Biography
Elle Chardou is a world traveler and author of
several different series.
Ms. Chardou is the author of The Ties That Bind Trilogy, The Atonement Series, The Hart Family Saga, The Vamp Saga, The Supernaturals, Beginnings:
Book I (The Plague) series.
She is currently working on Killing Me Softly from The Ties That Bind, Only Love from The Atonement Series, and
several novellas for her paranormal series.
Ms. Chardou has lived abroad in Stockholm
(Sweden), Manchester (England), Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland.
She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Contact Information
If you have enjoyed this novelette, please feel
free to follow my live blog:
The Beautiful People:
A Writer’s Journey located http://thebeautifulpeopleawritersjourney.blogspot.com.
Follow Elle Chardou on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/dblanchbenz007
Like Elle Chardou on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Elle.Chardou
If you would like to email me, I can be reached
at: ellechardou@gmail.com
Okay, I totally stole this from Stacia Kane's blog but I loved the idea! Speaking of Ms. Kane, she has a totally cool website so you should definitely check it out! I'll give you the info at the end.
Ten Things About Elle
1. Your genre(s)?
My genre will always be romance or some form thereof though I have been known to do contemporary, erotic (not erotica as there is a difference), paranormal, dystopian and even -- grasp! -- horror. I am an artist so I don't limit myself and as a reader you don't have to buy everything I write. I assume most of y'all will cherry-pick anyway.
2. How many books have you completed?
I love serials and series so I have completed one long damn serial, The Beautiful People (which consisted of eight novellas), Death Wish and Better Off Dead in The Vamp Saga (and a novella, Death Lair), Beginnings in The Plague series, Love Voodoo in the DeGeneration series, The Catalyst in my other serial, The Pop Stars, and Forever 27, a novelette in The 27 Club series.
3. How many books are you working on now?
*Breathe* Okay, I am almost finished writing Queen of the Undead in The Vamp Saga (72k and counting), Hart Attack, the first novel in The Hart Family Saga (another paranormal series), Apocalypse 2012 in The Plague series, The Making of a Star in The Pop Stars serial and Love Game in the DeGeneration series. Plus, I am co-writing a novel with a writer friend of mine, a horror-thriller, Ties That Unbind. I'm tired just thinking about my year...
4. Are you a linear or chunk writer?
I try to work on one project at a time so it makes it easier for me to maintain consistency. That list above, that is the order of the books with the exception of the one I am co-writing. I write that one when I get it back from my co-author, write my part and then send it to him via email and Drop Box.
5. The POV (= Point of View) you’re most partial to?
I'm not. I love first person though it can definitely have its limitations. I usually stick with third person though. The HUGE exception to this rule is The Vamp Saga. The first novel is written in first person but the rest are a mix of first and third person. There are some people out there this irks but what can I say? I love Manon and I *can't* write her in third but I also love some of the other characters and thought they should get a word in too. Hence the bastard project it has become involving both POVs.
6. The themes that keep cropping up in your books?
Female empowerment, strength, change and staying true to one's self. None of these are ever easy but nothing in life worth fighting for ever is so there you have it.
7. How many days a week do you write?
Everyday. There is no such thing as writer's block for me. I began Apocalypse 2012 but my Vamp Saga muse didn't want to let go so I began the third novel. Due to my schedule, I write at least 2k each day and can finish a first draft in anywhere between four and six weeks.
8. What time of day do you get your best writing done?
The evening. I have two children under the age of ten so when they are sleeping or are about to go down, I find myself most creative. Plus, I can have a glass of wine while I write... yes, I sometimes write toasted but I do all my revisions dead sober and I have an editor just to make sure she catches all the mistakes I don't. Plus, I have some great writers who act as beta readers and guinea pigs for those other pesky mistakes neither of us catch. I will upload and re-do a book that isn't perfect countless times. I do it all the time as it is a bit easier with the e-books than print but there is no such thing as "done" for me if mistakes are found.
9. What kind of music do you listen to when you write?
I'm a child of Generation X and I listen to everything but when I write paranormal/horror, I need some hard rocking music. My favorites: Deftones (Diamond Eyes and Best Of albums are classics), Marilyn Manson (Mechanical Animals, and Eat Me, Drink Me are two of my faves but I have every album ever made), Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein...I also listen to a lot of French hip-hop (Sinik, Diam's, MC Solaar) and French music in general (too many artists to count!). And I love some good pop music so Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Britney Spears, and Madonna are never far away...neither is Mylene Farmer for the matter, my favorite French pop star.
