Sunday, July 12, 2020

The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers A Craven Falls Mystery Book 1 by Donna M. Zadunajsky Genre: YA Mystery



  • What inspired you to write this book?

I don’t know about inspired, I just love teen drama and what’s more interesting than finding a dead girl under the bleachers. You hear about teen girls having some kind of disagreement and then one of them stabs or kills the other girl because of jealousy. There was a news story, I think back on the early 1990’s when two girls brutally killed another teenage girl and it has stuck in my mind all these years. I can’t really remember why they did it.

 

  • What can we expect from you in the future?

More books

 

  • Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?

No

 

  • Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in your books?

The book that I’m touring right now is The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers, but the one character that intrigues me the most is Reece Garran from Twisted Secrets. Reece is a male character that I love and have placed him in the Craven Falls series. He’s not only handsome, but intelligent. He’s good at finding things out, although he’s not a detective. He’s an ex-military man and works at the local grocery store during the winter months and does construction in the summer. He’s in the books Buried Secrets and The Body in the Road, which come out later this year. Book 2 and 3 of the Craven Falls series.

 

  • How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?

Laura is the outcast who gets bullied by Scarlet. Rachel was once Laura’s friend, but wanted to be popular and now hangs with the Queen Bitch, Scarlet. Like I mentioned in another question about three girls and two of them killing the other, this is what I had in mind, but the story has a twisted ending.

 

  • Where did you come up with the names in the story?

The names usually come to me when I’m writing. Sometimes the name changes, but most of the time the name fits the character.

 

  • What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I love writing about high school drama.

 

  • Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?

Scarlet is a handful and only thinks of herself, where Laura is more like I was in school. She was bullied and pretty much keeps to herself. Rachel is like the monkey in the middle. Once was friends with Laura, who she traded in for Scarlet, but realizes what a bitch Scarlet is and makes a change.

How did you come up with the title of your first novel? Broken Promises is a book based on a broken heart from a marriage. The novel is 75% based on real events of my marriage with an abusive alcoholic.

 

  • Who designed your book covers?

My novel book covers are designed by Travis Miles. My children’s book covers were designed by Judith Bicking.

 

  • If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

No

 

  • Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

Yes. I won’t lie because writing is a hard job. If it were easy everyone would be a writer. The more you read the better at writing you will get. The more you write the easier the concept will be for you. Like they say, practice makes perfect.

 

  • If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers would be a great fit for Zoey Deutch and Halstson Sage

Anything specific you want to tell your readers? Book 2 will reveal secrets that weren’t answered in book 1 and book 3 will concluded the mystery of book 1 and 2 of the series. Everything will be answered.

 

  • How did you come up with name of this book?

I drove passed a high school and saw the bleachers and the title came to me as The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers. I’m not sure why I like to write about people getting killed, I just do. But I like reading teen romance books too, lol

 

  • What is your favorite part of this book and why?

The night of the Homecoming dance. Why? Because it’s when everything comes out. The who, the what, and the why.

 

  • If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?

Reece Garran, he is a character in Twisted Secrets and so hot. He would be fun to spend the day with doing whatever.

 

  • Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

HELP ME!  Book 1 is based off of real characters as the story line is from real events. Some of my books are parts of my own life that I have placed somewhere in the book, but the book has nothing to do with me. Except for BROKEN PROMISES, which is my life with an alcoholic.

 

  • Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?

My characters at times seem to take over the story and go in a different direction, usually for the better. Like I never know the ending until I get to the ending because what I have planned sometimes doesn’t work out.

 

  • Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.

It’s a gripping mystery that draws you in guessing who the killer/killers are.

 

  • Have you written any other books that are not published?

Many, but they are rough drafts

 

  • What did you edit out of this book?

A lot. The book ended with 91,000 words and is now at 75,000

 

  • Is there a writer which brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?

Stephen King. That’s all there is to say. He’s Brilliant.

 

 



Three girls… 

Three dead bodies… 

The quiet town of Craven Falls is depleting in population. One by one… 

Scarlet Fitzgerald thought it would be fun to play a game on Laura Stevenson, a nobody at Craven Falls High. But what happens when the game unleashes buried secrets Scarlet doesn’t want anyone to know? Secrets that could get someone killed, including herself. 

Three can play a game, but one of them ends up dead… 





Book Trailer:
https://youtu.be/UqxdmACMYqM






Donna M. Zadunajsky started out writing children's books before she wrote and published her first novel, Broken Promises, in June 2012. She since has written several more novels and her first novella, HELP ME! Book 1 in the series, which is about teen suicide and bullying.





$25 Amazon Gift Card 

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