Hi, everyone!
Today is Spotlight Saturday, and I am very excited to be joined today by CK Webb and DJ Weaver, the authors of Cruelty To Innocents. I had the pleasure of reading this fabulous book last month, and you can read my review HERE.
Today is Spotlight Saturday, and I am very excited to be joined today by CK Webb and DJ Weaver, the authors of Cruelty To Innocents. I had the pleasure of reading this fabulous book last month, and you can read my review HERE.
Welcome to Darlene's Book Nook, CK and DJ! Tell us a little about yourselves!
CK~ I am a wife and a mother first and foremost. I spent some time in the Navy fueling aircraft on the flight deck. I have travelled the world and I am a big city girl at heart…hope to get back to one someday soon!! Love to read, love a good movie and music is a must in my daily life, anything by Chevelle, My Chemical Romance, Seether or 30 Seconds To Mars will always float my boat.
DJ~ I’ve worked many types of jobs throughout my life, but have been in the administrative field for the past 23 years. I’ve lived in a few different places, but really like my privacy so I’m not much into city life. Love reading, movies and music, but also like my quiet time. Love animals and have a couple of dogs who are like kids. Like to spend family time with my grandkids and love the outdoors if the weather is cool.
Do you recall when your interest in writing originated?
CK~ I have always been interested in writing. There were these wonderful scary stories that played on late night radio when I was a kid…they were the spark for my writing fire.
CK~ I am a wife and a mother first and foremost. I spent some time in the Navy fueling aircraft on the flight deck. I have travelled the world and I am a big city girl at heart…hope to get back to one someday soon!! Love to read, love a good movie and music is a must in my daily life, anything by Chevelle, My Chemical Romance, Seether or 30 Seconds To Mars will always float my boat.
DJ~ I’ve worked many types of jobs throughout my life, but have been in the administrative field for the past 23 years. I’ve lived in a few different places, but really like my privacy so I’m not much into city life. Love reading, movies and music, but also like my quiet time. Love animals and have a couple of dogs who are like kids. Like to spend family time with my grandkids and love the outdoors if the weather is cool.
Do you recall when your interest in writing originated?
CK~ I have always been interested in writing. There were these wonderful scary stories that played on late night radio when I was a kid…they were the spark for my writing fire.
DJ~ I wrote a bit at a young age, but never really considered doing it professionally until CK came to me with the idea for Cruelty. We found I had untapped skills and put them to use.
How did the decision to write as a team come about?
DJ~ CK called one morning and said, “If I were going to watch a movie, I’d want it to be this one,” and proceeded to tell me her ideas. We tossed it back and forth and wrote an outline which turned out to be Cruelty To Innocents.
Can you briefly describe your writing process as a team?
DJ~ We usually get together about 8:30 a.m. and work till 1 or 2 p.m. every day. This includes anything from batting story lines back and forth to doing outlines to actually story writing and edits.
Are there any particular challenges to writing as a team as opposed to writing solo, or do you find it easier?
CK~ There are always challenges when you have two people with two visions. I think the hardest obstacles are finding a happy line in the romance area, I just DO NOT like that stuff and DJ is a bit of a romantic…it makes for some interesting arguments!
DJ~ I find it easier because you always have someone to try new ideas on or tell you when you’re being ridiculous with something. It can be a challenge when both writers have a different take on how a scene should go, but to me it’s easier than writing alone.
Were there times during the writing process where you disagreed on how things should progress? How did you resolve that?
CK~ Oh absolutely! The wonderful thing is, we usually agree on the place where the characters are going so we have a vision that is, in a lot of ways, on the same level.
DJ~ We do disagree about certain things but we can hash stuff out pretty easily so it’s not really an obstacle.
Do you have a specific writing style? Any quirks or superstitious routines you stick to?
CK~ I like ‘all stuff, no fluff’ kind of writing. I will never spend three pages describing the branches on a tree or the color red…I get right on down to business and don’t make readers wait for the meat of the story! I don’t consider myself superstitious, but I have some OCD quirks that must be adhered to in order for me to be productive…I have to have the same type of notebooks and lots of them, a certain type of pen and certain kinds of junk food…Okay, maybe I am a bit superstitious!!
DJ~ CK does, but I’m pretty flexible on that stuff.
Where did you come up with the idea for Cruelty To Innocents?
CK~ The idea originally came to me as a movie idea and quickly developed from there.
