Join us for an electrifying interview with Alexis L. Menard, author of the hit Romantasy novel, House of Bane and Blood!Alexis dives deep into how she blended the dark grit of Peaky Blinders with a unique magic system to create her “Rivals to Lovers” story, where a woman enters a marriage of convenience to save her family’s business, only to be plunged into a world of serial killers and inescapable attraction.In this interview, Alexis shares invaluable advice for authors, including:* The Author’s Journey: Her path from working as a nurse to becoming a published author after the birth of her child.* Publishing Secrets: The key differences and benefits of transitioning from a successful self-published author on Amazon to securing a traditional deal with Second Sky and Forever.* Crafting Tension: How to create palpable chemistry and tension in a dual POV romance and the inspiration behind her male main character, Nico (inspired by Tommy Shelby).* Writing Spicy Romance: Using “spice” as a powerful tool to serve the character’s emotional arc and progression, rather than just for shock value.* Actionable Tips: Practical advice on securing a good agent, the importance of a professional cover and editor, and why new writers need to build a readership on social platforms like TikTok.This episode of The Writing Community Chat Show continues our streak of over 360 interviews. We are proud to have recently been ranked Number 3 in the Top 10 Writing Podcasts in the UK 2025!But Alexis L. Menard’s book, House of Bane and Blood, today!Interview: Other podcast platforms, just search: The Writing Community Chat Show.Support Our Non-Profit CIC.As many of you know, The Writing Community Chat Show is now officially a non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC). Our mission is to support authors and creatives through interviews, workshops, competitions, and community projects.Running the show takes time, effort, and resources — from live streaming and editing, to event hosting and outreach. If you enjoy what we do and want to help us continue providing a platform for authors, please consider donating directly to our PayPal. Every contribution goes right back into growing the show and supporting the writing community.Donate here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/TheWCCSEven the price of a coffee makes a difference in helping us keep the lights on, the mics live, and the conversations flowing.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So tonight's guest, we're going into a realm today that
we've not been into too often before in terms of
spicy romance, and it's going to be really interesting to
pick up some really good tips on how to do
that effectively, because me and Agret we've talked multiple times
about how terrible we are writing spicy romance, so it'd
(00:22):
be great to get some tips from tonight's guest. So
I'm going to stop waffling in and I'm gonna wish
I get well because he is still unwell, so he's
not with us tonight, but Agret, we wish you the best,
hope you get well soon and you can come and
join us at some point. But tonight's guest, as I've
said before, is a fantastic guest. We're going to talk
(00:43):
about her book, which is out now and you can
grab a copy of House of Paine and Blood right now,
and we're going to talk about it into today's interview.
But she's a fantastic author, and she's just recovered from
an illness as hell. I'm so thankful that she's managed
to get her way here today. So ladies and gentlemen,
(01:05):
Alexis Maynard, it she is, Hello, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
How are you very good? Thank you pleasure to be
joining you today on The book is out now people
can go and buy it, they can grab their copies
and read it. How are you feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I am very excited to finally finally be out there.
It's it's been a long journey of self publishing and
pitching and just everything it's been. It's been a long
roude to get here, but it's very exciting that it's
finally here.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah. No, definitely. We had a brief discussion obviously before
the show started, and you said about work, and obviously
people don't often realize the amount of work and effort
that goes into writing a novel. So before we kind
of get into the road or writing, can you just
tell us a little bit about what that that was
like for you this time around.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, So writing, writing has kind of been a new
thing for me, well for not for much hobbywise, but
just for for work wise. I guess I've been writing
my whole life obviously like most writers, but just recently
did I actually try to actually make something of myself
(02:25):
in the in the writing world. So yeah, it's been
like I said, it's been a long road. I started
really trying probably back in twenty twenty and I finally
saw a book on the shelf in twenty twenty five.
So it took a little bit to get here, but
learned a lot along the way. And yeah, it's it's
(02:48):
been quite quite a ride.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
But yeah, I mean, obviously you said before as well,
you managed to get out and go and see the
book in the wild whilst life. For somebody who may
be an aspiring author or has never experienced that before,
can you try and capture that moment first and tell
us what it's like to see your book on the shelves.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It makes all those really hard days worth it, all
the nose and the rejections and the crying in bed
and the days you're just like I can't do this,
and the self doubt and the imposter syndrome and everything,
just it makes it all worth it, and you just
kind of forget everything that ever happened, all the negative
things that ever happened for you to get there. But
(03:34):
it definitely is a surreal moment, and yeah, it's just
kind of like your little trophy, you know, you get
to like just put it there on the shelf and
it's there. And I always said, like, it didn't matter
to me to be in a brick and mortar store
because I was making good sales when I was doing
self publishing off just Amazon and just being online. But
(03:56):
to have it in a store, it's just it's very validating,
I guess so.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Brilliant love that. One of the things that we always
asked before we kind of delve into the road to
write and is what is the writing scene like where
you're currently living and working and do you immerse yourself
in that? Do you go and speak to people or
do you write with groups or do you go to
reading groups and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I am a very I'm a very solow person. I
don't have a whole lot of time. I've got two
young kids and a husband and he has a very
odd schedule. So the time that I do get to
write is like ten o'clock at night to midnight or
during that time, so I don't get to really leave
(04:39):
the house munch. And I do live in an area
where it's kind of difficult to find like minded people.
I live in a very rural area in South Louisiana,
so there are book clubs nearby that they need at
odd times and I can never get there. But I'm
trying to reach out and trying to kind of in
(05:00):
my horizons in that area. But I do have a
good group of friends on my Instagram and I chat
to them every single day. I have my writer friends
on my Instagram and we talk. I think I talk
to them more than I talk to my own mom,
Like we chat all day every day. So it's just
really good to have those people online. I don't have
them here but like in person, but it's way more convenient,
(05:24):
I guess to have them online anyway.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, definitely, right, Alexis, We're gonna play a little video now,
and when we get back from that, it's the road
to writing. So we're going to find out how writing
became something in your life. So just plase video. Brilliant, Alexis,
(05:53):
if you can take us back to those very first
moments when you realize that writing is something you wanted
to do with real life.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So my story started during COVID. I was working as
a nurse. I was on a cancer floor and I
was taking care of people that were my age that
had stage four terminal cancer and they were you know,
obviously dying at thirty years old. And I just remember
(06:22):
thinking like do I want to do this till the
end of my days? Like do I want to be
a nurse? Do I want to have my Is this
my call? You know? Am I living my life's purpose?
And I had a baby during that same year, and
I was staying home with him because it was very
(06:44):
it was very difficult during COVID and he had a
lot of problems and I had to take him to
a lot of specialists. So I had to quit my job.
And when I quit my job, I lost my identity
because I had done nothing my whole life but work
to get a job, to have a career, to have
a profession. And when I lost that profession, I'm like
what do I do now? And so I remember just
(07:06):
being away get two in the morning with this screaming
child who didn't eat and didn't sleep, and I was
just like, well, I might as well try to write
that book that's been on my bucket list forever. I've
always wanted to write a book. I've written books before,
you know, when I was young, but obviously I was
very dedicated to school and to college and stuff, and
(07:29):
so that kind of just fell off, and this was
kind of my time. I was like, I have nothing
to do because I have no work schedule, Like I
don't have to answer to anyone anymore, decides this little
tindy person. So I decided to try to write a book.
And during those hours where I was awake with a child,
(07:53):
I just tried to write because I didn't have anything
else to do. And that was the time when I
was like, oh wow, I actually sat down and wrote
a four hundred page book beginning to end. It had
a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was a
very good It was needed a lot of work, but
I queried it for some reason because I had no idea.
(08:15):
It was not very good, and I got a lot
of good positive responses and people were saying like, hey,
you're not there yet, but you have a lot of promise,
and so I said, okay. So I wrote another book
and a small press picked that up, and I kept
getting just kind of words of encouragement every book that
I wrote, and I saw my own progress, and after
(08:40):
a while, I just I don't know, I just it
just became my thing. And the more I wrote, the
more I didn't want to not write. If that makes sense.
I didn't want to go back to being a nurse
because I really really enjoyed what I was doing. And yeah,
it was us a very slow build up. There's a
(09:03):
lot of writers that kind of especially in my field,
like they just get on Instagram and they'll blow up overnight.
That did not happen to me. I started my account
probably in like twenty twenty one, twenty two, and I
grew my account to over twenty thousand readers, and it
did not happen overnight. It took five years to do
all this, and but yeah, every book just got a
(09:26):
little bit better and a little bit better. And then
when I had my second child, that's when my idea
for how s the Bain came and I sat down
and wrote it when she was five weeks old in
my lap. It's kind of just stuck with me ever since.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So, yeah, how is your writing process changed then? Because
obviously mentioned about like taking those little moments between like
when your child was born and like when they were
crying and you met those leapless nights. So how have
you sort of like developed your writing methods like over
the that five year period.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
IM slower, right now, I was writing very quickly when
I was, I guess in my younger writing years because
I didn't understand how much thought I really needed to
put into this. And I think that's what's really changed
my writing and made my writing more mature, was, you know,
(10:19):
just challenging myself and pushing myself to think deeper and
think and just develop the concepts a little more, a
little more, a little more, and not be so face value.
And so that's kind of been my My biggest change
is that I've slowed down a lot. I used to
be able to write two books a year, and now
(10:41):
I'm like, I'm kind of pushing out what I'm still
doing about too, but it takes me a lot longer,
and I have to write a lot longer to get
the same amount of words out. But and I do
outline now. I was a panther before, but I actually
I am actually outlining now when I feel like a
big girl.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
What would ordinarily then if if you, you know, your
husband comes home, kids are back, and you say I've
had a good writing day to day, what what would
that look like to you? What would that consist of?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Usually? You know, I, I I really do have to
just wait till everybody's gone or is sleeping. My it's
obviously changed because as my kids age, their sleep schedules change,
their nap times change. You know, they used to take
two three naps a day and now they don't, and
(11:39):
so I can't really write as much during the day anymore.
