Interview with Angelica Hart & Zi:
Hi Angelica, and hi Zi. Thank you for doing this interview. I would like to welcome you to the Romance at Heart Interview and Author Grilling session. *bg* We are interested to find out as much about you as we possibly can, so lets get started...
- Please tell us about your latest book.
A New Science-Fiction Fantasy Romantic Thriller
Published by New Concepts Publishing
War spills over the moons of Ynthia, a base world, simple and pure where good is good, evil is evil and heroes ride the mighty stag... proudly. The possibility of peace emerges in the hope of an alliance through marriage between Amal and Adras, the two strongest realms. Many oppose the marriage especially Mash, k'Dom of Thebe and his seer, Proph iCue. They instruct a squad of Panthera, cat-like assassins, to slay Tiesa, the rix of Adras, before the cooing between Tiesa and Arcen, k'Dom of Amal, can end in a proposal.
Nearly a son to Arcen, First Puissant A'kin would die for his k'Dom Arcen. Heart already wooed by Tiesa, though, he commands A'kin to protect Tiesa by seeking safety on the furthest, most isolated moons. A'kin would rather face a battalion of Panthera alone than resist the sensuous appeal of the temptestuous and spirited Tiesa, for she has also unwittingly claimed his heart.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
Angelica: What? Knowing us, obviously, something that will be poignant, sentimental and sensual.
Zi: Fantasy and romance.
An: Shall well share our sequel?
Zi: Absolutely. A’Kin and Tiesa have discovered the pleasure of now being the monarchs of their moon and each other’s hot bodies but Arcen, Tiesa’s original intended, who abdicated for love is in need of some…!
An: Some what?
Zi: Great question. Some adventure. Purpose for his existence and yes some naughtie-naughtie.
An: Some naughtie-naughtie?
Zi: Ok… ok… his appropriate and deserved quantity of it.
An: I adored the spirit and heart of Arcen… a hero… and nobleman.
Zi: A handsome virile older man… I relate.
An: I see… His love interest is perfect.
Zi: Safeaux is a monarch of the moon eCunnus and which possesses a culture of only women. The two had met when younger, found passion raced freely and quickly, were separated by duty and honor, now, hurled into a new moment of their shared possibilities.
An: And I get to write the naughtie-naughtie.
Zi: No me.
An: You promised.
Zi: Fine we will write their dance together… may I have this dance… and I get to lead.
An: Maybe!
- How do we find out about you and your books?
To find more out about the book go to:
http://www.geocities.com/writingteamcw/bios.html
To purchase the book go to:
www.newconceptspublishing.com/
- How may readers contact you?
- How many readers/fans contact you?
We have both been amply surprised that the number has exceeded either of our expectations, though, we have been able to return all of their generous queries.
- Do your fans' comments and letters influence you in any way?
Zi: Influence?
An: Be nice.
Zi: I am always nice… though in a run around the mulberry bush of nicey-nice way. Day one moment one when I sat down to write I wrote for the reader. Never for myself. I have faces, souls, spirits and images of them in my mind as I create. I challenged myself to make them feel what I thought the stories asked.
An: And then.
Zi: Ok… ok… and then I met you and discovered you made that desire so much easier… because you understood the rare beauty of entertaining… women… and pointed out I did it well… it was that moment with your pull toward great stories with passion and my crave to find the depth of people’s feelings that a partnership was smelted in the fires of ideas.
An: Waxing are we?
Zi: Waxing what?
An: Don’t go there.
- Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?
Zi: Yes… two.
An: Don’t go the place where they asked you about spanking.
Zi: Fine… then one.
An: What?
Zi: One woman asked both of us who won when we came to a point of conflict… remember?
An: Yes. Do think she was trying to get us into a fight?
Zi: You and I fight… that will never happen.
An: We fight all the time… what are you talking about?
Zi: We have never fought a day in our lives.
An: That’s right we have been celebrating in the victories of readers for the stories are our gifts… what makes them better wins… never us.
Zi: Tennis anyone… 40-love.
- Why did you decide to write romance novels?
An: The feelings of love are universal… though attaining love has been an omni-present quest throughout time.
Zi: Feelings… emotions… struggles… fears… and craves have been the primal drive-engines of both man and women doing the thrust and parry of the fencing match of mating.
An: I believe in love.
Zi: And I believe anyone can find love… anyone… everyone… it is out their… grab it by the collar… and yell, “Stop… I know you could love me… try!”
An: I swear I could write a love story about a frog.
Zi: That’s easy… have you seen their tongues.
An: Ziiiiiiiii!!!!
- How would you describe the genre in which you do most of your writing?
Zi: Craving.
An: Hot.
Zi: Fluid.
An: Unpredictable.
Zi: Is there a ‘k’ or ‘t’ in that word?
An: Thrilling then.
Zi: I like the idea that the genre is a place to manipulate the heart… tug at tears… and tease the horny out of every toad.
An: A ‘t’.
- Do you have a target audience, and if so, who are they?
Zi: Target… where is the bull’s eye… let me think a moment… where would I like to shoot my…
An: Zi I know you better not go there.
Zi: I shall be good… because I am always good… real good… damn good… gooder then good… good to the square of infinity.
An: Ok. Enough. I shall answer for the both of us while you wallow in your pig sty of self-absorbed.
Zi: Ha ha… cute, cutie-two-shoes.
An: Forgive Zi something he obsesses to the point… well to the point he must be edited… our target audience is not a gender or age… no… but that collective that enjoys fresh easy stories that dance with heroes and sheroes… all tested by circumstance… stories bathing, sometimes literally, in love.
Zi: I give good hero love.
An: Done?
Zi: For now.
- What motivated you to start writing in this genre?
An: Late nights… a typewriter… and dreams of white knights with huge…
Zi: Huge what?
An: Huge capacities to please in oh so many ways.
Zi: For me… it was simply… pleasing… I wanted my story ideas to bring pleasure.
An: How?
Zi: Anyway they could… titillation… excitement… tears… fascination… more titillation… some more moans of… and then sate.
An: I need a fan.
Zi: You have plenty.
An: Wrong kind.
Zi: Funny… gotcha!
- Who would you say has influenced you the most?
Zi: Writing wise… Microsoft word.
An: I don’t think that was where the question was leading.
Zi: Your point… you remember when we used carbon paper and white-out… now, you use it on your computer screen to correct typos.
An: That was so funny I forgot to laugh.
Zi: You are right… I apologize… that was mean of me… you never make typos… ‘cause I do all the typing.
An: That’s not fair.
Zi: Have I hurt your feelings?
An: No.
Zi: Dag… failed again!
An: Meanie!
Zi: Enie… meanie… minie… mo… catch a writer by her toe… if she hollers… keep pulling!
- What are your main concerns as a writer?
Zi: Serious moment. I truly fear that I will fail my readers. Writing is a cathartic exercise but with the discipline of letting it be contained within boundaries of a good story.
An: I hear-hear you on that point. It is easy getting lost in writing for ourselves… using shorthand… and just missing that one simple fact… we write to entertain.
Zi: Serous over?
An: Over!
- How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
Zi: Guess?
An: That’s not how these interviews go.
Zi: Then you answer… little miss I-know-so-much-I-am-about-to-burst.
An: Fine… in all fairness… we are littered with imagination… and we both can flit in and out of characters… thinking within the context of what motivates them… but there is no denying that our collective life experience does tint our work… especially the simple fact you were a criminal and ex-motorcycle gang member.
Zi: Shhh!
An: Just teasing everyone.
- What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face?
An: Coffee.
Zi: Pushing twelve hours of work into seven hours of time.
An: Paper.
Zi: Ink.
An: Editing your jibberish.
Zi: At least I can spell gibberish.
An: I see… everyone like a little arse… no one likes a wise arse!
- How do you deal with these challenges?
An: Costco membership solves much.
Zi: The challenge of time… is what it is… we work hard every day… harder on week-ends and holidays… and when it gets down to close time on a book we double time.
An: Task-master… Mister whip-me-go-lightly… I need sleep!
Zi: Sleep… I have deleted it from our word find… work… work!
An: More coffee!
- When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms?
An: The loneliness of peach brandy mixed with my tea and a porn movie.
Zi: Cool.
An: Not in the least bit… I asked my selves is that all there is… they answered… I could do better… and did… color me ballsy… I knew I was good… so I just sent it off.
Zi: I have shivery gooseflesh hearing you tell that story for the seventy-third time.
An: Egg salad for lunch?
Zi: No bread… crackers!
- Generally, how long does it take you to write a book?
Zi: Both far too long and exactly as long as it takes.
An: Captain Obvious has arrived… all hail his boarding of our ship.
Zi: But it is the truth… I always complain it takes too long but refuse to rush through it.
