Spotted: Dawn Metcalf + Luminous Giveaway!

Hi everyone! This week’s spotted author is Dawn Metcalf, the author of the unique and wonderful Luminous! I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about Luminous. I hope you enjoy this week’s interview! Oh and don’t forget to stick around for a giveaway!

How is Consuela different from the usual YA heroine?

LOL! Well, she's a Mexican American female who can remove her skin and walks around as a pearly skeleton for most of the book when she isn't wearing fire, air, water, or a flock of butterflies. Yeah, I'd say she's a little different from the usual YA heroine! For more subtle differences, she's a happy, faithful Catholic from a loving, two-parent family in northern Illinois and wears size 16 jeans. Oddly enough, you don't see THAT in your everyday fiction, either!

What legend/myths/stories inspired you in writing Luminous?

Well, there's obviously a lot of the Day of the Dead symbolism for Consuela Chavez, but I also borrowed from the Bible, specifically the binding of Isaac and the Exodus from Egypt, old Greek blessings/curses, totems and one type of Native North American ritual, old English folk tales and more modern superstitions about mirrors and teeth, ancient Ursu myths, and popular symbolism from Japanese anime. I like my stories to have at least a toehold in the stories that shape our reality.

How did you mold the world of Flow, in terms of its culture, its environment and its people?

The Flow is a "place between" that borrows bits and runs alongside our own. Since the Flow is "surreal" it has its own unique character, but the world of the Flow is largely dependent on the people who inhabit it. Since everyone brings along a bit of their world, their culture and experience, the Flow grows and changes with each added new person. It reminded me a lot of college where lots of different people come together from different parts of the world and create a class that is wholly unique. They all have a common goal, but have different approaches to getting there.

In this story, there are people from California, Illinois, Washington, New York, the rez, a Yeshiva, a trailer park, a lake cottage, and come from all sorts of ethnic, social, and religious backgrounds. Mash those all together with a fluid travel package and a sense of impending doom and you're getting an idea of what it's like in the Flow.
   

“Of all the archetypal teens with extraordinary abilities” who is your favorite? Why?

Oh, wow. Well, I guess one of the ones with the strangest powers is Sissy who can remove pieces of her body which still work independently of the whole. It's creepy and cool and has all sorts of nifty applications. She is fun and funny as well as serious and bossy. Sissy is the best best-friend. In a world where very little makes sense, it's nice to have someone like Sissy looking out for everyone.

Of course, I have a soft spot for Wish and Abacus but that is because my best friends were geeky, artistic guys. Go fig.

In writing Luminous, which part did you like best: beginning, middle or end? Why?

For me, I like writing endings best. They mirror the beginning and tie up all the loose ends (except those you want to keep open for future stories!) and they *complete* the narrative. There is a real satisfying feeling I get when I can type the words "The End" that doesn't compare to drawing open the curtains or traveling through the tale. In fact, I usually have to rewrite or cut the first 1-3 chapters of a first draft anyway and most of the hack-and-slashing of editing is in the middle so the end if often the most solid and gratifying. 

Thank you for sharing, Dawn! :)

*Photo credit to Robert Charles Photography

*CLOSED* Giveaway: A copy of Luminous *CLOSED*

As reality slips and time stands still, Consuela finds herself thrust into the world of the Flow. Removed from all she loves into this shifting world overlapping our own, Consuela quickly discovers she has the power to step out of her earthly skin and cloak herself in new ones-skins made from the world around her, crafted from water, fire, air. She is joined by other teens...moreAs reality slips and time stands still, Consuela finds herself thrust into the world of the Flow. Removed from all she loves into this shifting world overlapping our own, Consuela quickly discovers she has the power to step out of her earthly skin and cloak herself in new ones-skins made from the world around her, crafted from water, fire, air. She is joined by other teens with extraordinary abilities, bound together to safeguard a world they can affect, but where they no longer belong.

When murder threatens to undo the Flow, the Watcher charges Consuela and elusive, attractive V to stop the killer. But the psychopath who threatens her new world may also hold the only key to Consuela's way home.

Dawn’s publicist, Anna Jarzab at Dutton was generous to offer a copy of Luminous to one lucky reader here at Fragments of Life!

Rules:

Be a follower.

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Open to US residents. (But if you’re an international reader and you have a US address that Dutton can send to, you can join!)

Ends on June 30, 2011!

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