Greetings everyone. Today we are sitting down with Danielle Forrest. She is one of the authors in our Beyond Starlight box set. This box set is our Sci-Fi Alien Fated Mates set and she has a very interesting story within. If you haven't preordered your copy for 99¢ you can here: https://books2read.com/beyondstarlight
Now lets not spend to much time talking when we can get into Danielle's story about herself. Lets check it out below.
*** AUTHOR INTERVIEW ***
Thank you for joining us today here on The Dungeon Crawler’s Blog. We like to let every author start things off by introducing themselves.
Hi! Thanks for having me. My name is Danielle Forrest, and I write SciFi Romance. I am a author by day, scientist by night (I even have a sign on my desk that says “Warning: Mad Scientist at Work”). I am a total geek. I love D&D and Deadpool, Doctor Who and own way too many plushies…. The scientist in me does leak out into my writing as I love playing around with the ecosystems and biology of my alien worlds. I also love to write stories featuring characters that don’t always get their stories told, like members of the LGBTQIA+ community and neurodivergent people.
Every author has a unique story to their journey in the writing industry. Can you tell us why you started writing and how you became an author for the first time?
My journey starts with this notebook my aunt gave me back in elementary school. It was hardbacked and covered in this cloth cover that was red and speckled with flowers. I wrote little Goosebumps-esque stories (I was obsessed with the paranormal at the time) that were rarely more than a paragraph long. I continued writing as a hobby, though I never wrote anything longer than maybe 10k words until one day in my AP Calculus class when my teacher told me I could no longer read in his class (which was hypocritical as I was also the only one conscious during his classes), so I went out that afternoon, bought a spiral bound notebook at Staples, and started writing a futuristic, romantic, post-apocalyptic epic fantasy in class instead. I continued writing over the years, and eventually decided in 2019 that I was going to bite the bullet and actually force myself to publish something, giving myself the goal that the book would be up for sale by year’s end. That book would end up being Mila’s Shift, a military scifi romance involving political intrigue and shape-shifters. Now in 2024, I have 10 books and a “box set” available on retailers, as well as a variety of short stories, a serial, and novellas I offer for free in places like Ream and my mailing list.
Right now, you have a special project inside the pages of one of our box sets. That box set is titled, “Beyond Starlight”. Can you tell us a little bit about your story?
Sure! The story is called Matched to the Alien Workaholic. It’s (obviously) in my Matched to the Alien series, and it features an alien named Zenhan and an ex-military woman from Earth named Jules. Zenhan’s boss and brother gang up on him, forcing him to take a vacation. Little does he know that his brother also signed him up for a matchmaking service, and his match is going to meet him there at his vacation spot. Jules is a woman who just recently retired after her father passed away. Losing her career and only family, she is trying to decide where the next stage of her life will take her and eventually decides to find love using a matchmaking service. And… things don’t go well when they finally meet. And to make matters worse, their “vacation spot” is actually a warriors’ honeymoon retreat, that proudly spouts the slogan, “Prove your prowess to your new bride,” over all of their promotional materials… and they don’t mean in the sack…
Your story in our box set, “Beyond Starlight” must have a unique main character or duo in your story. Can you tell us about her/he or them?
I guess both of them are kind of unique? One element of Zenhan’s story is whether or not his workaholic tendencies are a bad thing or not. What is the cutoff between loving your work and working too much? For Jules, there’s a few things that make her different than most heroines. First, she’s bisexual, which can come with some baggage. Second, she’s a woman in her late thirties. That’s not the least represented age demographic, but it’s not the most common either. Finally, their relationship dynamics are backwards to what you would expect in most alien romances. Especially considering (biology-wise) he’s literally called an alpha. But an important part of the story is how he cedes to her areas of expertise, and as an ex-soldier, you can guess where her areas of expertise would be.
What is the main theme of your story in the box set, “Beyond Starlight?”
I would say accepting people for who they are and recognizing that sometimes they don’t need to change, that no matter who you are, you can find people in your life who appreciate you just the way you are.
Do you have a certain technique to your writing style? What is your writing style like?
I’m very character focused. I use the Save the Cat method for planning my stories (though my stories do try valiantly to derail themselves…). I like to use italics and repeated sentence starts for emphasis or to create tension. I write in third person past tense and feel it is really important to give each character a distinctive inner voice. I want to immerse you in their inner worlds, which sometimes means not giving as much description as I would like. I love a good action scene and while it’s not always possible, I love putting my characters in mortal peril.
