Fresh Blood: Ashley Elston

First, I’d like to say thanks for the warm welcome! I’m so excited to be a part of this group.

 A little about me and how I ended up here:

I’ll read just about anything but I love thrillers. And what I love most about thrillers is that edge of your seat feeling when danger is only a step or two away and the bad guy turns out to be the one person you least expected.

I didn’t expect to write a thriller, though. I spent years working as a wedding photographer and I really thought if I ever got lucky enough to publish a book; it would be a romantic comedy using some of the more amusing scenes I’d witnessed through my lens. But then I had this idea that just stuck in my head. It was really just a scene, and one so clear it was like I was back behind the camera.

These are the images that were lodged in my brain: A girl in a dark bathroom with just a single bare-bulbed light overhead. She is hopeless. Her long, blonde hair is chopped off and what remains is dyed a really dark black. Color contacts are put in place to change her eyes. Her appearance transforms as she watches from the mirror and with each change, the girl looks more and more broken. You don’t know her name or why these drastic changes are being made to her appearance but you know she is trying to disappear.

Where is she? Who is after her? Why does she look so broken? I built THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING around that scene because I had to know the rest of the story.

Will I ever get to that romantic comedy? Maybe. But for now, I’m thrilled to write thrillers.

Ashley Elston lives in Northwest Louisiana with her husband and three sons. Her debut, THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING, will be published by Disney Hyperion on May 14, 2013. She’s hard at work on the sequel. Check out her website or look for her on Twitter or Facebook. You can also add THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING to your shelf on Goodreads.