Interview With Em Garner + Giveaway

Ladies and gentlemen! The time has come to select one courageous young man and woman for the honor of representing District 12 in the 74th annual Hunger Games!

I'm only joking.

Get ready for an awesome interview with Em Garner! :D

Check out the awesome purple hair!

Em Garner writes books.
She began writing at a very young age, always preferring the stories about what goes bump in the night. An avid reader of horror, science-fiction and fantasy, she first turned her hand to short stories about the sorts of things that hide under the bed…and she kept right on going.
Now Em spends most of her time in front of her computer, writing away at all the ideas she has swirling around in her head and hoping she can get them into a story before she forgets them.
She loves zombies, unicorns, and rainbows, the color purple and the smell of roses. She hates the smell of lilies, the feeling of corduroy and biting sandpaper. (Well. Who doesn’t?)
She lives at the beach with her family, where she spends a lot of time reading and sticking her feet in the sand. She is afraid of sharks, but that doesn’t stop her from going in the water.




1. Who or what inspired you to write?

I've always told stories, and I've been writing since elementary school. When I was in sixth grade, I figured out that people write books for a living! As a job! And I decided then that's what I wanted to be when I grew up.

2. What are your top three favorite novels?

Imajica, Clive Barker. Boy's Life, Robert McCammon. Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey.

3. What is your favorite thing about writing?

Being able to tell stories and make stuff up. I love it!

4. Me, too! What inspired you to write Contaminated?

I was driving home from the beach and a line came to me "They keep them in cages. The unclaimed." I'd been tossing around an idea about contaminated protein water that made zombies, and I LOVE zombies, so it all fell into place. I wrote a few pages long hand and finished the rest of the book in a couple weeks.

5. A couple weeks! That's impressive! What is the hardest thing you've had to do in your writing?

Balance my time. I often work and work without taking a break, because it's so hard to finish anything.

6. What is the best piece of advice you could give to teen writers who want to get published?

Write. And write. And write some more. Read what you like. Write what you want to read. Learn how to spell and use proper grammar, but also discover your voice -- that's what will set your writing apart from everyone else's. DREAM BIG.

7. Finally, what is your favorite thing to munch on (or sip) while writing?

Can't live without my Coke Zero!

If you'd like to win a signed copy of Contaminated, check out the Rafflecopter giveaway below! :D Thanks for doing this, Em!
Sorry, USA only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway