Today I would like to welcome Lauren Hammond author of Insanity to Book Flame
1.What inspired you to write
Insanity?
When I get an idea for a novel, it’s
more of a ‘what if’ that pops into my head. I ask myself what if this happened?
How would someone react? Would they lose it? That’s mostly how Insanity was
created.
2.How do you come up with the names
for the characters in your books?
I like different names. So I always try
to think of unique ones that aren’t too off the wall. Most of the time, when
I’m writing the character though, the name kind of just comes to me out of the
blue. It’s weird, I know, lol. For Adelaide though, I have a niece named
Addison. We call her Addy. Adelaide was in a way born from that.
3.Who do you think is the most
complex character in Insanity?
Dr. Elijah Watson. You don’t get to see
all of his layers, but there is definitely more to him than what is written in
Insanity and you’ll get to delve further into his quirks and flaws in White
Walls the sequel to Insanity.
4.Which fictional character would you
most like to meet?
Luna Lovegood. I’d like to hear more of
her take on gnargles.
5.What is one book everyone should
read?
Wow. This is a tough one because they
are so many books that I feel teens should read. I’m gonna go with Speak by
Laurie Halse Anderson. I loved this book. As a teen I felt it educated me on
the way the world is. What happened in the book happens in real life and it’s
important that teens know and understand that. And it’s important that no
matter how rough life can be, you can always overcome the obstacles that are in
your way. You can build strength from weakness and I think that’s a beautiful
and amazing thing.
About the book
Sometimes
love...can drive you crazy.
Adelaide Carmichael
and Damien Allen couldn't be more opposite.
Adelaide's mother
abandoned her when she was ten years old, leaving her to be raised by her
abusive and alcoholic father.
Damien on the other
hand came from a wealthy family, was a local celebrity, and seemed to have a
bright future ahead of him.
Despite their
differences, Adelaide and Damien were young, wild, and fiercely in love.
And they had a
plan.
They were going to
run away.
Be together
forever.
And their plan was
set in motion, until tragedy struck and for some reason, Adelaide wound up in
The Oakhill Institution for the insane.
Adelaide has no
idea what she did to wind up at Oakhill, but she knows one thing for sure...
She wants out.
And after Damien
follows her there to aid her in escaping, Adelaide slowly begins putting
together the pieces of her memory that are missing.
And it doesn't take
Adelaide long to figure out that sometimes...
That one true love
never dies.
Excerpt~
Shoving my feet off
the side of the bed, new surroundings burn my eyes. Tan plaster walls instead
of thick white padded ones. One oblong barred window. Two dressers. Two
closets. Two beds.
They've moved me to
a different room.
A gentle squeaking
noise bounces off the walls and my eyes avert to my right. Oh crap. They put me
in a room with a nut job.
They say I'm a nut
job.
But not like this.
Not even close.
She rocks back and
forth on her cot, knees to her chest, twisting a piece of her wiry, red hair
between her fingertips. Her freckled arms are trembling. She sings with
vibrato.
I am slowly going
crazy. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
Switch.
Crazy going slowly
am I. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
Switch.
I think about
screaming again. I think about plugging my ears. Somebody turn her off.
She lifts her head
slowly, a maddening look in her big, brown eyes, an eerie smile crawling across
her pale, freckled lips. “Shh,” she whispers. “They're coming for us.”
“Who's they?”
She shakes her head
and lets out a cackle laced with the deepest kind of crazy. I think they put
her in here with me purposely. They're trying to break me. They think if they
put me around truly insane people that I'll accept my place here.
Well...They are
wrong.
About the author:
It all began with a
dinosaur, a T-Rex to be exact. He was the main character in my very first short
story. Me and T, well, we went places. He is the reason I won my first essay
contest at age ten. And he is probably one of the number one reasons, I pursued
a career in writing.
Throughout
highschool, I was what you would call a rebel. Someone who had convinced
herself that she had life figured out at age sixteen. Still, writing was my
only safe-haven during that time. I wrote notebooks full of poetry, even
writing fellow classmates papers for them.
Unbeknowest to me,
creative writing, seemed to be my one, true calling, my passion in life.
At age twenty, I
began writing my first novel. After that, everything seemed to fall into place.
I won Best Poets
and Poems of 2007, and The Editor's Choice award for my poem, Summer Days.
Also, during that
time I wrote or co-wrote fifteen different screenplays, some which earned me
finalist spot in various screenplay competitions.
In 2010, I've come
full force, with my novel Love Sucks, that was released by Punkin House Press,
in August of 2010. On top of Love Sucks, I have six novels that are slated to
be released through the next five years. Also, doing some various marketing
work for authors and publishers.
I pride myself in
telling fellow writers to always follow their dreams. Who knows where I would
be if I would have given up.
Connect with Lauren Hammond
