As part of the tour for the new MM Paranormal Romance novel, A Thousand Lifetimes, author Kate Hawthorne has stopped by for a chat!
How did you choose the topic for this book?
Vampires are definitely a little bit out of my wheelhouse. I normally write kinky contemporary romance, but I was desperate for a change of pace and the idea of being able to make up the rules of the world I was writing in and get to play with things and relationships that I normally don’t get to was too appealing to pass up. I took some vampire lore as it exists, and made some things up myself. I’ve never had as much fun writing as I did with this book.
Tell us one thing about the characters that we don’t learn in the book.
One thing I really enjoyed about writing this specific book was getting to play around with creating this new vampire world. Ezra and Declan, the two main characters are soul mates, and I sort of hinted at the fact this isn’t their first go around. They may be strangers to each other, but their souls are familiar with each other. That’s actually an idea that I’m fascinated with in real life, and I’ve taken that and shifted it into something a little more palatable for the contemporary world and I’m working it into my current WIP, so I’m very excited to see how it plays out in a not paranormal situation.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
As much fun as it was to make this whole new world where Ezra and Declan exist, it was a lot more work than what I’m used to with contemporary settings. I made this new world, but then I had to keep track of everything! It was a definite change in my writing process because I had to keep focused on the world and not just the characters.
What is your writing process?
Normally, I just sit down and see what happens. I’m a total pantser. I wouldn’t even know what to do if I had to plot our outline. I’ll start a book with a loose idea of a plot or a character and I’ll sit down and write and see what happens. I think it’s fun that way, because I’m learning about them as I’m going along. This often makes edits a bit of a disaster, because sometimes things will change course in the middle and I’ll need to work backward, but I would rather write this way than to force characters into a mold or an arc that isn’t right for them .
Who did you cover and what was the design process like?
Ah! I’m very lucky to have a phenomenal cover designer who has worked with me on every release I’ve had, with the exception of my debut book. Samantha Santana from Amai Designs is insanely talented and so patient. She can decipher a very vague gibberish message that I send at 2am and turn it into a cover. With this one, I wanted to do something different from my other releases since the content was so different and she definitely delivered. Generally, I’ll give her a very loose idea and a model I like, and she will mock it up and then I’ll tear it apart because I realize what I thought I wanted wasn’t what I wanted at all, and then a few hours later, we’ll come up with the end result.
What are you working on now and when can we expect it?
A Thousand Lifetimes ends with two side relationships that I am excited to write in the future, so you can expect more vampires from me in 2020. Before then, I have a collaboration coming out with J.R. Gray called May the Best Man Win, and I’m planning an early 2020 release for my next solo title, Unfettered.
Matt Doyle Media 