Hello my fellow adventurers,
Here we are again at the end of the week and the start of a new A Second Glance interview, this time highlighting bestselling YA/NA fantasy/paranormal romance author Angelina J. Steffort! As per always, my comments will be in {italics}. Enjoy!
Tell me a little bit about yourself!
I’m an award-winning, best-selling author of YA/NA fantasy and paranormal romance. Originally, I come from an engineering and business background, and I’m a strategist through and through, whether it is in my world building, or when I mentor hight-tech startups. Born and raised in Austria, I’ve been surrounded by artifacts of a past monarchy as well as folklore, innovation, and musical tradition. As an author, my job is to make up stories and have tea parties with fictional characters–-the best job in the world. {Love the tea party idea.}
What got you into writing?
A dream on a business trip. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I started writing it down.
It has been over ten years since I started that first book. Honestly, back then I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew that I needed to get it out. White (Wings Book 1) was never meant to be published. But when I reached out to readers almost seven years later, feedback was great, so I took a leap of faith and published. Since then, I have completed over twenty more novels in five different series and am working on number twenty-six (The Never Mage, book 3 in my Quarter Mage series) at the moment.
With a young child at home the main challenge is finding the time to write, but with the wonderful support of my family, I’m able to squeeze in some writing time here and there to get those books done when inspiration hits. One of my more recent challenges is to be compared to big name authors who are also idols. It is a great honor to be named alongside Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series or A Court of Thorns and Roses, or Patrick Rothfuss, but it also puts a lot of pressure, trying to live up to those expectations. However, I am doing my best to make my worlds and characters unique, and focus on the next chapter and the next book. That way I keep productive.
It keeps me going that there are people out there who can’t wait to see what those characters are up to–the same as I always wonder what will be next. It has been such an incredible journey, and I can’t imagine waking up one day and not wanting to write. {Phew, twenty six books?? That’s amazing!!}
What genres do you write in?
Young adult and new adult fantasy and paranormal romance.
Do you write standalones or series?
I’m one of the writers cursed with vivid imagination and chatty characters, so I’m damned to write series. And I love every minute of it. Although I’m working on a standalone novel for an anthology at the moment. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. {Good luck on your standalone novel! It’s always good to stretch yourself, so while right now it’s probably super hard, I’m sure you’re going to learn a thing or two.}
How many books do you have out right now? Tell me about them!
Right now, I have twenty-three books in five series out, plus a couple of bonus scenes in my Shattered Kingdom universe and in the Quarter Mage universe. But I have three more books ready for publishing this year and am working on three more to be released until the end of 2023.
Which book did you have the hardest time trying to write? The best time?
Reborn Thorne, book seven in Shattered Kingdom was one of the hardest for me. A lot of hours simply went into trying to figure out if this ill meet reader expectations. Shattered Kingdom is a fully developed universe with a very chatty cast (ten POV characters total), and it was so hard bringing home all the story lines and tying them up. But it was also one of the most fun to write with the sense of finishing something so monumental (over 1Mio words total in the series). One of the most fun was The Hour Mage (release February 28th, 2023). The banter between Sanja and the male lead was simply delightful to write.
Why do you keep writing?
There are simply too many stories to be told. At the moment, I have a line up of nineteen books in five series waiting for me to give them attention. Half of them, already have covers. And the list isn’t getting any shorter. I’m hoping to still be telling stories when I’m ninety-two and my hair is white. It is more than a job to me. {Love this.}
Which character of yours is your favorite?
Please don’t ask me to choose. It is near-impossible to pick a favorite character I’ve written. They all are dear to me for different reasons, be it the heroes, the villains or the side characters dwelling in the shadows. I do have a soft spot for the supporting cast in each of my stories, though. Gordan, Jaden, Kepha, Heck, Seri, Palvin, Clio, Astorian, Naar… You see, the list is already getting too long. Any more time on this question, and I’ll be listing all of my characters.
What are your favorite tropes? Hated tropes?
I love writing enemies to lovers, secret identities, lost royalty, found family, and many more. One of my favorite thing to write are strong female leads who fight for agency in their lives. {Found family is always on the favorite list.}
What kind of hobbies do you have outside of writing?
When I’m not writing you can find me spending time with my family, reading, singing, or helping high tech startups with their business models and strategy. When my schedule allows it, I bake cookies.
What is your writing process like?
I’m a strategist and pantser. Usually, I know the length of a series and the titles of the books, the feel and tone of the story, but nothing else. Once I dive in, the rest comes on its own. Characters start introducing themselves, and usually they know their stories so much better than I could ever make them up. There is no such thing as a typical writing day or setting for me, even though things have become more routine since that first book ten years ago. I write whenever I get the chance: between meals, when my son is at kindergarten, at night, when my son is asleep. In coffee houses, on trains and trams, and basically everywhere I can fit a laptop for a couple of minutes {You squeeze your writing in when you can, I love it!}
Have you ever traveled as research for your writing?
I visited the Aurora, IL area own a trip to Chicago before I started writing Wings. I have family in Maryland, so I know the town where Breath of Fate takes place quite well. Two Worlds plays just around the corner of my apartment, so I don’t need to go far to do research. As for Neredyn and Eherea… those worlds are inspired by real places some of which I’ve visited over the years and some I’ve only seen in pictures.
Last question, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?
Sit down and do it. It’s the best advice because it doesn’t focus on everything you can’t influence in the industry but on what you can, and that is sitting down and writing that book. {Yup, love this too. Great advice!}
Find Angelina Online!
Author’s Linktr.ee
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And that’s a wrap! Thanks to Angelina for the fabulous interview, and I hope you, my fellow adventurers, enjoyed it as much as I did. Now stop reading this and go check out her work! 🙂
Until next time!
Warm regards,
Kellie
P.S. – If you’re an author with more than one book published and you’d like to be featured, sign up here! While anyone is able to sign up providing they have more than one book out, I’m specifically looking for more queer and minority authors. If you have any questions, comment below!
Have Pen, Will Pen 