Fresh Start September-Interview With Niall Leonard

Hello fellow readers! Today I'm excited to be bringing you an interview with Niall Leonard, author of Crusher.  Crusher looks like an intense, mysterious read. Before we get to the interview with Niall, why don't we learn a bit more about the book?

Publisher: Random House

Published: September 13, 2012

Pages:  384

Buy the Book: Amazon US, Amazon UK, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble

Add this book to your TBR list on Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

To catch a killer,Finn Maguire may have to become one....

Everything changed the day Finn found his father in a pool of blood, bludgeoned to death. His dull, dreary life is turned upside downas he become's the prime suspect. How can he clear his name and find out who hated his dad enough to kill him?

Facing danger at every turn, uncovering dark family secrets and braving the seedy London underworld,Finn is about to discover that only the people you trust can really hurt you....

This sounds so intense doesn't it?? Now that we know a little bit about Crusher, lets learn a bit more about the man behind this intense novel. Here's the interview:

It was revealed that your wife is E. L. James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey and that she encouraged you to write Crusher, did her success help your motivation to write this novel?

It wasn’t her success that motivated me, because when I wrote Crusher only a few people knew of her book, and I have had quite a successful career in TV.  But what did motivate me was the fun she had writing Fifty Shades, and how much she loved the story she was telling.  When you write for TV you have to follow certain rules, and it can get tiresome.  When you write for yourself you can make up your own rules and do things the way you want to see them done.  Even though it was hard work I enjoyed writing Crusher just as much as my wife enjoyed writing Fifty Shades. 

Crusher was written during NaNoWriMo, have you ever participated in the national writing 

challenge before?

No, 2011 was the first time I took part.  It was not the first time I had tried to write a book, but thanks to NaNoWriMo it was the first time I finished one.

How much, if any, of the personality traits of the characters in Crusher are based on your own personality or the personalities of people in your life?

Maguire’s dad is a grumpy Irishman trying to write a show for television and never managing to finish it.   A lot of that is based on me, and a lot of the things he says are the things I say when I’m feeling fed up and annoyed. But I’ve had much better luck than Maguire.  Finn is who I’d like to be – smart, funny and tough. It’s great being able to write someone who gets to say and do all the things you’d like to say and do if you were funny enough and brave enough.   

If Crusher was picked up by a film studio, which actors would you like to be cast for the main characters?

This is a very hard question because Finn Maguire is only seventeen so the actor to play him would probably be someone no-one has ever heard of.  I often think the part needs a young Liam Neeson. Liam is a big man from Northern Ireland who was a champion boxer in his teens.  For Finn’s dad I would go for an actor like James Nesbitt, another Irishman like me and a wonderfully funny, warm actor who can also play very tough roles.

Do you have a special talent or skill that is unusual? If so, what is it?

If I hear a song a few times I usually remember the lyrics forever.  Even the words to awful songs I’d rather forget.

If you could make any animal domestic, which animal would you love to have as a pet?

Wild animals are always better off and happier in the wild, but I wouldn’t mind a pet bear that let me lie back on him as if he was a sofa. I like the fact that bears look cuddly and shambling but have razor-sharp claws six inches long. In fact deep down I’d rather be a bear than have one as a pet.

I want to say a huge thank you to Niall Leonard for participating in Fresh Start September  and allowing Daphne, Faye and I to bring you this interview!

As a bonus part of  Fresh Start September, we are giving everyone a chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! The prizes include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will run until the end of the event (30th of  September). Remember to follow the Twitter and Facebook pages of the prizes you want to win, for example, to be eligible to win the Strange Chemistry Prize, you must follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway