Hello Ian! Thank you so
much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today! It’s such a pleasure to chat with you. So tell me…
Q) How did you dream
up the dynamics of your characters?
Good question, and not easy to answer! I first created two
of them in a 200-word flash fiction story, which proved to be a niggling idea I
couldn’t help but think about.
I decided to let them “out to play” in a couple of short
stories, and these let my imagination loose on the characters. I decided it
might be fun to have a nice guy with the sort of physique which would almost
always make him a dominant or alpha, involved with two women he finds really
attractive and who are actually calling the shots.
Q) Is this book part
of a series? If so, can you tell us
about it?
It’s the second book in a series called “Merely Players”. Yes,
that’s knicked from Shakespeare! My idea is that their three-way relationship
develops across the series. There will probably be six stories in all, each
related to a TV show they’re all working on. The first three books have been
published and I’m well on the way to a complete first draft of number four.
I’ve tried to make each as stand-alone as possible, but the later ones
inevitably refer to the earlier ones. This is the story in which their three-way
romantic relationship starts, after some angst. You’ve got to have angst in a
romance, haven’t you?
Q) Do you plan all
your characters out before you start a story or do they develop as you write?
It’s a mixture of both. I don’t write notes or outlines, but
I do think about my ideas for a while before sitting down to write. As I write,
I try to let my imagination take over. As I worked on the first story, my ideas
about one of the characters changed and I let these shape the dynamics of this
second story. It’s an interesting challenge sometimes having two female
characters, as I want to make them both seem “real” and have different
personalities.
Q) How much real
life do you put into or influences your books?
It varies a lot, but I’ve found
that having a relevant “real life” experience to inform a scene does seem to
help. For instance, I’ve been a keen horse-rider for years, so I can slip in
details which make my character’s experience seem more plausible. My idea about
the character being a jousting performer came from watching some genuine
jousting displays, and I was treated to a “jousting 101” day as a birthday
gift. I wanted my character to use a longbow, so I went along for a “taster
day” and found a new hobby
Q) What are your
upcoming projects?
Chipping away at book four in the series, but I’ve also got
a completely unrelated draft 50k novel in revision, another half-written novel
I want to return to, and another completely new idea niggling at me to work on
it, and two other ideas for novels which would be developed from short stories
Ive already written...
Blurb
Paul is Hayley's lover and now her leading man. But acting
and portraying a hero on a period TV show takes far more than a suit of armour.
He's totally out of his depth, personally and professionally.
Help arrives with dramatic lessons in leadership and courage,
when strange events put him and his friends in harm's way.
Hayley's happy when her best friend Becky books hotel rooms
with a bed big enough for three, which confuses Paul. Sorting out their
relationships is even scarier than acting, jousting, and stunt fighting in
front of the camera.
Life doesn't imitate art. Life shoulders art out of the way.
Discovering a secret threatens Paul's trust in Hayley and Becky, and forces him
to face his doubts and fears. He must decide if it's braver to walk away, or
ask for honest answers. Even if they may break his heart.
Excerpt (18 rated)
I slid my hands under her tee shirt
and managed to undo her bra fairly slickly. Well, for me. She sat up, wriggled,
and somehow removed her bra through one sleeve without lifting her top. She
threw the bra aside, took my hands and placed them on her breasts. Through her
soft cotton top, they felt lovely in my hands and her nipples were firm little
buds. She looked down at me with something approaching open lust as I fondled
her breasts. And she shifted her hips around, teasing my constrained erection.
"Can't decide whether I want
to take you, or have you take me," she murmured.
"Suppose I get all
overenthusiastic? You know, forceful and pushy."
She grinned at me. "You?
Mister gentle and thoughtful?"
I pulled her down onto me and
rolled us over so I was on top. I straddled her thighs and pinned her hands on either
side of her head. "So? Who says I can't be thoughtfully pushy, too?"
She raised her eyebrows. "Prove
it, big boy."
I pulled her arms up and held both
her wrists with one hand, then tugged her tee shirt up. She wriggled to help me
pull it over her head, but I left her arms in it, not quite trapped, but
restricted. While she giggled and struggled with that, I unfastened her jeans
and tugged them down to the top of her panties, then I rolled to one side and
pulled her clothing down as far as I could.
"You're cheating," she
grumbled, throwing her tee shirt to the floor.
"How am I cheating?"
"I can't put up a decent
fight, but I want you be all forceful and overpower me. And I'm half-naked but
you're still fully dressed."
"Well, let's sort that out."
I jumped up and stripped quickly.
Hayley got into her bed and
grabbed the duvet to stop me getting in with her. But she didn't try all that
hard, and squealed when I won and threw the duvet back. We cuddled and giggled,
then she stroked my face tenderly.
"Paul, I know you're very
conscious of being a lot bigger and stronger than me, and I love it that you
try to be gentle. And you're probably trying to avoid me feeling too dominated.
But sometimes I want you to be a bit rougher. Like we were in that feed room
last night. I know you won't hurt me and if I want to give in to you, that's
not you dominating me." She kissed me gently and ran her fingers through
my hair, all the way from my forehead to where it was spread across my
shoulders. "Sometimes, I just want to feel that you're completely hugging
me, every little bit of me."
I took both her hands in one of
mine, stretched her arms up above her head and kissed her slowly and deeply. "Yellow
and red, okay?"
She nodded and smiled shyly.
Buy links
Universal Amazon link - myBook.to/KCMP2
Fireborn - http://bit.ly/2bULeWN
Smashwords - http://bit.ly/2bJtBgv
Kobo - http://bit.ly/2c0rT6c
B&N Nook - http://bit.ly/2bY4X99
Bookstrand - http://bit.ly/2c6nGRR
To date, 10 reviews have been posted on Amazon.com, all
giving my book four or five stars.
Author links
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ian.d.smith.writer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ians2005
E-mail: ians2005@gmail.com
Biography
I'm a professional scientist by day, madcap writer in my
spare time. I’ve lived in various parts of England, and am now settled in
Cornwall, in the south-west corner of England. Not far from Poldark country, and only a few miles
from the real Jamaica Inn.
My education was obviously science-based, but I've always
been a keen reader - thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, a few
classics, and even some romances.
My writing started with scientific papers and technical
reports, but one day I knew I wanted to do something different. I started writing
general interest factual articles and giving public talks. Then I decided to
try fiction and joined a constructive critiquing group, whose feedback
convinced me to stick at it.
To date, I’ve had three novellas published by Fireborn, and
six short stories published in anthologies.
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