Today I'm interviewing Tori Carson and Eric Clarke, a mother and son, both of who are multi-published with Totally Bound, my own main romance publisher. I'm delighted to welcome them both to Beyond Romance!
To Tori: Which of your characters do you most identify with, and why?
To Tori: Which of your characters do you most identify with, and why?
Probably
Nick and Laura Branson from Bondage Anniversary and Bondage
Celebration. They’re married, juggling kids and careers. Their
story is most similar to ours, though by no means were the books
autobiographical.
Erik:
No, my parents do not own a kink
club. They’ve joked about opening one, though.
Tori:
We were only kidding dear. Relax.
To Erik: Is it awkward telling your friends that your mother writes BDSM novels? How do you handle it?
It was a little weird at first, but it’s not really all that awkward for me anymore. Some of the people I’ve told about it don’t agree with the lifestyle and have made some comments about it, but to me, writing any novel, no matter the subject matter, is a huge achievement, and I tell them as much. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to read it. I’m just happy that my mom had been able to find a niche that she likes to write and that she can be successful in.
To
Tori: What kind of interruptions
throw you completely off track?
That’s
an easy one to answer…a phone call from my father. Nothing will
pull me out of a romantic mood faster than that.
Erik
to Tori: Yeah, I can see that.
To
Erik: How does it feel to have two
books finished and set to be published before your 21st birthday? To
what do you attribute your success?
It’s
all still a little surreal, actually. I’ve been trying to write
novels since way back in fifth grade, but I never actually thought I
would get one finished, much less published. It’s been a crazy,
amazing experience. I’d have to say the reason I’ve gotten this
far is definitely the support of my family and friends—they’ve
always told me to just keep writing, even when I wasn’t sure I’d
actually get anywhere with it. They’ve really been the driving
force to keep trying.
To
Tori: What is your favorite book you
have written thus far?
My
favorite so far is The One and Only. I’m hoping it will be out in a
few months. The characters really spoke to me and it was definitely
the easiest one I’ve ever written.
To
Erik: What are your plans for once
you finish the Spellbound series? Do you have another story line in
the works?
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I
actually have quite a few other story lines bouncing around in my
head. I’m not sure which one I might settle on, but I’m thinking
of going for something either a little more contemporary or
futuristic. I have a pretty dark sci fi series I’ve been playing
around with, so it would be nice to get that one written out.
To
Tori: At what moment did you first
really feel you were an author?
*She
laughs* I’ll let you know as soon as it happens. No, seriously,
this has been such a dream come true that it still hasn’t
completely sunk in yet. If I had to point to one moment it would have
to be when I got an email from Totally Bound telling me Bondage
Anniversary made the All Romance
ebooks bestseller list.
Congratulations!
Thank
you!
To
Erik: What character most surprised
you?
Probably
Syler, the lead character of my second book, Monster. In Night, my
first one, the main character has a lot of issues with guilt and
shame, so for the next one I wanted to make a character that was the
opposite of that—unapologetic, irreverent. When I was imagining
him, the word I kept coming back to was “asshole”. *He laughs*
But then when I actually wrote him into that book, into these
situations that test him and put him up against his counterpart, Max,
I found a real depth of character that I never would’ve expected.
You figure out that the asshole is really just a mask, and I hadn’t
actually planned any of that, so he was a real surprise in that
sense.
To
Tori: What is your favorite part of
the writing process?
Writing
the rough draft. Turning my imagination loose and just seeing where
the stories go is the best part for me.
To
Erik: How does it feel to be going to
through this process with your mother?
It’s
great having someone there who really gets what it’s like going
through the whole wringer of writing and editing and publishing and
marketing. It helps us support one another. Our first books got
picked up at about the same time, too, though hers is a few weeks
ahead of mine, so it’s also really nice to have her going through
everything first by a little bit so I have an idea of what’s
coming.
To
both: What is on the horizon for the
two of you? What can your readers be on the lookout for?
Tori:
We both agreed to six books. Bondage
Anniversary came out in January, Bondage Celebration comes out
February 14th,
Bondage Wedding will be released March 21st
and Bondage Seduction will be released June 15th.
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Erik:
Night went out to the major markets at
the end of February. Monster will be released May 16th.
The third installment should be coming out this summer.
To
both: If your readers want to learn
more, how can they find you?
Tori:
My
website is http://toricarson.com
You
can also find me on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tori-Carson-Romance-Author/1375204056027398
Erik:
My
website is http://erikclarke.com
You can find me on Facebook as well.
Link to Erik Clarke books on TB website
Link to Tori Carson books on TB website
4 comments:
Hello, Tori and Eric!
I'm really delighted to have you here. Good luck with both your series. I love the covers! (Very different!)
Actually, here's a question I didn't ask during the interview. Do you two consult each other while you're writing? Use each other as crit partners? Bounce ideas off one another? Or do you work pretty independently?
Thanks for being my guests.
Thanks so much for having us! It was great fun. When I get stuck, I'll turn to Erik and bounce a few ideas off him. For the most part though, we work independently.
Thanks! Like my mom said, we work relatively separate from one another, but if either of us is having a problem with a character or a plot hole or the like, we shoot ideas back and forth to help each other.
And I love my covers, too! Totally Bound does such a great job with all of them. It blew all my expectations out of the water.
Hi, Tori, Erik, it was amazing to read about two members in a family that both went into the business. Dare I say that it was actually inspirational? It's a pleasure to see that level of understanding and support from family members. Congratulations to both of you!
And yes, Erik, Totally Bound has the best covers in the business. :)
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