Welcome to Wow ‘Em Wednesdays with a new interview from Drea Roman. Enjoy!
Who are your writing companions?
Dogs or cats? CATS! I am most certainly a life-long cat lover. Currently, I have two. Tibert is a massive black Norwegian Forest cat who is polydactyl. That means he has extra toes. His are the kind that make him look like he has mittens on his feet. He has apposable thumbs! The other is Cabbage, an average sized brown and gray tabby with a white bib, white milk toes, and amber/whiskey colored eyes. Tibert was named after a French medieval cat character in children’s literature: Tibert le chat, who appears in the tales of Renard the Fox. I was originally going to name him Tybalt after the character in Romeo and Juliet, but my fiancé looked up the name and we liked the older variant best. Cabbage is so named because we thought it was funny to have a cat named after a vegetable. Tibert is very friendly and Cabbage only room has in her little kitty heart for Ivan and me. She runs from everyone else, including my sister, who visits often.
What is the greatest joy your writing has brought you?
I get to fall into the story and create. There are two activities in life that make me feel like I am my authentic self: writing and ballroom dancing. I have been out of the dance community for a few years, but hope to start again soon. When I finally gave myself permission to write a full book, I found that my joy in the process and the finished work is nearly unparalleled in my life. The only comparison is how I feel about dancing. I love when readers like the characters and the story. I love sharing the stories and love when readers connect with them and their journeys.
Do you need to know your characters’ names before you start writing? Do character names come to you magically, from people you know, from baby name books or sites, or some other method?
They usually come to me with names. Occasionally a guy will show up without one, but the name doesn’t change once he has one. I seem to have an affinity for names starting with “D” (Daniel, David, Devon) and “T” (Tyler, Trevor). The guys in my first book have non-traditional names, Black and Aubrey. I have no idea where Aubrey’s name came from, but it suits him. Black is the other character’s last name. One of the characters that took the longest to name was an omega in a Vale Valley book coming out next January. He survived a long time with no name at all, until I decided on an ethnic background and started looking up names related to it. He is Valis, but goes by Val. In The Selkie’s Coat, Gregory’s very pushy mother is named after the character of Vivian Alamain from Days of Our Lives. She looks exactly like that actress (Louise Sorrell) in my head. I only use baby name books and search engines when looking for a side character name because it means less to me at the time. I used searches for Dutch names when naming Sven (a barely there character in His Christmas Magic) and he ended up in the next book in that series.
If you’ve ever read Fahrenheit 451, you know the scene at the end of the story where everybody is memorizing a book to save for the future. What book would you memorize to save for posterity, and why that one?
I have this book of children’s poetry. It was the first book in an encyclopedia collection from Random House called the “How and Why Library.” My mother read those poems to me and sparked my love of poetry and the written word. We need poetry in the world. The book contains the usual children’s poems like “Three Blind Mice.” But it also contains works from Carl Sandberg, Robert Frost, and many other important poets who wrote in English. I would memorize those poems so I could pass on those words of wisdom and the forms of poetry to the next generation. I still have this volume and it means so much to me. Oh, by the way, I love Bradbury and have taught The Martian Chronicles to high school and college students.
If you write erotic/explicit scenes, what is the most difficult part of that process?
Making sure it feels good and sexy. I want my readers to enjoy it and if I don’t find it sexy, then I need to fix something. Sex is never just about the act in my stories. It always means something to the characters. I write contemporary and fated mate stories. I never want the fated mate sex to just be about “oh this is my mate, must fall on his dick now.” That always annoys me as a reader. I don’t like overly addled heat sex for when characters become physically intimate for the first time. That undermines the emotional connection for me.
Gregory, my selkie in The Selkie’s Coat, has to really work to convince his mate to trust him, so by the time they have sex, it both sexy and emotional. Even in a short that was supposed to be about glory holes (“Omega in the Hole”), I could not get away from the sex having more meaning than just a random fuck. I enjoy reading sex scenes and I enjoy writing them. I never put them off and have been known to write a sex scene chapters before I need it. I wouldn’t say my stories are sex-centric, but they usually have more than one such scene. Sex is a part of human life, love, and emotional expression. I want to bring that happiness and joy to the sex I write. If I don’t, then I wouldn’t like it as a reader.
Want Santa’s Right-Hand Delivery Man? You can get it here.
What is an elf to do to stop himself from falling for Santa Claus? This twinky elf would really like to know.
Sven adores his new job as Santa’s assistant and elf-in-charge-of-present-delivery. The only down sides are how hot his new boss is and how much Sven wants to climb him like a Christmas tree.
Nick lost his delivery elf when his best friend Tuck mated a mangy wolf shifter and ran off to Vale Valley. His choice of replacement, Tuck’s much younger and tinier cousin Sven, has turned out to be a fabulous one. The only trouble is how much the diminutive elf makes Nick want to behave very badly.
He may be an ancient manifestation of love created to help humans through the coldest time of year. But this holiday season, Santa is having more than a little bit of trouble keeping his hands to himself.
After a trip to Vale Valley, Sven’s body signals a change, letting him know he’s found his fated mate. But with no one new in sight, the tiny elf frantically searches for an answer. The only person who matters to him is his boss. Nick can’t be Sven’s mate, can he?
Santa’s Right Hand Delivery Man is book two of Season Five of the popular multi-author series, Vale Valley, a small town open to everyone who needs a home and love. It follows the misadventures of Nick (don’t call him Santa) and his new delivery elf Sven as they stumble into attraction, love, and Christmas babies.
