Today, I am super excited to bring you an interview with the author of Dark Inside (you know, that book I’ve been talking about non stop since I read it), Jeyn Roberts. She was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to give us the inside scoop on writing Dark Inside as well as some interesting tidbits on what’s coming next. Let’s do this!

ReaWrite: Thank you so much for answering some questions about Dark Inside! How did you initially come up with the idea? How many books are you planning for this series?

Jeyn: When I was a teenager, I used to have a series of dreams that revolved around a river. In these dreams, the world was over and occupied by people whom we could no longer trust. Some of the scenes in Dark Inside are taken directly from certain dreams. The story didn’t fully come to me until I was living in South Korea though. Currently there are plans for three books but I have considered four.

ReaWrite: From concept to completion, how long did Dark Inside take to write?

Jeyn: It took me three months to write Dark Inside from start to finish. I also worked with my agent and then later my editors to perfect the mistakes and make the story stronger.

ReaWrite: Dark Inside has some pretty heart-wrenching scenes. Which was the most difficult for you to write?

Jeyn: I had a lot of trouble with Chickadee’s scenes. She was one of my favourite characters to create. Mason’s first chapter was hard too because I was dealing with a very disturbing scene. I wanted to get it just right.

ReaWrite: Baggers.  Can you explain who they are and what motivates them? What percentage of the population survived as Baggers? I was surprised that these crazed killing types would work together so easily, are they working towards something?

Jeyn: Whew, that’s a toughie. Baggers are the monsters inside of us, brought to the surface. A great evil has managed to get inside our heads, forcing us to act on our most terrible secrets. They only make up less than ten percent of the population. So there aren’t really a lot of them to begin but they quickly overpower the rest. They are working towards something. There’s a lot more detail about them in Rage Within. Basically, in book two, the Baggers are rebuilding society, transforming the last of mankind into a new world order.

ReaWrite: Did you have any trouble switching between character perspectives while writing?

Jeyn: No, not really. I really enjoyed it. It was fun, using different personalities during pretty much the same situations.

 ReaWrite: You have four extremely fleshed out main characters. Which one do you most relate to?

 Jeyn: I would have to say Aries. I think there’s a little bit of everyone in me. I can have Mason’s moodiness, Clementine’s determination, Michael’s desires, but it’s Aries’ awkward ability that I found myself closest too. I’d probably end up doing the same things she did.

ReaWrite: We still have quite awhile to wait before book #2, Rage Within. Are there any hints you can give your readers about what we can expect from the next book?

Jeyn: I had a lot of fun with Rage Within, especially now that all the characters are together. As I said above, the Baggers are beginning to rebuild their world. They’re rounding up survivors and forcing them into slavery to clean up Vancouver. There are some really great new characters including a Chemist major named Raj and a competitive survivor named Ryder. Daniel plays a much larger part in Rage Within too. There’s also a bit of kissing but I won’t say who.

ReaWrite: Finally, what are you reading now?

Jeyn: I’m actually re-reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It’s my favourite book and I have to read it at least once a year. I just finished Rot and Ruin and had to run out late at night to get Dust and Decay. Great series. I highly recommend it.