Author Interview 124- Kim Padgett-Clarke – Romance

Welcome to Kim Padgett-Clarke

Where are you from and where do you live now? I live in Blackpool in the UK

Please tell us a little about your writing – genre, title, etc. Made Of Glass is a contemporary romance with a dark element

Where do you find inspiration? From absolutely everything. I can be reading a newspaper, watching TV, or from real people. An idea can come from anywhere.

Are your characters based on real people? They are not based on anyone in particular but the theme running through the story is one that most people can relate to such as control freaks, being overly protective and vulnerability.

In what formats are your books available? (E-books, print, large print audio) Are you intending to expand these and if not, what is the reason? Made Of Glass is available as an E-book and paperback. I am looking into other formats.

Do you self-edit? If so why is that the case? Do you believe a book suffers without being professionally edited? I do self-edit initially but then I send the book to a professional editor and copy-editor. It is a long time since I have been at school so my grammar and punctuation skills are not great. Sometimes you get involved with the story so deeply that you can’t see the flaws or you might go off-track so I feel an editor is very important. Unless you are top-notch at both of these skills it can result in a book that doesn’t look as professional as it could be.

Do you think indie/self-published authors are viewed differently to traditionally published authors? Why do you think this might be? Things are changing in the publishing world and I believe that indie authors are finally gaining respect. The vast majority of indie books with professional covers and content would sit beside any traditionally published book and I bet the buyer would not know which is which.

Do you read work by self-published authors? Definitely. I have come across some gems along the way which I would haven’t have read otherwise.

When buying a book do you read the reviews? I do read the reviews but if a book didn’t have any reviews I would still think about buying it if the storyline appealed to me. I wish more of the general public would leave reviews if they like a book even if it is a one-liner as getting feedback is so valuable to the author.

What are your reviews on authors reviewing other authors? It can be a good thing because they would look at the book in a different way. They would have more experience in pointing out areas that are strong and areas that are weak.

What experiences can a book provide that a movie or video game cannot? Movies and video games are developed from someone else’s imagination whereas with a book it is your own imagination that sees the scenes and what the characters look like so that’s limitless.

What three pieces of advice would you give to new writers?

Keep writing even if it is just for pleasure. Research outlets and markets if you intend to sell your book. Don’t give up even when it feels like an uphill battle.

What are your views on authors offering free books?

I have just finished a Goodreads Giveaway for Made Of Glass. Quite a lot of people entered the competition so it is great to know that all these people would have liked to read the book and it is a great way to get your book to a wider audience. It also increases the chance of getting that all important review.

Do you have a favourite movie? One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. I have seen it so many times that I could almost quote the script.

Do you have any pets? I don’t have any pets myself but I do cat and dog sitting and walking dogs. It’s the best of both worlds because I have the wonderful experience of having an animal without the vet’s fees etc!

Can you give us a silly fact about yourself? I like collecting skulls. Not real ones of course! I think it comes from my early teens as I used to watch an awful lot of horror movies and read horror stories. I have t-shirts, handbags, money jars etc with skull images. All my friends know what to buy me for Christmas and birthdays.

Book links, website/blog and author links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32864582-made-of-glass

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00CUFR5HO

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00CUFR5HO

 

 

 

Author Interview Number Eleven – M Keep Erotica Author

Hi and welcome to the Library of Erana, a place of words and of their magic. Words are power, they are knowledge and they are freedom.

Welcome to M. Keep, co-author with her partner J.E. Keep!

Please tell us a little about yourself. My partner and I are authors who have been writing for over 10 years but only publishing for the last year and a bit. When we’re not writing, we love the typical geeky fare – video games, Lovecraftian Horror, the Call of C’thulhu RPG, Forgotten Realms books, and a ton of movies and TV shows.

Please tell us a little about your writing – for example genre, title, etc. We’re geeks who love fantasy and scifi games and movies, and hated that other books so often ‘faded to black’. So many authors indulge in gratuitous violence, but the sex and romance gets a handwave at best. We wanted all of the scifi/fantasy, and all of the sex, so that’s what we usually write! It’s usually very dark, like a lot of scifi/fantasy these days, and the sex is very explicit.

Where can readers find your book (s)? On most ebook retailers – Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, AllRomance, Smashwords are the big ones.

How long have you been writing and what, if anything, made you choose the genre in which you write? Well, I’ve been personally writing since I was a kid. I got put in all these special writing classes when I was young and that really started me off. As for genre, we really did want more books to have explicit sex, but we also don’t like the limitations of contemporary. Fantasy and Scifi give you more freedom to write what you want without being bogged down by the truth.

