Meet the Author: Interview with M.L. Woolley and Giveaway!

 M.L. Woolley is the author of Dark Passage, her first novel. She has kindly taken some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us. Her kindness doesn't end there. She has offered 4 free paperback versions of Dark Passage. PLUS! The first 200 people to enter also get a free kindle version of the book! More details after the interview.


1. How long have you been writing?
I started to write when I was a kid about random things. I especially enjoyed stories about the dark side and have always been a paranormal fan.

2. What inspired you to write Dark Passage?
A half mile from where I live is an old Victorian house. It sits on a hill and has a full view of the Puget Sound. It's quiet a lovely old house that was built in the 1800's and has always intrigued me. When I was a kid we lived a few houses away in another house that was built in the same era. The house we lived in was very haunted. We would hear people walking upstairs when everyone was gone and crazy things would happen. I was walking down to the water about a year ago and took digital pictures of the old house to put on my laptop. When I made it back home I blew the photos up to crop and there were faces in the attic windows. They were actual apparitions- That started story ideas brewing in my mind and every time I drove by the place I imagined the things that had happened there. Olalla is infamous for Dr. Linda Hazzard, the doctor that murdered dozens of people in her "Sanitarium"- it is a short walk from the old Victorian and old timers said the people who owned the old Victorian were friends with Linda. She did horrific things to patients and practiced spiritualism and devil worship as well.

3. Which of your characters do you relate to most and why?
I guess I would have to say Ivy reminds me of myself as a young person. She is quirky and always seems to be embroiled in some major problem. Deep down she has a good heart but can't seem to get it together. She is also loyal to a fault to her friends which I find to be an endearing quality in a person. She is strong minded and never gives up on what she wants to do and yet she is vulnerable- She is a free spirit and not one to be kept in a box.

4. What is a secret about you that nobody else knows?
When I was 19 years old I met a man in Seattle and went with him to Hollywood. He was a producer and also married (which he told me when we reached his home). It was a surreal experience being in that giant house and for a few days I wondered if I would get out alive. His wife walked around in a daze on Cocaine and the place was very creepy. He taught me to play chess and we would play for hours at a time. He was an eccentric man and reminded me of a person who could snap at any moment. I was fortunate to leave the place and make it home. On New Year's eve there was a party at a Hollywood actor's home and I was able to slip out and call a cab. I really believe something would have happened to me had I not left the place. Hollywood was a strange place and not at all what it seemed. I think some great stories could come from that experience.

5. If your real life as a teenager was a Young Adult book, what would you, the main character, be like?
Probably a mix of my nemesis Ivy and perhaps Rose from VA ;) I didn't care what people thought and had my own way of doing things.  

6. What book have you read too many times to count?
Rebecca

7. What is the best piece of writing advice you ever received?
Get inside the characters heads and write as though you are them.

8. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?
Well- that I have a twisted imagination. I think it surprised me what came to my mind. Wild things that came from who knows where. I tempered it down some as the content shocked even me.

9. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I love to spend time in the sun at secluded beaches. Port Townsend is my favorite place to go- The old military fort is abandoned now and said to be haunted. I like to imagine who was there and what they did. I also love riding horses- On the back of a horse you can almost take flight.

10. Are any of the things in Dark Passage based on real life experiences or purely all imagination? Actually, many of the things in the book are bits and pieces of my life or the lives of people I have known. I believe that the paranormal is real and people experience supernatural happenings every day- if you have an open mind.

To learn more about M.L. Woolley, check out her blog and visit her on Goodreads.



The Giveaway!
Like I mentioned before, M.L. Woolley has offered up 4 paperback versions of Dark Passage up for grabs. PLUS, the first 200 to enter will receive a kindle version of the book too!

How to Enter:

Unlike our usual giveaways, you don't have to follow our blog to enter for this one. Although we greatly appreciate it if you do. :o) The Rafflecopter form will guide you through the entry process.  

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