Quick Six PRO with Kiki Howell

This Halloween, I'm delighted to have one of the greats of the paranormal erotic romance genre here at Donuts & Desires. We're talking shop with Quick Six, these days--all about the business of writing.

Quick Six PRO

Interview with Kiki Howell

Q: What's hot on the market these days?

Kiki Howell: From my perspective it would be paranormal and urban fantasies, which are heavy on the suspense and even crime, especially when paired with the erotic genre. Want to get even hotter? Throw in some M/M and M/F/M pairings. But again, I see things from my “world” - the authors and publishers I am around. So, as far as numbers go, I could be totally off here ;)

Q: What's the most time-consuming part of a writer's life?

Kiki Howell: I think the writing and promo come in about even if the work is novel length. Shorter works, an author will spend much more time in promoting the work than they did writing it. Promo is never ending. And why, yes, a new book releases and you promote it heavier than the others for awhile, you are always promoting your backlist.


Q: What should a writer's priority be?

Kiki Howell: To be honest, to be fully involved and motivated in every step of the process whether they like that step or not. You have to give 110 % of yourself from the research to the writing to the contracts and forms to the editing to the promo to playing nice with others if you want to be successful in this business. No, it isn’t easy, but if one part lacks, and the whole becomes scarred, slightly or heavily.

Q: How do you handle a bad review?

Kiki Howell: I try to remind myself of personal opinion, of the books that have left me wanting or that were just excruciating to get through, that many others whether friends or Goodreads or Amazon ratings have said were great. So much of reading is personal opinion, it has to be or there would not be so many genres. The only things that really get to me about a bad review, my personal list that have happened to me: reviewers says they didn’t finish the book - then they don’t really have enough info to form a review per say other than saying they didn’t like it enough to finish it; when the reviewer gets plot points wrong - so they must have skimmed through or actually not finished it – so again they shouldn’t have reviewed it; when they start the review with ‘I don’t like this genre’ – then again they shouldn’t have agreed to review it.


Q: What makes an editor great or...not so great?

Kiki Howell: I have worked with many great editors who have made my work fantastic, beyond what I could do with it. All I ask for is mutual respect when editing. I had an editor once, from a publishing house I am no longer with, who made mean comments all through the manuscript rather than just asking me to change something. For example, this one sticks out to me, rather than just asking me to change a word, the editor said, ‘Are you serious? So you really think a reader of erotica is going to know what this word means?’ Yeah, not sure who should be more offended there. But, a simple find new word, this one doesn’t really work for me, would have sufficed.

Q: Do you have a preference for short stories or longer works?

Kiki Howell: I go back and forth in my reading and my writing. I like to really put myself into a novel, having a good several months to really crank it out, totally immerse myself into the research and the writing. But when I am done with it, I need to write a few shorter works to give my brain a break from the long twisted braids of the longer plot. Then I am back and ready to get into another long one. I tend to do this in cycles too along with my families schedule. Summer when I have everyone home (teacher husband too), that is a time for shorter works! LOL I do the same with reading, devouring a series, then a few shorter ebooks after that. I think it is really about time before satisfaction too.

Kiki Howell is author of A Questionable Hero, a novella

Blurb:

Born of a mortal woman but raised in Hell by the demon that sired him, Abdamas is a Halfling—proof incarnate of the war between good and evil that exists in each of us. Shaebiel is an angel warrior earning her ultimate salvation in Heaven by fighting demons like Abdamas who are in search of human souls on Earth.

In the heat of a raging battle , Abdamas sees Shaebiel and wants her. When the blade of another demon aims for her, Abdamas is injured himself trying to save her. Shaebiel can’t believe a demon has rescued her from certain death and takes her questionable hero home with her to heal him.

As they both fight and surrender to their desires, the conflict around them continues, and there is Heaven and Hell to pay for their actions. Through divine intervention they are offered a gift. But Hell is nowhere near finished with either of them, and the stakes are getting higher and higher.

Can a questionable hero sacrifice enough to redeem himself in the eyes of Heaven so that he may claim the love of an angel?

"Not a stranger to Kiki Howell's work I was once again impressed with her ability to create a tale like no other. My experiences have always been more around magic, spells and witchcraft with her work. But in this one she really goes in a different direction. The result is a passionate, suspenseful and thrilling novella that leaves the reader breathless and wanting more." ~Bri at Romancing the Book

"I recently finished up the wonderful paranormal romance "A Questionable Hero" By Kiki Howell. Once I started reading this love story I had a difficult time getting my nose out of my Nook and back into reality since it was action packed from start to finish with very little breathing room in between the pages!” ~Punky’s Book Raves

“A Questionable Hero kept me pulled into the storyline from page one and I read it in one sitting. You realize quickly that the battle between good and evil aren’t black and white, there are shades of gray. If you like a fast hot read, with a touch of paranormal, and good versus evil thrown into the mix, then I would recommend this book.” ~Gracen Miller, Author of Pandora’s Box

Genres: Urban Fantasy (Angels and Demons), Erotic Romance

Adult Content Warnings: Explicit Graphic Language and Violence

from kNight Romance Publishing

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE KINDLE EDITION FROM AMAZON
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOOKBOOK FROM BARNES & NOBLE