Indie-Licious Interview: Insight into Author Rebecca Rynecki's Fantasy World Isleen

Putting her ancient history degree to use, yeah right, Rebecca works as a librarian where she primarily gives patrons the evil eye. She's the author of the New Adult Fantasy/Romance series, Alaina Downs, which at present includes The Secret World of Alaina Downs and The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain.

When Rebecca's not writing or blogging, you can find her running, baking, and generally doing rural things like chasing the wild turkeys out of her yard with her son and husband.

Hello Rebecca. Please shed your Indie-LIcious contributor's hat and have a seat in our red, vinyl, settee and enjoy being on the spotlight side of Indie-Licious.

~ Comfy? Good. Let's get started with what inspired The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain, or more specific; The Secret World of Alaina Downs Series?

"The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain is a continuation of The Secret World of Alaina Downs, which was inspired by neighborhood games and stories like Alice in Wonderland and Narnia, basically anything that involved escaping into another world. The Knight's Ill-Thought Bargain takes more inspiration from folklore, and the hero's quest, although it may not be physical, but rather emotionally and mentally. And as always, The Princess Bride for its use of serious humor."

~ A great selection of inspiration.

~ Can you describe your heroine? We'd love to hear about her.

"Alaina is your typical fresh-out-of-college 22-year-old, not sure of where she was going or what she was doing with her life in Alaina Downs. Fast forward two years . . . some of that is still true, but she has some big changes in her life that force her to, well, grow up a little bit and realize that it's just not her anymore. She learns to take stock of what's important in life, and that even though you have to say goodbye to some things; they'll never really leave you."

~ I know from experience that picking a beloved character's name is harder than naming a child. How did you come up with Alaina Downs and some other names of importance?

"Alaina is the name of a girl I went to school with in 7th grade. I loved her name. I never knew anybody with that name before and it just stuck. Gabriel, well, I'll be honest, I got his name from an actor. Ever see The Newsies? Spot Conlon? Yeah, the actor's name is Gabriel Damon, and um, it took a life of its own. Other names in this book came from fairy tales / folklore, with some exceptions, such as Tavern, one of the "evil" witches. My sister's best friend came up with that name when she was 8 years old, and I thought it was an awesome name."

~  Who would play your main characters in THE movie version of your story?

"Well, Gabriel is no contest - Andrew Lee Potts would play him. There is nobody else for me in that regard. Alaina? She's harder. I keep looking at actresses in their 20s with dark hair and nothing really fits. I would prefer an unknown. Usha though . . . that's Megan Fox all the way, and I think she has the ability to play comedy seriously."

~  What was the most exciting part of the writing journey for you?

"With this book, it was about really pushing these characters. Putting them in situations where everything looks dark and forcing them to examine who they are. I was so happy when I heard back from my beta readers and editors that certain scenes made them cry, and one of them even texted me while reading the manuscript, "Oh my God! Make it stop." I was so happy to hear that it made people laugh and just have a bit of an escape for a while. That's what I'm all about."

~ Thank you so much for sharing with us at Indie-Licious, Rebecca.

It's back to Isleen. And Alaine has to save the world . . . sigh . . . again.

Connect with Rebecca:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeccaRBooks

Rebecca's Blog: http://rebeccaryneckithequestsandperils.blogspot.ca/p/my-books.html

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449801.Rebecca_Rynecki