There are some pretty emotional and intense scenes in Cruelty To Innocents, and I was moved to tears more than once. What part of the book was the hardest to write?
CK~ There were more than a few tears shed & choked back in the writing process, but for me, the hardest scene was definitely the scene with Sloanne & the little girls when the girls ask, “Did you see her? Did she send you?” That one was tough!
DJ~ I think the epilogue was hardest for me. It is the culmination of each character’s story, but also the lead into the next book in the series. It’s pretty biting on an emotional level as well as leaving you hanging for the next book.
Are any of the characters based on someone you know?
CK~ All of the characters have some trait or characteristic of someone we know or an actor we really like. You should always be careful what you do around writers, you just may end up in their next book!
DJ~ It’s true…we have used some character traits from people we know in this book and in Collecting. One of our characters is modeled after a family member almost identically because he so closely resembled what we needed for the scene and the character. But some of our characters are purely self-made.
Sloanne Kelly is a fabulous character with a lot of depth. How alike or different are you from her?
CK~ I feel very connected to Sloanne on a lot of levels and there are things about her and her past that I pulled from my own background, however, like all characters, Sloanne quickly evolved into the person she wanted to be and we were simply there to get the words down.
DJ~ Ha…I’m SO different. Sloanne is a positive, self-assured person which I am not. She has many positive characteristics that we do not share. I always say that CK is the positive and I am the negative…except during our writing…she is the negative and I am the positive. Strange, I know, but it works.
Cruelty To Innocents is the first book in The 911 Abduction series. What can we look forward to in the coming books?
CK~ All I will say is, you will be seeing ALL the players from book one somewhere in the next two books! Book 2 is a much harsher, in your face kind of plot and has a twist you will not see coming. Book three will be a thing of beauty, in which all the loose ends are tied up in ways you can’t even begin to imagine!
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
CK~ We have WebbWeaver Reviews and I also do reviews for The Deepening as well as monthly articles for Suspense Magazine…is there any time left after all that?
CK~ There were more than a few tears shed & choked back in the writing process, but for me, the hardest scene was definitely the scene with Sloanne & the little girls when the girls ask, “Did you see her? Did she send you?” That one was tough!
DJ~ I think the epilogue was hardest for me. It is the culmination of each character’s story, but also the lead into the next book in the series. It’s pretty biting on an emotional level as well as leaving you hanging for the next book.
Are any of the characters based on someone you know?
CK~ All of the characters have some trait or characteristic of someone we know or an actor we really like. You should always be careful what you do around writers, you just may end up in their next book!
DJ~ It’s true…we have used some character traits from people we know in this book and in Collecting. One of our characters is modeled after a family member almost identically because he so closely resembled what we needed for the scene and the character. But some of our characters are purely self-made.
Sloanne Kelly is a fabulous character with a lot of depth. How alike or different are you from her?
CK~ I feel very connected to Sloanne on a lot of levels and there are things about her and her past that I pulled from my own background, however, like all characters, Sloanne quickly evolved into the person she wanted to be and we were simply there to get the words down.
DJ~ Ha…I’m SO different. Sloanne is a positive, self-assured person which I am not. She has many positive characteristics that we do not share. I always say that CK is the positive and I am the negative…except during our writing…she is the negative and I am the positive. Strange, I know, but it works.
Cruelty To Innocents is the first book in The 911 Abduction series. What can we look forward to in the coming books?
CK~ All I will say is, you will be seeing ALL the players from book one somewhere in the next two books! Book 2 is a much harsher, in your face kind of plot and has a twist you will not see coming. Book three will be a thing of beauty, in which all the loose ends are tied up in ways you can’t even begin to imagine!
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
CK~ We have WebbWeaver Reviews and I also do reviews for The Deepening as well as monthly articles for Suspense Magazine…is there any time left after all that?
DJ~ Read, read, read! Having a review site makes it difficult to do much else but I like it. We also have the book club, which is fun and we have a few close friends we spend time with too. I also do reviews for Suspense Magazine so…more reading there.
Who is your favorite author and what really strikes you about their work?
CK~ The dreaded ‘favorite author’ question…That is a tough question, but I always answer based on which author’s books take up more space on my bookshelves. Stephen King is fantastic… the way he layers the plots and sub-plots and takes the reader from one place to another with such ease is awe inspiring!
DJ~ Michael Crichton is my all-time favorite. He was such an imaginative writer and a master of the twist-and-turn plot. He also wrote great characters with very human faults, which I love.
