Stella Price is an author, graphic artist, Slytherin Head Girl, and a Jaeger pilot in training, as well as a member in good standing of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. She and I have been in the same Facebook group for a while and I predict we will become great friends! Grab a glass of wine and read her interview below.
Stella, thank you for answering questions for me today. I believe you are also an indie author like myself, but please correct me if I’m wrong. Please tell us how long you’ve been publishing.
I am! Well, I started out ten years ago and have over thirty titles under my belt. I started back in the Day (ten years in this industry, if you’re not King or Koontz or Roberts, is Ancient!) and was small press published but have since pulled out of that mess and went indie… because it’s better. LOL!
You and I both write rock star romance. Can you tell me how many rock star books you’ve written? What has inspired you to write in this particular romance subgenre?
Right now there are nine books out in the rock series, and the second rock series, another band on the record company I write, the first will be out by August. As to what inspired me, I spent five years on the road as a tour manager in my early 20’s for a ton of punk rock, Metal and emo/ scream bands. It’s in my blood. And seeing so many other “rock” books written that didn’t portray the industry right, I wanted to have something out there that wasn’t a straight up fantasy.
There are actually further niches in rock star romance. I haven’t yet had a chance to read yours. Do you write sweet rock star romance? Gritty? Realistic? Tell me what makes yours stand out from the crowd.
I don’t write rock per se. I write Metalcore Romance. My band’s more based on bands like From Autumn to Ashes, Ice Nine Kills and The Word Alive. It’s also paranormal (because everything I write is) though it’s more realistic than most others. All key scenes (tour scenes and most of the relationship and sex scenes) happened to someone I know on tour. Conversations happened; situations happened. I just fictionalized them *wink* to protect the innocent.
Do you have a bestselling or “breakout” book you’d like to tell me about?
There are two actually. Book 2, This Is Forever, and Book 3, Make Damn Sure, were our biggest. They are the ones the readers love and the two guys the readers fight over the most. Why? I don’t know, but I like to think that the guys and their actions are the reason wholeheartedly. I don’t write Alphas, and I don’t write assholes. My guys aren’t chock fulla Peter Pan syndrome (the whole I never wanna grow up shit). They are both overly devoted to the women they end up with. Winter goes so far as to make a deal with a devil, and Rust endures ten years of celibacy… it’s all very romantic.
Have you written in other genres or do you plan to? Please tell me about them.
I write paranormal as a whole, but we have several other subgenres in it. Dragons, djinn (genies) dark gods, weresnakes, satyrs, unicorns…and then as my own name (writing as Anastasia Virgas), I write Octopus Shifters in a post-apocalyptic earth…
Crazy, I know. I like to push boundaries.
It seems that lots of authors struggle with finding time to write. How do you cope with that particular problem?
I am a full-time writer, and I work from home, so I don’t really have the problem. Though stress does rob me of the drive to write, but that’s something completely different.
Any rituals you perform before, during, or after you write? Anything you do to get “in the zone”?
Play lists! Each character has their own, each has a specific kinda feel to it. Depending on what character is the focus, depends on what I’m doing.
Any of your characters you love more than any others? Hate? Any of them “speak” to you more loudly?
Depends on what’s up on deck really. I personally adore a character my sister (the A in SA Price) writes, and he’s one of the demons in our Eververse series. But there’s one character that is a pain in the ass, and that would be Marsh, our djinn.
How much of you can we find in your characters? Can you give us an example?
There’s a little of me in every character I write. From the movies they like and talk about (Winter and Lola talk about Mirror Mask), to their fears (Saffron in Giving Up the Ghost has issues with the ocean and carousels—both issues I have), to things I have said and done… It makes it more fun for me.
If we had to read one book of yours, which one would you recommend and why?
See, that’s hard for me to answer. The rock series, along with the Djinn series, Dragons, Weresnakes, Satyrs, Unicorns… they are all in the same universe as our demon series, and a lot of the characters show up in different series… So really I can’t pick ANY, you know?
We only have ONE series right now that is NOT part of our main universe, and that’s about dark gods living in NYC keeping the world safe from a pantheon of evil gods bent on killing humanity… so it’s a bit heavy. LOL.
Tell me about something exciting or weird that’s happened to you since becoming an author.
OOH! I have had several readers get tattoos for my books and individual characters. In our rock series, the main band has a crow as their logo, so there are at least four people that have the specific crow, and then Rust, one of the characters, has a Japanese maple tattooed on him, and I have two readers who have that too. It’s REALLY insane to see that stuff. To know readers love the work as much as you do, that they feel it, you know?
Stella Price is the author of over thirty paranormal novels and novellas and you can find her and her work at her Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Stella-Price/e/B002BMGB3A
And join her newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/KSPIX
Christina Henderson Smith
I love Stella! Her books are fantastic
Jade
Her interview was a lot of fun!!!
Milly Taiden
Stella is an amazing author and knows her stuff. Readers should give her books a chance. Her books are edgy with strong characters.
tillygreene
Pushing boundaries are my favorite reads!