Well good morning lovelies! We've got the talented Felicity Heaton joining us today for a little chat...and some ManCandy.There's little yummies throughout the post. You'll totally get it once you get to the bottom of our chat but until then just sit back and enjoy...
Oh. And there's a giveaway down at the bottom!
Welcome to herding cats & burning soup Felicity! It's wonderful to see you this morning. Thanks for stopping by to dish about your different series!
You write a number of really wonderful series, from vampires to angels, that are filled with amazing heroes and heroines. For our followers who are just meeting you what do you think makes your characters so special to readers?
I love writing characters who have a lot of depth and are well-rounded and believable, even though the majority of the time they’re supernatural creatures. I like to play on emotion, and more often than not my heroes are broken in some way, with darkness in their past or their future that the heroine can help them face and overcome. I really adore tortured heroes and I put my characters through a lot in each book, never giving them an easy time. I pair my powerful heroes with equally powerful heroines, women who can take command when the situation calls for it and won’t give up on their hero, even when he’s trying to keep them at arm’s length to protect himself (or her). I like to tug at readers’ emotions and give them characters they can fall in love with and characters who will stay with them long after they have finished the book.
Gah, yeah you're good at pulling at those emotions! I saw you have a new release in your Vampire Erotic Theatre series coming out in January. Woohoo!!! That's so exciting!! *whew, sorry, went all squealy fangirl for a second there* Would you tell us a little about the series and the next installment?
Yes, I do have a new release in the series coming soon. It has been a while since Enslave came out in August and I really hated having such a large gap between the release of Enslave, which is the fourth book in the series, and Bewitch, which is the next one and will come out in January. I had to release Her Demonic Angel, which is the fifth book in my extremely popular Her Angel series, and then I’ve been away on vacation. I don’t think readers would begrudge me either of those things as the release of Her Demonic Angel caused quite a storm amongst my readers and now everyone is asking me when the next book in that particular series is coming! It’s a great feeling to have readers approaching me and asking about my series, showing eagerness that really brings a smile to my face and gives me a boost, making me want to sit down right now and pen the next book.
Back to the Vampire Erotic Theatre series though. Bewitch is the next book and Payne is the hero. I can’t say much about Payne without giving away things about him that are best left for discovering in the course of the series. He’s a dark, complicated, and lost male though, and he’s been through a lot in his history, things he finds difficult to shake and that have warped his view of himself. He needed a really strong heroine, a brave one who would step up and take him on, and not cower when faced with the darker side of his nature. Payne has gone deep into the fae underworld in search of something and it’s a place he doesn’t want to be until he meets Elissa, a witch who turns out to be his only hope of finding that which he’s looking for, but she’s out to strike a bargain and wants something in return for her help, something which might just break him.Ahhh, I can't wait to read his journey. Sounds amazing! Alright, What 3 fun facts (behind the scenes kinda things) about the VET series do you think readers would love to know?
I think readers would love to know three facts about Snow’s book, which is the final instalment in the series. I get a lot of comments and emails asking when Snow’s book will come out and telling me he needs a good woman to help him overcome his affliction. Snow suffers a debilitating bloodlust and he’s crazy eighty percent of the time, but even when he’s out of his head, he’s still doing things that have made readers love him.
I’m trying to think of three behind the scenes things that I can say without giving away massive spoilers. Okay.
Number one- there’s a hint at the end of Bewitch about Snow’s heroine.
Number two- he has already met his heroine a very long time ago.
Number three- we’ll be hearing the patter of tiny feet at Vampirerotique soon. Oh, and I’ll give a fourth, Elizabeth cameos in Bewitch, and she may get her own short story with her hero.Your Her Angel series has a special place for me since it was my first experience with your books. Your angels have some serious sexy going on! Would you share a little about your men and their lives as Angels?
Serious sexy? I’m sure they would all be glad to hear that! When I set out to write the Her Angel series, I wanted to write angels in a way no other author in my genre had at the time, and I think I achieved that. The angels aren’t fallen angels. Most of them still work for the higher powers at one point or another in the series, even if they then get out of the game during the course of their romance. They’re powerful, sexy, wicked and dangerous, and just a little bit bad at times. I have a real mix of heroes in this series, with some of them verging on evil and others quite saintly and pure, and readers are really responding to that. I love how readers are split between the heroes, although the two bad boys Apollyon and Veiron seem to get the most readers mooning over them.
As for their lives, they have all been through their trials and betrayals, and all of them are caught up in an eternal game between Heaven and Hell. These are very powerful males, all of them warriors whether they work for Heaven or Hell, but they’re not a patch on the powers who rule them. It’s really difficult to explain without giving too much away, but they live to obey their master and sometimes that means they have to do things they find questionable or object to, and sometimes they end up doing it against their will. It’s a really big, dramatic full-throttle world that I love writing and exploring, and now I’m itching to work on the next book!LOL. Yes, Felicity, serious sexy going on. And yep. Totally mooning over Apollyon. <g> Do you have a favorite type of scene to write? Or ones that give you a harder time?
