Interview with Allison Pang, author of A Brush of Darkness

I was lucky enough to snag Allison Pang, author of A Brush of Darkness for this amazing interview.  A Brush of Darkness is an amazing brand new urban fantasy out now.  It's her first book and she did AWESOME with it!  Be sure to check out my review HERE.  

What inspires you?  Is it a certain place, certain music, maybe somebody special?

All sorts of things really. Sometimes music, or movies or other books even.  It all depends on whatever mood I’m in, I think.

When you write do you fly by the seat of your pants?  Or do you have the story all planned out ahead of time?

I’m definitely a panster. I usually know where I want the story to go as far as how it ends, but I don’t always know how I’ll get there.

What was your biggest challenge in writing A Brush of Darkness?

Trusting my inner writing voice, I think. Particularly in the beginning I was asking everyone what they thought and trying to incorporate their opinions into that first chapter and it just made me miserable. Obviously you can’t really please everyone, but it took me a while to figure that out.

I think that UF's are kind of always a competition (not really a competition, but something like that) for having the craziest, weirdest things out there and making it feel like it could be real.  And UF authors have to be very imaginative.  How did you come up with some of the things you put in the story?  Have you always had a wild imagination?

I’ve always been a fantasy reader, so I suppose I’ve always been open to the idea of writing weird things. LOL.  As far as coming up with things, I mostly drew on a lot of the faery lore I already knew and just made up the rest of it (or tweaked it as I needed).

Who was your favorite character to write?  And your most challenging?
I have to say that I LOVED Phin, the pervy unicorn, but all the characters were great!

Heh – Phin definitely seems to be the one who gets the most attention! In some ways he’s the easiest to write, simply because he can get away with saying and doing things the hero/heroine can’t. He’s allowed to be obnoxious and gross and he can say what he wants. It’s rather freeing for me to be able to let a character do that without worrying if people will find it offputting. He’s supposed to be.  Abby is fairly easy for me to write as well, since in many ways she is very much like me – I just have to watch out that she’s not too dependent on others, I think.

Brystion is still the hardest character for me to write. Half the time I don’t know his motivation until I get to that point and I’m writing it down. Some of it I still don’t know.

The idea of the touchstones was great but I found it to be most hard to understand.  Can you explain them to us?

Sure – basically I have the world of the OtherFolk that sometimes intersects with ours – and that would encompass the Fae, the daemons, the angels and a whole bunch of creatures in between.  However, they can only cross over into our world at certain times of day and once they’re here there are limits to their movements and what they can do…unless they have a TouchStone. TouchStones are mortals who enter a (normally) written Contract with an OtherFolk being. Having a TouchStone allows the being to move back and forth between worlds without the normal limitations and they can stay longer in the human world. Usually the Contract stipulates some sort of reward to the mortal for doing so, but that will vary from Contract to Contract.

In A Brush of Darkness, Abby fulfills this need for Moira, the Faery Protectorate. As Moira’s TouchStone, she allows Moira to do her business between worlds as she needs to and in return she’ll get a wish after seven years of service. She also will not age as long as she stays inside the boundaries of Portsmyth.

Do you have a favorite author or book your always recommending to people? 

Probably too many to name, but I love Jacqueline Carey.

I LOVE Jacqueline Carey!  She's my all time favorite author.  ALL TIME!

If you could be any paranormal creature what would you pick?

A unicorn.

Anything else you'd like to add? 

All your bacon are belong to us.

Thanks so much Allison!  I think I have a better feel for your personality now ;)  Can't wait for more!  Write fast!  
You can find Allison on her Website.

The Giveaway *ENDED*:

Allison is offering up a copy of A Brush of Darkness to one random commenter.  Just leave a comment telling us one of your all time favorite creatures, people or things you've found in a book.  I'm talking about the unusual here! 

This Giveaway is Open to US mailing addresses and ends March 12th.  You must be 18 or older to enter, this is an adult book.