Interview with Donna Galanti, on writing paranormal suspense & trilogies

Want to know more about how to write a trilogy? Today, Idea City interviews Donna Galanti, author of the paranormal Element Trilogy books. Plus, enter a great giveaway below! A summary of her newest:
A Hidden Element.  Evil lurks within…
When Caleb Madroc is used against his will as part of his father’s plan to breed a secret community and infiltrate society with their unique powers, he vows to save his oppressed people and the two children kept from him. Seven years later, Laura and Ben Fieldstone’s son is abducted, and they are forced to trust a madman’s son who puts his life on the line to save them all. The enemy’s desire to own them—or destroy them—leads to a survival showdown. Laura and Ben must risk everything to defeat a new nemesis that wants to rule the world with their son, and Caleb may be their only hope—if he survives. But must he sacrifice what he most desires to do so?

Tell us about your main character
Caleb Madroc lives an oppressed life. He has sons he can’t be a father to, he can’t choose who he loves, and must carry out despicable acts to survive. Yet Caleb finds he's pushed to the wall even further and must risk the things he desires to save those he loves. Caleb is also a Watcher in a way, and Watchers are some of my favorite characters to write.

In what ways does he change?
Caleb discovers he doesn’t have to be dictated by his dark genes and can choose love over hate, and hope can win out in the end.

Give us your favorite line from your protagonist
Caleb Madroc: "I will protect the children. I promise. But I can’t promise to save you."

From an antagonist
Adrian Madroc: “If you cannot, your sons will die. And you will throw the first stone.”

An emblematic, teaser paragraph
He wanted to redeem himself either way through sparing others pain. Sweat broke out on his brow. Was she too far gone? His stomach tightened. He moved his hands faster over her. Come back, Rachel. Please. Her head lolled to one side. He stroked her hair as he worked and spoke to her.
“I do love you, Rachel. I never stopped. I wanted more, but it wasn’t meant to be. I had to think of our children first.” She remained cold beneath his hands.
This gift he had. Perhaps it was not enough for her.

What keeps you going when your inspiration flags?
I take a break and find an inspiring book to read. This always fuels my own creativity.

What truly inspires you and fires up your vision?
To me, writing is all about passion – feeling the good and feeling the bad. And I want to feel it all. To explore the twin sides of our human nature: the good inside us, the dark inside us.

Best words of advice you ever received?
Don’t edit while writing that first draft! Once I got over this block my writing took off and I found I could write THE END.

Worst?
Find success by perfecting your writing in one genre. I believe today’s fiction was built by cross-genre writers, like Dean Koontz, and they opened doors for writers to further challenge themselves in their writing and push the boundaries.

Offer some writing advice to aspiring and new authors
Get out of your writer’s cave and join writer communities and organizations now, no matter what level of writing you are at. Keep learning your craft and keep filling your writer’s toolbox! Visit my Writers Corner for inspiration, advice, and resources on writing.

Which do you enjoy writing most: action, romance, setting, dialogue?
A combination of dialogue and action. At first a scene comes to me in dialogue and then I see the action painted around it.

A hint of what you’re working on next?
I'm plotting the final book in the Element Trilogy and a YA medieval fantasy series. I also write middle grade and in 2015 have the first two books coming out in my adventure fantasy series, Joshua and the Lightning Road. You can learn more about it here. 

How is it writing a trilogy? Biggest challenges? Fun aspects?
It’s fun bringing the characters I fell in love with back to life and introducing new characters to love. The biggest challenges in writing a sequel for me, are blending in the necessary details from book one to inform the reader and move the story along while also creating a standalone novel as well.

The most important theme of book one? Book two?
In book one, A Human Element, it’s revealed that if we overcome our genes and thrive through love, we can conquer our obstacles and achieve anything. But without love, we are lost.  In book two, A Hidden Element, a major theme is that relinquishing the struggle to belong leads to self-acceptance.

Care to share a hint of what’s to come in book three?
Aha! Think V meets Supernatural. ☺

Visit her: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Donna Galanti writes murder and mystery with a dash of steam as well as fiction for teens and tweens. She is the author of books 1 and 2 in the paranormal suspense Element Trilogy, A Human Element and A Hidden Element, the short story collection The Dark Inside, and Joshua and The Lightning Road (Books 1 and 2, 2015). She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer.

BUY THE ELEMENT TRILOGY BOOKS:
Purchase Book 2 in the Element Trilogy, A Hidden Element.
Purchase Book 1 in the Element Trilogy, A Human Element: ON SALE NOW THROUGH 8/31 FOR JUST $ 0.99 cents!
Deadly Dozen: 12 Mystery/Thriller novels for just $3.99.