But now I've got one that goes to school full
time and the other one goes part time. So now
I have full days where I can just write and
it's amazing and I love it. So that's that's a
really good day for me. And sometimes I get to
(12:01):
go out and go to a coffee shop. That's a
really good day. But those are few in far between.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But yeah, yeah, And we try and like give writers
a realistic impression because we've had writers on the show
where they say, oh, all right, a thousand words a day.
Like we had Adele Parks on last week. She said that, like,
I do a thousand words and that's it. I've done.
We had Ben Aronovich on the show and he said,
I'm happy if I get one fifty a day, and
(12:28):
that gives me a book a year. So do you
work to a word count or are you going on emotions
and feeling for seeing and things.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I do as many words as I can a day
because I never know if I'm going to be able
to have tomorrow, you know, just because life is very unpredictable.
Like I said, I just got over COVID, so that
was a whole week I was out. So I try
to just write as many words a day as I can.
Sometimes it's only five hundred, sometimes it's up to two thousand.
It just kind of depends how my brain's cooking that day.
(13:01):
But I definitely just try to do as many words
as possible because I, yeah, I have so many books
that I want to write that I need to get
to and time is money, and so I just I'm
if I have free time, I'm writing. It doesn't matter
if I hit a thousand words. I'm just gonna keep
going because I'm obviously feeling good. So because yeah, I
(13:22):
don't know, I don't know if i'll have the next day,
and then I'll get cut behind, you know, So but
I do try to get I guess I do try
to get at least a thousand a day.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Just do you think your experience as a nurse then
has influenced your writing, not in terms of ideas, but
Obviously you're working with terminally ill patients, people who.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Are dying like in front of your eyes in that role,
and obviously you talked about the importance of, like, you know,
making the most of every day. Do you think you
would have had that attitude? Was that always there or
was that because of the experiences that you've had in
that role.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That was definitely because of my experiences, for sure. I
was very naive before I became a nurse, and I
was not ready to write books before I became a nurse.
I learned so much being on the floor and I
worked as a hospice nurse for a little bit, and
so yeah, I definitely witnessed a lot about the human
(14:19):
condition and it affected me personally. I just grew up
very quickly, and I learned a lot about just people
and life and family and love. And I think those
themes kind of show themselves in my work, you know, unintentionally,
but it happens just because I think those are just
(14:42):
the most important parts of life now.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, So we like to try and give people advice
that are listening to and watching the show. What advice
would you give to somebody who's maybe not started writing yet,
but has the idea for a book and kind of
a similar situation to you. You know, they're working, they're
not they're not able to dedicate the time because they've
got other commitments. What advice would you give to them
(15:09):
in that moment?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think you're never going to have times. It's kind
of a thing where you just have to make yourself
sit down and carve out time, even if it's only
fifteen twenty minutes. It's fifteen twenty minutes you didn't do before,
you know, It's just it's really just the discipline of
carving out time. I miss sleep. There are periods like
(15:35):
I had a deadline I had to make. I got
maybe four hours four hours of sleep for several nights straight,
and it was rough, but I did it. You know.
It's you just have to sometimes just make time where
there isn't time, and sometimes you do have to sacrifice
other things. I haven't watched a TV show in a
long time because I'm always writing if I have free time.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So yeah, with that, then, obviously, when you said you
wrote that first book and you weren't, you know, you
said it wasn't very good by your own standards, But
what do you think you learned then Obviously you talked about,
you know, planning now and plotting out a little bit more.
Obviously you went on quite a unique journey as well
(16:17):
in terms of having that first book, and then you
talked about self publishing, and then you talked about going
with the traditional press. Like, can you enlighten us to
to sort why you made that journey and why you
made those decisions to go with certain things at certain times?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, I wanted, I always wanted to get better, and
I know I had a long way to go. So
I when I was querying, I took any little piece
of advice. I went on read z, I got editors
to I hired people, and I was like, hey, could
you give me like a letter, an editorial letter, just
like help me out what's going on? Because I knew nothing,
(16:54):
Like my background's not in writing at all. My last
English class was in high school. I tested out of
all my college English classes, so I didn't take any
college English classes. So yeah, it's been a while since
I've had to take any kind of course in literature.
(17:15):
So I was desperate for feedback and for just everything.
So but it was it definitely was needed. And because
that I obviously got a lot better and learned a
lot from just my failures, I guess.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And what was that like because you saying obviously before that,
you you know, you had quite a bit of success
on Amazon with your own you know, self publishing, So
I should imagine if you've had a lot of success
as an author in that field, like, it must be
quite difficult to sort of weigh up the pros and
cons between going carrying on with the success that you've
(17:56):
had and building your own readership. As you said, like
it took you five years to build that to twenty thousand,
and then you know, trust in a traditional publisher to
be able to sort of take over some of the reigns,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So what Yah, So that was definitely a big, a
big leap of faith. But I knew for my career
I really wanted to get into the traditional publishing field
just because self publishing is not for the week. It
is difficult, it is expensive, it is competitive, it's it's
(18:32):
not as easy as what a lot of people make
it look. There's a lot of people on Instagram that,
you know, they just put a book up and then
like they people just see all these you know, people
just gravitating towards it, but it's very very difficult, and
it got yeah, it got really expensive. And now that
my kids are getting older, I don't have the time
(18:53):
to sit here and make newsletters and list and art
teams and teams, and it's just it's just so, so
very much. So I was very excited to work with
Second Sky and Forever and the whole team with them,
and I knew they were very trustworthy because my agent
was highly recommending them. She's worked with them for a while,
(19:17):
so I trusted her, and I definitely it was definitely
the right path for me because they have taken so
much off my plate and I can just write again,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So yeah, brilliant. Right, So on that, we're going to
move on to the second part of the show, which
is what's the story, and obviously House of Bain and Blood.
If you could give us the elevator pitch for that
when we come back from this little video, that would
be great.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So that's.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So let's just take it away.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So a House of Vein and Blood is basically Peggy
Blinders meets the magic system of the grishoverse In this story,
Camilla MARQUESI Mary's Nikolaiatano in a marriage of convenience to
save her her family's railway business. But of course this
deal plunges them into the dark underbelly of an industrial
(20:22):
city of Lynchaven and it gets very intense. So she
has to battle between you know, finding this serial killer
and not falling for her husband to save her family's syndicate.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Brilliant. Yeah, that was a great pitch. Love that. So
what I suppose we've rivals to love is then that
is a genre in itself, and that can sustain quite
a strong narrative anyway. So what made you add the
serial killer element into it? Because that's kind of going
in to a different realm as well. That could again
(21:02):
be a story within itself. Some stories just follow that,
you know, trying to find the serial killer type thing.
So what made you sort of blend the two?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, there's all so there's all different kinds of plots, right,
you have like trials, and you have mysteries and you
have things like that. I really liked the idea of
having this mysterious serial killer, seial kidnapper in this dark
industrial city. It just kind of added to the vibe
of the city. I guess because I really wanted this dark,
(21:34):
steampunk gas fantasy kind of city. So yeah, it just
it really fit the plot and the story and it
just kind of worked for me.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah. So again in terms of structure, obviously you've got
different voices as well throughout this novel. Again, what what
was the decision behind that in terms of different perspectives?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
What was that in sorry last part.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In terms of structures, So having different perspectives from characters,
and what made you make that decision rather than just
sticking with one perspective throughout?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, I romantasy dual POV. It's very popular. People love
to have the male POV, which was very difficult for
me because I have a trouble giving into my male
character's head sometimes and it is very powerful. And I
chose to do that one because they both are battling
(22:36):
different they're fighting for different things, So Nico is part
of something that Camilla doesn't know about. So it kind
of adds a nice little tension to the story for
the reader to know both sides, but the characters themselves
only know their own sides, and it's just fun to
play with and I just enjoyed having these like little
secrets that are going on with Nico that Camilla didn't
(22:58):
know about, but the reader now knows about it, So
it kind of creates the situational irony in a way,
it increases the tension. And then romance tension is very important.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So on that note, then obviously we did briefly mention
before the show. Whenever we get a romance writer on relationship,
me and I get always try and pick the brains
we talk about and something we watch and enjoy, Like
we'll watch like a romantic comedy and think, oh, that
was great, But how do you get that on the page,
And how do you create tension and chemistry on the page?
(23:32):
What tip would be got for people in that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right? So when I first create these people, I always
first I make my female main character because she, to me,
she is probably she's the most important. She's the male,
she's the main character. And then I try to adapt
like this male main character that would fit her in
every single way possible. And so for me, I like
(23:58):
to set up tension very early on. I like to
set up the secret attraction very early on. And a
lot of people don't like to do that. They think, oh,
it's instant attraction. I don't care if two people hate
each other. If they think they're hot, they think they're hot,
it's going to happen. It does not matter even that
any need still lovers, They can still think they're hot
right off of the So first impressions are very important.
(24:21):
So that first time that the character sees their future
love interests, that is probably the most important scene in
the book. So that's where it's going to set up
all of the tension in my book. So that's one tip.
I guess the first that first impression. First impressions are
very important, and then I guess just the whole way.
(24:44):
It just needs to Everything needs to just be intense.
Everything needs to add tension. So the smallest details do this,
the handbrushing, the lingering books, the look on the lips,
the things like that. So just any little thing that
you can do to add that tension and that secret
(25:06):
wanting is really important.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
For different characters. How do you decide as a writer
in terms of how much to include in terms of
like internal thought process and how do you sort of
limit that to to exactly what you need for the
narrative without indulging in a character's soort of mind.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, I think that is just instinct at some point
it's and it's always hard to find it that sweet
spot where it's like how much do I include and
how much do I not?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I sometimes will just lay it all out there, and
then I'll pull back as I edit, and so I'll
finish the story and then I'll go back and be like,
oh no, she doesn't need to know this here, let
me take this out, or and just kind of feel
it back as I go. But yeah, so sometimes it's
just just feels right at a certain time. But I
(26:06):
try to save any big, big, like big impressions till
the end. I guess, And what.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Advice would you have for somebody then, if they're tackling
a dual POV, what could make their life easier?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I al would say, remember the voice. The voice has
to be different if it wants to be believable. You
can't have the same voice for each character. So you
should be able to take the names off the top
of the chapter and the reader should know exactly who's
head they are in. So that's my biggest piece of advice.
