired Rain?
I had to start a story in a fiction writing class, in College. I wanted to write a different story, but my teacher preferred us to write realistic fiction, and what I wanted to write was a bit different. I came up with a new story and first just had an image of Rain in my head and a girl and went from there. Before I knew it, I was totally engrossed in the story and had to keep telling the story.

Are any experiences in Rain based on, or inspired by, events in your own life or that of someone you know?

Not exactly, it is a fiction book. I did base some of the characters off of people that are important to me, and I snagged a few conversation snippets that have occurred in my life, but mostly the story just started as an image and I followed it where it took me.

How are you similar to and different from your main character, Taylor? What about Kyle?
Oh goodness. I’m sure how I speak comes out a little in her thoughts and when she talks, but otherwise I think we are pretty different. I guess some of the personality traits are similar. I like some of the things that she does, but appearance and life experience wise we are the complete opposite. I think I can relate to Kyle a little more, but he is very different from me, as well.

Give us an insight into your main character(s). What makes them so unique and special? What particularly qualities about them are relatable and captivating to an audience?

Some authors are planners – with outlines, snowflake diagrams, character biographies, or other means – and others are “fly by the seat of their pants on the rough draft” types. Some write everything in time-line order, others as it comes to mind. Tell us about your writing process: how did you go about writing Rain?

I hate outlines. In school when they were required I wrote my paper first and then made my outline from that. I honestly just get an idea in my head and know the general idea of it and start from the beginning and just see where the story goes.

What piece of the novel did you come up with first – the ending, the beginning, or a particular scene?

I came up with the beginning first.

Were there ever previous incarnations of any of your characters – particularly Taylor or Kyle?
No, but that is a fun idea for a future book.
How did Kyle and Taylor’s characters change from conception to the physical writing? What are some differences?

I don’t think Taylor changed too much from my conception of her to actually writing her story. I definitely got to know her more as I wrote her, but I think she stayed true to how I first imagined her. Kyle was just as much of a mystery to me as he was to Taylor, so in a way he is a lot different than I expected him to be when I first imagined him. His story in complex and I know a lot about him that readers don’t know about yet.

Was the story always meant to end the way it did?

I honestly wasn’t sure how the story wouldn’t end until I got there. It was always vague and ambiguous to me until I was writing it. I think it worked out well that way and I’m happy with the way I ended it.

How do you  beat writer’s block?

Honestly, I haven’t really experienced writer’s block. There are times that my brain just can’t get into writing, so I stop and give myself a break then go back to it, but I’ve never been stuck at a certain part and not been able to continue. There are times that I have had a scene come into my head and yell for my attention. I like to write things in order, I don’t usually skip around, but sometimes I have to stop and write future scenes that take over my head. I suppose if I ever did get writer’s block I would do something like that to get through it.

In a field known for agents and major publishing companies, you chose a path that many authors are now choosing to take: the growing field of self-publishing. For you, what drove this decision? What were your 1-2 biggest learning experiences (or surprises!) of self–publishing?

There are a lot of success stories, not that it means that everyone who self-publishes will be successful. I really like the idea of having full control over the book. I had the control over ever step and didn’t have anyone telling me I had to do it a different way. Self-publishing is a lot of work though, and it is not for everyone. I designed the book cover, editing and hiring an editor is my responsibility, marketing, advertising, setting up the cover reveal and scheduling the blog tour and there is probably more that I can’t think of. All of those things take a lot of time and can cost a lot, as well.

What are your plans for the future? Personal/work/book related.

I have more books that I plan to write. Two more for the Rain series, and a few other projects that I want to work on. I’m also finishing my Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

One writer to another: we all have procrastination habits. What are some of your best or most common procrastination habits?

True story! I’m very good at procrastinating. Anything from checking Facebook too much, to ignoring what I should be doing and watching TV, or doing other unproductive things.

Yay or nay! What are your thoughts on fanfiction? Have you ever written fanfiction before?

I’m not sure I can fairly have an opinion on fanfiction. I have never read or written fanfiction. It also depends if the fanfiction stays purely fanfiction, or ends up getting published, like fifty Shades of Gray. I know the idea is that a fan is writing a piece of work based on someone else’s work, so if that is the case I’m not sure if I can agree with fanfiction being published as an original work. I think it all depends on the piece of work and how it is all executed.

What is your favorite writing space? How about favorite writing outfit?

As long as I have a computer, I can write anywhere. I suppose I like writing on my computer in my home some-what office. I’m always a fan of being in sweatpants and a comfortable shirt.

The funniest/craziest thing that ever happened to you – GO!
I’d tell you, but then I might get arrested…

What is one unique and interesting fact about yourself?
I wrote and illustrated a picture book when I was really young in school. The book was about my cat Midnight. Luckily my drawing and writing skills have developed a lot since then.

My friends have a variety of nicknames for me – ranging from Rinna, to Sparkles, to Lvl5Woodland Elf, to Miss Katie – but I wasn’t always that way. For a long time I didn’t have any nicknames. Now, I have grown so fond of all of mine, I cannot imagine being without. Do you have any funky, unique, or special nicknames?

Well, my family has named me Princess Cupcake. I haven’t had too many nicknames, and some of them I don’t like so I’m not sharing those. I’ve also been called smiley, and Pink Ninja.

Who are your favorite authors?

Oh goodness, this could take a while… Lurlene McDaniel, John Connolly, Colleen Hoover, Cassandra Clare, Patricia Briggs, Tammara Webber, J.K. Rowling, Shelly Crane, Jennifer Armentrout, Michelle Sagara, Elizabeth chandler, Veronica Roth, Lauren Oliver, Jolene Perry, Maria Snyder, and Suzanne Collins. I’m sure I left some out.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Read and write as much as you can. If writing a book seems intimidating, I recommend setting small daily word count goals. Those goals are a lot less scary and are doable and eventually all of those words will add up to something big. That helped me a lot. Also be able to take criticism, and if someone says something negative about your work, don’t let it sway you from writing. Keep doing it, and work to improve, whether they are right or wrong.

 

 This Blog Tour is just FULL of giveaways. So don't miss out! There are three going on right now - get on board!

There is one over at Goodreads. Click through HERE to get there.

Then there is one for this blog for an e-book copy of Rain and a mass blog tour giveaway run by Christie. Below are both of them!

My Blog Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christie Cote's Blog Tour Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway