Hello Everyone! Hope all of you are having a wonderful summer!

This is my current summer theme song. :)

https://youtu.be/Y-cxevaA-38

My name is Dani and I go by EleanorHelena on Wattpad. I'm currently writing two books, but I'm taking a bit of a break at the moment. Which brings me to a bit of exciting news! I haven't really told many people yet and wanted to wait to really announce this till the Summer Block Party, but I am currently expecting! And by the time you are reading this I *might* have a new little one. I'm due right at the end of August, but my other son came about 3 weeks early.

As far as the hiatus, It's been a long one and I don't know if anybody else has experienced this but I have a complete case of *prego brain.* I seem to forget everything lately and my brain has been like mush. The worse part of it all is I have not been able to write a single word for either of my books. I completely miss writing and I miss my characters, but I just cannot make the creativity flow. Hopefully, everyone can forgive and be patient with me during this time. I promise I will finish my books. I can't leave something that important to me unfinished.

Thanks to pregnancy brain, I really wasn't sure what to do for this post. I wanted to do the same short stories that I have done in the past, but I had a hard time figuring out what to write. This time I went ahead and asked some friends and family for some questions and decided to do a Q&A! Enjoy and feel free to ask me any questions. As long as I'm not stuck in the hospital I will gladly respond and answer.

1. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

All of my inspiration actually comes from my dreams. I have had really vivid dreams since I was a small child. I always was creating stories and drawings from my dreams. My dreams have only gotten crazier and more vivid as I've grown. Ethereal Angels was a dream I had many many years ago that just stuck with me. I had it in my head for years and finally decided to write it into a story. The Zombie King was the same but much more recent. I also have a lot of other potential stories. If I feel like this could be something that I'd like to turn into a story I write it down. I always keep a little notebook by the bed just in case. I love dreaming and even nightmares can be interesting to me!

Interesting tidbit about the Zombie King: The opening scenes and a lot of the surroundings are built off my house where I grew up and the city. In the dream, I had it was all from the house I grew up and actually the house I live in now, which is directly across from that.

2. Which character is your favorite from your stories?

I'm a huge fan of Genesis from Zombie King. I have actually put a lot of my attitude into her. I wanted to make her a really strong character and not someone who gets walked over.

I love Adelina too. People always point out that she cries too much, but honestly she is so sweet and innocent in my head. She was sheltered throughout her entire life. I feel like Adelina might be a part of my past. I grew up very sheltered and had no real idea of how the real world worked and that is exactly how Adelina is. But she is growing into herself and becoming stronger as time goes on. I will always be attached to this character because she was the first I ever developed and put into words.

3.Who are some authors that inspire you?

My biggest inspiration is Sarah J Maas. She inspires me to write strong female leads that are equal to the men in the stories. She is also one of my all time favorite authors.

I love Margaret Atwood as well. I know she is quite popular right now due to the television series, but nothing has made me really think about life as much as The Handmaid's Tale. After reading this and watching the show I spent days thinking about how women, not that long ago, were treated as property. We have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go and hopefully we won't go backward. I also have a goal to read some of her other books as soon as possible.

4. Do you plan on writing a sequel to either of your current books?

Right now, no. I have the end of both my books planned and I don't think there really is a possibility of a sequel. I'm not always big on sequels when it comes to reading or writing. I am not a patient person and I don't like to wait. I want my books to be completely tied up with no questions left unanswered.

5. Who is your favorite villain of all time?

I kind of have a secret obsession for villains. I find myself wanting the villain to win. Two big instances of this are in Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and Poison Princess by Kresley Cole.

I really loved the Darkling. He is literally one of the first villains I can remember having a crush on. He was intelligent and entrancing. It was hard not to root for him and a lot of the time I actually found myself rooting for him.

Poison Princess was also another book I became obsessed with the villain. I can't give too much away without spoiling anything but Death was literally my absolute favorite Arcana card! I highly recommend reading it and seeing for yourself! And for those who have read it, did you also fall a bit in love with Death?

6. Who are some of your favorite book heroines?

As I talked about earlier, I'm a huge fan of Sarah J Maas. She also has my two favorite heroines ever, Feyre from A Court of Roses and Thorns and Celeana from a Throne of Glass.

I'll start with Feyre who is a very independent character. Throughout the entire series, she really is strong. She never relies on the male characters in the book. She doesn't take any crap from any of them either. She does go through some tough times, but that makes me love her even more. Who hasn't gone through a tough stage and felt weak, right? I loved watching her grow as a character in the books and really become this amazing heroine.

Celeana is a lot like Feyre. She has a lot of inner turmoil she is dealing with. Right at the beginning of the series we see her in a very tough spot. She is working in the salt mines as punishment for her crimes and it's pretty much a death sentence for most. I always thought this was important to the entire story. From there she turns into an assassin, which I have to say I also loved. This might be the villain lover in me, but I love someone I can look up to who is NOT perfect.

Anybody else read these books and fall in love with these characters?

7. What is the greatest challenge you have faced writing your books?

Writer's block! I never knew it existed, but it is awful. Before I decided to take a break, I would sit at the computer for hours and the words just didn't feel right. I used to combat writer's block by going on a long hike, but I was put on a lot of restrictions early in this pregnancy and now it's pretty impossible to even go on a walk outside.

8. What are some of your biggest pet peeves when it comes to reading/writing?

Weak females. I hope that doesn't sound cruel and I know Adelina was really weak in the beginning of my books, but I just hate when females let the male characters treat them poorly. I have actually stopped reading some books because I couldn't deal with the female. I'm not saying she has to always be strong, but I at least want to see a character grow and learn from mistakes. I don't want to see a female character just accept her terrible fate. I want them to fight and try!

9. Do you create the story as you go or do you have a full vision from the beginning?

I start with a dream, as I talked about above. I usually don't have the ending but always just a spark of a book. I usually do have a good idea how I want things to go but the characters usually take my somewhere else. Ethereal Angels changed a lot from my original vision. I would just start writing and things would end up going a completely different way. But to be honest, I love it that way! It became even a shock for me and it's exciting.

10. What led to your interest in the Paranormal and Horror genre?

I have never been able to read a straight up romance or fiction book without some element of Scifi, horror, or paranormal. I need some element that is not like my everyday life. Even as a kid I always read supernatural style books. I also watched horror a ton as a child. I never found any of it scary and would always rent the scariest/bloodiest movie I could find. I think that is probably where my interest has come from. I've always loved some aspect or some character that doesn't belong in our everyday world.

11. What do you have planned for writing in the future?

I actually have a few book ideas. Right now I have one that is a dystopian future and it actually sparked from a dream I had. It is going to have a very deep/strong romance and what is interesting is that in the dream it was actually based on my fiance and me. I plan on leaving that element to it.

I also have had an idea for some historical fiction. That might be a bit more difficult for me as I never have even thought about writing a historical fiction style book.

The most important thing for me right now is to finish Ethereal Angels and The Zombie King. I could sit here and have dozens of unfinished books if I used every idea, but I really want to see both of those through to the end. I've grown attached to these books and it is so important I give an ending for myself and for my characters.

Thanks for reading! If you have any other questions I will gladly answer! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it!

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