Author Guest Post With Jen Minkman

Jen Minkman has kindly agreed to guest post here about her work, and share her inspiration for becoming a writer in honor of her newest release, Shadow of Time.
 

 About The Author:

Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.

In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.

Find Jen Minkman on the Web:
Twitter | Official Page | Goodreads | Facebook

 Guest Post:

Why would anyone want to write YA paranormal romance these days? The market is swamped by books that are all revolving around the same theme - average girl (usually a Mary Sue in disguise) meets bad, mysterious boy (usually a vampire/immortal/werewolf) who doesn't treat the girl particularly nice, but there is a reason for this jack-assery: they can't be together so the boy has to stay away from her. Of course, he can't... because their love is meant to be, and the girl and boy know this immediately after laying eyes on each other. This couldn't possibly be told in just one book, so there is a trilogy: in book one, they end up together, in book two, they are torn apart (because there was a big reason why they shouldn't be together in the first place) and in book three, they end up together after all. It may sound all to familiar to die-hard fans of the genre, and it might have even turned them off the genre completely by now.

In my own country, the Netherlands, there are no YA paranormal romance writers. No published ones, at least. There are tons of people who write stuff like this (and even more original stuff than this!) but since there are so many English bestsellers to choose from and invest in, the paranormal romance writers of Holland are having a hard time getting their stuff out there. There is always a safer book to invest in, publishers think, and they are probably right.

With this in mind, I started writing my own YA paranormal romance, set in Navajo Nation, featuring Native American mythology. Something that hadn't been done to death yet. After finishing the book, I kept sending my manuscript to publishers until one of them gave me a chance. Mission of becoming the first-ever paranormal romance writer in Holland accomplished! 

And then, I decided to make an English translation of the book so I could cross the border and get my work out there in front of a much larger audience. So far, each and every single reviewer has said that the book is something new, fresh, original and well-written. And even though Shadow of Time still SORT OF relies on a secret keeping the two main characters apart, and even though the boy is a bit of a jerk for at least two chapters in the book, I can safely say this is not a re-play of so many other books in the same genre out there. This is what I set out to do: to contribute something new and original to the YA book market - first in my own country, and then, everywhere else!

  Shadow Of Time:

Title: Shadow of Time

Author: Jen Minkman

Publication Date: January 1, 2013
Publisher:CreateSpace

All Hannah needs is a nice and quiet vacation after her first year of teaching French at a high school. She joins her brother Ben for the summer in their mom’s log cabin in Arizona. There, she meets Josh again, Ben’s childhood friend from the Navajo reservation. The little boy from the rez has grown up fast, and Hannah can’t help but feeling more for him than just friendship.

But fate apparently has something else in store for her. And it’s not peace and quiet. Night after night, Hannah is plagued by strange nightmares about the past of Navajo Nation and terrifying shadows chasing her. They seem to come closer – and why is Josh always present in her dreams?

Sometimes, the past has a way of catching up with you.

Find Shadow of Time Online:  

Goodreads

Happy reading until next time!