Interview with T.C. McKee – The Bone Treaty

 

Welcome kiddos!

Today I would like to introduce you to the very charming, very funny, wickedly talented T.C. McKee, author of The Bone Treaty recently released from BookFish Books.

Wanna see the cover? Of course you do!

 

Amazing isn’t it?

You know you’re all:

 

So T.C. agreed to come over and answer silly questions for me. So take some time to get to know her and her book and then add the Bone Treaty to your to-read pile! You won’t be disappointed!

 

1. Where do you get your ideas from? The tears of small children, right?

 

Definitely from the tears of small children. I like to add them to pomegranate martinis. Maybe it’s mixing the salt with the alcohol that just brings out my creative nature. No, seriously. I have no idea where my ideas truly come from…possibly an overactive imagination, watching people, listening to conversations, looking at the sky, daydreaming. Somehow, when I least expect it, a world, a story, a character just pops inside my head, demanding to be written. So yeah, I just do what the voices tell me to do. 

 

2. Why did you write The Bone Treaty?

 

I would call it a personal challenge. I dabbled in writing when I was a teenager. My father used to steal my notebooks (no computers back in the day). He’d read them to try and figure me out, so needless to say he thought I was a little crazy for years. Never, ever try to figure your kid out through science fiction. Like ever! Anyway, life happened, kids happened, a real job happened, and it seemed I never had the time to write until a few years ago. One night, while the house was quiet I opened my laptop and just started writing. The Bone Treaty took on several forms before it truly resembled a story, but I just kept at it and here I am.  

 

3. Clearly this is the first in a series – so did you plot everything in advance for the whole thing or are you making this all up as you go along and hoping for the best?

 

A little of both. I’m not a big outliner. I wish I were, but I never seem to stay on track. I like to go where the story takes me, and writing inside the lines just never works out for me. I admire authors who can lay out an entire manuscript in two pages, write it in about two months, and then go into revisions. It doesn’t work that way for me. I like things to marinate a little.

 

4. First book you fell in love with as a kid?

 

Apart from the norm as a small child, my first YA book was Say Goodnight Gracie, by Julie Reece Deaver. It was the first time I felt emotionally attached to a book.

 

5. If there was one thing people should know about your book before reading it what would that be?

 

The plot has so many layers that it was impossible to lay it all out in one book.

 

6. In this cynical day and age what do you think fantasy books do for readers? What do they do for you?

 

I think they fuel imagination and we’re missing a lot of that in our youth especially. I think we also need places to go, worlds to get lost in, and characters to relate to. For me, I want to see an alternate universe, experience something amazing at the end of the day. We all need a break from reality from time to time. 

 

7. Addie’s ability to read emotions using “color-vision” sounds amazing. If you had that talent, how would you use it?

 

I would definitely know who to avoid in public. Just think what the world would be like if we could all just avoid negative people, or meanies on the sidewalk. We could easily look at people and say, “Don’t talk to me. You’re a bad person and I know you’re a bad person because you are all red, so take your evil intentions and move over there, Mister Stranger Danger!” It would be an awesome world.

 

8. Who would win in an arm-wrestling contest: C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkein?

 

Damn, that’s a tough one. I’m gonna say C.S. Lewis.

 

Follow up question – what’s with all the initials? C.S? J.R.R.? J.K? and now you T.C.?

 

Two reasons. First, when I started writing again I was scared of people knowing who I really was. I mean, what if all those people from high school buy my book and hate it. I have to see them in the grocery store. But then later I realized I didn’t really care about that. I was writing for the love of writing. I want people to love my book, and all the books I’m working on to come, but if they don’t I still love writing, so it’s okay now. Second, I’ve always kind of secretly hated my first name. No offense to any Tammy’s that might be reading the blog. I just never felt like it fit me very well. I cringe when I hear it. My husband calls me Boo, Babe, or Tam. I can live with those. I wonder if I should have put Boo Mckee on the front of my book. Ha!

 

Nice, right! I told you she was funny.

You can stalk  er….get to know TC on her website or on twitter! And remember The Bone Treaty is out now!