Daniele Kasper - A Thrilling, Interstellar Adventure
Daniele Kasper’s travels have taken her around the world and back again, but her favorite adventures will always be found between the covers of a good book. From rescuing dolphins in the Florida Keys, to getting chased by grizzly bears in Alaska, Daniele has taken her adventures and used them as inspiration for her writing. Eventually, she married a horse trainer and settled down in central Michigan. She is now a farm girl with her husband, The Cowboy. They have four rescue dogs, a multitude of cats and chickens and a couple of cowponies. Daniele loves reading and writing fantasy and science fiction. She also loves all things Outlander and Disney, can’t grow a garden to save her life and occasionally moonlights as an elementary teacher. As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about her book, Cut Her Out in Little Stars.
Please give us a short introduction to what Cut Her Out in Little Stars is about.
Cut Her Out In Little Stars is a thrilling, interstellar adventure where our heroine finds herself hundreds of years in the future in a strange new universe. It is the story of her journey trying to return home and survive the brewing war that puts her life in danger.
What inspired you to write about a woman lost in time and a star system on the brink of war?
The inspiration for this came from the book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It is one of my favorite books and I wanted to write a book where the main character traveled to the future. I am a high science fiction fan and I decided to give a little space opera spin on the time travel theme.
Tell us more about Cara DeLeon. What makes her tick?
Cara is a dreamer. She wants adventure and excitement in her life but usually things end up going off the rails. She moved to New York to experience the excitement of big city life and realizes that isn’t the kind of adventure she wants. She thought it was going to be much easier than it was and now she is stuck there and dreams of getting away to travel the world. Cara has bits of all of us in her. She’s someone who wants change but sometimes regrets her choices in the long run.
Who is Nikolas Caine and what makes him so special?
Without too many spoilers, Caine is the Commander of the Confederation Fleet of spaceships. His job as the Commander is the highest one in the Fleet and he is in charge of all personnel and crew. The Fleet protects the star system from attacks from bloodthirsty raiders who hate the Confederation. Caine has several dark secrets of his own that his trying to atone for and it makes him very rigid in his adherence to rules and being committed to his duty.
Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?
I ride horses. I wouldn’t say I’m skilled at it but I enjoy it!
Do any of your characters ever take off on their own tangent, refusing to do what you had planned for them?
All the time. It’s exhausting having to chase down characters who decide they want to do something different.
You live on a farm. How has this influenced your writing?
Living on a farm makes writing time a lot more difficult to come by ! But I love living here and the day to day work that is involved with caring for the animals.
What did you have the most fun with while writing "Cut Her Out in Little Stars."?
I had so much fun writing Cara. I really wanted her to be as realistic as possible, someone readers could connect with. She is put into this impossible situation and I wanted her reactions to be genuine. How would a person react if it happened to them and that was how I tried to write her character.
Why did you decide to add a time travel element to the story?
I love reading time travel books but I very often only found them time traveling to the past. As someone who enjoys science fiction I wanted to write a time travel into the future instead.
Readers say you took them on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with this story. Was this intentional?
Yes! Writing is all about connecting with the reader on an emotional level. It’s about making a reader care about your characters and what happens to them. I tried to do my best to make characters that were lovable and relatable and that a reader would be genuinely invested in their story.
What is the best writing advice you've ever received?
Write the story you want to read. And also, write for yourself. Writing is a passion project and it can be easy to lose that joy if it becomes a job. Write books you’d be interested in picking up off the shelf if you saw them and you’ll find a group of readers who love it too. You can’t make every reader love your books but you’ll gather an audience who loves your writing if you also love it yourself.
Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?
I get a lot of my best ideas in the shower. I also make soundtracks to all my books but I don’t listen to music when I am writing. It’s too distracting. Strangely enough, I prefer to have the television on while writing. I don’t know why music is distracting but a movie or show is not. I don’t have any normal writing routine or schedule. I write whenever and wherever I can find a few minutes!
What are you working on right now?
I am working on the sequel to Cut Her Out In Little Stars and also a YA Fantasy with a little post apocalyptic spin on it.
Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?
Readers can find me on Bookbub and Goodreads as well as Instagram @danielekasperauthor, on Twitter @danielekasper and on Facebook. They can also find me at my website www.danielekasper.com and subscribe to my newsletter for special events, sneak peeks and more.