I absolutely love writing fight scenes. They’re my favourite scene to write in a book, closely followed by any tender heart-wrenching scene. I’m a sucker for those as I love to pump emotional intensity into my stories. Readers might find this weird, but the scenes that give me the hardest time are the love scenes. Sometimes I just can’t face them. I know that sounds strange because a lot of the stories I write have these really powerful, descriptive love scenes. It’s the truth though. I struggle with most of my love scenes. I’d rather be writing fighting than... well, you get it.Interesting. You'd never know from reading them. Your steamy scenes are some of my favorites :) So, what's your most memorable or favorite moment as an author?
It has to be the moment in 2010 when I realized that I could make the switch to full-time author and quit the day job, even though it meant I would be working mostly as an author and occasionally as a web developer if I needed to top up my earnings to make it through the year. 2010 had the most amazing Christmas growth in the ebook world and by the time I left my day job in 2011, I was actually earning enough to just work full-time as an author without having to do any web development work. It’s incredible and I work really hard to be careful with my income so I can keep writing full-time even if the market takes a downward turn. I’d love to be able to keep writing for the rest of my life, but I’m realistic. I’m in my early thirties and I have a lot of my life ahead of me, and I’m not going to fool myself into thinking that I can just keep writing for the whole of it and nothing will happen that will shake up this dream and threaten it. It’s something I want with all of my heart though, so I’ll keep fighting to keep it a reality.
I’ve just got back from a long holiday, so no breaks for me other than a few days off over the Christmas period to catch up on some reading, watch some movies, see my family and maybe play some games on my PS3 and other consoles. I was really excited when we reached San Francisco in our recent holiday because the red cups were out in force at Starbucks. I always loved that moment when I was working in London and would spend every lunch time in Starbucks writing my books. It signaled the start of Christmas for me. I’m a sucker for this time of year and all my decorations go up as soon as we reach December. I was away until December 3rd, but had my office tree up the first day back at work and then got the rest of the house decorated shortly after that. I’m really looking forward to spending Christmas day with my family at my parents’ house and the parties we have over that period. My family all live very close to me so it’s wonderful to be able to see everyone, even though I see them all quite often anyway for birthdays and other occasions.
This year, my nieces and nephews are all old enough that we can get back to playing board games without them running off with the question cards, or the die, or anything like that. It will be nice to get back to the traditional Christmas day games. It’s a really important day for me and very special, and I love spending it with my family. Mostly our traditions include eating too much good food, drinking too many good drinks, having a laugh, playing games, and celebrating being together for another year. We lost my aunt this year to cancer, and I want to give my mum a good Christmas and celebrate it with all our hearts in honour of my aunt, who was a real party person just like my mum. It won’t be the same without her, but she’s always in our hearts and a part of our lives.
I'm a sucker for decorating too :) And what a wonderful way to honor your auntie, Felicity! I bet she'd love that :)
Up for a ....Lightning Round?
- dogs or ~**CATS**~? Cats
- Best cooking disaster? Trying to cook whole chillis, which then promptly exploded
- Which would YOU rather be: Angel/Werewolf or Vampire? Vampire
- Strangest thing in your purse right now? A small soft toy cat paw that you can wear on your finger. It's a Kutusita Nyanko product I got in Japan, and it's a mobile phone / cell phone strap. Awesome.
- Naughty or Nice? Extremely naughty. The naughtier the better *bwhaha we knew we liked you!*
- Favorite... ManCandy? Joss Kloss. OMG. Joss Kloss... he's exactly how I picture Valentine in my Vampires Realm series. *oh Sweet Mary. You are so our favorite Felicity! Yum!*
Thanks so much for joining us Felicity! And, whew, thanks for that Man Candy treat! Wishing you many, many more years of writing! Hope yall have a blast celebrating it up this year!!
I write passionate paranormal romance books as Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. In my books, I create detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons!When I'm not filling my day with writing or writing related work, I love nothing more than reading, playing RPG on my PlayStation, watching anime or reading manga, and also spend time drawing manga characters (sometimes of my romance heroes and heroines) and improving my archery skills. I also love to travel and I am studying Japanese.
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Alright darlings. We've got a giveaway for yall today.
Leave Felicity a nice comment and fill out that rafflecopter! Oh and enjoy one more yummy yummy pic of Joss Kloss from Miss Heaton :)
Alright darlings. We've got a giveaway for yall today. Leave Felicity a nice comment and fill out that rafflecopter! Oh and enjoy one more yummy yummy pic of Joss Kloss from Miss Heaton :)