10. What the hell is up with your love affair with France?
Yeah, la Belle France gets mentioned a lot in a myriad of my novels. Better Off Dead and Queen of the Undead take place there as does most of Beginnings and Apocalypse 2012 will be a revisit (yet again). The DeGeneration series takes place almost entirely in France. My other love affair is French influenced even if it is in the States. Hart Attack takes place in New Orleans.
I just love France, French culture, the language and desperately can't wait until I can live there for a couple of years and write. I have lots of French friends and am partial to the Ile-de-France area of the country (though it is often cold, rainy and overcast). Plus, who wouldn't want their children to be bi-lingual? And did I mention the wine and the cheese and the food? Everything is better with a French accent! ;-)
Top Ten Signs a Book was written by Danielle
1. First Person/Third person... both in one book? Whatever.
Yeah, we addressed this earlier. However I can best tell a story, it is the POV I am going to choose. I am seriously thinking of making The Hart Family Saga first and third but I need to find out how well Better Off Dead is received as it is written in this manner and if people are turned off, THFS will be written in strictly third POV.
2. Intricate family ties/No family ties.
This probably has to do with my own family upbringing and the stories I read as a child. One will notice there is always a lot going on in my novels. People are either very close to family or they have nothing to do with them or seem to be close when they are far away. It has a lot to do with my own philosophy about family.
3. People drink, smoke and do drugs.
Yeah, I believe in being realistic. There are rich people out there who (gasp!) do drugs (or did you think the drug dealers were making all their money off the impoverished)? And yeah, some characters drink like fish and smoke like chimneys. Again, it's part of life and I like to be realistic in this manner if nothing else.
4. Nothing's what it seems; first impressions of characters can be deceiving.
Life is a very amazing phenomenon. People are a strange and fascinating species. I truly do believe we all have two faces: one we wear for the public and one for our intimate acquaintances. You will see this in ALL my novels. No one ever really knows another unless you are intimate with them.
5. The enemy of my friend isn't necessarily my enemy.
I don't believe in truly good and truly bad characters. Everyone means something to someone out there so even the "bad" guys/gals can be sympathetic and even the "good" guys/gals can annoy the hell out of you. No one is perfect, especially in my world.
6. Witty, sometimes funny dialogue (not always at the best times).
I love to make people laugh and sometimes it can happen at the most inopportune times but such as life. I can get dramatic with the dialogue sometimes but just because someone hasn't graduated from Harvard doesn't mean they can't speak properly or hold an intelligent conversation. Some people are schooled in life and sometimes that is the best education: a degree from the Hard Knocks Academy.
7. Men are hot and women are smokin'.
Yeah, I write fiction. Occasionally, I might have an unattractive character but they will never be a hero or heroine. I love beauty and I would think most people want to read about attractive people. If that isn't your cup of tea, there are plenty of authors who write about realism.
8. Characters are going to have great, kinky and sometimes fast sex.
Not every sex scene should take up ten pages. Sometimes, I will have a half-page of hot sweaty sex and it can still be good. Sex isn't always vanilla either. I've worked hard to shed my inner prude, which is pretty hard when you are raised Catholic. :-/
9. Heroes are blond or dark haired, most of the time with light eyes/heroines are lithe and can be petite or amazonian in stature.
I find both blond and dark haired men attractive and light eyes are hot to me. So you will see a lot of my heroes with this description. Not all the time but much of the time. I actually think blond men can be very hot yet demonic at the same time...I don't buy into that whole fair-haired heroine/dark man. I actually switch it around and have a dark or exotic woman and a fair man much of the time.
I love thin women so most of my characters will be lithe. I have been battling the same twenty pounds which keeps me from being slim and it drives me crazy. I don't write zaftig women very well so I avoid them. I also write about a lot of tall women but that has to do with me being a shrimp (and I have always been jealous of tall, slender catalog models).
10. I mix my sex and violence.
Yep...as the Bush tune goes, "there's no sex in your violence"...well, they weren't talking about my novels. I love mixing the two because sex is violence. Think about it. It can be beautiful but it can also be brutal so yes, you will read a novel by me which has both. Not all novels but it can happen so you've been warned. ;-)
Her website is here: http://www.staciakane.net/