Who or what are your inspirations/influences? I absolutely love how Elaine Cunningham and Lisa Smedman handled the Drow in Forgotten Realms. They were big inspirations for me in regards to world building. The woman I admire most for her writing prowess is definitely Margaret Atwood, especially the MaddAddam trilogy. She’s an amazing author. As for influences, we draw from all over the place, from all our entertainment. World of Warcraft was a big influence for a long time, and Lovecraft is the biggest influence for all our horror stories. Also of note are Joss Whedon’s universes, Battlestar Galactica, and Veronica Mars.

Can you name a positive experience from your writing and a negative one? The first weekend of May we were keynote speakers for “Risque Sex Expo”, which is just what it sounds like! We gave speeches, and erotic readings, and it really boosted our confidence in our work and allowed us to meet some of our fans in person – and make a lot of new ones. It was an amazing experience to work beside my partner all day talking about our books. As for a negative one, well, I think censorship and the tumultuousness of erotica is the most negative thing happening right now.

Basically, Amazon and Barnes and Noble have been ‘suppressing’ erotic fiction from search results, so readers are unable to easily find what they’re searching for. There’s been no ‘safe search on/off’ switch added to either site, so people who want erotic books are having a harder time finding it, and it’s lowered people’s sales a lot.

It hasn’t affected us too badly, but the knowledge that someone has so much control over your income is hard to handle.

Though personally my partner would probably say a blog post he wrote some time ago. It got picked up by a majour website and completely misconstrued, even down to his gender. We were flooded with countless hate-mail and comments, some of which called him things like a “feminist harpy bitch”. It’s funny in retrospect, but it bothers him to have people still to this day making a fuss about a blog post which they obviously never even read.

As a writer of erotica have you encountered any prejudice?  How have you dealt with it? Do you write under a pen name? We do, though we’re fairly open about it. We do public appearances, which isn’t something most erotic authors consider. Many romance authors do appearances, but less erotica authors. As for prejudice, we used to get a lot of it when we were writing fanfiction. We’d have people read our stories – in great quantity and depth – just to insult us for the kinks or whatever. In the end, though, they were reading them, and I think they were just lashing out because they liked them 😉

Where do you think the lines are drawn between romance, erotica and porn?  Well, it varies from person to person, but I think most will agree that it will vary on how much the plot is the focus on how much sex is. Every book is different and sometimes it just goes along with the tone of the writing, but the more focus there is on sex, the closer to porn it becomes.

Erotica is not a new genre do you think it is becoming more accepted into mainstream reading? I think more people are admitting to reading it, and it’s becoming a bit more common to talk about it. With Romance novels from the 80s and 90s, for instance, everyone knew what was inside but it was considered polite not to bring it up. Now it’s a bit more in the open and that comes with the good and the bad. It seems like people are more eager to ‘pick a side’ on erotica, and that can lead to people discussing sex and sexuality in an open and honest way, or it will lead to knee jerk reactions and censorship.

It seems like it’s doing both right now.

With the rise of e-books do you still publish in print as well? Is this medium important and why? We will be putting all our novel length books (over 40,000 words) in print. There are still people who want them, and I do think it’s important to help consumers find what they want. Some people just like the feel or the smell of a book, and I’m in no position to argue with their wants! It’s a bit more work, but it’s worth it to make our fans happy.

Do you listen to music or watch TV whilst you write? No TV, though sometimes I’ll listen to music. Sometimes it’s a soundtrack (like for the new Battlestar Galactica), or sometimes it’s rock/alternative/metal (like Rage Against the Machine or Mindless Self Indulgence). It depends on my mood and what the scene calls for.

Books are important, why is this the case? What can a book provide that say a video game cannot? Video games are constrained in a lot of ways, especially for dialogue and realistic romance plot lines. Part of this is just the length – you only have so much time to work on it, and usually story takes a backseat to gameplay. That’s perhaps just a part of the medium, though some developers are trying new and interesting things on that front!

Writing can also look at aspects of human nature that aren’t killing and combat that videogames and most sff movies shy away from. Things like romance and loss and grief aren’t often really explored in many meaningful ways in a lot of visual mediums. Personally, my partner and I are of the opinion that a movie does not have enough time to depict a genuine and authentic romance blossoming as simply a part of a greater plot.

As well, I think letting people visualize something rather than showing them can really help the reader immerse themselves in books in the way they can’t otherwise. It gives internal dialogue that’s usually missing, and explores the depths of human and inhuman emotions in a very unique way.

Can you give us a silly fact about yourself? I’m 28 years old and still don’t know my left from right!

Connect with us:

The Keep | Blog | Facebook | Twitter @jmkeep/@jekeep | Mailing List | Goodreads | Amazon

 

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