Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Holding Out For A Hero. I’m sharing a Q&A with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to TE Kessler for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

I was born with ideas! From having imaginary friends to making up worlds with dolls (before deciding I was too old for that malarkey as soon I turned ten), after that, I discovered books. From there, I realised I could make up my own stories by writing them down. 

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

Ha! I’ve written about prostitutes, aliens, survival on hostile planets, and I haven’t had a job yet that reflects that. But, I guess my jobs help develop my characters because I’ve met some real oddballs in my time, and ‘oddballs’ feature a lot in my novels!

What was your inspiration for Holding Out for A Hero?

I love sci-fi, and I love romance, especially fairy-tale romance, where the hero saves the female. Maybe I’m a Disney princess at heart? Under my real name, Louise Wise, I wrote two sci-fi romances called Eden and Hunted, which follows a human expedition exploring an unexplored planet going badly wrong. My series, JELVIA: NOT HUMAN, will be a series of six books and the continuation of the story behind the race of aliens from those books. 

I decided to write under another name, TE KESSLER because I want to dedicate that name to that type of writing: hot sci-fi.

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

If I copied the traits from people I know, I would be classed as having unbelievable characters. Real-life people do crazy things. For instance, in SURVIVING HER DOMINANT—book two in the JELVIA: NOT HUMAN saga—the lead character Courtney is based on my slightly cuckoo, bolshie sister who is a nurse. But I’ve had people saying she’s unbelievable because nurses would not act like that! They’ve obviously never met my sister!

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

A bit of both, really. I have an idea for a story in my head and begin to write it scene by scene. As the characters start to develop, sometimes the plot idea changes, and then I have to pull myself back and write the synopsis. I don’t have a clear vision of the ending at this point because I prefer to write the conclusion after I’ve rewritten the first draft and tied up all the loose ends.

How did you research Holding Out for A Hero? Did you enjoy it?

The old adage is ‘write what you know’, but I prefer ‘know what you write’.  My real-life job is in pharmacy, so I know about medicines and how they work on the body. My interests are astronomy and parkour, so that was a pleasure to research. I guess you could say I’m a fact whore, and enjoy learning and finding out about new things, so all research is enjoyable.

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them?

I think it’s hard not to be affected by the authors you read. My favourites are Dean Koontz and Sophie Kinsella, where you are never disappointed. I love how Kinsella can mix slapstick comedy and romance in the same scene, and it just flows. Koontz’s writing is so intense, fast and realistic, too, that you really believe his characters are real people—even the monsters.

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why?

Yikes! I have to entertain actual real-life people? I think they would have to be dead so I can bury them back up when it all becomes too much. Henry VIII, why not! I’d like to chop his head off! Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded the Suffragettes, I’d like to tell her that we still need her! For my third person, he would have to be Narcifer, my fictional hero, from my book. He’s just so god damn sexy!

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

I hate lifts. You would never catch me in a lift, and it’s not that I’m claustrophobic; it’s because I just couldn’t bear being close to people. God, I sound awful, don’t I! It isn’t that I find people hard work; it’s because I never know what to say to them. If anyone famous was in the lift with me, I’d be so tongue-tied I’d have to construct the conversation several times in my head before vocalising it. Anyone else like that?

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of Holding Out for A Hero?

The male protagonist in HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO is an alien called Narcifer. A less hairy Jason Momoa would play him perfectly, and probably Emma Watson as Macy (if she wouldn’t mind changing her hair colour to red).

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Believe it or not, when I have spare time, I write. I feel I can relax and become carried away with the fantasy that is in my head.

What is next for you?

I’m still working on the JELVIA: NOT HUMAN series. The plan was six books. Book 2, SURVIVING HER DOMINANT and book 3, SPIDER, are out in most major book stores (digital and in real format). Book 4 should be ready this autumn, which is currently untitled because I just can’t think of one! So I’m going to have to have a brainstorm on the title for that one.

Favourites:

Book? Lightning by Dean Koontz

Film? Time Travelers wife (so much better than the book—and you can’t say that often!)

Band/Singer? I enjoy listening to Ashe, and her latest single with Finneas is phenomenal.

TV show? I don’t really have one. If I watch TV, it will be a dark comedy such as Motherland.

Colour? Yellow

Place? Home.

Biscuit? Anything dunkable.

Holding Out For A Hero is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: