Photo provided by Charity Parkerson. Used with permission. Charity Parkerson retains all copyrights.
best selling author / radio show host
Charity has been on my list of authors to interview for over a year. With covering the Lehigh Valley, this part never made up the list. Recently, I am trying very hard to get caught up on the very long list of book reviews / author interviews. After reviewing a sample of Wicked Sinners, the decision was made for an interview. The interview took place on 10/28/13 in a Facebook conversation.
Time to find out about the author, In her Own Words. Starting with the usual questions.
First and probably the most annoying question: How long have you been writing? Charity: My first published work was "The Danger Within" since then I've received my rights back on that work from the publisher and it's now available under the title "Danger Undercover". How did feel to have the first work published? I mean, was it unreal or more like finally!? Charity: It was unreal. I never intended to try for publication but my husband kept pushing me. I finally, in secret, sent my manuscript to a publisher. To my way of thinking, if they didn't want it then no one would know I failed but me. I was surprised when they did.
How many books have you written? Charity: Oh gosh. 37...I think. lol that are available. I have 4 more that are awaiting release.
WoW!!!! At least the first book was originally released in print only? Charity: It was only in print for almost a year and then made available in ebook. Did you start with the erotica genre or did it just slowly start to surface? Charity: I started out writing military romance and sports romance. One day, I was asked by interviewer what genre I wished I could write and I jokingly answered erotica, because I've never been good at using the harsh wording needed for the genre. Afterwards, I decided to give it a shot and to my surprise it was a huge hit.
Heading into how she creates / evolves her stories and characters...
From just reviewing a preview of one of your books, it appears solid characters and storyline are more important than the sex. From what I know by glancing at a few more, the sexual situations are an essential part of the story's evolution vs. just thrown in. Am I off base here? Charity: No. To my mind, sex and emotion are not two separate things. I can't do the sort of erotica where the pizza guys showed up an it was on. People have to care about one another. I have to care about the characters and even if there are people who cannot agree with their decisions, I want to make the reader understand their reasoning.
Speaking of your characters and how you you write them. Do you have a basic idea and let them evolve on their own. Possibly let them create more. Or, do you have a good idea and almost force them to follow the story? Charity: I usually begin with a loose idea of how I want the story to go but rarely do characters behave the way I want. If I'm writing and everything feels wrong or I'm forcing every word, it usually means I'm attempting to make the characters go in a direction they are not meant to go. Do you prefer to write individual novels or series? Or do you characters prefer series? Charity: I prefer a series. I have a hard time letting go.
Onto the the technical / business side of being an author:
Heading to the other side of being an author. In today's technological world, your preference: print or e-book? Charity: I will always love the smell of real books, especially from the library of used bookstore where they have been well loved. However, I almost always buy only ebooks now unless they are autographed. Do you or did you do your own formatting for e-book? Charity: I do. Formatting is super easy. It doesn't look like it would be when you're reading Amazon's instructions, but it really is.
I have to add one thing here. When she has time, Charity helps out other writers / authors. When A Valley and Beyond started as a blog, I asked her a few questions about web hosting / design / etc. She was happy to give me advice.
Closing one chapter, there is more to Charity Parkerson than being an author. What are her thoughts on self-publishing and paying a company to release your book? What about the personal side? Ok, maybe a bit too standard here. Guess you will have to wait until next week to find out! I like to draw on my author side to keep you in suspense. :)
Here is where you can find Charity online and her books:
https://www.facebook.com/charityparkerson
http://www.charityparkerson.com/
Review of Wicked Sinners sample:
http://avalleyandbeyond.weebly.com/wicked-sinners-sample-charity-parkerson.html
Time to find out about the author, In her Own Words. Starting with the usual questions.
First and probably the most annoying question: How long have you been writing? Charity: My first published work was "The Danger Within" since then I've received my rights back on that work from the publisher and it's now available under the title "Danger Undercover". How did feel to have the first work published? I mean, was it unreal or more like finally!? Charity: It was unreal. I never intended to try for publication but my husband kept pushing me. I finally, in secret, sent my manuscript to a publisher. To my way of thinking, if they didn't want it then no one would know I failed but me. I was surprised when they did.
How many books have you written? Charity: Oh gosh. 37...I think. lol that are available. I have 4 more that are awaiting release.
WoW!!!! At least the first book was originally released in print only? Charity: It was only in print for almost a year and then made available in ebook. Did you start with the erotica genre or did it just slowly start to surface? Charity: I started out writing military romance and sports romance. One day, I was asked by interviewer what genre I wished I could write and I jokingly answered erotica, because I've never been good at using the harsh wording needed for the genre. Afterwards, I decided to give it a shot and to my surprise it was a huge hit.
Heading into how she creates / evolves her stories and characters...
From just reviewing a preview of one of your books, it appears solid characters and storyline are more important than the sex. From what I know by glancing at a few more, the sexual situations are an essential part of the story's evolution vs. just thrown in. Am I off base here? Charity: No. To my mind, sex and emotion are not two separate things. I can't do the sort of erotica where the pizza guys showed up an it was on. People have to care about one another. I have to care about the characters and even if there are people who cannot agree with their decisions, I want to make the reader understand their reasoning.
Speaking of your characters and how you you write them. Do you have a basic idea and let them evolve on their own. Possibly let them create more. Or, do you have a good idea and almost force them to follow the story? Charity: I usually begin with a loose idea of how I want the story to go but rarely do characters behave the way I want. If I'm writing and everything feels wrong or I'm forcing every word, it usually means I'm attempting to make the characters go in a direction they are not meant to go. Do you prefer to write individual novels or series? Or do you characters prefer series? Charity: I prefer a series. I have a hard time letting go.
Onto the the technical / business side of being an author:
Heading to the other side of being an author. In today's technological world, your preference: print or e-book? Charity: I will always love the smell of real books, especially from the library of used bookstore where they have been well loved. However, I almost always buy only ebooks now unless they are autographed. Do you or did you do your own formatting for e-book? Charity: I do. Formatting is super easy. It doesn't look like it would be when you're reading Amazon's instructions, but it really is.
I have to add one thing here. When she has time, Charity helps out other writers / authors. When A Valley and Beyond started as a blog, I asked her a few questions about web hosting / design / etc. She was happy to give me advice.
Closing one chapter, there is more to Charity Parkerson than being an author. What are her thoughts on self-publishing and paying a company to release your book? What about the personal side? Ok, maybe a bit too standard here. Guess you will have to wait until next week to find out! I like to draw on my author side to keep you in suspense. :)
Here is where you can find Charity online and her books:
https://www.facebook.com/charityparkerson
http://www.charityparkerson.com/
Review of Wicked Sinners sample:
http://avalleyandbeyond.weebly.com/wicked-sinners-sample-charity-parkerson.html
