Biography
Elizabeth Morris graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University in 2020. Her first book Tiger’s Blood she self-published in 2016 when she was 17 years old. She loves her cats and her family. She is currently working on the Blood of the Beast series and finds inspiration through music, nature and traveling.
Share a little bit about your two books, Tiger’s Blood and Rise of the Rebels.
Tiger’s Blood is about a world called Bitotem that is filled with creatures called Bloods. They are half-animal half-human shapeshifters. In this world the Lion Bloods are the most populated and they live under the protection of their king. One girl discovers she is the rarest Blood of them all, the White Tiger Blood. She goes on a quest to kill the king, and along the way she meets a rebellious Lion Blood, a clever Eagle Blood and a kind-hearted Wolf Blood. Will she succeed in killing the king?
Rise of the Rebels is the sequel to Tiger’s Blood and it’s about the rebels, Kira, Ethan, Noah and Chase taking revenge on the kingdom. The group meets a pair of mysterious Bloods, but they don’t know if they can trust them. When one of the rebel’s gets kidnapped, it’s up to the rest of the Bloods to save them. Will these new Bloods be friends or foes?
What do you expect this series to look like when it’s complete?
I would like to have five books in the series to complete it. I am working on the third book in the series currently. Someone told me a prequel to the series would be great, and I am working on that as well.
Where did your fascination with cats, and specifically tigers, come from?
I’ve always loved cats. I grew up with three cats and two of the cats I’ve had since I was seven. They are 16 years old currently. Tigers have been my favorite animal since elementary school. When I was in fourth grade, I wanted to do an animal project on tigers, but someone took that animal and I ended up with a whale shark. In high school I went to the county fair and there was a lion and tiger show. I got to feed a female white Bengal tiger named Kya at the fair, and that’s where I drew inspiration of my main characters name Kira.
How did you come to the decision to write a book?
I was in middle school doing an English project, when my teacher came up to me and said my writing was amazing and that I should write a book. That was when I decided I wanted to become an author and write a book. I was 13 when I had the idea for my characters and story for Tiger’s Blood and that’s also when I started writing the book.
What piece of advice has helped improve your writing the most?
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” -Earnest Hemmingway. What the great Hemmingway was trying to say here is find your flow and stick with it. For me, when I have my “writers mojo” as I like to call it, I can write for hours. I like to write and not worry about editing until my book is complete. I’d say this piece of advice defined my writing style, which is when I feel inspired, I write. If you don’t like what you are writing, then you are doing it wrong.
How/where/when do you do your best writing? Do you have any strange writing quirks?
How I do my best writing is spontaneously when I feel inspired to write. Where I do my best writing is pretty much anywhere as long as I have my laptop or even my phone. I’ve actually done some of my highest word count writing on my phone rather than my laptop. I do my best writing during the middle of the day if I don’t have much to do. I’d say a writing quirk that I have is talking to myself while I write. Sometimes I will sound out a sentence or dialogue because translating it from my scattered brain to the document can be difficult.
If you could spend the day with any famous author (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
I would probably pick George R. R. Martin because I think we would have an interesting conversation. I absolutely adore his A Song of Ice and Fire series and I would love to get advice from him about how to attract readers. Overall, I think he is an amazing author.
What is your favorite aspect of writing?
My favorite aspect would be that it’s relaxing for me. Writing helps clear my scattered mind by putting words on paper. Writing is a big coping skill for me when I feel anxious or depressed. I don’t think I would be here today if I hadn’t started writing my first book Tiger’s Blood in middle school. Writing saved my life in a sense when I didn’t have any hope left.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I love to go on walks and listen to music when I’m not writing. Music is a big inspiration for me when I write so when I listen on my phone, I think of characters or scenes in my books. Another thing I like to do is read other indie books. I like giving indie authors a chance to be heard.
What does success look like for you as an author?
I think success to me looks like happiness. If you aren’t happy writing, then why are you doing it? I already am successful in my own eyes because I’m happy. I don’t need fame or fortune, even though it would be nice, I just want to put out a book and maybe someone will read it and enjoy it.
Anything additional you want to share with readers?
Thank you for all you have given me. I love connecting with people with my writing and if you decide to buy my book(s) then I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Here are my social medias if you want to follow my journey 😊
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.morris.1401/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlovestowrite/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lizlovestowrite
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18473321.Elizabeth_Abigail_Morris
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lizlovestowrite
Tiger’s Blood: https://books2read.com/u/49lR7d
Rise of the Rebels: https://books2read.com/u/mKRRBB
Book Locations: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, My first one has an Audiobooks so everywhere they are sold.
Excerpt
“Hello?” I yell. All I hear is my own voice echoing back at me. I walk upstairs and it is as quiet as a ghost. I start getting very curious. According to the note, he should be here. This is the only hospital he would go to. Then why isn’t he here? This makes me so angry. I start pacing around in a circle; my hands turn into fists again. I scrunch up my face and close my eyes tightly while tears race down my cheeks. I give up, he said he was at the hospital, and I go there and find no one. He’s probably dead now too, what am I going to do? I start breathing heavy and my heart beats faster than normal. Before I know it I am facing the ground…
I blink my eyes slowly. My body feels heavier than solid gold. I suddenly realize that I am still on the hospital floor. I pick myself up and notice that I’m walking on all fours. I look down at my feet… they are not feet but paws the size of gloves.
Paws? It sounds creepy when I think about it. I look around for a mirror or something reflective. I try to walk to the bathroom, but I’m not doing do well walking on these paws. I slip and trip everywhere. I finally stumble my way into a bathroom and look in the mirror and… I see paws, black stripes and white fur, sharp teeth, small round ears, and a…tail?
Well, I’m obviously dreaming. I close my eyes and try to wake up. I open them and I am still looking at this creature in the mirror. I try to wake myself up. I take one of my claws and pierce it into my other paw. I feel a sharp pain and roar ferociously. I see blood dripping out of my paw, then it hits me like a slap to the face. I’m not dreaming. This is real; I never knew that this was who I was.
My name is Kira, and I am a Tiger Blood.
