In Conversation With DanaClaire, Contributed to Bookpleasures.com by Bee Lindy

Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Dana Claire author of The Reclaimed Kingdom.

Author, Dana Claire, believes that a good story is made through strong character development. When readers become attached to the characters’ emotional state and are invested in their objectives, the readers are there for the long haul backing the characters and their emotions. How cool is it to read a book and think about the characters long after you’ve read the last page? She believes that the beauty of reading is that one can live a hundred lives within the stories of books.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be a vampire, slay a dragon, or use a time machine, there’s a book for that.

BL: Good day Dana and thanks for taking part in our interview. Please tell us something about The Reclaimed Kingdom that is not in the book description.

DC: The Reclaimed Kingdom, specifically The Band of Brothers, was a passion project about my brother who’s a navy seal and his platoon and friends. I had always wanted to write about them, my involvement with their brotherhood, and how special our community is. 

BL: Describe the room you are sitting in as though it was a scene in one of your books.

DC: The dark grey furniture matches the fluffy grey carpet on the floor accented by the light grey color walls. A small cream-colored desk lamp hovers over my computer screen illuminating my words as I type. 

A black leather office chair sits in front of a large window where I can hear my neighbors’ word for word on a sunny day when they are BBQing in the backyard. Cold air sweeps through the office from the cracked window while a heated blanket sits on my lap as if the dual temperatures are always competing. The tiny room is filed with file cabinets. Opened folders, past and present YA books, and YA book boxes cover every exposed space even the loveseat behind me. Shredded paper fills my office pale overflowing to the floor then trailing towards my desk making a path like the yellow brick road. Its messy appearance is nothing new. I call it organized chaos. My husband calls it a headache. 

BL: Where do you get the names for your characters?

DC: They come to me and after the name pops in my head I look it up to see if there is any meaning behind it. 

BL: Which character do you love to hate?

DC: Queen Ebbigal! She’s just so evil. There’s no humanity in her character and I absolutely love that about her.

BL: What writers have you drawn inspiration from?

DC: Jennifer Armentrout, Rachel Vincent, Sarah J. Maas, etc.

BL: Where did you get the inspiration for your cover?

DC: My cousin is my designer. We work on this together going back and forth constantly. We’ve been working in marketing for almost 10 years together. It’s my most precious work relationship and I’m honored to have her on my team.

BL: What do you do when you are not writing?

DC: I’m Vice President of a fitness product company called Egg Weights as well as a Barre and Yoga teacher.

BL: What are you currently working on?

DC: Ohhhh very exciting stuff. I have my next novel, The Awakening, The Blood-Light Trilogy, #2, coming out May 20th, 2021 and I have nine agents interested in a Beauty and the Beast retelling that I just finished. 

Follow Here To Read Bee's Review of The Reclaimed Kingdom