What book are you reading now?
CK~ Books!! Right now I am reading Perdition’s Gateway by Terrance Drake and Werewolf by Greg Hair. I just finished up with Lara Adrian’s Deeper Than Midnight, Pillar’s Fall by Ben Larken and Fallen Angel by Major Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky which were all great reads from very different genres.
DJ~ Several actually… Chasing Sunsets by Eva Marie Everson, Little White Lies by Aimee Laine, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and Silver by Steven Savile. I just finished Chasing Amanda by Melissa Foster and Darkness and Light by J.A. Belfield. I’m lucky to get so many good books for review.
Do you have any specific last thoughts that you want to say to your readers?
DJ~ Stay tuned for the release of Collecting Innocents – The Second Book in the 911 Abduction Series…it’s going to be seriously creepy!
You certainly have my interest piqued! I can't imagine how much creepier the next book will be because Cruelty was pretty chilling!
Thank you so much for coming by today, CK and DJ! It was a lot of fun getting to know you both better, and I can't wait to read the next installment of The 911 Abduction Series!!
I hope everyone enjoyed the interview. If you would like to learn more about CK and DJ and their books, their links are below:
Website: http://theinnocents.weebly.com/
WebbWeaver Blog: WebbWeaver Reviews
Webb & Weaver Fans on Facebook
WebbWeavers on Twitter
I hope everyone enjoyed the interview. If you would like to learn more about CK and DJ and their books, their links are below:
Website: http://theinnocents.weebly.com/
WebbWeaver Blog: WebbWeaver Reviews
Webb & Weaver Fans on Facebook
WebbWeavers on Twitter
CK Webb on Twitter
CK Webb's personal blog: Twisted Webb
CK Webb's Author Page on Facebook
CK Webb on Goodreads
DJ Weaver on Twitter
DJ Weaver's Author Page on FacebookDJ Weaver on Goodreads
And now for the giveaway! One winner will receive an e-book of Cruelty To Innocents, as well as a Cruelty To Innocents goodie bag with some extra stuff in it! This is an international giveaway open to all!
SYNOPSIS:
CK Webb's personal blog: Twisted Webb
CK Webb's Author Page on Facebook
CK Webb on GoodreadsDJ Weaver on Twitter
DJ Weaver's Author Page on FacebookDJ Weaver on Goodreads
And now for the giveaway! One winner will receive an e-book of Cruelty To Innocents, as well as a Cruelty To Innocents goodie bag with some extra stuff in it! This is an international giveaway open to all!
SYNOPSIS:Who’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes?
What if you were in your car alone with your small child and you came upon an emergency scene? Would you stop to help? What if, while you are trying to assist a victim of an accident or mugging, you left your young child alone in the car, thinking he or she would be safe. What if, instead of help, the call to 911 brought a terrifying, sinister result?
Someone’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes in Aberdeen Maryland, while their parents call for help and lend aid to accident victims. Someone who’s also listening in, is a monster and vicious child abductor. In the midst of the chaos and confusion of the scene, that monster slips in and steals the innocent children leaving behind no trace for authorities.
Sloanne Kelly is unprepared for what awaits in her hometown as she travels back to Maryland. Her goddaughter is one of the victims and the clock is ticking. Together with her best friend and a local fireman, Shawn Tyler, Sloanne will face the most insidious of criminals and fight to recover the children before there is anymore, Cruelty to Innocents.
What if you were in your car alone with your small child and you came upon an emergency scene? Would you stop to help? What if, while you are trying to assist a victim of an accident or mugging, you left your young child alone in the car, thinking he or she would be safe. What if, instead of help, the call to 911 brought a terrifying, sinister result?
Someone’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes in Aberdeen Maryland, while their parents call for help and lend aid to accident victims. Someone who’s also listening in, is a monster and vicious child abductor. In the midst of the chaos and confusion of the scene, that monster slips in and steals the innocent children leaving behind no trace for authorities.
Sloanne Kelly is unprepared for what awaits in her hometown as she travels back to Maryland. Her goddaughter is one of the victims and the clock is ticking. Together with her best friend and a local fireman, Shawn Tyler, Sloanne will face the most insidious of criminals and fight to recover the children before there is anymore, Cruelty to Innocents.
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Darlene, I read this book earlier in the summer and reviewed it, feeling much the same way you did about it. Can't wait for book 2 in the series! Good job, ladies :) Rae
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