PRAISE FOR A HIDDEN ELEMENT:
"Chilling and dark…a twisty journey into another world." —J.T. Ellison, New York Times bestselling author of When Shadows Fall

"Fascinating…a haunting story…"—Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author of The World Beneath

"Will keep you up long past your bedtime...a pulse-pounding read."—Allan Leverone, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Final Vector

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Do Genes Dictate Who We Are? & other fascinating questions, celebrating the re-release of Galanti's A Human Element

Today Idea City is helping to celebrate the re-release of Donna Galanti's thriller, A Human Element. Donna explains her fascinating motivation for the book idea:

Do Genes Dictate Who We Are? 
Adoption and being an only child runs through A Human Element. I am both, and they both had a deep impact on my life. In A Human Element three characters have similar lives. Laura's adopted and an only child raised by loving parents. Ben is an only child but abandoned when his parents die, to live a lonely existence in foster homes. X-10 is raised alone in a government facility, an unloved experiment. One common thread connects them all. They grow up alone and eventually parentless. 

Adopted children often suffer abandonment issues and feel like they never belong, that they aren’t ‘blood family’.  Being adopted myself I understood this. But as an adopted child I was lucky. I had a loving family and I learned my heritage (and am very glad I was given up. Read more about that here). I got married and had an amazing son. In having him, I have my own ‘blood’ now. I do belong–with my family.

In A Human Element all three characters have similar backgrounds, but how are they different? Ben isolates himself, Laura has an open heart, and X-10 hates the world. Is it their genes that shape who they are or their environment? I’ve found it’s both. I like to think we can overcome our genes and thrive in an environment that allows us to do so. In such an environment we can conquer our obstacles and achieve anything, but without love we're lost. I believe that our genes do not dictate who we are–and this gives me hope. Without hope change is not possible. Laura believes we all have something redeemable in us, no matter how small. Do you believe that too?

Excerpt with X-10. Can he overcome his genes and environment?

As he lunged for Laura she sensed his conflicting feelings. She saw the scientist who experimented on him and caged him his whole life, taunting him with her existence and fueling his hatred.
She saw all this in the two seconds it took for him to reach her. His sorrowful life punctured her like a knife digging into an old wound. His wounds made her wounds. It was a small window of opportunity to grasp, but all she had. Could she convince him to turn away from evil?
X-10 grabbed her by both arms and pulled her up. His freakish face loomed inches from hers. Her feet dangled above the earthen floor. Scenes from his life blasted across her mind. 
A tormented life. A tormented soul. Images of blood and killing and rage. And such loneliness. He had suffered such loneliness. He was an animal as he had been treated like an animal all his life. She pitied him and feared him.
"Charlie," she whispered. Pain coursed through her. He gripped her harder. She stared into his yellow eyes that shone bright, burning with hate.
"What did you say?" He shook her and she moaned in pain.
"Charlie. I called you Charlie, isn't that what you want?”

About A Human Element:
Evil comes in many forms…
One by one, Laura Armstrong’s friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and despite her unique healing powers, she can do nothing to stop it. The savage killer haunts her dreams, tormenting her with the promise that she is next.
Determined to find the killer, she follows her visions to the site of a crashed meteorite in her hometown. There, she meets Ben Fieldstone, who seeks answers about his parents’ death the night the meteorite struck. In a race to stop a madman, they unravel a frightening secret that binds them together. But the killer’s desire to destroy Laura face-to-face leads to a showdown that puts Laura and Ben’s emotional relationship and Laura’s pure spirit to the test. With the killer closing in, Laura discovers her destiny is linked to his, and she has two choices—redeem him or kill him.

**Get your evil on with this re-release by Imajin Books! Newly edited, new scenes & cover!** Purchase A Human Element here

Praise for A Human Element: 
“Be afraid. Be very afraid. And be utterly absorbed by this riveting debut that had me reading till the wee hours of the night. A thriller star is born.”  –bestselling author M.J. Rose
“An elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart.” –Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author

About Donna: 
Donna Galanti writes murder and mystery with a dash of steam as well as middle grade adventures. She's an International Thriller Writers Debut Author of the paranormal suspense novel A Human Element, A Hidden Element (August 2014), the short story collection The Dark Inside, and Joshua and The Lightning Road (2015). She’s lived everywhere from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer.
Website, blog, twitter, Facebook

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