Sean Fletcher - Mystery, Suspense, Twists and Turns

Sean Fletcher was born in the broiling, arid state some people lovingly refer to as Texas. He is the Amazon bestselling author of YA urban fantasy, in addition to other forthcoming books whose characters will not give him a moment's peace until they get their turn in the spotlight. When not making things up and putting them on paper, he can be found hiking, biking, or traveling, sometimes all at the same time. As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about his book, Elemental Outcast.

Please give us a short introduction to what Elemental Outcast is about.

Elemental Outcast begins when the heroine, Riley, is murdered and finds herself revived among a group of paranormals calling themselves the Outcasts. All of them have also been revived and are now trapped by a prophecy that Riley now has to fulfill. The problem? Riley has no idea how to do that. And some other very dangerous paranormals want to ensure she never succeeds.

What inspired you to write about someone who finds herself on the other side of death after trying to defend her friend?

I like playing around with interesting concepts, and the themes of afterlife and having Riley die to kick off the story was something that appealed to me. Usually my characters are drawn into the magical, paranormal world through some struggle or another, so why not dying? From there it was about piecing together why she had to die to join them. How about a prophecy? What did this prophecy say? And how did it tie in all these other paranormal beings Riley finds herself among? From there the story just kind of took a life of its own.

Why Young Adult? What appeals to you about this audience?

I think with young adult there’s a bit more flexibility as an author than in other genres. All ages read young adult, not just teens, and the expectation is mostly on fun, faster-paced stories. There are still genre expectations to hit, but especially with younger readers I think they’re more open to reading outside of what they normally would. This gives me a little freedom to play around with fun ideas or characters and things that I enjoy as well. I think you can absolutely do this in adult too, but I feel like it’s not as easy to go outside what readers are comfortable with. That’s just my opinion, of course. Young adult also has such a ravenous, passionate fanbase that it’s a lot of fun to be a part of!

Tell us more about Riley.  What makes her so special?

Riley is the classic reluctant hero, someone who has been almost literally thrown into her destiny and must rise to meet it. She’s certainly got incredible powers, but she doesn’t know how to use them…which causes some problems.

I think one of the most unique things about Riley is something I like doing with a lot of my protagonists: she doesn’t view good and evil as black and white, but more as a spectrum, at least in regards to the worlds I write. Riley’s main antagonist through the series, a vicious werewolf named Lukas, is a terrible, terrible person. Riley has every right to hate him for what he’s done to her and her friends, and yet Riley still tries to find compassion and understand him. I won’t spoil too much and say where this leads, but having compassion like that certainly makes for some interesting, and dangerous, situations.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I don’t know about secret skills But I can play guitar and sing. I’m also a pretty avid backpacker and world traveler so I guess I have some skills on how to not get lost or run out of water in the backcountry!

Tell us more about the cover and how it came about.

I’m lucky to know many incredible cover designers. With Elemental Outcast’s cover I wanted something that would really pop. A lot of books in the YA urban fantasy/paranormal genre are tones of blue and purple, and I think those work great (my next book’s going to have that). But with this series, because fire was such a vital element of the story, I wanted something more vibrantly red and orange that would really stick out. I gave my designer a few details and he really delivered something spectacular!

This is book one of the Elemental Outcast series.  Can it be read as a standalone? How do the other books in the series tie in with this one?

Elemental Outcast is part of the Paranormal Outcasts trilogy—the final book in the series, Elemental Queen, is actually coming out in July. You don’t have read any of my other series to read Elemental Outcast, but with each series you’ll want to read the books in order to avoid being lost!

Almost all of my series loosely exist within the same universe, and I love finding ways to tie them together; having characters from one series make a cameo in another, dropping names of things or places from other series in my new series, that sort of thing. In that way, if you read through all my books, readers with a keen eye and good memory will be able to catch all the easter eggs I drop.

If you could take any of your characters somewhere for the day - who would it be and where would you take them?

Oh, that’s a tough one! Since there are 13 Outcasts narrowing it down to one is tough, but I’d have to say Leon. He’s a lion shifter with a heart for conservation, and just seems like a cool guy all around.

Which of your characters was the most challenging to create?

Typically my antagonists are the most difficult to create. I don’t often like writing straight up evil bad guys, but try to give them more nuance, so keeping that balance is tough. But similar to that, I’d have to say the most difficult character to write was Jasper, leader of the Outcasts and Riley’s maybe-kind-of boyfriend. Him and Riley don’t exactly hit it off right away (I do love a good enemies-to-lovers romance) but eventually learn to trust each other and grow closer.

Jasper was tough because he’s got a pretty dark backstory and isn’t necessarily the most likeable character at first. Oh, he has his reasons for acting the way he does, but he still comes off as a jerk sometimes. Finding ways to unravel his character and show his motivations and complexities was a whole lot of fun, but definitely tough.

What did you have the most fun with when writing this story?

I think writing the interactions between all of the different Outcasts was the most fun. Each of them have a pretty distinct personality that sometimes meshes, sometimes clashes, with the others, so writing scenes of all of them together was definitely a blast.

On top of that, writing Lukas the villain was also a whole lot of fun. Because who doesn’t love a good villain?

What fascinates you about the paranormal?

I’m always been a fan of the mysterious or the unknown, like Bigfoot and unsolved mysteries, that sort of thing. Fantasy has also always been a love of mine from a very early age. At first, it was because I like the cool magic and fighting and all that fun stuff. As I’ve gotten older I love fantasy’s ability to take the mundane and make it exciting or take difficult topics that might be tough to discuss in a contemporary setting and soften it or deepen it in a new way. I think in a strange way, fantasy and paranormal creatures are a great lens to explore the complexities of what makes us human.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I used to write all of my books by hand with just a pen and notebook, so I guess that’s somewhat interesting! Though very time intensive. I don’t have as much time to do that now, but I still try to write the first book of any new series by hand. Not only does that get me away from staring at a screen, but there’s something about pen and paper that helps me to lay out ideas and think more fluidly. Other than that, I use a lot of sticky notes. So many sticky notes!

An average writing day changes depending on projects, time of year, and even as I grow as an author. I have to spend more time on my backlist and marketing my current books than I did in the past. But typically I write in the morning for an hour or two, then work on client work or other projects for my books until the midafternoon. Then I try to get in more writing until I end the workday. I shouldn’t write on the weekends or holidays, but sometimes I’m just enjoying what I’m working on so much I can’t help it. Even my birthday isn’t safe!

I typically have a page count I like to hit per day (about 10 pages/day) but since I’m a bit ahead of my current schedule, and because I’ve got other components of my current works I need to work on, I typically just try to write as much as I can, which usually comes out to around 10 pages.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I’m finishing up edits on the third and final book in the Paranormal Outcasts series, Elemental Queen, which should be out in July. I also just launched the audiobook for Elemental Outcast, so that’s been a blast.

As far as writing, I’ve just begun the first book in a new YA series about dragon shifters who live amongst us, and the Slayers determined to kill them. It’s a spin-off/continuation of sorts of one of my most popular series I wrote way back when. I never thought it’d get as popular as it did—but I guess dragons are a big deal, who knew? I’m excited to get back in and explore this world and new characters more! I’m hoping to release it later this year.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

I’ve got all my social media in one link here so readers can follow: https://linktr.ee/seanfletcherauthor

The best places to find any updates on new releases, cover reveals, and more are on my newsletter and FB group. Plus, new subscribers to my NL get the first books in two of my series for free:
Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/seanfletchernewsletter2 
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Sean-Fletcher/e/B00Z7QVUUQ 
FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasyfiendsreadergroup