Lee Taylor Author Interview

Book Nerd Interview

Lee was born in Canada and now currently resides in Dorset in the United Kingdom. He is proud to be Cree (a descendant of the native american tribe). Lee first moved to the UK when he was three years old, happily married and has three beautiful children. At just 24 years old Lee has a very long writing career in-front of him. Writing has been Lees passion from a very young age and his first book is due to be released at the end of this year 2011 he is in the process of writing his second novel in his Unleashed series.

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Where are you from?

I was originally born in Canada, and moved over to the UK when I was young, which should in theory make me incredibly polite. I now reside in Dorset, which is in the South West of England.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Well, I know there are a lucky few that knew exactly what they wanted to be, even from a young age, and will work hard until they achieve their goal. Unfortunately I was not one of those. I never really knew; which made it difficult at school. It has only been in recent years, where I have been pushed by my wonderful wife to write. (She got fed up of me spoiling plots in books and programs without seeing, hearing or reading about them previously, and told me that if I thought I could do better, then prove it, write a book.) Thus I began to create Bound!

Can you tell us how you became a writer?

Well, I can tell you that I used to write stories while I was growing up, but they were usually a page at most, with really big writing… And most of them had pretty much everything in, like a T-rex had somehow fit into my house, and was chasing me around my living room with lasers… or a ghost with a cold was sneezing Ectoplasm and there was a clown, a flamethrower and a puppy somewhere in the mix… Now I think about, I have no idea why my teachers didn’t try to have me committed… So now fast forward a couple of decades, and I found myself heckling a book, or a T.V. / movie character, like I was sat in a pantomime performance… Sure you could say it’s not normal to heckle a fictional character, but I get wholly immersed in the universe so why not!? I pretty much answered the next step of my creative process with my wife getting tired of my griping. Also, when I started writing I used to bounce ideas off of my friend who was really supportive of me. Unfortunately not long in to my writing journey he passed away and this made me more determined than ever to finish Bound and get my story published. Life is too short, if you want something you have to go out there and get it.

How did you come up with the title for your debut novel?

I’m serious when I say this; I was singing in the kitchen cooking dinner! The title Bound hit me so I quickly wrote it down in my pad, I know with a name like: “Bound” you were hoping that I was up to something a little more adventurous… like how I used to joke about hog tying a publisher until they said “yes” to accepting my book lol. Fortunately I didn’t have to go that far.

What inspired you to write Bound?

For me it was the coming together of several factors, I had begun to write about four different stories, and I thought that they were all terrible… So I thought long and hard about what I loved, about what I was tired with, about what I thought was funny… and then began to piece it together, I do not think that Bound is a piece of art, I saw it as my baby Frankenstein. I put it together, gave it life, and now you are either going to love it or hate it… If you do find yourself on the side of hating it, that’s fine, as it still means you are passionate about it, Ha!

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Well, I guess I’ll keep this answer short and simple: life is as hard as you make it.

Who is your favorite character in this book, and why?

I think that my favourite character in Bound is torn between Kitty & Tessa. In a genre where a lot of the heroines, are positively melancholic, (Ha) I wanted something more… I wanted my female leads to be more like the kind I know, they don’t take any BS. Kind of like that woman at Mcdonalds a few years back on new year’s day, who wanted her McNuggets. And so, I tried my best to make them strong characters, often teaching the guys a thing or three… Whilst retaining their femininity, I didn’t want to add them the throngs of depressing characters. I hope it doesn’t make me chauvinistic.

Are there any tips you would give a book club to better navigate their discussion of Bound?

I think that discussing my unwilling hero would be brilliant place to start, as well as a lot of the decisions that he makes, being driven by his (dare I say it) hormones. I have tried to bring a lot of characters, and preternatural beings into Bound, so what effect they left, and if they had any real impact.

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?

I heard that there is apparently no originality anymore, and so I hope to treat my readers to something different, something that should make them laugh in places, and shout in frustration in others, and maybe manage to scare or “jerk” a tear out of you along the way. I didn’t feel like I had to tell this story, I needed to, or the voices in my head may never sleep!

What was your favorite chapter to write and why?

My favourite chapter well I love them all… but one that I always have in my head is chapter 16, I think it was page 221. (Without giving anything away) my protagonist is put in a rather bad situation, which leads up to a point where my book “fragments” into different points of view… I really wish I could say more about it, but that particular part I was pleased with!

What question are you never asked in interviews but wish you were?

Are your characters inspired by people in your life, or are they merely a work of fiction? And the answer to that would be… They are not inspired by people, as much as they are created with situations. The: “wouldn’t it be nice if…” scenarios, where I then begin to (as perverted as this sounds) Play a game with myself; and with the characters that are in the said scenario, I figure out what drove them to act that way.

Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?

So far no… I know that in this world that we live in, you can never please everyone, I will always try my best though, and I get frustrated with myself if I believe I can do better. If a little further down the line the same complaint had been arisen multiple times then, I would of course have to look at improving that aspect in later releases!

Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

I don’t have one favourite author per say, I am far too greedy for just one, Max Brooks really surprised me with a book that he released called World War Z, which was fictional testimonies basically, and I found that they really drew me in… but I also love Steinbeck, Tolstoy, Koontz, King, Dickens… the list is endless!

If you weren't writing, what would you want to be doing for a living? What are some of your other passions in life?

I love to create things with my hands, whether or not it is in the written word, or painted, sculpted, baked, composed, I get a lot of satisfaction with doing anything creative… Other than that it is hard to say, I have worked many different jobs, in varied careers, and have not found anything quite as fulfilling as writing, although, I did love my time in the T.A.

What are your current projects?

My current projects include Book 2 & 3 of my Unleashed series, a new project I recently began about a rather peculiar school… and I have begun to brainstorm for potential plots and scenarios in a zombie book that I am starting to write… This is one thing I don’t think I have mentioned. I am a Zombie geek… or Zombeek if you were!

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Ursine Edwards was a normal well-adjusted teenager prior to Summer vacation. Now he has unintentionally married a Demon, fallen into line with a wolf pack and is being hunted by witches as well as the government, who are all in turn trying to use Ursine for their own devices.

You can purchase Bound at these following retailers.

Click LINKS below:

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Book Depository

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And now, The Giveaway. 

Thank you Lee Taylor for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive one Signed Copy of Bound  This can be Personalized) by Lee Taylor, Bound Christmas Card and Bookmarks. 

***If you're an Author and would like to do an Interview and Giveaway, you can e-mail me at jeanbooknerd@gmail.com****

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