I went searching for the people who needed a voice. I wanted to give them a voice.
Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a great week. I spend my week hiding out in my writer's cave [kitchen table] enjoying the process of beginning a new novel, my ninth. The first few chapters are always the hardest part of the book, but I'm in my happy place.
Today, I'm thrilled to showcase a first-timer on my blog, Bethany-Kris, author of Loyalty and Disgrace.
Bethany-Kris, I can't thank you enough for sitting down today with us. To start off this interview, tell us a little about yourself--the real woman behind the writer and how came to write Loyalty and Disgrace?
Hi, Nancy. Thanks
for having me!
I always find these
bits in interviews come off the same when I answer, and so I will try to do
something different this time. So, I am a mother of four young boys which means
I don’t do anything without someone needing me, wanting something, or climbing
up my legs. I have three dogs, one cat, and a hubby. I’m boring as hell in real
life because well, I don’t have a
life beyond writing and my kiddos.
That’s the way I
like it.
I have lived an
interesting life before all of this, but that’s another story for another day.
The John + Siena duet was a set of books
that I have been waiting to write ever since Johnathan was born to a character
(Lucian) in one of my earlier works (Filthy
Marcellos: Lucian). Mind you, it’s not required for you to read the
Marcellos series—I simply have a habit of refusing to let go of my characters,
and letting them have their own big world and life. I continue them on as
standalone series or novels, and that’s what happened with John. I knew he was
different and special due to his own set of circumstances, and I really just
wanted to put him down on paper. That’s how those two books were born.
Bethany, I'm the same way with my own characters. I just can't let them go and have to write their stories--because they won't allow me a good night's sleep if I ignore them for too long.
I'm sure a lot of
people ask you how you manage to get so much writing done with four young boys,
but do you think your boys (or being a mother of all boys) have shaped the way
you write in any way?
It has—a lot,
actually. There seems to be this trend in romance where men are getting labeled
as heroes who have literally no business being called a hero. Sure, authors can
slap the pretty dark romance tag on
it and think they’re safe, but I call garbage on that kind of thing. I write my
heroes the way I want my sons to be, and how I am trying to raise them.
As good men. And sure, my heroes tend to
fall on the gray side of life—not entirely good people, but not the villains,
either—but at the end of the day, they are good men who love their wives, and
treat their children well. They protect their family, and honor it.
That’s how my sons
have influenced the way I write.
My daughter has a very small tattoo on her wrist that says simply, WORDS. As authors, our words have an unique power to drive change. Your sons are very lucky to you in their lives...just saying.
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was nineteen, had my first son, and was battling severe post-partum
depression. I woke up one day, and needed an outlet for everything that was
going on inside my head. And that was sort of how this was born for me. I just
went from there.
