Yesterday, I reviewed A. M. Belrose's Witch in Wolf's Clothing. Today, I'm sharing the interview she was gracious enough to give. Enjoy! I certainly did.
What inspired Witch in Wolf's Clothing?
Everyone got sick of me insisting that I could write a romance novel, and told me to put my money where my mouth was. Less generally, I'm sort of an obnoxious romantic at heart, but don't get the chance to write it often. The romance in the book is the sort that I enjoy indulging in, sarcastic, passionate, more settled than stormy. I not so secretly want everyone to be an old married couple.
I'm very much a fan of urban fantasy, so it was easy to decide on that direction for the story. One of my inspirations is Tanya Huff, and how she makes old tropes interesting with vivid characters. So magic and werewolves it was! Much of the foundation of the characters and plot were decided in a conversation with my partner, as much as my writing ends up being, so sometimes I honestly can't tell where 'this would be awesome' ends and 'I dare you to make this work' begins. In the end it usually all falls out fairly well.
How did you approach the research and decide on the mythology for your witches and werewolves?
Here I hide my face and admit that 'somewhat casually' is the best I can make this sound. Everything I know about wolves I learned from "White Fang" in the fourth grade and a fascination with documentaries, but being something of a raving mythology nerd at least gave me a foundation in European folklore and mythology along the lines of the Norse ulfhednar, etc. I made the conscious decision to play a bit fast and lose with the berserker, uncontrollable animal aspect that usually accompanies werewolves. For one thing, I'm not the sort who sees the appeal in a love interest who turns rabidly aggressive on a strict schedule. I also wanted the feral antagonist of the story to have more punch, instead of all werewolves running around eating all your children all the time.
As far as the witches go, I'm contrary. I wanted a main character who simultaneously was and wasn't powerful. One of the scariest things in the world is fire, but Autumn is kind of shit at it. She has to learn and adapt. I chose elemental powers over a more traditional witchcraft lore because the story is a novella; traditional lore can get tricky, and invites a lot of complications. It's also a little more thoughtful than Autumn tends to be.
Who was your favorite character to write and why?
Autumn, through and through, which is always great for a POV character. There's some enjoyment to be had in writing characters you want to chuck off a cliff, but that's generally not a great vibe for sex scenes. She's very casual, a little bit caustic, and knows where she stands in the world. In a lot of ways confident characters are easiest to write; you don't have to figure out how they're second guessing themselves. It's just a clear path from how mad you made her to how hard she's going to hit you.
Is romance a genre you intend to explore further?
The urge comes and goes. The deep dark secret of my authorhood is that I'm a lesbian, so writing straight scenes doesn't come naturally to me. I had to keep pestering people to make sure that Harper sounded sufficiently attractive, and that all bits were functioning properly. While I enjoyed writing the romance, the physical aspects of the relationship were often the hardest to write and the slowest to be finished. On the other hand, I like to think that I pulled it off with some success, thanks to a few tips here and there from the peanut gallery. I don't leave characters behind easily, so there has been some mental tugging at a sequel.
What made you decide to self-publish?
Harlequin didn't want it! It's a novella because I submitted it to their ebook department. I'd heard of Kindle Direct Publishing before, and it seemed a better fate than letting this finished story sit around my harddrive collecting dust. I write to share stories, not hoard them. I did use the time between rejection and self-publishing to seek more opinions from dedicated fantasy readers, and clean the story up a little.
How did you find your cover artist?
I had the fabulous, nepotistic luck to be friends with her.
What direction, if any, did you give her?
'Here is what the characters look like, here are a couple of pivotal scenes, go wild.' I really have no artistic sensibilities at all, so i wanted her to do what she thought was best from a design stand point. I'm incredibly happy with the result, so it was probably better that I didn't fuss.
Do you have any projects in the pipeline that we can look forward to?
Like I said, I have been batting around ideas for a sequel. Right now, I'm working on a YA urban fantasy with a large horror influence, which I consider a break from all the sex scenes. I tend to bat around projects and like to switch between two or three, so that I don't get bored or blocked. If "Witch" does get a sequel, it will be novel-length, focused on part of the extended Von Brandt family.
How did you approach the research and decide on the mythology for your witches and werewolves?
Here I hide my face and admit that 'somewhat casually' is the best I can make this sound. Everything I know about wolves I learned from "White Fang" in the fourth grade and a fascination with documentaries, but being something of a raving mythology nerd at least gave me a foundation in European folklore and mythology along the lines of the Norse ulfhednar, etc. I made the conscious decision to play a bit fast and lose with the berserker, uncontrollable animal aspect that usually accompanies werewolves. For one thing, I'm not the sort who sees the appeal in a love interest who turns rabidly aggressive on a strict schedule. I also wanted the feral antagonist of the story to have more punch, instead of all werewolves running around eating all your children all the time.
As far as the witches go, I'm contrary. I wanted a main character who simultaneously was and wasn't powerful. One of the scariest things in the world is fire, but Autumn is kind of shit at it. She has to learn and adapt. I chose elemental powers over a more traditional witchcraft lore because the story is a novella; traditional lore can get tricky, and invites a lot of complications. It's also a little more thoughtful than Autumn tends to be.
Who was your favorite character to write and why?
Autumn, through and through, which is always great for a POV character. There's some enjoyment to be had in writing characters you want to chuck off a cliff, but that's generally not a great vibe for sex scenes. She's very casual, a little bit caustic, and knows where she stands in the world. In a lot of ways confident characters are easiest to write; you don't have to figure out how they're second guessing themselves. It's just a clear path from how mad you made her to how hard she's going to hit you.
Is romance a genre you intend to explore further?
The urge comes and goes. The deep dark secret of my authorhood is that I'm a lesbian, so writing straight scenes doesn't come naturally to me. I had to keep pestering people to make sure that Harper sounded sufficiently attractive, and that all bits were functioning properly. While I enjoyed writing the romance, the physical aspects of the relationship were often the hardest to write and the slowest to be finished. On the other hand, I like to think that I pulled it off with some success, thanks to a few tips here and there from the peanut gallery. I don't leave characters behind easily, so there has been some mental tugging at a sequel.
What made you decide to self-publish?
Harlequin didn't want it! It's a novella because I submitted it to their ebook department. I'd heard of Kindle Direct Publishing before, and it seemed a better fate than letting this finished story sit around my harddrive collecting dust. I write to share stories, not hoard them. I did use the time between rejection and self-publishing to seek more opinions from dedicated fantasy readers, and clean the story up a little.
How did you find your cover artist?
I had the fabulous, nepotistic luck to be friends with her.
What direction, if any, did you give her?
'Here is what the characters look like, here are a couple of pivotal scenes, go wild.' I really have no artistic sensibilities at all, so i wanted her to do what she thought was best from a design stand point. I'm incredibly happy with the result, so it was probably better that I didn't fuss.
Do you have any projects in the pipeline that we can look forward to?
Like I said, I have been batting around ideas for a sequel. Right now, I'm working on a YA urban fantasy with a large horror influence, which I consider a break from all the sex scenes. I tend to bat around projects and like to switch between two or three, so that I don't get bored or blocked. If "Witch" does get a sequel, it will be novel-length, focused on part of the extended Von Brandt family.
Witch in Wolf's Clothing is available at Amazon.com and Smashwords.
Kelsey McCarthy is available for book cover commission.
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