An: I shall answer this one with this very simple answer… the exact place in time when he smiles at me and I smile right back and we simultaneously declare, “Done!”
Zi: We have been averaging 5-8 books per year… would have been the easy answer… but there is zero fun in that.
- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
Zi: Define ‘flow’.
An: We work… every day… it is our job… as for flow… and going with it… maybe… streams of thought… flow… sometimes out of control from you.
Zi: Are you saying I am a flood of imagination?
An: Ok… whatever works for you.
- What is your writing routine once you start a book?
Zi: Write… write some more… then more… read… edit… re-write… and when all else fails… research… then obviously re-write… let someone else read it… shiver in the corner out of fear… do the damn I am good happy dance when they return it without comment… then question our original concept… debate… discuss… collectively conclude we are obsessing far too much… then re-write… edit… struggle… obsess.
An: Stop… you are obsessing.
Zi: But that’s our routine.
An: Smile and say you are done.
Zi:
- What about your family, do they know not to bother you when you are writing - or are there constant interruptions?
Zi: They hide in fear of me.
An: They run in fear of me.
Zi: Your family has the runs… how did you make that happen?
An: Cute… move on.
- What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?
Zi: Write!
An: Sleep but don’t tell Zi.
Zi: I heard that!
An: Oops… just kidding… what is the subtext of Safeaux’s motivation to avoid the obvious… she loves Arcen.
Zi: That’s better… untested sate… and its possibilities.
An: “Coffee,” she screamed out of self-preservation.
- What truly motivates you in general? In your writing?
Zi: Serious again… dag… ok… ok… The answer is to entertain.
An: As for me… that hope… that I can cause a reader such pleasure that they give up sleep to turn another page… then another… they deprived of sleep… all for the want to consume our writing… and misery loves company… if I have to lose sleep… well…!
- Where do your ideas come from?
Zi: There is a deep dark place in all of us that hides things most of us understand but never talk about… a place many refuse to visit… a scary domain… a world of tugs and pulls… well… that is the place where I have set up my office… once I found the key to the secret place of twisted feelings… I stayed… it is beyond great there… fantasy is a treasure that keeps on giving… one bent so wonderfully attractive idea after the next.
An: I found his key.
Zi: Haha… you can be creepy.
An: Your point!
- Do you feel humour is important in women's fiction and why?
Zi: Have to ask!
An: Have to ask!
Zi: Humor is the attractive story glue…
An: That makes me stick to you.
Zi: Didn’t I tell you she was creepy!
- What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels, do you find them difficult to write?
Zi: NO!
An: NO!
Zi: Yes!
An: NO!
Zi: I occasionally misplace an arm or knee.
An: Use it… where ever you have it.
Zi: Dag you are far too naughtie for me.
An: Shame of me.
Zi: Seriously… the romance is the essential gift… oft times the reason for the book… the giving of that gift is always easy.
An: I have an idea what we can do with that misplaced knee.
Zi: What?
- What kind of research do you do?
Zi: Interesting… how to answer this.
An: Endless is my answer.
Zi: Every world we create is born from our imagination and negotiation of ideas… we wallpaper our writing areas with pictorial ideas… we create characters with back-stories… we color them unique… for Stag Nation since we were using the sub-toning of quadrupeds as stallions and steeds we researched the world of dressage.
An: Yes, the proper gowning of characters is important.
Zi: Maybe we didn’t do as much research as we should.
- Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre?
Zi: The challenge of ideas lead the way. We have submitted a piece that is more the thriller romance… that a far cry from the fantasy.
An: It was more earthy and cold.
Zi: Earthy meaning… say dirty?
An: No… yes… never mind.
- What does your husband/wife/partner think of your writing?
Zi: Whereas, I can and will not speak for her… I shall channel her spirit… give me one second… wait… it is coming… almost here… “I am very proud of him and his action verb usage. He is a true god among writers. I say this out of my own free-will. Really I do. He’s a hunka-hunka of burning prose.” Lost her… but I think you get the idea.
An: I can speak for him… I won’t let him read a damn thing I write.
- Do you ever ask him/her for advice?
Zi: Yes… can you help change the ink in the printer? Do women like frottage?
An: I am the perfect wife… when asked what do I make well for dinner… I always respond, “Reservations.” I have avoided with a wonderful fast dance this question… why… because he thinks I write cook books.
- Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.)
Zi: Right… hobbies… writing… engineer turned writer… family… yes… pets… far too many… dreams… I had a few… too few to remember… oops, you heard the song.
An: Hobbies include writing, research and writing research. Family… just enough… pets… too few… still have dreams… nightmares… cool nightmares… you see my dreams are my research.
- Fill in the blank favorites -
Zi: Dessert… one I finished.
An: Dessert… more.
Zi: City… baby-sity… back when daughter was younger… but today… maybe bull-shity… yeah, that’s it… did the question say ‘like’… I shall retract my final answer… no… re-write it… un-bull-shity! Try saying that three times fast.
An: City… Las Vegas… a city that never sleeps… company… galore.
Zi: Season… the season of honest contentment… raw and wonderful… laid upon time and stroked by the gentle hand of possibilities.
An: Season… fall… autumn… dying leaf time… the on-set of winter.
Zi: Hero… the accidental hero… born from profound core of values, tilted morally but never bad… wins not out of conceit but because his or her purpose was truly the right course of action… silent… with actions so bold… yet never a golfer.
An: Hero… complex… humorous… caring… righteous… strong… stoic… bold… that person who stands in the face of peril and winks… could be a golfer.
Zi: Heroine… whereas, I adore women… love strong women… my sheroes are many… they can dominate the moment… they ask and take what they crave… yet, they find a perfect balance with strong men… I believe a women should have everything she desires… oops, I flashed far too serious… spank me… what did you say Angelica… I can’t say spank… sorry… scold me in my neither regions with your profound interest of causing me acute pain or pleasure… I can’t say that either… fine… take my milk and cookies.
An: Heroine… someone who can hold her own with the hero… faces danger even when she is scared witless… a perfect soul deserving of love… my heroines are every-woman… for aren’t we all deserving.
- What are some of your favorite things to do?
Zi: Discover those perfect moments… metaphors turned real… the bottom of the ninth… game tied… two outs… two strikes… the crowd is a din of anticipation… the sweat of desire runs into your eye… you step out of the batter’s box… swab it dry… draw in a cleansing breath… believe in the power of possibilities… the pitch is released… the swing taken… and the tears of victory and defeat felt, acutely.
An: To cry.
Zi: What?
An: Those moments when you give me a raw piece… I read it… and spontaneously discover a tear… I know right then… that we can touch a reader… my heart and my being are both hugged… your sentimentality is an art-form.
Zi: I reiterate she gets creepy.
- Do you have a favorite author and/or a favorite book?
Zi: Yes… Stag Nation… dahh!
An: Good answer.
- Who are some of your other favorite authors to read?
Zi: King, for he allows for the definition for over the top therefore allowing all of us other wackados feel sane.
An: Dr. Suess for obvious reasons.
- Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing?
Zi: Larry Field… he died many years ago… first man I ever hugged with my words and arms… I had never written anything for other’s consumption… he was a friend… asked to read the stuff I wrote… he invited me to help author a stage-play… I did… it was produced… it was that moment in time… he validated me as a writer… Larry died before he was mid-forty… a friend… who saw beyond the boundaries of flesh… Larry was crippled physically but certainly outran me through life… for he was better emotionally equipped… damn… forgot this was suppose to be humorous… Larry had a red nose.
An: Zi… he draws out of me my emotions… he challenges me… never allows me to settle for being mediocre… he pushes and pushes and pushes but always for the betterment of the piece, the pleasure of the reader and the honor of the art-form of writing… plus he understands character motivation and showed me how to find it… he is both my partner and mentor… creepy done well!
- Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.?
EPIC, WRW, NCP Readers Group and many more.
- What do you think of critique groups in general?
Zi: Adore them all… bunches… bunches of bunches… there are no bad ones… just some more perfect then the next.
An: Lunch?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
Zi: Far more handsome with grandchildren.
An: Writing with grandchildren, two more than Zi.
- How long have you been writing - have you always wanted to be a writer?
Zi: Forever is a very long time, yet an instant when it is something you enjoy… I wrote as a child… never stopped… I can easily say that there are less then two month’s of days in my long life where I had not written… as a child I discovered words freed me… as a young man I discovered words got me laid… as an adult I discovered words enriched others… so now, I use my words to freely enrich my characters so they can get laid.
An: First I wanted to be a storyteller… but I stutter… therefore, I wrote… my fingers don’t stutter… a perfect place… today, the only time I stutter… is when the lobster is free and over five pounds… buuuttter pppplease.
- How many books have you written, how many have been published?
An: Ten published… twice that written.
Zi: Just finished another… I need you to proof it.
- After you've written your book and it's been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it?
