📚 A Bookish Chat with Lyla Oweds Author of MU #Interview

Lyla Oweds is an Amazon bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author who resides in the beautiful Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. She grew up near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and has a deep appreciation for the paranormal, hauntings, and Edgar Allan Poe. As such, she loves all things fantasy, mystery, crime, and horror.

When not reading, writing, or working as a web programmer, Lyla can be found doing adult-y things such as being a mom to small children, cleaning, and gardening. She also frequently enjoys makeup videos, massages, wine, and coffee.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://lylaoweds.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lylaoweds

Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

I came up with the idea for The Grimm Cases back in high school, when I started to grow interested in history and Chinese Element Theory. I’d been plotting out the characters for years—having one main character for each of the five elements—but the details remained murky until I seriously began to outline the series in late 2016.

Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I had a few smaller publishers I was looking at, but eventually decided to self-publish because I wasn’t willing to compromise on the plot, my characters, or my branding.

Do you believe a book cover plays an important role in the selling process?

I believe branding is extremely important. I’ve spent a lot of time making sure that my covers not only fit within my theme, but also carried on a story throughout the series.

How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

The Grimm Cases is extremely difficult to write because it’s a psychological story with heavy character development. Every trait that Bianca, my main character, has, has been meticulously plotted out and explored based on two things: one, a Wood person’s response to extreme childhood trauma, and two the type of character that she will eventually become. I’ve gotten copious amounts of negative feedback because, as a character, Bianca is meant to be an unreliable narrator as she perceives the world through trauma-based lenses. Readers only discover this as they continue throughout the series.

What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I’m working on a mermaid series, Ciel et Mer, which will be first released with Amazon Vella.

What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

That there is absolutely nothing random or filler in The Grimm Cases series. Something that is randomly said or theorized in book one, happens in book three. One of Bianca’s offhand comments in book two, comes true in book four. It’s a series that, if you go back and re-read it over and over, something new will stand out.

Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

That there is recovery after trauma, especially childhood physical and sexual abuse. I want to show that someone who comes from a scarred, timid mind space can grow to be a strong, independent woman while still not losing faith in humanity, the gentleness that makes up her core personality, and is able to, truly, move on.

Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Thanks so much for having me! The Grimm Cases is a story that is near and dear to my heart (as it was written to help aid in my own recovery), and I hope that it can help inspire everyone who reads it to be true to themselves.

The things I see aren’t for the faint of heart.

And I am no longer willing to ignore them. Not even when my family, and my best friend, tell me to keep quiet about what’s happening. They say people will think I’m crazy.

Maybe I am.

But the spirit haunting my professor’s house is definitely trying to tell me something, and I’m the only one who can see it.

The one person who can help me is my best friend’s brother. But I don’t know if I can trust him or his friends. Or if I can step outside the protective bubble I’ve built around myself.

At this point it’s a toss up: the ghosts will kill me or my panic attacks will.

Either way, I figure I’m going to die.