Pump Up Your Book Chats with Sarah Renée, Author of The Saderia Series

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Sarah Renée has loved writing from an early age. She has been writing short stories since the age of 4, and at the age of 10, she came up with the idea for The Tiger Princess. She wrote the novel when she was 12. She is fascinated with wild animals and the wild world outside her home, and has an obvious great love of tigers. She enjoys spending time with her cats, reading, drawing, and playing her violin when she is not writing. In her free time, she is constantly daydreaming about her many characters, creating new ones, and coming up with interesting adventure story ideas. She is now 17 years old.

Visit Sarah Renée’s website at www.thetigerprincess.com or her blog at http://www.thetigerprincess.com/blogsnews.html to learn more about Sarah Renée, her books, and more! You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

———— INTERVIEW ———–

Thank you for this interview, Sarah! Can you tell us why you wrote The Tiger Princess?

Thank you for interviewing me. I actually wrote The Tiger Princess at the age of 12 simply because I loved writing and telling stories. The Tiger Princess tells the story of a 10-year-old tiger Princess named Saderia, whose royal parents disappeared in a mysterious fire ten years ago. Throughout the story, Saderia searches for clues to find out the truth about how they vanished and uncovers a lot of ancient secrets, mysteries, and magic. I wrote the book because at the time, I was obsessed with tigers and animals and was fascinated with royalty like kings, queens, and princesses. I also just wanted to write a story that I and other kids around my age (which at the time would be kids around ages 8-12) would like to read.

Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

In The Tiger Princess, Saderia has mysterious ‘Dreams’ that give her strange hints about what will happen in the future. These Dreams are a secret power that runs in her family that she doesn’t fully understand until the end. The Dreams she has are often nonsensical and seemingly random, but they always have a message about the future hidden within them. These Dreams were the hardest parts in the book to write because it was difficult to balance the randomness with the message. Her Dreams were a combination of scenes from the future and symbols meant to spell out a message for her, and it was difficult trying to piece these all together into a mysterious nightmare that would only make sense later on.

Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

When I wrote the book and the other books in the series, I didn’t write it specifically to outline a message. I wrote it mainly as a story that would entertain me and other children. However, there are many messages woven into the story that readers can take away from it. In fact, a young fan actually contacted me once to tell me that my books helped her learn to forgive and say sorry after a fight. I was totally ecstatic that my books could help someone! But in addition to that message, The Tiger Princess and the other books in the Saderia Series also include a few other messages such as these:

1. To always be yourself,

2. To never stop believing in yourself,

3. To follow your dreams (sometimes quite literally in Saderia’s case!),

4. The closeness and power of family and friendships,

5. To never give up even in the face of danger.

Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

When writing, listen to music that fits the mood of the scene you’re trying to write. For example, if you’re writing a sad scene, listen to sad music. If you’re writing an action scene, listen to fast, exciting music. If you’re writing a happy scene, listen to peppy music that pumps you up. That tip has helped me immeasurably when writing my books!

Would you like to tell us about your home life?

Well, it’s not nearly as exciting as my characters’ adventures in the books! But I live with my mom and my three cats in a house fifteen feet in the air in South Carolina. I just recently turned 17 and graduated high school in June, and now I’m just working on finishing up the next books in the series. Saderia’s adventures have taught me to appreciate the peace and quiet. 🙂

What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

I told all my friends and family as soon as possible. I also got on Facebook. But if you want to know something that actually worked as far as promoting my book, I recently set The Tiger Princess for free on Amazon for the Kindle, which has done a lot of promotion just on its own.

What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

Writer’s block. Some people say it’s a real phenomenon, some say it’s just laziness. I say it’s both. I always try to force myself to write something every day, but when the words just won’t come to me as well as they should, it’s frustrating.

What is the most rewarding part of being an author?

Definitely my fans. There’s few if any things I love more than getting emails from fans of my series or talking with them on my blog. They inspire me to keep writing and keep releasing my books as soon as I can. There’s nothing greater than knowing you’ve got fans who love your books and who are eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. So if some of my fans are reading this, thanks, guys! Having you on my side is easily the most rewarding part of being an author and you inspire me every day!

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How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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