Author Spotlight: Daniel Koch's DESCENDANT

Hi, everybody!

Today as part of my ongoing Author Spotlight series, I'd like to feature author Daniel Koch and his book Descendant: The Protector.

You may remember Daniel already from my Big Awesome YA Giveaway back in December, where he generously donated a print copy to one of the prize packages (and I am hoping to have another one of those pretty soon!).

So without further ado...

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Kate: Welcome, Daniel! Tell me a little more about Descendant: The Protector. What's the setting? Who's the main character?

Daniel: The world is in the midst of an apocalyptic event. It's been in the making for thousands of years, but everything is falling into place and it seems that sometime very soon all humans will be wiped out. Jason Hook is just a normal person trying to survive in this world, until the very creatures that threaten to destroy it come directly for him. As the story progresses, he begins to realize he may not be as normal as he once imagined.


Kate: Apocalyptic event? Monstrous creatures? I love it! How would you describe Jason, your main character?

Daniel: Strong-willed, but foolish and stubborn.


Kate: Foolish and stubborn? That sounds a little ominous, at least for for him... Now tell me more about these creatures taking over the world. I was so intrigued that I read a few of the reviews on Amazon looking for more information about them. Are they vampires? They sounded like vampires.

Daniel: The monsters are vampiric in nature, but some are more powerful than others...

Kate: Oooh, sounds interesting. 

What inspired you to write Descendant--was it a particular scene, or character, or theme?

Daniel: One day I sat down at my computer and wrote a name: Jason Hook. I had been interested in the vampire and apocalypse genres for a while before, and so I decided to center my character in a world very similar to ours, but broken and plagued by monsters.

Kate: Who in the book (besides your protagonist) is your favorite character?

Daniel: Actually, my protagonist isn't my favorite character. He's a close second, but my favorite character is actually Falko, the villain. Of course, this only really occured while I was writing the second book, where Falko's character becomes much more fleshed out. But ever since then his tragic story has made him my favorite.

Kate: I can understand that. I always end up totally adoring my villains if they are in ANY way sympathetic. I'm such a sucker for a anti-hero.


Do you have any particular writing tricks or habits you'd like to share?

Daniel: I write at night, or really the early morning. I tend to sleep late (very late, actually) and can sometimes stay up writing until the sun rises. For some reason I have trouble writing during the day, even if no one else is home and everything is quiet. There's just something about being up in the dead of night that gets my creative juices flowing and my best work comes out.

Kate: I'm the same way. My most optimal writing time is between midnight and 2 AM, which means I am up late a LOT.

Now when it comes to writing, are you a plotter (planning out the story beforehand) or a pantser (making it up as you go along)?

Daniel: For my first book, I was a pantser. Everything I did was spur of the moment. Once I finished it, though, I realized it would be very difficult to write an entire series like that. Too many things were going on and I couldn't keep it all together in my head, so for the next three books I plotted every little detail. Plotting has now become the norm for me. Although I'm still working on The Descendant Series, I have a few other books that already have character lists and major plot details written down.

Kate: I was the same way. I wrote my first several books completely spur-the-moment, but I find it completely impossible to sustain a series with that style of writing (I also find it faster to plot first). Now I have a notebook full of charts and scribbles.

Are you writing anything else at the moment?

Daniel: I have a few things in the works. I'm nearly complete with book 3 of The Descendant Series, with only one more to go once that is finished. After that, I have a stand alone fantasy story idea that I've been wanting to write for awhile now.

Kate: Sounds great. Good luck with your new projects! Thanks so much for stopping by, Daniel!

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You can find out more about Daniel Koch and his vampire-apocalyptic YA series here:

Website: www.TheDescendantSeries.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/DanielWKoch
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Descendant-Series/135779306448383