Author Interview w/ Chantelle Causer

Thank you so much for stopping by today at Uniquely Moi Books. I have had the priviledge to interview author Chantelle Causer, author of Power Within.

Growing up, I couldn’t wait to leave the town I grew up in. Spending the term time in an all girl’s school in Lincolnshire, England, I couldn’t wait till the endless sunshine summers at my grandmothers hotel in North Wales. Making up stories and acting them out in the extensive gardens or climbing the trees in the woods and the mountain behind the hotel, made up my days. Spending day after day exploring the county of Conwy, I quickly fell in love with the Mountains and the Sea. Where the mountains are behind me, the sea is in front and the limitless sky so perfectly placed between the two.

 Leaving school with 12 GCSE’s and getting a triple distinction in college, I left England and moved to my Grandmothers. Taking a year out of education to look after a family member in Spain, I came back to start Bangor University. Only my heart wasn’t in it. Averaging in most of my essay’s, my mind was on my writing. I finished Power Within in my second year and I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life.

Q.  What drives you towards your ambitions?

Growing up, it was mostly just my sister, my mum and I. Though I had grandparents who were there for us, it was just the three of us. And it was hard. My mum worked all the time and not once complained. She had a very rigid mind set. I learnt from her that if you work hard, you’ll get to where you want to be. Nothing comes easy in life, and life’s too short to not realize your dreams.

Q. When did you first have the idea for ‘Power Within’?

It was actually meant to be a children’s series. Right in the very beginning when the idea was just a little bubble in my mind, I wanted to show the growing up process of kids with powers. But that thought didn’t last long. So that quickly got replaced with a young adult as she begins to learn about the power she fears. With this change I was able to add much more mature scenes.

Q. How did you first start writing?

I’ve been writing on and off without purpose for years. Never really having the motivation to finish the stories. It was after the death of a close family friend that I just sat down and started flat out writing for two weeks. It was my way of dealing. When I finished the last chapter, ‘Power Within’ came about and it was easy. A month after that, I had finished my second book.

Q.  Do you think you’ll always stick to writing YA?

No. Before I finished writing ‘Power Within’ I wrote a small chapter for the Mills and Boon New Voices competition. Though I didn’t place, the unfinished story has stuck with me. One day, I will finish it but it won’t be YA. That story has more historical background, but it focuses on the Delaceur women who brings vigilante justice to bad men in the 1820’s. I guess you can see why the idea stuck with me!

Q. Hobbies or special interests?

Traveling the world runs in my blood. My great-grandfather was a naval officer. He travelled the world during his time in the force. My grandmother has been to nearly every continent (and she is still traveling more). My mother’s albums are full of European snap shots she had when she was younger and I’ve been slowly building up the stamps in my passport. I don’t travel as much as I want to, but one day I’ll get there.

Q. Are you the only writer in the family?

I know other members of my family dabble in writing, but I’m probably the only one who’s stubborn enough to want a career out of it. The day I self-published my first book, my sister sold her first painting and this year my cousin got signed up with a modeling agency. There are no shortage of dreams in my family.

Q. How important do you think it is to read and tell stories to our children?

I think it’s probably the most important gift you can give a child. Too many times as a kid I was told off in school for daydreaming. Imagination shouldn’t have limits and stories are a great way of making up new worlds. I look at my younger cousins now and I feel bad for them. They stay indoors with iPads and computer games, when all me and my sister needed was a nice sunny day, a big garden and a whole lot of imagination.

Charlotte 'Charlie' Gordon wants nothing more, than to be a normal girl. But having a near death accident as a child, she finds out that she has powers. After accidentally electrocuting her sister and blowing up her mother's kitchen, she suppresses her powers for ten years. Unknowing that there are more people like her out there. A lot more.

That is until a secret group of them try and hunt her down because of her unusual abilities. Forcing her family into hiding, she goes on the run. Having to learn about her powers and her past, she meets many new friends along the way. But you can't run forever. She learns that someone has betrayed her to the very people she is running from.