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Featured Author - Lauren Hodge
Tell us about your book(s) The Discord Trilogy is a paranormal suspense/romance about four hereditary sister witches who serve The Milunfra, the organization that governs elemental blood power witches all over the world. Although our sisters are only half bloods, they are elementally balanced - Earth, Air, Fire, Water. The fact halflings serve in the order is amazing, their capabilities make them legendary.
The eldest of the sisters is Taralie Severin. At twenty-nine years old, she's an earth witch and her blood power is that of a mimic. She can use any power as long as she can see its owner. Three years younger than her is Arianna, an air witch who can astral project. Seven years younger than Tara are the twins, Augusta and Coralia. Augusta is a water witch who can receive visions of the future while Coralia is a fire witch and telekinetic. Their mother died giving birth to the twins leaving their human father, Blake, to raise them as normal humans.
Inducted into the Milunfran order when the twins turned ninteen, they had to earn their reputation. But even with their amazing capabilities, half bloods are sneered at by the Milunfra. Genetic dead ends that won't yield another generation of witches with blood powers. This isolates them from the rest of the organization and makes it easy for the Twelve, (the governing body of the Milunfra) to issue an execution order for Tara when she's changed into a vampire.
Our sisters go on the run, hunted by both the vampires that changed Tara and the Milunfra. Although fugitives, they meet other vampires in hiding from the vamperic government, The Noricum.
Learning about the dangerous new world they live in, the sisters must learn to trust their new allies while at the same time, holding on to their hearts.
The second book in The Discord Trilogy, Abomination, comes out early July 2013
Where did the idea of your (latest) book come from? I had 
already written two all human books and was almost done with a third when the Discord bug bit me. I'd never done a paranormal book before and as a result, it doesn't sound like anything in its genre. The idea comes from wanting to address real world issues but using paranormal as a vehicle to explore it. The wonderful part about paranormal is you can have a small group of people be as powerful as a ruling government. How does a tyrannical government respond to that? What kind of moral restrictions are placed on those with so much power? Thing about paranormal is normally, that's the focus of the story. In The Discord Trilogy, the powers are a means to an end, not the end itself.
Who and what inspires you to write your books? I feel like I owe it to my characters to write them out.
Each author has his/her own fascinating journey. How did you begin writing? I started reading fiction after the Twilight movie came out. I normally didn't touch fiction. I preferred medical research, current events, sociology, and philosophy. I wanted to know what the driving emotion behind Twilight was that made it such a hit and in the process of that research, I stumbled on to Twilight FanFiction. After a few months of reading a huge variety of stories, I found I was addicted to fiction. I started wondering if I could write a FanFic. I wrote my first book and after I was done, I experienced character death. They were my friends and they died. I found I couldn't stop writing and here I am.
What has been the most pleasant surprise about being a writer? How about the most unexpected downside? Pleasant surprise is I get to spend time with guy characters I'd actually want to date. Down side is marketing. It's the horrible mother in law you didn't know about when you married writing.
Do you have any particular writing routines or rituals? Reading what I've written in the chapter and then picking up from there. Also, research. Every single geographical location is a real place. Every single historical event is real and Greek mythology we use is accurate. Even the character's names are pulled from the historical events they're from. The Severin sister's home in Toronto, Canada is the Kane House. Alex's house in Chicago is one I found on Zillow. The Noricum's castle in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France is the Castle Museum. I mean EVERY single setting is a real place.
I now know more about the migratory paths of Europe than I ever wanted to
Do you write in order? I start with a paragraph outline. Basically, it's the points I want to flush out in that chapter. Rule is to have at least 15 chapters outlined before I start actually writing. Chapter outlines are meant to be deleted and redone. It's why I don't finish the chapter outline before I start writing. It lets the characters dictate the story, not me.
What is on your playlist when you write? I don't listen to music when I write, but I do whenever I'm not writing. I actually make a playlist like a soundtrack for the book. I listen to that whenever I'm not writing. Two Steps From Hell and Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack all have ridiculous amounts of listens on my iTunes.
Favorite writing snack? Rockstars and Cheetoes.
Where do you like to write? Hunched over on my bed, sitting cross-legged with poor typing posture and some sort of energy drink.
Do you have any advice for authors wanting to publish? Don't write because you want to be listened to. Write because you have a story inside in your head and it's using your fingers to get out. Take your ego out of it because if you don't, marketing will destroy you.
Are you currently working on anything else? The third book in the trilogy, Rubicon, is getting edited. I'm also a contributer for ViralReads and I write for the Discordia Book Blog
Who is your favorite character and why? Everyone likes Cora. She says what everyone is thinking and does what everyone wishes they could. Even with that, I like Tara the best. Of course I do, that's why she's the protagonist. Although I will say, I'm having the best time writing short stories from the trilogy in other character's point of view and publishing them exclusively on The Discord Trilogy website. I've got one from the Noricum North American Prefect's point of view about him hunting the sisters. Right now I'm working on a short from Aggie's point of view when Tara is kidnapped. We get to see dimensions of the Milunfran and Noricum sociological and governmental structures we don't get in the Discord.
Favorite book of all time? C.S. Lewis - Screwtape Letters
Breakfast says a lot about a person. What is your perfect breakfast? My perfect breakfast is rolling over, picking up my laptop, turning it on, and being surprised to find I didn't eat all the Jelly Bellies off my bedside table the night before. Behold...breakfast.
Please tell us in one sentence why we should read your book
The Golden Apple of Discord has real sister relationships that are quite honestly, really funny, romance that isn't shallow or contrived, and an epic struggle between an aristocracy and those who seek to protect the innocent.
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