And I did that with House of Vain. That was
(26:47):
my first time I really tried that technique. I took
off the names and I gave Nico his own personality
and voice, and I think it worked out for him.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
And you said you struggled a little bit right in
Nicole's vice, So like, how how did you approach that
differently than in terms of what you've done in the past,
Like to know you you'd got it right.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So I like to have a muse. I like to
have an inspiration, and of course my inspiration was Tommy Shelby.
I think we don't have enough Tommy Shelby's in Romanticy.
We have we have a lot of resons, but we
don't have a lot of Tommy Shelby's. And I really
wanted to write Tommy Shelby, but I didn't want to
(27:33):
do it too much like Tommy Shelby because he's I
think he was a little too cold for a Romanticy.
So it was taking pieces of his character that I
enjoyed and then also giving it like just that Nico Flare,
I guess, And yeah, that was when I've it just
(27:55):
kind of sometimes clicks too. So when I finally figured
him out, like it comes from this Italian family and
he just loves his family. He's just a big softy,
but he's got this Tommy Shelby exterior. You know, that's
when it kind of all clicked his personality to me.
And then of course when he's interacting with Camilla that
(28:16):
the personalities just they come out so well.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
So yeah, I love that idea of having amuse and
something to go off in terms of like guiding your characters.
So again, you talked about before being a bit more
of a planner, so I should imagine in the pasture
more of a plotter. So how do you find the
balance now between letting your characters sort of tell you
(28:43):
the story through their points of view in terms of,
like you know, when they throw unexpected curve balls at you,
but also stick into sort of a riginal plan that
you've made.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I think it's more difficult with the first book because
I don't really know them yet. Until I've written the
whole book, I don't really know them so personally, and
it's difficult for me to make these choices based on
their personalities because I don't really know them yet. So
I will outline to the best of my ability, and
(29:15):
especially working with my editor, he's amazing, but you know,
we try to outline and like, look, this is what's
going to happen in every single chapter. But then when
you get into the book and you're like, well, this
character wouldn't do that, Like they this doesn't really make
sense for them, So then you kind of have to
adapt as you go and then change the storyline. But
(29:37):
I feel like sequels are pretty are a little bit
more simple in that way because you do know them.
You know them at this point you can pretty much
like lay out the outline and you know what they're
going to do. But the first book is a little hard.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
So again with the romance element, we've kind of covered
that in terms of like how you can tension on
the page, but one of the areas that obviously with
it be in a spicy romance. What makes it spicy then?
And how do you know how much spice to put
into the page and how much to leave to the
reader sort of imagination.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So that is it's honestly very as a personal decision
for me. I write very graphic material I write, I
write graphic fight scenes, and so I feel like I
can write graphic spice. It's it's adult, like, we're all adults.
This is a romance. There is sexual relationships. You know
in a romance, so I write it and I think
(30:35):
there's a way to do it tastefully, and there's a
way to do it shockingly. What I like to do
with spice, I enjoy using spice as a tool. So
anything that will reveal their character arc or progress their
character arc is really important to me. So I enjoy
(30:57):
emotional spice. I like focusing more on the side behind it,
as well as describing all the physical stuff of course,
because that's you know, it's fun, but it's also important
to their character arc as well. It's not just for
shock value. Now there are books that just write spice
for pure shock value, and that's fine. But in my books,
(31:19):
in a romanticy where there is a plot, and there
is an important plot and their romance is part of
the plot, I feel like the spice should serve a purpose.
That's again, that's just every writer is a little different.
Some people like to do it for fun and some
people like me that have a purpose for the spice.
So mine's only a few pages. I don't really write
(31:43):
very much spice, And it also depends on the characters
for me. So Nico and Camilla are very they know,
they're very good looking people, and they're very confident, so
of course their spice is going to be a little
bit more like wild then, and I recently wrote another
book where the characters are not like that. They're very
(32:04):
reserved people, and the spice is very minimal. It's not graphic.
And I chose not to write super because it just
it was weird. It was it didn't make sense. It
was just very shocking. So that makes.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It Yeah, no, absolutely in terms of plot then, obviously
without giving anything away for people who are going to
go and pick up this book today. And when did
you decide that the plot was more than just an
idea and it was a novel that you needed to write.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's just a good question. I honestly couldn't tell you.
So I wrote this book at the beginning of twenty
twenty three, and it's been a while, but I do remember.
So again, I was postpartum at this point, and I
was watching Netflix and I stumbled upon Peaky Blinders and
(33:02):
I was watching this one scene where they put their
cousin into this marriage of convenience, and I was like,
oh my gosh, that's it. We're going to write America
Convenience and we're doing it with Mafia, and we're going
to do it in a real city. And it all
just all at once, just kind of like clicked into place.
And I feel like writers have that little Eureka moment
(33:23):
where you're like, oh, my gosh, this is the idea, Like,
this is the idea that I can run with. And
I knew there wasn't really anything Peaky Blinders inspired in
the market at that time, so I felt like, Okay,
this is my this is my little foothold, this is
my my niche. I can write this, I can do
a good job at it, and hopefully this will be
(33:47):
my book, the like my book that finally gets like
a little bit of attention, and thankfully I did, so
it just kind of clicked all together.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Do you know what was inside you in terms of like, oh,
I want to put all these pieces together. What was
it that made you think that's the idea and I'm
going to do a great job at that because I
can do it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I have been obsessed with this world for a while.
I've always wanted to write an industrial city, something like
a Gaslin fantasy. I played a video game a very
long time ago. I talk about it all the time,
it's called Dishonored, and it inspired a lot of the story,
and I knew I wanted to write a book in
a city like that and with the dark and gritty
(34:39):
and all that good stuff that I love so much.
And I personally was looking for that book to read
and I could not find it. It was very difficult
to find, like a gasolent fantasy. So that wasn't like
Victorian I wanted industrial, So I decided to write it nice.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, that's definitely a really good advice for people, if
you know, if the book out there, if it doesn't exist,
maybe just write it yourself. So obviously we've had the
elevator pitch, who like, if you could send a message
to potential readers, now, what would you want to say
to them?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Hm hmm, that's a good question. Please buy it? Yeah,
I don't. I don't know. That's stomper.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
So if we flipped it then and we said, if
you because the publishing industry loves comparisons, if you like this,
you might like obviously Peaky Blinders is obviously given. But
have you got any more that if you go, oh,
if you like this.
Speaker 6 (35:53):
Yeah, well, if you like like the nineteen twenties Mafia
and Korsha for the Gresha versus magic system and all that.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
That's probably that's my go to. That's what I've been
pitching for most of this time.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
But and again, obviously we talked a little bit about
magic as well, like how difficult it is is it
as an author to create a world like that where
you know, you've kind of got to create your own rules,
Like how do you go about doing that?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Every book is a little different, Every world's a little different.
Sometimes I come up with the magic first, sometimes the
world's first. In this case, the world came first, and
then I had to find a magic system that kind
of fit into it. But it kind of helps having
the world first because then I have boundaries and I
(36:47):
know what would make sense in this world and what wouldn't.
So for this world, I knew I didn't have any
like mythical races or anything. I just had humans and
just people to figure out what magic system would make
sense or how these people would have magic, how would
some people have magic, and how some people wouldn't have it,
(37:09):
And then the people who didn't have it, what would
they use for the people against the people that didn't
have magic? Because of course, in any society, if one
person has something, the other group is going to have
something to kind of counterbalance it. And so that's where
I got this idea of magic for science, because I
feel like in today's world, if there were people with
(37:30):
magical abilities, we would also have scientific endeavors to counterbalance that.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
So yeah, I love that. It's brilliant. So in terms
of writing the novel as well, if you could go
back and again without giving any spoilers and write your
favorite moment again, which moment would you choose? If you
can without giving us any.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Spoilers, there is a fan favorite and then my favorite
scene where I honestly don't know where I got this
idea from, but the characters are interrogating each other and
they're doing this by drinking this magic clickor that makes
you throw up if you lie, so of course they're
(38:19):
both lying, and of course they're both just like vomiting.
It's very and it's fun to play with because they
ask like more personal questions and then they get on
each other's nerves and it's just it was just really
fun to write, and it just it's it's been a
favorite for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Brilliant obviously, again. In the back of the book, you
talk about how important obviously your family are, and your
sister in particular. What is that like when you know
when you finished a book, do you send it off
to your editor first, to family get first DIBs on
the reading of it? Like, how does that work?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I like for everything to be done before or my
family reads it. But yes, my sister always gets her
advance copies before anyone. Of course, I would not be
here if it wasn't for my sister, because she handed
me my she I was reading straight fantasy before, and
(39:18):
I was like, I don't know why. I just can't
get back into fantasy. She's like, oh, try this book,
and she hands me a Court of Thorns and Roses.
And I would not be here probably if I had
if I didn't know that this whole genre existed, Because
like I said, I was in nursing school. I didn't
I was completely my head was in the sand, I
(39:39):
was not in read I wasn't reading at all. So
when I finally got out and could read again, she's
she showed me this amazing genre, and I'm been hooked
ever since.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
So brilliant. Right, So we're going to move on to
the third part of the show now, which is Community
question Time. So if you watch in life and you
want to send us a question, you can do that
via YouTube. Unfortunately, because I get's not with us, I
don't know how to get the questions from elsewhere. So
if you're watching on YouTube live, you can send us
(40:09):
some questions, and we're going to ask our staple questions
as well, so just after this video. That's one brilliant
(40:34):
So yeah, this is the Community Questions time. So if
you've got your questions, we've got about eighteen minutes for
you to send them in and we'll try and ask
them on the screen as well. Well. First we're going
to ask Alexai some of our staple questions. And one
of those staple questions is if you could take any
character from fiction and make that character your own, Which
character would you choose and what would you do with them?
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Any fictional character? That's hard. Gosh, you gave me the
hard one right out of the bat. My favorite character
is Claire Fraser from Outlander. She is probably one of
the best female leads in any book I've ever read,
(41:20):
so I would say her for sure cool.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
What would you do with that character? Then what what
would be your idea.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I don't know. I would I don't know. I would
write her own book. I guess yea.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So another one in Staple Questions that we ask again.
It's quite a tricky one. But if you could change
the end into any fiction, what would you change the
ending to and why?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Mm hmmm? Any fiction? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
TV film?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Oh my goodness. Okay, So I'm I'm watching a Korean
drama right now called Alchemy of Souls and it just
ended and I disliked it, so I would change it.
I didn't like who died, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, so change it. What would you do with the
ending of that? Obviously people may watch that as well.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
There is so like it's like episode eighteen in part one,
how it ended there. I would have kept it like that.
Everybody was happy, everybody was getting betrothed and married, and
then all of a sudden, like the evil guy figures
out a way to like control this girl's soul and
(42:43):
she goes on a murder spree and she just kills
everybody and it just was so sad and I was
but yeah, and she died, so then it's like a
whole another season. I'm not happy with but no.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Painful. Yeah. So again, just if you are watching now,
you can send you your questions in Another question that
we have is a bit of a morbid question. But
I suppose with your history as being a nurse as well,
you might be all to play with it. But if
you were on your deathbed and you're looking back at
(43:21):
your writing career, what would you be happy with? What
is success to you?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
I would be proud of myself for at least trying,
at least do it I knew I do. I could
rest in the fact I knew I did everything that
I could. I was never lazy. I never took a
day off. I never you know, I never let myself
take the easy way out. You know. I worked and
(43:48):
worked and worked and worked. So that's nothing I would
be happy about.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Mm hmm. And obviously you mentioned your children as well
at the back of the book in terms of like
for your relations and ship if they could skip to
chapter thirty five. So how are you feeling about the
prospect of obviously your children growing up and reading new books.
Is that something that you're excited by because you you know,
(44:13):
you could inspire them to follow that dreams.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
I don't mind I think they'll be like cringing, but
I definitely wouldn't mind. Yeah, I do this for them,
you know, I hope they do. I hope they I
hope I can, you know, be someone for them to admire.
And I hope one day when they're older, I can
still take them to the bookstore and they can still see,
(44:39):
you know, their mom on the shelf somewhere. I do.
And my my daughters she can't read, obviously, she's doing
I have, but she's obsessed with books. She'll just sit
there and just stare at words and just pretend like
she's reading. And it's it just makes my heart feel
so good. So but yeah, they'll take my books off
the shelf and they'll they'll like open it up and
point to my pick. Sure, and they're like, well, it's
(45:01):
too and so that's always a very good feeling.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Yeah, definitely. And again, and I'm just going to stick
on the family element because even though you can't see them,
so well, hey, I'm going to try and hold them up. Obviously,
you talked about the art that your husband helped you
get commissioned and done. Why did you feel that it
was important to have those images at the front and
(45:25):
is that obviously this is a proof, but is that
something that you want as well?
Speaker 2 (45:29):
In yes, so in my indie books, those were of
course where the PUV their PUV their first POV's chapters
came in. So anything you can do when you're an
indie author to give yourself like a little bit of
an edge is really helpful. So putting interior art into
(45:50):
a book it really helps sell, and it definitely helps
sell my first copies because when people don't know what
your book like, how your quality of writing or anything,
when they you're just a new author to them, if
they can know that they're going to get a quality
looking book, they usually will buy it. So getting a
(46:12):
really nice cover is always really helpful. But also putting
that interior art and then the map, it just makes
it look more professional and it makes more competitive against
these beautiful tad books who have these beautiful like embossed
covers and spray edges and stuff. So just anything get
(46:33):
a little bit ahead, you know.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Nice And what's that like in terms of like, you know,
when you have something in your imagination and then you're
trying to put it into a different art from how
do you convey that sort of idea to somebody.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yes, I find really talented people who can pull it
out my brain. I don't know how they do it
because I can't draw. I can't I can't help them
at all. So I just send them a couple of
pinches pictures and somehow they piece it together and they
do an incredible job. I have always shocked what these
(47:07):
artists can do. And yeah, I'm very grateful for them
because that honestly helped sell so many of my books
the first you know, the first publication, so it was
very lucky.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
No, I love that. Again, some really good tips here
coming out for people who are going down the self
published roup. If we could just stay there for a minute,
because again, we have a lot of people who listen
to this show that are self published and you know,
are looking to elevate the game or they're looking to
make that step into traditional What three tips could you
(47:42):
give them in the self publishing genre? And then what
three tips could you give to somebody who was looking
to be traditionally published?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Oh goodness, Okay, Well, as a self published author, I
would really say, don't scamp on your covers. You could
write an story, but if it doesn't have a professional
looking cover. People aren't going to give you the time
of day, and it's really frustrating. Especially with Amazon's new guidelines.
They're not pushing new releases as much as they used to,
(48:15):
so it's getting even more difficult for self published people
to find readers. So I would really say, you're people,
do judge books of covers. Get a good cover. Some
people can do their own covers, some people cannot.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
I cannot.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
So if you're one off, you're like me, just I
would spend you know, a good amount of money on
a cover. Definitely budget for that. Budgeting is very important.
It's everybody's a little different. I had a certain amount
that I wanted to spend, and I knew that I
could sell so many books to at least pay myself back.
(48:54):
So I don't skip on cover or editor. Please get
a good editor. As far as any other tips. Social
media is very important. We hate it, but it's very important.
If you don't want to show your face, you don't
have to. People always say you have to show your face.
(49:14):
I don't believe you do. I really don't show my
face anymore. And all of my videos that have really
done really well, my reels and my tiktoks. I've all
of been without my face, so I don't feel like
you have to use your face. But social media is
very important. Get a TikTok, get a TikTok. If you're
an indie writer, you have to have a TikTok. You
(49:35):
don't have to, but it's very, very helpful. And then
Instagram is always great because you can kind of keep
all your readers you know, in one place. And then lastly,
find friends. Find a good group of writing friends who
are going to keep you sane, who you can ask
(49:55):
questions to, who you can invent to. You don't want
to invent on the internet, and people do not like
it when writers complain on the internet. So find your people,
went to them, be professional online.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
Yeah, that's great advice for somebody who's obviously going down
the self publish route. I'm going to add a little
one there as well, because you said any sort of
step up. We had a conversation with cam it down
at Harrogate's Crime RX Festival and at the back of
his latest book he had a QR code and when
you scanned it, it sent you to a twelve minute
(50:35):
video that he'd made for when you'd finished reading the book,
and I'd never seen that before, and I thought I
was genius because he started he was talking about the
characters and the ending and things like that, and it
just gave you a real personal insight into what he
was thinking. So I'm going to add that in there.
And I think, alexis that be something that you may
(50:58):
be interested in doing as well. So that's why I
mentioned it because.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
It's a great idea. Yeah, anything to give yourself just
an edge, just be a little different than everybody else,
that's a really great idea.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
And in terms of moving then in terms of like
trying to secure traditional publishers route again, what tip could
you give to somebody in that field?
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Get a good agent. No agent is better than that agent.
I've I've been blessed to have a great agent from
day one, but I have had friends that just don't
don't look out in that category, and they get let
down and they waste, you know, a year or two
years just sticking with someone who isn't out for their
best interests. So finding a good agent is so important
(51:43):
if you want to do well in the traditional publishing field.
I got very very very very lucky. I still don't
know how I got Emily, but I got her, so
she's suck with me anyway. Tradition any more traditional tips.
Yeah know you're worth you like they need you, you
(52:05):
don't need them. So that's another big thing. Don't ever
sell yourself less than what you deserve. Because I now
know my worth. I know that I could publish a
book and make a good amount of money. So when
I go to you know, a publisher's table, like, I
know that they need to make me a good enough
offer because I could go take this book and sell
(52:26):
it for I can you know, make a good amount
of money off of it. So it definitely has to
be worth my while now to sell to a publisher,
which gives me a little bit of power at the table,
which is nice. And also, don't wait to build your readership.
So just because you might be querying agents right now,
(52:46):
still start building your platform, like, start your social media's
you know. Unfortunately, we live in a day and age
where it's just it might not be enough just to publish,
you know, without having your name out there. And it
can actually be a little easier if you are on
social media and you do have a good following and
you know, you are talking to people online and stuff,
(53:09):
so it is helpful attracting agents and publishers.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Sorry, I'm sorry, we're close to the hour mark, and yeah,
we'll try and get it in before it gets allowed
with So one of the things that we do at
the end is where can people find all information about you?
(53:34):
Where can they buy your books? And where can they
again use social media's and things like that.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
So I am mainly on Instagram and TikTok at Alexis Almonard.
You can find I have a website Alexis Almanard dot com.
I'm in all the bookstores now, yeah, you can find
me on Amazon, any brick and mortar store all over the.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
Brilliant And I'm going to I've never done this before,
but I'm going to start with you, Alexis. So we've
got a guest on Friday. What I want to do
is get a question from Alexis that we can ask
that guest. So, can you give us a question that
we can ask on Friday to our next guest?
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Can you ask them what is next for them and
their publishing field in their publishing career or what are
their goals?
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Why are there girls?
Speaker 2 (54:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Brilliant I'll ask them that, and that does lead me
on to what I was going to ask you, which
is what's next from you?
Speaker 2 (54:46):
I have so much, I have so much on my
plate right now. I just sent a book to my
editor to get line at its, so that's coming out.
I don't have a date. I can't say anything if
I'm in a contrac I also just did something else
that I can't talk about, but I'll be announcing it soon,
(55:07):
So everybody should go follow me so you could hear
like a news soon.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
Love that and I'm sure people will do again. If
you're watching or listening back to this show, thank you
very much for your support, and please support the authors
who come on the show and support the show. And yeah,
we've got three interviews this week. So obviously we've had
Alexus today, we have Sir Tony Robinson the interview that's
already pre recorded that drops on Thursday, and then we
(55:36):
have CJ Lead on Friday. So fantastic interviews all week
for you to get your ears and it's into So yeah,
if you enjoy it tonight's show, please like and share
it around and again support the authors who support the show,
and go out and get Alexis's book today because you'll
(55:58):
definitely enjoy it again if you look the Peaky Blinders
and you love that romance element as well, Rivals to
love us, what's not to love there? And magic thrown
in for extra measure, and obviously that hunt as well
for serial killer as well, So lots of different things
there that are definitely ticking major boxes for people. So yeah,
(56:18):
go and pick that up. But thank you very much
for listening. Thank you Alexis. And now we'll do a
little end of video, end of show video and a
little wave if we don't mind.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
Thank you so much for having me really.
Speaker 1 (56:32):
Thank you, Bye bye, everybody. Gas
So tonight's guest, we're going into a realm today that
we've not been into too often before in terms of
spicy romance, and it's going to be really interesting to
pick up some really good tips on how to do
that effectively, because me and Agret we've talked multiple times
about how terrible we are writing spicy romance, so it'd
(00:22):
be great to get some tips from tonight's guest. So
I'm going to stop waffling in and I'm gonna wish
I get well because he is still unwell, so he's
not with us tonight, but Agret, we wish you the best,
hope you get well soon and you can come and
join us at some point. But tonight's guest, as I've
said before, is a fantastic guest. We're going to talk
(00:43):
about her book, which is out now and you can
grab a copy of House of Paine and Blood right now,
and we're going to talk about it into today's interview.
But she's a fantastic author, and she's just recovered from
an illness as hell. I'm so thankful that she's managed
to get her way here today. So ladies and gentlemen,
(01:05):
Alexis Maynard, it she is, Hello, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
How are you very good? Thank you pleasure to be
joining you today on The book is out now people
can go and buy it, they can grab their copies
and read it. How are you feeling.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I am very excited to finally finally be out there.
It's it's been a long journey of self publishing and
pitching and just everything it's been. It's been a long
roude to get here, but it's very exciting that it's
finally here.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah. No, definitely. We had a brief discussion obviously before
the show started, and you said about work, and obviously
people don't often realize the amount of work and effort
that goes into writing a novel. So before we kind
of get into the road or writing, can you just
tell us a little bit about what that that was
like for you this time around.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, So writing, writing has kind of been a new
thing for me, well for not for much hobbywise, but
just for for work wise. I guess I've been writing
my whole life obviously like most writers, but just recently
did I actually try to actually make something of myself
(02:25):
in the in the writing world. So yeah, it's been
like I said, it's been a long road. I started
really trying probably back in twenty twenty and I finally
saw a book on the shelf in twenty twenty five.
So it took a little bit to get here, but
learned a lot along the way. And yeah, it's it's
(02:48):
been quite quite a ride.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
But yeah, I mean, obviously you said before as well,
you managed to get out and go and see the
book in the wild whilst life. For somebody who may
be an aspiring author or has never experienced that before,
can you try and capture that moment first and tell
us what it's like to see your book on the shelves.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It makes all those really hard days worth it, all
the nose and the rejections and the crying in bed
and the days you're just like I can't do this,
and the self doubt and the imposter syndrome and everything,
just it makes it all worth it, and you just
kind of forget everything that ever happened, all the negative
things that ever happened for you to get there. But
(03:34):
it definitely is a surreal moment, and yeah, it's just
kind of like your little trophy, you know, you get
to like just put it there on the shelf and
it's there. And I always said, like, it didn't matter
to me to be in a brick and mortar store
because I was making good sales when I was doing
self publishing off just Amazon and just being online. But
(03:56):
to have it in a store, it's just it's very validating,
I guess so.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Brilliant love that. One of the things that we always
asked before we kind of delve into the road to
write and is what is the writing scene like where
you're currently living and working and do you immerse yourself
in that? Do you go and speak to people or
do you write with groups or do you go to
reading groups and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I am a very I'm a very solow person. I
don't have a whole lot of time. I've got two
young kids and a husband and he has a very
odd schedule. So the time that I do get to
write is like ten o'clock at night to midnight or
during that time, so I don't get to really leave
(04:39):
the house munch. And I do live in an area
where it's kind of difficult to find like minded people.
I live in a very rural area in South Louisiana,
so there are book clubs nearby that they need at
odd times and I can never get there. But I'm
trying to reach out and trying to kind of in
(05:00):
my horizons in that area. But I do have a
good group of friends on my Instagram and I chat
to them every single day. I have my writer friends
on my Instagram and we talk. I think I talk
to them more than I talk to my own mom,
Like we chat all day every day. So it's just
really good to have those people online. I don't have
them here but like in person, but it's way more convenient,
(05:24):
I guess to have them online anyway.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, definitely, right, Alexis, We're gonna play a little video now,
and when we get back from that, it's the road
to writing. So we're going to find out how writing
became something in your life. So just plase video. Brilliant, Alexis,
(05:53):
if you can take us back to those very first
moments when you realize that writing is something you wanted
to do with real life.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So my story started during COVID. I was working as
a nurse. I was on a cancer floor and I
was taking care of people that were my age that
had stage four terminal cancer and they were you know,
obviously dying at thirty years old. And I just remember
(06:22):
thinking like do I want to do this till the
end of my days? Like do I want to be
a nurse? Do I want to have my Is this
my call? You know? Am I living my life's purpose?
And I had a baby during that same year, and
I was staying home with him because it was very
(06:44):
it was very difficult during COVID and he had a
lot of problems and I had to take him to
a lot of specialists. So I had to quit my job.
And when I quit my job, I lost my identity
because I had done nothing my whole life but work
to get a job, to have a career, to have
a profession. And when I lost that profession, I'm like
what do I do now? And so I remember just
(07:06):
being away get two in the morning with this screaming
child who didn't eat and didn't sleep, and I was
just like, well, I might as well try to write
that book that's been on my bucket list forever. I've
always wanted to write a book. I've written books before,
you know, when I was young, but obviously I was
very dedicated to school and to college and stuff, and
(07:29):
so that kind of just fell off, and this was
kind of my time. I was like, I have nothing
to do because I have no work schedule, Like I
don't have to answer to anyone anymore, decides this little
tindy person. So I decided to try to write a book.
And during those hours where I was awake with a child,
(07:53):
I just tried to write because I didn't have anything
else to do. And that was the time when I
was like, oh wow, I actually sat down and wrote
a four hundred page book beginning to end. It had
a beginning, a middle, and an end. It was a
very good It was needed a lot of work, but
I queried it for some reason because I had no idea.
(08:15):
It was not very good, and I got a lot
of good positive responses and people were saying like, hey,
you're not there yet, but you have a lot of promise,
and so I said, okay. So I wrote another book
and a small press picked that up, and I kept
getting just kind of words of encouragement every book that
I wrote, and I saw my own progress, and after
(08:40):
a while, I just I don't know, I just it
just became my thing. And the more I wrote, the
more I didn't want to not write. If that makes sense.
I didn't want to go back to being a nurse
because I really really enjoyed what I was doing. And yeah,
it was us a very slow build up. There's a
(09:03):
lot of writers that kind of especially in my field,
like they just get on Instagram and they'll blow up overnight.
That did not happen to me. I started my account
probably in like twenty twenty one, twenty two, and I
grew my account to over twenty thousand readers, and it
did not happen overnight. It took five years to do
all this, and but yeah, every book just got a
(09:26):
little bit better and a little bit better. And then
when I had my second child, that's when my idea
for how s the Bain came and I sat down
and wrote it when she was five weeks old in
my lap. It's kind of just stuck with me ever since.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
So, yeah, how is your writing process changed then? Because
obviously mentioned about like taking those little moments between like
when your child was born and like when they were
crying and you met those leapless nights. So how have
you sort of like developed your writing methods like over
the that five year period.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
IM slower, right now, I was writing very quickly when
I was, I guess in my younger writing years because
I didn't understand how much thought I really needed to
put into this. And I think that's what's really changed
my writing and made my writing more mature, was, you know,
(10:19):
just challenging myself and pushing myself to think deeper and
think and just develop the concepts a little more, a
little more, a little more, and not be so face value.
And so that's kind of been my My biggest change
is that I've slowed down a lot. I used to
be able to write two books a year, and now
(10:41):
I'm like, I'm kind of pushing out what I'm still
doing about too, but it takes me a lot longer,
and I have to write a lot longer to get
the same amount of words out. But and I do
outline now. I was a panther before, but I actually
I am actually outlining now when I feel like a
big girl.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
What would ordinarily then if if you, you know, your
husband comes home, kids are back, and you say I've
had a good writing day to day, what what would
that look like to you? What would that consist of?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Usually? You know, I, I I really do have to
just wait till everybody's gone or is sleeping. My it's
obviously changed because as my kids age, their sleep schedules change,
their nap times change. You know, they used to take
two three naps a day and now they don't, and
(11:39):
so I can't really write as much during the day anymore.
But now I've got one that goes to school full
time and the other one goes part time. So now
I have full days where I can just write and
it's amazing and I love it. So that's that's a
really good day for me. And sometimes I get to
(12:01):
go out and go to a coffee shop. That's a
really good day. But those are few in far between.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But yeah, yeah, And we try and like give writers
a realistic impression because we've had writers on the show
where they say, oh, all right, a thousand words a day.
Like we had Adele Parks on last week. She said that, like,
I do a thousand words and that's it. I've done.
We had Ben Aronovich on the show and he said,
I'm happy if I get one fifty a day, and
(12:28):
that gives me a book a year. So do you
work to a word count or are you going on emotions
and feeling for seeing and things.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I do as many words as I can a day
because I never know if I'm going to be able
to have tomorrow, you know, just because life is very unpredictable.
Like I said, I just got over COVID, so that
was a whole week I was out. So I try
to just write as many words a day as I can.
Sometimes it's only five hundred, sometimes it's up to two thousand.
It just kind of depends how my brain's cooking that day.
(13:01):
But I definitely just try to do as many words
as possible because I, yeah, I have so many books
that I want to write that I need to get
to and time is money, and so I just I'm
if I have free time, I'm writing. It doesn't matter
if I hit a thousand words. I'm just gonna keep
going because I'm obviously feeling good. So because yeah, I
(13:22):
don't know, I don't know if i'll have the next day,
and then I'll get cut behind, you know, So but
I do try to get I guess I do try
to get at least a thousand a day.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Just do you think your experience as a nurse then
has influenced your writing, not in terms of ideas, but
Obviously you're working with terminally ill patients, people who.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Are dying like in front of your eyes in that role,
and obviously you talked about the importance of, like, you know,
making the most of every day. Do you think you
would have had that attitude? Was that always there or
was that because of the experiences that you've had in
that role.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That was definitely because of my experiences, for sure. I
was very naive before I became a nurse, and I
was not ready to write books before I became a nurse.
I learned so much being on the floor and I
worked as a hospice nurse for a little bit, and
so yeah, I definitely witnessed a lot about the human
(14:19):
condition and it affected me personally. I just grew up
very quickly, and I learned a lot about just people
and life and family and love. And I think those
themes kind of show themselves in my work, you know, unintentionally,
but it happens just because I think those are just
(14:42):
the most important parts of life now.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, So we like to try and give people advice
that are listening to and watching the show. What advice
would you give to somebody who's maybe not started writing yet,
but has the idea for a book and kind of
a similar situation to you. You know, they're working, they're
not they're not able to dedicate the time because they've
got other commitments. What advice would you give to them
(15:09):
in that moment?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think you're never going to have times. It's kind
of a thing where you just have to make yourself
sit down and carve out time, even if it's only
fifteen twenty minutes. It's fifteen twenty minutes you didn't do before,
you know, It's just it's really just the discipline of
carving out time. I miss sleep. There are periods like
(15:35):
I had a deadline I had to make. I got
maybe four hours four hours of sleep for several nights straight,
and it was rough, but I did it. You know.
It's you just have to sometimes just make time where
there isn't time, and sometimes you do have to sacrifice
other things. I haven't watched a TV show in a
long time because I'm always writing if I have free time.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So yeah, with that, then, obviously, when you said you
wrote that first book and you weren't, you know, you
said it wasn't very good by your own standards, But
what do you think you learned then Obviously you talked about,
you know, planning now and plotting out a little bit more.
Obviously you went on quite a unique journey as well
(16:17):
in terms of having that first book, and then you
talked about self publishing, and then you talked about going
with the traditional press. Like, can you enlighten us to
to sort why you made that journey and why you
made those decisions to go with certain things at certain times?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, I wanted, I always wanted to get better, and
I know I had a long way to go. So
I when I was querying, I took any little piece
of advice. I went on read z, I got editors
to I hired people, and I was like, hey, could
you give me like a letter, an editorial letter, just
like help me out what's going on? Because I knew nothing,
(16:54):
Like my background's not in writing at all. My last
English class was in high school. I tested out of
all my college English classes, so I didn't take any
college English classes. So yeah, it's been a while since
I've had to take any kind of course in literature.
(17:15):
So I was desperate for feedback and for just everything.
So but it was it definitely was needed. And because
that I obviously got a lot better and learned a
lot from just my failures, I guess.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And what was that like because you saying obviously before that,
you you know, you had quite a bit of success
on Amazon with your own you know, self publishing, So
I should imagine if you've had a lot of success
as an author in that field, like, it must be
quite difficult to sort of weigh up the pros and
cons between going carrying on with the success that you've
(17:56):
had and building your own readership. As you said, like
it took you five years to build that to twenty thousand,
and then you know, trust in a traditional publisher to
be able to sort of take over some of the reigns,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So what Yah, So that was definitely a big, a
big leap of faith. But I knew for my career
I really wanted to get into the traditional publishing field
just because self publishing is not for the week. It
is difficult, it is expensive, it is competitive, it's it's
(18:32):
not as easy as what a lot of people make
it look. There's a lot of people on Instagram that,
you know, they just put a book up and then
like they people just see all these you know, people
just gravitating towards it, but it's very very difficult, and
it got yeah, it got really expensive. And now that
my kids are getting older, I don't have the time
(18:53):
to sit here and make newsletters and list and art
teams and teams, and it's just it's just so, so
very much. So I was very excited to work with
Second Sky and Forever and the whole team with them,
and I knew they were very trustworthy because my agent
was highly recommending them. She's worked with them for a while,
(19:17):
so I trusted her, and I definitely it was definitely
the right path for me because they have taken so
much off my plate and I can just write again,
which is really nice.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So yeah, brilliant. Right, So on that, we're going to
move on to the second part of the show, which
is what's the story, and obviously House of Bain and Blood.
If you could give us the elevator pitch for that
when we come back from this little video, that would
be great.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
So that's.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
So let's just take it away.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So a House of Vein and Blood is basically Peggy
Blinders meets the magic system of the grishoverse In this story,
Camilla MARQUESI Mary's Nikolaiatano in a marriage of convenience to
save her her family's railway business. But of course this
deal plunges them into the dark underbelly of an industrial
(20:22):
city of Lynchaven and it gets very intense. So she
has to battle between you know, finding this serial killer
and not falling for her husband to save her family's syndicate.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Brilliant. Yeah, that was a great pitch. Love that. So
what I suppose we've rivals to love is then that
is a genre in itself, and that can sustain quite
a strong narrative anyway. So what made you add the
serial killer element into it? Because that's kind of going
in to a different realm as well. That could again
(21:02):
be a story within itself. Some stories just follow that,
you know, trying to find the serial killer type thing.
So what made you sort of blend the two?
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, there's all so there's all different kinds of plots, right,
you have like trials, and you have mysteries and you
have things like that. I really liked the idea of
having this mysterious serial killer, seial kidnapper in this dark
industrial city. It just kind of added to the vibe
of the city. I guess because I really wanted this dark,
(21:34):
steampunk gas fantasy kind of city. So yeah, it just
it really fit the plot and the story and it
just kind of worked for me.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah. So again in terms of structure, obviously you've got
different voices as well throughout this novel. Again, what what
was the decision behind that in terms of different perspectives?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
What was that in sorry last part.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In terms of structures, So having different perspectives from characters,
and what made you make that decision rather than just
sticking with one perspective throughout?
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well, I romantasy dual POV. It's very popular. People love
to have the male POV, which was very difficult for
me because I have a trouble giving into my male
character's head sometimes and it is very powerful. And I
chose to do that one because they both are battling
(22:36):
different they're fighting for different things, So Nico is part
of something that Camilla doesn't know about. So it kind
of adds a nice little tension to the story for
the reader to know both sides, but the characters themselves
only know their own sides, and it's just fun to
play with and I just enjoyed having these like little
secrets that are going on with Nico that Camilla didn't
(22:58):
know about, but the reader now knows about it, So
it kind of creates the situational irony in a way,
it increases the tension. And then romance tension is very important.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
So on that note, then obviously we did briefly mention
before the show. Whenever we get a romance writer on relationship,
me and I get always try and pick the brains
we talk about and something we watch and enjoy, Like
we'll watch like a romantic comedy and think, oh, that
was great, But how do you get that on the page,
And how do you create tension and chemistry on the page?
(23:32):
What tip would be got for people in that.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right? So when I first create these people, I always
first I make my female main character because she, to me,
she is probably she's the most important. She's the male,
she's the main character. And then I try to adapt
like this male main character that would fit her in
every single way possible. And so for me, I like
(23:58):
to set up tension very early on. I like to
set up the secret attraction very early on. And a
lot of people don't like to do that. They think, oh,
it's instant attraction. I don't care if two people hate
each other. If they think they're hot, they think they're hot,
it's going to happen. It does not matter even that
any need still lovers, They can still think they're hot
right off of the So first impressions are very important.
(24:21):
So that first time that the character sees their future
love interests, that is probably the most important scene in
the book. So that's where it's going to set up
all of the tension in my book. So that's one tip.
I guess the first that first impression. First impressions are
very important, and then I guess just the whole way.
(24:44):
It just needs to Everything needs to just be intense.
Everything needs to add tension. So the smallest details do this,
the handbrushing, the lingering books, the look on the lips,
the things like that. So just any little thing that
you can do to add that tension and that secret
(25:06):
wanting is really important.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
For different characters. How do you decide as a writer
in terms of how much to include in terms of
like internal thought process and how do you sort of
limit that to to exactly what you need for the
narrative without indulging in a character's soort of mind.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Yeah, I think that is just instinct at some point
it's and it's always hard to find it that sweet
spot where it's like how much do I include and
how much do I not?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
I sometimes will just lay it all out there, and
then I'll pull back as I edit, and so I'll
finish the story and then I'll go back and be like,
oh no, she doesn't need to know this here, let
me take this out, or and just kind of feel
it back as I go. But yeah, so sometimes it's
just just feels right at a certain time. But I
(26:06):
try to save any big, big, like big impressions till
the end. I guess, And what.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Advice would you have for somebody then, if they're tackling
a dual POV, what could make their life easier?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I al would say, remember the voice. The voice has
to be different if it wants to be believable. You
can't have the same voice for each character. So you
should be able to take the names off the top
of the chapter and the reader should know exactly who's
head they are in. So that's my biggest piece of advice.
And I did that with House of Vain. That was
(26:47):
my first time I really tried that technique. I took
off the names and I gave Nico his own personality
and voice, and I think it worked out for him.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
And you said you struggled a little bit right in
Nicole's vice, So like, how how did you approach that
differently than in terms of what you've done in the past,
Like to know you you'd got it right.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So I like to have a muse. I like to
have an inspiration, and of course my inspiration was Tommy Shelby.
I think we don't have enough Tommy Shelby's in Romanticy.
We have we have a lot of resons, but we
don't have a lot of Tommy Shelby's. And I really
wanted to write Tommy Shelby, but I didn't want to
(27:33):
do it too much like Tommy Shelby because he's I
think he was a little too cold for a Romanticy.
So it was taking pieces of his character that I
enjoyed and then also giving it like just that Nico Flare,
I guess, And yeah, that was when I've it just
(27:55):
kind of sometimes clicks too. So when I finally figured
him out, like it comes from this Italian family and
he just loves his family. He's just a big softy,
but he's got this Tommy Shelby exterior. You know, that's
when it kind of all clicked his personality to me.
And then of course when he's interacting with Camilla that
(28:16):
the personalities just they come out so well.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
So yeah, I love that idea of having amuse and
something to go off in terms of like guiding your characters.
So again, you talked about before being a bit more
of a planner, so I should imagine in the pasture
more of a plotter. So how do you find the
balance now between letting your characters sort of tell you
(28:43):
the story through their points of view in terms of,
like you know, when they throw unexpected curve balls at you,
but also stick into sort of a riginal plan that
you've made.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I think it's more difficult with the first book because
I don't really know them yet. Until I've written the
whole book, I don't really know them so personally, and
it's difficult for me to make these choices based on
their personalities because I don't really know them yet. So
I will outline to the best of my ability, and
(29:15):
especially working with my editor, he's amazing, but you know,
we try to outline and like, look, this is what's
going to happen in every single chapter. But then when
you get into the book and you're like, well, this
character wouldn't do that, Like they this doesn't really make
sense for them, So then you kind of have to
adapt as you go and then change the storyline. But
(29:37):
I feel like sequels are pretty are a little bit
more simple in that way because you do know them.
You know them at this point you can pretty much
like lay out the outline and you know what they're
going to do. But the first book is a little hard.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
So again with the romance element, we've kind of covered
that in terms of like how you can tension on
the page, but one of the areas that obviously with
it be in a spicy romance. What makes it spicy then?
And how do you know how much spice to put
into the page and how much to leave to the
reader sort of imagination.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
So that is it's honestly very as a personal decision
for me. I write very graphic material I write, I
write graphic fight scenes, and so I feel like I
can write graphic spice. It's it's adult, like, we're all adults.
This is a romance. There is sexual relationships. You know
in a romance, so I write it and I think
(30:35):
there's a way to do it tastefully, and there's a
way to do it shockingly. What I like to do
with spice, I enjoy using spice as a tool. So
anything that will reveal their character arc or progress their
character arc is really important to me. So I enjoy
(30:57):
emotional spice. I like focusing more on the side behind it,
as well as describing all the physical stuff of course,
because that's you know, it's fun, but it's also important
to their character arc as well. It's not just for
shock value. Now there are books that just write spice
for pure shock value, and that's fine. But in my books,
(31:19):
in a romanticy where there is a plot, and there
is an important plot and their romance is part of
the plot, I feel like the spice should serve a purpose.
That's again, that's just every writer is a little different.
Some people like to do it for fun and some
people like me that have a purpose for the spice.
So mine's only a few pages. I don't really write
(31:43):
very much spice, And it also depends on the characters
for me. So Nico and Camilla are very they know,
they're very good looking people, and they're very confident, so
of course their spice is going to be a little
bit more like wild then, and I recently wrote another
book where the characters are not like that. They're very
(32:04):
reserved people, and the spice is very minimal. It's not graphic.
And I chose not to write super because it just
it was weird. It was it didn't make sense. It
was just very shocking. So that makes.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It Yeah, no, absolutely in terms of plot then, obviously
without giving anything away for people who are going to
go and pick up this book today. And when did
you decide that the plot was more than just an
idea and it was a novel that you needed to write.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's just a good question. I honestly couldn't tell you.
So I wrote this book at the beginning of twenty
twenty three, and it's been a while, but I do remember.
So again, I was postpartum at this point, and I
was watching Netflix and I stumbled upon Peaky Blinders and
(33:02):
I was watching this one scene where they put their
cousin into this marriage of convenience, and I was like,
oh my gosh, that's it. We're going to write America
Convenience and we're doing it with Mafia, and we're going
to do it in a real city. And it all
just all at once, just kind of like clicked into place.
And I feel like writers have that little Eureka moment
(33:23):
where you're like, oh, my gosh, this is the idea, Like,
this is the idea that I can run with. And
I knew there wasn't really anything Peaky Blinders inspired in
the market at that time, so I felt like, Okay,
this is my this is my little foothold, this is
my my niche. I can write this, I can do
a good job at it, and hopefully this will be
(33:47):
my book, the like my book that finally gets like
a little bit of attention, and thankfully I did, so
it just kind of clicked all together.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Do you know what was inside you in terms of like, oh,
I want to put all these pieces together. What was
it that made you think that's the idea and I'm
going to do a great job at that because I
can do it.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I have been obsessed with this world for a while.
I've always wanted to write an industrial city, something like
a Gaslin fantasy. I played a video game a very
long time ago. I talk about it all the time,
it's called Dishonored, and it inspired a lot of the story,
and I knew I wanted to write a book in
a city like that and with the dark and gritty
(34:39):
and all that good stuff that I love so much.
And I personally was looking for that book to read
and I could not find it. It was very difficult
to find, like a gasolent fantasy. So that wasn't like
Victorian I wanted industrial, So I decided to write it nice.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, that's definitely a really good advice for people, if
you know, if the book out there, if it doesn't exist,
maybe just write it yourself. So obviously we've had the
elevator pitch, who like, if you could send a message
to potential readers, now, what would you want to say
to them?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Hm hmm, that's a good question. Please buy it? Yeah,
I don't. I don't know. That's stomper.
Speaker 5 (35:35):
So if we flipped it then and we said, if
you because the publishing industry loves comparisons, if you like this,
you might like obviously Peaky Blinders is obviously given. But
have you got any more that if you go, oh,
if you like this.
Speaker 6 (35:53):
Yeah, well, if you like like the nineteen twenties Mafia
and Korsha for the Gresha versus magic system and all that.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
That's probably that's my go to. That's what I've been
pitching for most of this time.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
But and again, obviously we talked a little bit about
magic as well, like how difficult it is is it
as an author to create a world like that where
you know, you've kind of got to create your own rules,
Like how do you go about doing that?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Every book is a little different, Every world's a little different.
Sometimes I come up with the magic first, sometimes the
world's first. In this case, the world came first, and
then I had to find a magic system that kind
of fit into it. But it kind of helps having
the world first because then I have boundaries and I
(36:47):
know what would make sense in this world and what wouldn't.
So for this world, I knew I didn't have any
like mythical races or anything. I just had humans and
just people to figure out what magic system would make
sense or how these people would have magic, how would
some people have magic, and how some people wouldn't have it,
(37:09):
And then the people who didn't have it, what would
they use for the people against the people that didn't
have magic? Because of course, in any society, if one
person has something, the other group is going to have
something to kind of counterbalance it. And so that's where
I got this idea of magic for science, because I
feel like in today's world, if there were people with
(37:30):
magical abilities, we would also have scientific endeavors to counterbalance that.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
So yeah, I love that. It's brilliant. So in terms
of writing the novel as well, if you could go
back and again without giving any spoilers and write your
favorite moment again, which moment would you choose? If you
can without giving us any.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Spoilers, there is a fan favorite and then my favorite
scene where I honestly don't know where I got this
idea from, but the characters are interrogating each other and
they're doing this by drinking this magic clickor that makes
you throw up if you lie, so of course they're
(38:19):
both lying, and of course they're both just like vomiting.
It's very and it's fun to play with because they
ask like more personal questions and then they get on
each other's nerves and it's just it was just really
fun to write, and it just it's it's been a
favorite for sure.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Brilliant obviously, again. In the back of the book, you
talk about how important obviously your family are, and your
sister in particular. What is that like when you know
when you finished a book, do you send it off
to your editor first, to family get first DIBs on
the reading of it? Like, how does that work?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I like for everything to be done before or my
family reads it. But yes, my sister always gets her
advance copies before anyone. Of course, I would not be
here if it wasn't for my sister, because she handed
me my she I was reading straight fantasy before, and
(39:18):
I was like, I don't know why. I just can't
get back into fantasy. She's like, oh, try this book,
and she hands me a Court of Thorns and Roses.
And I would not be here probably if I had
if I didn't know that this whole genre existed, Because
like I said, I was in nursing school. I didn't
I was completely my head was in the sand, I
(39:39):
was not in read I wasn't reading at all. So
when I finally got out and could read again, she's
she showed me this amazing genre, and I'm been hooked
ever since.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
So brilliant. Right, So we're going to move on to
the third part of the show now, which is Community
question Time. So if you watch in life and you
want to send us a question, you can do that
via YouTube. Unfortunately, because I get's not with us, I
don't know how to get the questions from elsewhere. So
if you're watching on YouTube live, you can send us
(40:09):
some questions, and we're going to ask our staple questions
as well, so just after this video. That's one brilliant
(40:34):
So yeah, this is the Community Questions time. So if
you've got your questions, we've got about eighteen minutes for
you to send them in and we'll try and ask
them on the screen as well. Well. First we're going
to ask Alexai some of our staple questions. And one
of those staple questions is if you could take any
character from fiction and make that character your own, Which
character would you choose and what would you do with them?
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Any fictional character? That's hard. Gosh, you gave me the
hard one right out of the bat. My favorite character
is Claire Fraser from Outlander. She is probably one of
the best female leads in any book I've ever read,
(41:20):
so I would say her for sure cool.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
What would you do with that character? Then what what
would be your idea.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I don't know. I would I don't know. I would
write her own book. I guess yea.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So another one in Staple Questions that we ask again.
It's quite a tricky one. But if you could change
the end into any fiction, what would you change the
ending to and why?
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Mm hmmm? Any fiction? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
TV film?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Oh my goodness. Okay, So I'm I'm watching a Korean
drama right now called Alchemy of Souls and it just
ended and I disliked it, so I would change it.
I didn't like who died, but anyway.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, so change it. What would you do with the
ending of that? Obviously people may watch that as well.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
There is so like it's like episode eighteen in part one,
how it ended there. I would have kept it like that.
