Sunday’s Author Spotlight: Cynthia Lott

Today I’m excited to have author Cynthia Lott on the
Sunday’s Author Spotlight. Cynthia Lott is the author of The Southern Spectral
Series, which includes the books ‘The Feathers’ published in August 2014, and ‘The
Irises’ published in June 2015. The Southern Spectral Series is a supernatural
thriller series.
Find out more about this thrilling series and learn more about Cynthia Lott in the interview I did with her.

‘The Feathers’, set in New Orleans, is a thriller
suffused with the paranormal.

New Orleans novice detective, Brenda Shapira, investigates murders committed by
a vengeful killer, only to discover that the killer has been dead for one
hundred years. As she unravels this long ago mystery steeped in New Orleans
history and the Yellow Fever epidemic, Brenda realizes that she may be his next
victim.

This book is available through Amazon, BAM, Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository and The Piscataqua Press. 

In 1979 New Orleans, detective Roy Agnew re-enters the
world of the Supernatural. Thrown into another murder investigation, he
realizes that he may be the only person able to stop a killer. In order to
catch a paranormal murderer, Roy must rely on the one thing he struggles with
the most: his faith.

This book is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  

Tell us a little more about who Cynthia Lott is?

Thank you for the interview, Maureen. 🙂 I am a
professional librarian and researcher who loves to read, cook vegetarian meals,
hike, and explore

new places. I love adventure. I also Love animals and
anyone who knows me well can attest to this. 🙂 

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote a lot of poetry in high school and it was my
Creative Writing emphasis when I received my BA from LSU. Poetry was my
foundation and around seven years ago I decided to write a novel…based off of
a dream I had about a man in a bird mask. 

Who inspired you to become a writer?

Reading inspired me to write. Writing also has helped me
better understand the world around me…the personalities of people,
situations, complexities. It’s been terribly cathartic and I’m happy I’ve found
it in my life.

What are your favorite books?

My very first book I adored over and over was The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe. I loved Nancy Drew growing up and I have read
across genres all of my life. One of my favorite novels of all time is The
Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. 

What book are you reading right now?

I am reading a book by James Ziskin called Stone Cold
Dead. I am enjoying it very much. 

Tell us a little more about your series The Southern
Spectral?

My series takes places predominantly in New Orleans and
revolves around two detectives as they explore the world of the
supernatural/paranormal. They’ve been great fun to write and I really adore my
characters. 

What did you like the most about writing your own book?

The thing I love most about writing a book is the alone
time I have with just me and the characters…they speak to me, invite me into
their world and we take it from there. I’m helping them tell a story and the
process is both hard work and very rejuvenating. There’s nothing like it. 

Where do you get your inspiration from? Do you use your
own experiences?

I get a lot of inspiration from daily life, the people I
meet and already know, books I read, places I visit, dreams I have. All of this
filters through my mind and works it way into my books. Sometimes it will be a
conversation I overhear at a coffee shop or grocery store and other times it
will be observations I’ve had since I was a child. 

Can you describe your writing process? Do you have any
sort of ritual you follow?

My writing process starts off as a brief and summarized
outline of characters/situations. I then go into my zone and start writing the
first chapter. That fuels another one and another. I then go back and edit
parts of what I’ve written in order to both tighten it up and see what I’m
missing or lacking. It all builds upon itself. I also have a few amazing beta
readers and an editor who help along the way…beta readers and editors are of
course, crucial.

What do you love most about being an author?

I love being an author because I love giving life to
these characters and sharing their stories. I love readers…making this mental
connection with them through a book. It’s encouraging, stimulating, almost
surreal. 

What would your advice be for aspiring writers?

My advice to aspiring authors would be to finish a
work…have beta readers read it, take advice, listen to your editor, learn.
Then, seek an agent or small press or self-publish or do whatever fits You.
There are so many opportunities now but make sure what you have done is really
ready first. 

What are your future plans in writing?

My future plans are to: finish the third book in the
series in 2016, attend more writing conferences, meet more readers and authors,
learn, learn, learn and just keep writing. There will be more than three books
in the series so I will stick with my Southern Spectral Series for a while now.
🙂 There’s a lot that will happen with it.

Cynthia Lott is a professional researcher/librarian and
writer. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from LSU and an MLS from
UW-Madison. The Feathers is her debut paranormal thriller in The Southern
Spectral Series, published by RiverRun Select. The second book, The Irises,
will be published in June of 2015. Cynthia enjoys hiking, exploring new places,
vegetarian cuisine and hearing life stories over a glass of good wine.

Visit her author website at: www.cynthialott.com where
you can sign up for her newsletter. You can also find Cynthia on Facebook,
Twitter and Pinterest.