An Interview with Kim S on her Blogtalk Radio Show, Introducing Writers, in which we talk about Finn, e-press publishing and the evolution of Romance as a genre.
To listen to the interview:
"'Stories to Hold Back the Dark': Interview with Angel Martinez, Author of Aftermath" has been published on OhmyNews International and is accessible at http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=368816&rel_no=3.
My thanks to Ambrose Musiyiwa for the painless and thoughtful interview.
My thanks to Linda. Loved her first question:
"I noticed on your website your slogan says erotic fiction for the hungry mind. Do you believe more people are reading erotic fiction today than they used to?
I know they are. The last statistics show that Romance holds 24.6% of the consumer fiction market and that erotic fiction is the fastest growing piece of that market share. Probably most surprising is that male readership is growing as well.
The slogan on my website does imply people are hungry for erotic fiction, but it also refers to the types of stories I write. Though written purely as entertainment, I hope some of my stories leave the reader with, perhaps, a thought or two they didn't have before. "
Read the full interview at: http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/Interviews/2007/Aug07-LindaL-AngelMartinez.htm
Many thanks to Tara for the opportunity and for the wonderful questions which gave me an opportunity to chat about how life's been going and about the strange landscape inside a writer's head.
6. What person or experience inspired you to become a writer?
The voices in my head. Quite frankly, they wouldn’t shut up. I began to write seriously, though, while I held a soulless, meaningless position at a large bank. I desperately needed the creative outlet or I think I would have gone stark, barking mad.
Read the full interview at: http://tarasnichols.blogspot.com/2008/11/interview-with-angel-martinez.html
Billie Williams put together a very thought ful and insightful group of questions. About Aftermath, she asked:
Was this a hard story to write? It necessarily needs to be filled with a plethora of emotions that range from sympathy and sadness to outrage, fear and everything in between. How did you find what you needed to portray these things so vividly without becoming melodramatic?
It was a tough story to write; I won’t sugarcoat it. But I also felt it was an important story to write. Male rape is one of the most under-reported and misunderstood crimes. Even though it’s estimated that one out of every ten rape victims is male, most assaults on men are not reported. Most male victims tend to blame themselves for the crime and tend to think no one will believe them.
I’ll confess, I cry with my characters sometimes (yes, I get way too involved with fictional people) and this kind of story can easily slide into maudlin melodrama. The best way to approach it is by treating the characters as real people. There must be calm spots between the storms, a little humor in between the black moments, and all the little ups and downs of a real relationship instead of unrelenting sturm und drang.
The whole interview resides at: http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=authorInterviews&iid=68