If you could give another author advice what would the top three things you would share with them to help them in their journey as an author?
Number 1: Don’t be a perfectionist. Nothing on the market is perfect. Just read some of the most popular books in your genre and you’ll see that. Even the Big 5 don’t get it perfect. Focus on getting your stories to the quality of your competition. Number 2: Don’t focus on outside advice (Ironic, I know). Figure out what works for you. Pay careful attention to what makes you not want to work on your stories and ask yourself why? Experiment. There’s nothing wrong with trying other people’s advice, but remember that that is just trying something. There’s no guarantee it will work or that it should work. And this advice works with every aspect of an author business, not just the writing and editing and such. Number 3: Find what brings you joy. If deadlines stress you out? Don’t do deadlines. If editing for long periods of time causes burnout? Intersperse it with things you do like. People don’t get into writing because it’s easy or makes lots of money. It can make lots of money, but that’s not generally the motivation. There are easier ways of making money. People get into writing because they love it. Don’t lose that.
Share three things about your personal life you don’t mind our readers knowing about?
One: The most books I’ve read in a year (according to Goodreads) is 398. Two: I have a constantly growing collection of Squishmallows… Three: I am currently in 3 TTRPG games and planning to start another. In an Advanced D&D campaign, I’m playing a half-elf druid who’s animal companions include a dog, a giant ape, a horse named Mistletoe, and a pair mountain lions named Ash and Willow. In any given situation, she’ll generally side with animals and plants rather than people. I am DMing a 5th edition D&D campaign (and loving being able to focus on world building with doing ANY editing). I am playing an herbalist in a Runequest campaign. And I am also planning to start an Actual Play solo D&D campaign on my YouTube channel. The PCs will include a mountain dwarf wizard named Tasrin Tolbrohr who is obsessed with her wonderful beard (but doesn’t understand why nobody else seems to be) and a goliath paladin named Kanarok “Skybreaker” Thuliaga who started his journey as a paladin because he once challenged a paladin (now his mentor) to combat, got his ass kicked, then decided that he now needed to get good enough to beat him in every way possible. He is a big fan of Tasrin’s beard.
As all good things come to an end what would you like to leave our audience with for future thoughts about your writing, your author career, or you as a person? Please share.
Thank you for having me. If you want to check out some of my stories and what I’m actively working on, consider clicking this link: https://linktr.ee/danielleforrest. I’m currently adding to an alien romance serial called Fated Mates of the Drakoan, which includes dragon shifting aliens, an alien invasion, and obviously fated mates, among other things. I also offer several free books through my mailing list and regularly share free stories to my Followers on Ream. I’m also working on another book in this series, Matched to the Alien Captain, and you can hear updates about that either on Ream, my mailing list, or my website.
***ABOUT THE AUTHOR***
Danielle Forrest
I am a scientist, a dog parent, and part-time author of SciFi Romance. I love happy endings and using my biology degree in ways it was absolutely not intended. That means a lot of "interesting" alien biology as well as thoughtful world building.
But that's not the only reason to enjoy my writing. I also like writing diverse characters (LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and more) and (because I'm an author and what more can you expect from me?) throwing them into mortal peril every time it makes sense for the plot (which is sadly nowhere NEAR as often as I would like).
If that sounds like something that's up your alley, click the link below. You'll find free books (through my mailing list), early access and free short stories/bonus scenes (through my Ream page), my book list, and all my social medias. I hope to hear from you soon.
Follow Danielle by her Linktre:
***RELATED STORIES***
Matched to the Alien Prince
(Currently available on Kindle/KU/Paperback & Hardcover)
Matched to the Alien Captain
(WIP currently available via REAM Subscription)
***PREORDER TODAY***
Beyond Starlight
An Alien Fated Mates Box Set
Limited Edition Collection of SciFi Romance Authors
To the deepest reaches of the galaxy these warriors will fight to find their fated mates. When their females are at the lowest in their lives they will twist the fabrics of existence and change everything in a blink of an eye. They will face slavers, hunters, computer matching systems, and so many obstacles that they will fight to the death to be together. Fated mates happen once in a lifetime, but will their bond be strong enough to stay together until the end. Find out by reading this limited edition box set filled with space, adventure, and fated mates between species never seen before on earth.
Participating Authors: Diana Dawn, Susanna Eastman, Demelza Carlton, Katrina S. Karter, Danielle Forrest, and Clare Dugmore
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