Everybody was happy, everybody was getting betrothed and married, and
then all of a sudden, like the evil guy figures
out a way to like control this girl's soul and
(42:43):
she goes on a murder spree and she just kills
everybody and it just was so sad and I was
but yeah, and she died, so then it's like a
whole another season. I'm not happy with but no.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Painful. Yeah. So again, just if you are watching now,
you can send you your questions in Another question that
we have is a bit of a morbid question. But
I suppose with your history as being a nurse as well,
you might be all to play with it. But if
you were on your deathbed and you're looking back at
(43:21):
your writing career, what would you be happy with? What
is success to you?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
I would be proud of myself for at least trying,
at least do it I knew I do. I could
rest in the fact I knew I did everything that
I could. I was never lazy. I never took a
day off. I never you know, I never let myself
take the easy way out. You know. I worked and
(43:48):
worked and worked and worked. So that's nothing I would
be happy about.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Mm hmm. And obviously you mentioned your children as well
at the back of the book in terms of like
for your relations and ship if they could skip to
chapter thirty five. So how are you feeling about the
prospect of obviously your children growing up and reading new books.
Is that something that you're excited by because you you know,
(44:13):
you could inspire them to follow that dreams.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
I don't mind I think they'll be like cringing, but
I definitely wouldn't mind. Yeah, I do this for them,
you know, I hope they do. I hope they I
hope I can, you know, be someone for them to admire.
And I hope one day when they're older, I can
still take them to the bookstore and they can still see,
(44:39):
you know, their mom on the shelf somewhere. I do.
And my my daughters she can't read, obviously, she's doing
I have, but she's obsessed with books. She'll just sit
there and just stare at words and just pretend like
she's reading. And it's it just makes my heart feel
so good. So but yeah, they'll take my books off
the shelf and they'll they'll like open it up and
point to my pick. Sure, and they're like, well, it's
(45:01):
too and so that's always a very good feeling.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Yeah, definitely. And again, and I'm just going to stick
on the family element because even though you can't see them,
so well, hey, I'm going to try and hold them up. Obviously,
you talked about the art that your husband helped you
get commissioned and done. Why did you feel that it
was important to have those images at the front and
(45:25):
is that obviously this is a proof, but is that
something that you want as well?
Speaker 2 (45:29):
In yes, so in my indie books, those were of
course where the PUV their PUV their first POV's chapters
came in. So anything you can do when you're an
indie author to give yourself like a little bit of
an edge is really helpful. So putting interior art into
(45:50):
a book it really helps sell, and it definitely helps
sell my first copies because when people don't know what
your book like, how your quality of writing or anything,
when they you're just a new author to them, if
they can know that they're going to get a quality
looking book, they usually will buy it. So getting a
(46:12):
really nice cover is always really helpful. But also putting
that interior art and then the map, it just makes
it look more professional and it makes more competitive against
these beautiful tad books who have these beautiful like embossed
covers and spray edges and stuff. So just anything get
(46:33):
a little bit ahead, you know.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Nice And what's that like in terms of like, you know,
when you have something in your imagination and then you're
trying to put it into a different art from how
do you convey that sort of idea to somebody.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Yes, I find really talented people who can pull it
out my brain. I don't know how they do it
because I can't draw. I can't I can't help them
at all. So I just send them a couple of
pinches pictures and somehow they piece it together and they
do an incredible job. I have always shocked what these
(47:07):
artists can do. And yeah, I'm very grateful for them
because that honestly helped sell so many of my books
the first you know, the first publication, so it was
very lucky.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
No, I love that. Again, some really good tips here
coming out for people who are going down the self
published roup. If we could just stay there for a minute,
because again, we have a lot of people who listen
to this show that are self published and you know,
are looking to elevate the game or they're looking to
make that step into traditional What three tips could you
(47:42):
give them in the self publishing genre? And then what
three tips could you give to somebody who was looking
to be traditionally published?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Oh goodness, Okay, Well, as a self published author, I
would really say, don't scamp on your covers. You could
write an story, but if it doesn't have a professional
looking cover. People aren't going to give you the time
of day, and it's really frustrating. Especially with Amazon's new guidelines.
They're not pushing new releases as much as they used to,
(48:15):
so it's getting even more difficult for self published people
to find readers. So I would really say, you're people,
do judge books of covers. Get a good cover. Some
people can do their own covers, some people cannot.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
I cannot.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
So if you're one off, you're like me, just I
would spend you know, a good amount of money on
a cover. Definitely budget for that. Budgeting is very important.
It's everybody's a little different. I had a certain amount
that I wanted to spend, and I knew that I
could sell so many books to at least pay myself back.
(48:54):
So I don't skip on cover or editor. Please get
a good editor. As far as any other tips. Social
media is very important. We hate it, but it's very important.
If you don't want to show your face, you don't
have to. People always say you have to show your face.
(49:14):
I don't believe you do. I really don't show my
face anymore. And all of my videos that have really
done really well, my reels and my tiktoks. I've all
of been without my face, so I don't feel like
you have to use your face. But social media is
very important. Get a TikTok, get a TikTok. If you're
an indie writer, you have to have a TikTok. You
(49:35):
don't have to, but it's very, very helpful. And then
Instagram is always great because you can kind of keep
all your readers you know, in one place. And then lastly,
find friends. Find a good group of writing friends who
are going to keep you sane, who you can ask
(49:55):
questions to, who you can invent to. You don't want
to invent on the internet, and people do not like
it when writers complain on the internet. So find your people,
went to them, be professional online.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
Yeah, that's great advice for somebody who's obviously going down
the self publish route. I'm going to add a little
one there as well, because you said any sort of
step up. We had a conversation with cam it down
at Harrogate's Crime RX Festival and at the back of
his latest book he had a QR code and when
you scanned it, it sent you to a twelve minute
(50:35):
video that he'd made for when you'd finished reading the book,
and I'd never seen that before, and I thought I
was genius because he started he was talking about the
characters and the ending and things like that, and it
just gave you a real personal insight into what he
was thinking. So I'm going to add that in there.
And I think, alexis that be something that you may
(50:58):
be interested in doing as well. So that's why I
mentioned it because.
Speaker 2 (51:01):
It's a great idea. Yeah, anything to give yourself just
an edge, just be a little different than everybody else,
that's a really great idea.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
And in terms of moving then in terms of like
trying to secure traditional publishers route again, what tip could
you give to somebody in that field?
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Get a good agent. No agent is better than that agent.
I've I've been blessed to have a great agent from
day one, but I have had friends that just don't
don't look out in that category, and they get let
down and they waste, you know, a year or two
years just sticking with someone who isn't out for their
best interests. So finding a good agent is so important
(51:43):
if you want to do well in the traditional publishing field.
I got very very very very lucky. I still don't
know how I got Emily, but I got her, so
she's suck with me anyway. Tradition any more traditional tips.
Yeah know you're worth you like they need you, you
(52:05):
don't need them. So that's another big thing. Don't ever
sell yourself less than what you deserve. Because I now
know my worth. I know that I could publish a
book and make a good amount of money. So when
I go to you know, a publisher's table, like, I
know that they need to make me a good enough
offer because I could go take this book and sell
(52:26):
it for I can you know, make a good amount
of money off of it. So it definitely has to
be worth my while now to sell to a publisher,
which gives me a little bit of power at the table,
which is nice. And also, don't wait to build your readership.
So just because you might be querying agents right now,
(52:46):
still start building your platform, like, start your social media's
you know. Unfortunately, we live in a day and age
where it's just it might not be enough just to publish,
you know, without having your name out there. And it
can actually be a little easier if you are on
social media and you do have a good following and
you know, you are talking to people online and stuff,
(53:09):
so it is helpful attracting agents and publishers.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
Sorry, I'm sorry, we're close to the hour mark, and yeah,
we'll try and get it in before it gets allowed
with So one of the things that we do at
the end is where can people find all information about you?
(53:34):
Where can they buy your books? And where can they
again use social media's and things like that.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
So I am mainly on Instagram and TikTok at Alexis Almonard.
You can find I have a website Alexis Almanard dot com.
I'm in all the bookstores now, yeah, you can find
me on Amazon, any brick and mortar store all over the.
Speaker 1 (54:01):
Brilliant And I'm going to I've never done this before,
but I'm going to start with you, Alexis. So we've
got a guest on Friday. What I want to do
is get a question from Alexis that we can ask
that guest. So, can you give us a question that
we can ask on Friday to our next guest?
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Can you ask them what is next for them and
their publishing field in their publishing career or what are
their goals?
Speaker 1 (54:36):
Why are there girls?
Speaker 2 (54:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Brilliant I'll ask them that, and that does lead me
on to what I was going to ask you, which
is what's next from you?
Speaker 2 (54:46):
I have so much, I have so much on my
plate right now. I just sent a book to my
editor to get line at its, so that's coming out.
I don't have a date. I can't say anything if
I'm in a contrac I also just did something else
that I can't talk about, but I'll be announcing it soon,
(55:07):
So everybody should go follow me so you could hear
like a news soon.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
Love that and I'm sure people will do again. If
you're watching or listening back to this show, thank you
very much for your support, and please support the authors
who come on the show and support the show. And yeah,
we've got three interviews this week. So obviously we've had
Alexus today, we have Sir Tony Robinson the interview that's
already pre recorded that drops on Thursday, and then we
(55:36):
have CJ Lead on Friday. So fantastic interviews all week
for you to get your ears and it's into So yeah,
if you enjoy it tonight's show, please like and share
it around and again support the authors who support the show,
and go out and get Alexis's book today because you'll
(55:58):
definitely enjoy it again if you look the Peaky Blinders
and you love that romance element as well, Rivals to
love us, what's not to love there? And magic thrown
in for extra measure, and obviously that hunt as well
for serial killer as well, So lots of different things
there that are definitely ticking major boxes for people. So yeah,
(56:18):
go and pick that up. But thank you very much
for listening. Thank you Alexis. And now we'll do a
little end of video, end of show video and a
little wave if we don't mind.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
Thank you so much for having me really.
Speaker 1 (56:32):
Thank you, Bye bye, everybody. Gas
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