So, I’m in the middle of sorting out the Celebrating Romance Event.
I’m pretty excited about it; We have some FABULOUS authors and posts planned. I’m also doing two posts as part of a cross-promotion event (you shall see … :D).
Some authors have asked for interview questions. I love interview posts as you can learn some fab things about the secret life of authors. I don’t want this to be full of the same questions these authors had to answer before, so I’m asking for your views.
Personally, I want to know why authors write what they write, what books they love to read or even what they hate about romance. I like to stick to book talk, but I don’t want to just know about their latest book.. I know, I’m a rarity!
So, what about you readers? What do you think makes a good interview? What do you want to read about?
I haven’t done a lot of interviews and most of what I’ve done is for audiobook narrators. I like to ask all of them how they got into narrating audiobooks. I also like to ask what is the most difficult part of the job. What is the easiest part of the job. I end with a fun random question like, If you could meet a celebrity living or dead, who would it be and why. Good luck with your interviews.
I like the questions you mentioned above but then I also like to know the authors reading habits, fun things like their favorite writing snack, favorite drink while writing (soda, coffee). It would also be fun to have a picture of their writing space, office or comfy chair. I also would like them to give a few favorite book recommendations.
I’d ask what their inspirations are most often; do they get a story idea from a book they’d have written differently? From a TV show/movie/commercial? In other words, an overall concept comes to mind. Or are they inspired by seeing an interesting stranger on the street, or in a magazine? Character-driven inspiration that evolves into their story. I’d also ask if any particular author inspired them.
I’d ask how they got the courage to put their work out there in the first place. Publishing, especially in the romance genre, seems very competitive and kinda shady, from what I’ve learned. I’d never be able to give up rights to my own ideas and work, as some publishers require, no matter the money offered. And these days, self-publishing seems far easier, but I’m no expert. So I’d ask about that, depending on how they publish, how they decided what route to take.