{"id":9728,"date":"2023-01-07T01:05:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T06:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/?p=9728"},"modified":"2023-01-06T13:49:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T18:49:37","slug":"interview-with-sierra-dafoe-authorinterview-romanceauthor-eroticromance-paranormalromance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/?p=9728","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Sierra Dafoe #authorinterview #romanceauthor #eroticromance #paranormalromance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview with Sierra Dafoe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome, Sierra! How long have you been writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A long time! The first story I remember writing was in second grade, Tommy the Turtle<\/em>. I don\u2019t remember the story itself anymore, but I remember feeling quite certain it was brilliant at the time. I decorated it with crayon drawings of Tommy and his friends along the top of each page.<\/p>\n

What are your favorite genres to read and write?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a reader, I\u2019m omnivorous. I love romance, especially contemporary and paranormal (which, surprise surprise, are my two favorite genres to write). I also love mysteries, from the classics like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the fun, breezy chick-lit style of Janet Evanovich. I grew up reading fantasy and science fiction and still occasionally find a new author to love in those genres, as well.<\/p>\n

I also adore a lot of supposed \u201cliterary\u201d authors who write cracking good stories. E. M. Foster, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain\u2026<\/p>\n

When you’re not writing, what do you like to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read lots J. Play with my cats. Bake cheesecake. Walk along the James River. I\u2019m a pretty boring person in person!<\/p>\n

Do you have any particular writing habits?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love writing at night, especially when I\u2019m first-drafting. The quiet, no interruptions\u2026 I can just disappear into the story for hours on end. Usually I go until I\u2019m nodding off at the keyboard.<\/p>\n

Are you a plotter or a pantser?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On first drafts definitely a pantser, as you probably guessed! Who was it that said it\u2019s like driving at night \u2013 you can\u2019t see beyond the reach of your headlights, but you can make the whole journey that way? I\u2019m paraphrasing a bit, but I think it was E. L. Doctorow. And Stephen King has a wonderful bit in On Writing<\/em> about that as well, pointing out that hey, every story\u2019s got to come out somewhere<\/em>. Why be such a control freak about the whole process?<\/p>\n

(And one thing I love about romance, by the way, is that we know<\/em> the ending \u2013 or at least, to my mind, we should. I\u2019m definitely a happy-ever-after kind of girl. But it\u2019s how<\/em> the author gets us there that\u2019s always the E-ticket ride. That\u2019s where the surprises happen.)<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m into rewrites, then it\u2019s a different story. Right now I\u2019m reworking one of my earlier novellas into a longer piece, so a lot of the process isn\u2019t necessarily about composing \u2013 it\u2019s about shaping the narrative into its most compelling form. So I play around with it, in my head or scratching out quick storylines, really trying to push for what gives the most emotional punch.<\/p>\n

When you’re writing, who is more in control, you or your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is why I free-flow on first drafts \u2013 if I\u2019m in control, it\u2019s because my characters haven\u2019t really come alive yet. I have<\/em> to sit back and let go of the reins to let them become who they really want to be. Sometimes I discover I\u2019m completely wrong about what I thought a character was like! And that\u2019s a ton of fun when it happens.<\/p>\n

What makes the hero of your latest release, Immortal <\/em>Lust, exciting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things I love about the story in general is that it\u2019s a bit of a reverse, in some ways. Usually it\u2019s the heroine trying desperately to rein in her attraction to the hero, and in Immortal Lust<\/em>, it\u2019s the opposite. Cytharea is the half-human daughter of Aphrodite, irresistible to mortal man \u2013 and Gerard d\u2019Amiers, the knight ordered to escort the captive Cytharea from the Holy Land back to France, is a Templar. He\u2019s sworn to chastity, and to break that vow is a mortal sin.<\/p>\n

I love the struggle he goes through, between his desire for Cytharea, his commitment to his holy vows, and the growing tenderness he feels toward this woman he\u2019s been commanded to essentially keep captive. For all the bitterness at an earlier love (which is what drove him into the order in the first place), Gerard is a deeply moral man, caught in an essentially unethical situation. And I absolutely love why<\/em> he chooses, at last, to break his vows\u2026<\/p>\n

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you or your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, one of my favorite-ever reviews I got said \u201cExpect the unexpected when you read Dafoe\u201d \u2013 and I hope to continue to live up to that! I love when a story surprises a reader, when it goes places she didn\u2019t foresee. It\u2019s one of the things I<\/em> love most as a reader myself, and when I\u2019m able to provide that, to tell a story that really captivates a reader and keeps her caught up in it right along with the characters, well, that\u2019s just about the best thing there is. It\u2019s what I strive for, and I hope folks will let me know when I succeed! You can always reach me through my website at sierradafoe.com<\/a>, or on my Facebook<\/a> or Bookbub<\/a> pages, and I love hearing from my readers.<\/p>\n

Thank you for stopping by!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Book Title: Immortal Lust<\/strong><\/p>\n

Author: Sierra Dafoe<\/p>\n

Genre: paranormal erotic romance<\/p>\n

Blurb: A Templar Knight, Gerard d\u2019Amiers is sworn to chastity \u2013 a vow easy to keep in the bitterness of a broken heart. But when he is hired to protect a mysterious, alluring woman captured on Crusade, he finds himself facing a temptation deeper than he\u2019s ever known.<\/p>\n

If he surrenders to his desire for her, he shatters every vow he\u2019s ever made. But without his love, she will die\u2026<\/p>\n

Purchase Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Changeling Press<\/a><\/p>\n

On Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

About Sierra<\/strong><\/p>\n

An award-winning author who received three CAPA nominations in her first year of publishing, Sierra Dafoe has gone on to receive numerous awards and recommended reads for her work. Visit her website at www.sierradafoe.com<\/a> for all her latest news, a link to her readers’ group, sneak peeks, and excerpts from all her books. Sign up for her newsletter to be entered in her monthly contest, and reach out through the “contact” page — she loves hearing from her readers!<\/p>\n

Sierra’s Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sierradafoe.com<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/author.sierradafoe\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bookbub.com\/profile\/sierra-dafoe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Sierra Dafoe Welcome, Sierra! How long have you been writing? A long time! The first story I remember writing was in second grade, Tommy the Turtle. I don’t remember the story itself anymore, but I remember feeling quite certain it was brilliant at the time. I decorated it with crayon drawings of Tommy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9730,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9728\/revisions\/9730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}