When did you write your first story and what was the inspiration for it?
I started writing in my teens, the beginnings of what became the Hidden World series. It had an island that doesn’t exist, aliens living on Earth and all over, and starships. There were occasional forays into talking animals… Don’t ask me what that was about, I have no idea, lol.
Do you have a writing schedule or do you just write when you can find the time?
I write whenever I have the chance. Eating a meal, waiting for appointments, or, currently, after I get homework done, or when I need to take a break from the homework. What I write varies, from new stories, fanfics, or WIPs I’ve been working for years.
Briefly describe the writing process. Do you create an outline first? Do you seek out inspirational pictures, videos or music? Do you just let the words flow and then go back and try and make some sense out it?
I don’t use outlines, because I’ve always ended up with something other than what I outlined anyway, even with research papers. I when I can, I like to have the TV on while writing, but not to watch something I haven’t seen yet, and want to pay attention to. I’ll have Looney Toons cartoons, old British comedies, like Are You Being Served, Monty Python, Red Dwarf, or movies always comedies, or children’s movies. If I’m in the mood for music, it’s always a mix, anything from Nine Inch Nails and Motley Crue to Michael Bolton and Journey. As for the writing itself, I just let it all go, and then come back later and see what it looks like after it’s had a chance to think about it for a bit. Sometimes the story flows easily, and other times I struggle to add any words at all.
Where did the desire to write LGBT romance come from?
I don’t know. I’d found gay romance only months beforehand, and then I lost my job and with no prospects at the time in my town because of the downturn at the time, I was looking for something to do in between job applications. A vague idea about an alien prodigy in college became Jason’s story in the series, the first book I’ve ever actually completed, 104k in nine days. Scary what you can do when you’re unemployed, right? Then Adam, Killian, Kiran, Valerian and Nikita quickly followed, although none of them were written quite as quickly.
How much research do you do when writing a story and what are the best sources you’ve found for giving an authentic voice to your characters?
How much research depends on whatever bug is buzzing in my brain. But mostly when it comes to certain things, for instance a character in a Hidden World WIP that is asexual, I contacted someone amoung my friends who has publicly identified as asexual, and asked them to read the appropriate passages, to find out if I was presenting Olsen well, or if I needed to adjust a few things to make his character more authentic, more true to what someone who is asexual might experience. I’ll ask real live people, to try to understand better where I can. There are things that people every day face that I won’t ever experience, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get story ideas for characters that might represent those people at least in a small way. I’ve been fortunate in that most of the people I have asked to help me make my characters more real have been willing to read stuff in the middle or answer strange questions, like what does an orgasm feel like for a man.
About Killian
Regent Killian Larrestes survived a harrowing attack and the betrayal of his family by his mother, and has since worked to help them all recover, learning the complexities of protecting and commanding a large, sprawling Clan.
Shiloh Zahirris is seeking Sanctuary from a marriage he doesn’t want when he ends up under the protection of Killian Larrestes. Killian takes him in, and they find themselves falling in love. But will social objections, personal insecurities, and someone seeking revenge destroy their chance at happiness?
Available at: Amazon
An Excerpt from Killian
His mother, Janet Larrestes, stood up behind her desk, with a surprised look on her face, when he and his father came in. “Killian, what happened? Were you attacked?”
He nodded grimly. “Yes, Senki, I have been, but I fought back well enough to escape Anan.”
“Anan?” Janet’s expression was puzzled. She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Anan attacked you?”
Killian nodded as his father put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Yes, Senki, Anan attacked me. She attempted to rape me, Senki.”
“Surely there must be some mistake, Killian. Anan is your fiancée. This marriage has been arranged for a year now. I thought the two of you liked each other.” Janet sat down again, not even bothering to ask how bad his injuries were.
Killian nodded again. “I thought so, too, Senki. I mean, I liked her. She has always acted properly, even if I haven’t always liked the way she treats me. But this is different. This isn’t a misunderstanding of two people needing to learn how to deal with each other. She tried to rape me. I had to walk home from the park in the square because I wasn’t getting back into that car. Who knows what she would have done then? I had to slash her face with my dagger to get her off of me long enough to get away.” His knee really hurt, but his mother had not given him leave to sit. His father had taken the first aid kit out and had busily began to clean Killian’s face, and carefully removed Killian’s shirt to look at his shoulder.
“Janet, this wound on his shoulder needs stitching,” David Larrestes told his wife softly, as he gently checked the wound. Killian hissed and barely managed not to say every cuss word he knew.
“That can wait until we settle this.” She picked up the phone. “I’m calling Anan here. We’re going to sort this out.”
“Can I at least take the boy to get him cleaned up and dressed properly?” David asked, silently warning his son to be silent. Killian obeyed, giving his mother a respectful look. She was a good woman, but a bit of a martinet.
Janet held her hand up for silence. She spoke briefly on the phone, ordering Anan and her mother to come to the house to sort out this obvious misunderstanding. A cold chill went through Killian as he listened to those words. Surely, his mother believed him, didn’t she?
Janet hung the phone up and looked at her husband and son. “Anan is getting her face stitched up. Apparently, you’ve done some damage to your fiancée.” She spoke sourly.
“Good, maybe she’ll learn that no means no,” Killian said. “There’s no misunderstanding, Senki. On my honor, I promise you. She attempted to rape me. I ran as soon as I was able to get away, and the only way I could make her let me go was to use my dagger.”
About TN Tarrant
TN Tarrant is a hard-working single mom living in the wilds of Wyoming, who enjoys embarrassing her child with bright red lipstick prints to the forehead. When she isn’t embarrassing her child, or hunting, killing and dragging groceries home through the snow, she loves to write romantic stories with hot lovers. She suffers from a love of extremely bad jokes and has a tendency to inflict them on innocent bystanders. She has recently been accused of developing an unhealthy yarn addiction, merely because she has bought enough of the stuff to start her own store. She notes that this does not keep her child and others from enjoying the products of that yarn addiction in the form of scarves and blankets. Other issues facing this poor soul are the continuing threats of books and nail polish overtaking the entire household and burying her amongst themselves. We won’t get into her child’s rocks…
As part of this blog tour, TN is giving away a vignette showing a slice of Rimalian life!! To enter, just click the link below!
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The Blogger Girls 