Welcome new author Kari Thomas to Love Romances and More. Her first book is out at Triskelion called TEMPTATION UNLEASHED and is rich in characters, storylines and scenery. Capture the temptation and grab this must have for any book shelf.

How long have you been writing? What inspired you to pick the pen up one day and create characters that capture the imagination? 

I’ve been writing since I was old enough to realize you could take pencil in hand and ---miracle of all miracles--- write short stories on nice white walls! <grin> Seriously pursuing the writing career though has been a wonderfully fun and creative journey for a few years now. I constantly have stories in my mind and the characters all develop from those ideas.

What influenced you to get published? How long did it take for your first book to get published?

After realizing I wanted to be an author, I was determined to be published. I wrote this first book in less than a year and then submitted. It was accepted within a 2-week time! From there, it was officially published in 5 months time.

When a new book comes out, have you ever been nervous over readers’ reaction to it? How much does reader reaction mean to you as an author? What do you hope readers get from your books?

AHA! You just helped with my writers block problem of late! I’ve suddenly realized that since this book has received fantastic reviews (every one of them!) and the readers’ enthusiasm over it has been outstanding, I’m now stuck wondering if I can write another book just as good! <grin> And as for the readers, they mean everything to me! THEY are the reason I write. I can’t explain in words what a wonderful feeling it is to know that someone else gets enjoyment out of one of my stories as much as I do. I want them to get the enjoyment out of a good, satisfying story, and want MORE!

What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both? Do you use mood music, candles, no noise, when you write?

This is where I get into trouble sometimes. I’m definitely one of those “seat-of-the-pants” writers and it’s not a routine I would recommend. I’ve tried outlining but feel like after I’ve done that I’ve basically wrote the story and the fun of anticipation and surprise is gone. Taking an idea and then letting the characters move the story forward is so intriguing to me. I get surprised every time how a certain situation might suddenly change because of the characters participation. As for the actual routine, I do listen to music cause it helps distract me from noise around me; I love the oldies station. When I’m writing, I’m at my desk the entire day until I’m happy with the pages. I do have to admit, there are days I don’t get around to writing (argh, life’s intrusions! lol!) and I get antsy until I get back to it.

What do you feel is the most important aspect for all new authors to remember when writing or creating their own stories? Any advice for aspiring authors?

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard “write what you know”. That’s good advice, to say the least, but I don’t think it’s the important one. I say take your imagination and run with it. If you come up with an idea that isn’t in your range of “what you know” then find out more about it. Can you imagine how many books would NOT get wrote if the author stuck to only writing “what you know”? Oh, the horror! And then, think of the FUN all that new knowledge is when you bring it into play in your story. The ideas are boundless! And the next bit of advice I would say is “STICK WITH IT, DON’T GIVE UP”. If you truly want to be a writer, then write. If you give up because of problems along the way, then obviously it wasn’t meant to be the career choice for you. Writers Write!

You write primarily Paranormal Romance. Is there a genre you haven’t tried yet but want to? Is there an aspect of the paranormal genre that you want to explore that hasn’t been written before?

Paranormal is my favorite because it’s such a HUGE world of possibilities. There are no limits on where your imagination can go and that opens up the creative side of a writer with so many ideas. And I love the idea that the heroes and heroines can be so “different” than the norm and become as real as you & I. I love all genres of Romance books, but if I chose another genre it would most likely be Contemporary or Historical. I’d like to try a bit of humor with a time-travel/paranormal tone in my next venture. Hmmm....the possibilities! <grin>

The editing process is an important aspect of an authors’ life. How do you define the editing process for any of your books? Do you have a routine you follow when in editing mode?

I’m one of those “edit-as-you-write” authors. It’s not the best way to do it, but with an English Major in my brain waves I can’t seem to stop myself. Still, that can slow the writing process down if you can’t get past the “getting each line to perfection before going forward”. So, I’m now training myself to write, correct if necessary, then set it aside to re-edit the next writing day. Then, after the entire book is finished I go through it doing a “line-by-line” check.

Did you ever expect your books to be so popular and receive such great reader response when you first started writing?

ONLY IN MY DREAMS!!!! The readers’ response has been incredible!

You have some great secondary characters in your books. Will we see spin offs in regards to them in their own storylines? Do you prefer writing series books over non series or does it matter?

I hadn’t thought about giving the secondary characters their own story when I wrote the book, but I’ve had so many readers ask for the brother, Gavin’s story and the cousin, Lena’s story. There was a hint of their volatile relationship in the book and I guess readers are wondering if they ever got together. So, NOW, I’ll have to think about writing their story ..... eventually. But not right away. My latest book has characters that might turn out needing a sequel story to, so I’m concentrated on writing it and seeing where it leads. I love the thought of a series, but don’t know if I’d want to attempt it ....just yet! LOL!

What do you think is the level of sensuality/heat in your books? What can readers expect from your books with respect to sexual content and sensuality?

I’ve been told it’s a 3-FLAME, hot and sensual, sexually-tense, and also tender in spots. I keep the “romance” part of the story in every page (because that’s what a romance is all about, of course!). And when it comes to THE LOVE SCENE I made it as sensual and as hot as I wanted it to be without any hard-core graphic ruining the mood. Readers can expect HOT love scenes, but they’ll also get every aspect of the LOVE part in those scenes --- the part where the characters share their hearts and souls not just their bodies.

You introduce Aiden and Kira in TEMPTATION UNLEASHED. What makes your characters so vulnerable yet strong? Can you describe them to us? What do you do when characters stop talking to you when writing?

Kira has a lot of my own characteristics. OOPS....that’s a bit telling, isn’t it! <grin> The only major difference with her is that she was afraid of animals (granted, it was for a legit reason), and I’m a huge animal lover. I’m one of those people who have had pets --- of all kinds --- all my life, have chased buffaloes in Montana to pet one, tracked down a mountain cat to see if I could coax it home, had a family of raccoons that were little terrors because I spoiled them too much, and even now own a dog that is half timber wolf. So, to make Kira “different”, I gave her that vulnerability of fear. She’s an intelligent heroine but has to deal with fighting her inner demons in order to survive. She recognizes each “demon” and knows the cause and what she has to do. Her courage was always there but she needed the push. As for Aiden, well that Alpha Male just came forward so strong that it was hard “toning” him down to give him vulnerabilities. I realized Aiden’s weak spot was his family. A take-charge, protective man faced with an Enemy he had no face or name to was a problem he couldn’t stand. He’d sacrifice anything to protect the ones he loves, even if that sacrifice was to mean his heart.

When the characters stop talking in the middle of writing.....I get desperate! But for some reason, Kira and Aiden had lots to say and do so they kept the story going!

What about the heroines for these strong determined heroes? What makes them equal to the heroes and capture the heart of one of these alpha males?

That’s the great thing about paranormal heroines: they have their own powers. No matter what that Alpha male throws at them, they’re going to “give as good as got” each time.

In TEMPTATION UNLEASHED, you introduce the reader to a whole new dimension of shape shifters. What inspired this story and will there be more? :)

I see that little hint there! LOL! When I created the Calhoun family I wanted them to be “different” because I needed to have the characters with their own unique gifts. Having them a family of wolves, or cats, or bears, just didn’t work as well. Then, I realized that “shape-shifters” can do just that: shape-shift, so why limit them to “what” they can shape-shift to. Hmmmm.....I’m getting some great ideas right now.....more to follow.....hint.....hint.....! :)

Can you please give us a sneak peek at any of your upcoming books?

It has these elements:
Alpha hero that will “become” a shape-shifter
A heroine that is going to realize she can become strong despite her “accident prone personality”.
Humor ---- just a bit
A small bit of time travel
Evil guy(s) that will lead into another series
Secondary characters that will definitely need their own stories
hehehehehehehehe........!!!!!

In 5 years, where do you see yourself? - In general and in you're writing career.

I’m going to be STILL writing, most definitely. I’m even planning a few non-fiction books based on my research from ideas that I’ve used in my stories. In general, I’m hoping to still be healthy enough to accomplish all I want to do. I’m a “planner” (some people call that a ‘dreamer’!) and so I’ve got lots for the future!

Who is your perfect hero?  And why?

My dad. The man’s life story should be a movie. One of those “old-fashioned-tear-jerkers” that you just love to sit and watch on a quiet day when you need the uplifting power of reaffirmation in your life. Even now, he still gives me inspiration to keep going.

Who or what has been your biggest influence as a writer?

My mom. She taught me to read before I started school. She was an avid book reader and I inherited it from her. She also wrote in the early years of her life (one story was serialized in the city newspaper for 7 weeks), and she always encouraged me to write too. My first short story that was published in a children’s magazine was mom’s “brag” story for months!

Your work is very popular with readers and reviewers; how does it feel to have such positive recognition for your work?

Truthfully: WORDS CAN’T DESCRIBE the incredible feeling! I’m so thankful to everyone for their encouragement and their praise.

What do you consider to be the key elements of a great story?

To me, it’s definitely the characters. As long as they keep the readers attention, then everything else falls into place.

Could you tell us a little about how you develop your characters? Who has been your favorite character to write? The most challenging?

Being a professed “book-a-holic” I’ve come across a lot of heroes that have stayed in my mind and made me want to say “My guy is going to be just as great”; so I have to give credit to all those wonderful romance books out there that have heroes-to-sigh-for. The easiest to write to write was Kira. The hardest was the evil guy. I was a bit hesitant to make him so bad that it turned into a horror plot. I kept thinking “even the bad guys need some redeeming qualities”.

Being a newly published author, who or what has been the biggest influence on your work?  Who or what has been your biggest support?  

Family and friends. I’ve been blessed to be a member of a fantastic writers group ---NARWA (Northern Arizona Romance Writers of America) who have kept me going and gave me support that is priceless.

Where can readers contact you or find you?

The best is my author address at: authorkari@yahoo.com for email, and I welcome everyone to visit my site at: www.authorkari.com for current information and other fun stuff. Due to some problems with “Contract misunderstandings”, I have withdrawn my book from Triskelion Publishing. I’m in the process of submitting to several publishers and hope it will very soon have its new home. Anyone wanting a copy for now can contact me at my author email and I’ll get one to them.

One last question, Ms. Thomas…..What three things would you bring with you if the world ended in 5 days?

Hard question! It would depend on “when”. If my two pets were alive, I’d bring them. I’d want them with me so I could do what I could to not let them face the ending alone. If not, then I guess it would be: just myself. <grin> Not much use in bringing anything else to THE END! :)

Thank you, Ms. Thomas for joining us at Love Romances and More. I found TEMPTATION UNLEASHED a wildly engrossing story full of many twists and turns that will captivate the reader from the beginning to end.

THANK YOU, Dawn! And I’m so glad you liked the book! Every time I get a note from a reader I’m so humbled that someone else out there enjoyed Kira and Aiden’s love story as much as I enjoyed writing it.