Zi: What a fabo query… been so busy writing I have forgotten to do that… do you work for the publisher… I just made a forty copy purchase… if not ask for a commission.
An: Yes… the re-reading is difficult… because there is this need to edit.
- Among your own books, have you a favorite book? Favorite hero or heroine?
Zi: Stag Nation… I adore Bodi… an unexpected hero.
An: Stag Nation… Arcen… A strong father… ruler… man… who struck a balance between love for duty and love for the heart… he never bent from his convictions… and when the final page was turned… he lost love yet won my heart.
- What book for you has been the easiest to write? The hardest? The most fun?
Zi: Stag Nation.
An: Easiest? Hardest? Most Fun?
Zi: Yes. Though Naked Twister was a beast. We hope it will get picked up.
An: This sequel, Stag Nation: Love’s Tears is quite a hoot.
- What sets the book apart from the other things you have written?
Zi: It is more the novella.
An: I did not have to use my ‘back-space key’ as often.
- In what way is it similar?
Zi: Love wills out.
An: I was going to say that.
Zi: Beat ya to it… again.
- What will your next book be about?
An: After Stag Nation: Love’s Tears we have outlined the third of this series… we like the way it ties up
Zi: What’s with your eye… allergies… the pollen count is up.
- What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?
Zi: Learning to use spell check… to trust my instincts… and the avoidance of drug sniffing dogs in any plot.
An: The use of an outline… those damn things work.
- How did you get there?
Zi: Where… where did I get… where am I?
An: Just answer I95.
Zi: I95.
- Which comes first, the story, the characters or the setting?
An: Wow… what a great question… who wrote that… did I… I could have… all are essential… but it is…
Zi: Stop… don’t give away our secrets.
An: It is ok… without anything to say… why write.
Zi: It is the gift of the story… the depth of the characters and the magic of their worlds.
An: Spell-check.
- What are the elements of a great romance for you?
Zi: As a man it is the believability of the specific reason that they should be together pitted against the obstacles that hold them apart… it is the great sports story of Rudy… struggle upon struggle eventually requited in that one moment… I feel the tears racing… where is the egg salad?
An: It is the constant tug and pull… the endless yes and no… the forever do I or don’t I… the should I or shouldn’t I… The want, the passion, the crave of two people and maybe a deer mouse who should be together but might never be… the deer mouse was a humorous jux-a-position… it is the how to rationalize naked… I’ll keep the rest of that thought to myself.
- What is the hardest part of writing/the easiest for you?
Zi: The hardest and the easiest part is that there is a never ending stream of ideas… so much to write and so little time.
An: The hardest part is coming back to reality… fantasy is fun. The easiest part… being lost in fantasy.
- Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?
An: Both.
Zi: Trust me… I am always in control… in an out-of-control way.
- Have you experienced writer's block---> If so, how did you work through it?
An: Yes… Zi said, “Get over yourself and write.”
Zi: Never.
- What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?
Zi: The freedom that the ideas have a life… and I can birth them upon a text… hoping to sway someone into believing.
An: Being the conductor on a fantasy train that can take readers thru tunnels… did ya get my metaphor… train into a tunnel… was I far too subtle? Seriously, make me a captain of a ship… that gets far too wet… oops I am lost in fantasy again… lets just say my pleasure hopefully is the reader’s pleasure.
- If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?
An: Dictating into a recorder.
Zi: Spell that.
An: T-h-a-t.
Zi: If I were not writing it would because the world governments had declared a band on writing… I would be in an underground cult of writers who hide beneath the swell of legal razmataz and scribed treatises of imagination for our children and theirs… or I would be teaching canaries to sing the Star Spangle Banner.
- Are there any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?
Zi: Tan your own skin tough.
An: Never stop.
Zi: What?
An: Writing.
Zi: Thank you… I shan’t. Don’t you just love the use of shan’t.
- What question would you love to answer that I didn't ask?
Zi: What’s your favorite color… blue… every man occasionally loves to be so.
An: Is Zi real? I shall never answer that.
Thank you very much for taking the time with us and answering our questions. I really appreciate this interruption to your busy schedules. Be good, and don't pick on each other too much! LOL Good Luck, and we will be looking forward to the next delightful creation from your talented imaginations!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Author Links:
Angelica Hart and Zi Bio
RaH Links:
Interview Review
Purchase Links:
Buy Stag Nation: A Vexed Heart At New Concepts
Buy Angelica and Zi's Books at New Concepts Publishing