If Wishes Were Horses Blog Tour - 10 Questions for Silvia

Hi all! We're here to interrogate, er, chat a bit with the lovely Silvia Violet today about her new release, If Wishes Were Horses. Settle down and pay attention, because there's a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card on the line!

Without further fuss - 10 Questions for Silvia:

1. Folks probably ask what it is you like best about writing an Alpha/Alpha couple, but let’s go farther back. Who was your first Alpha on Alpha couple, the one that made you say, “Whoa, that’s hot.”

Ty and Zane. The Cut and Run series started my m/m reading addiction. And as soon as I met those men I started asking for more alpha/alpha recs.

2. My heart went out to Andy reading his story, PTSD compounded by additional violent trauma. How did you research posttraumatic stress to make this seem so believable?

I researched both information written by psychologists and accounts written by people suffering from PTSD. I’ve also read several books which, though fictional, are touted as being very realistic in the portrayal of PTSD.

3. When you were first writing this story, you had made it clear that Karl Urban (*drool*) was the inspiration for Ken and the Not-Karl-Urban’s Ranch. Do you find you write better with specific models for your characters or was Karl as Ken a special case?

Karl *sigh*. I usually have a picture that is my image for the main characters but sometimes I have a few different pics I’ve seen that have the right feel even though they are of different models. Often, my images are of models whose names I don’t know, a pic I happened to see on FB or Tumblr. But I had a dream about this story with Karl Urban as Ken and that became firmly set in my mind.

4. I’ve always enjoyed the sense of place in your stories, the ones set in and around Asheville and so on. What prompted you to place this story in Texas?

I wanted Ken to have grown up in a large city and to have a ranch outside of it. I wanted him in the south because that is familiar ground to me. I’ve not lived in Houston but I’ve visited and I’m fortunate to have friends willing to make sure I got the setting right.

5.Supporting cast characters are often half the fun in romance. Do you find yourself developing them as you need them or do you have some idea of who they are before you start?

Unless it’s a series story where the secondary characters have already shown up earlier in the series, I typically develop them as I go. Often they pop up and insist on a much larger role than I anticipated for them, or in the case of Tristan from Wild R Farm, they try to take over the book and many books thereafter.

6. Speaking of supporting characters, I hear a follow-up calling with Rusty’s name on it. How often and when does it hit you during the writing process that a supporting character will need his own book?

That happens a lot more than I plan for it to. Usually it hits me after writing a few scenes with a character who keeps talking to me and insists I give him more. And yes, Rusty is one of those characters.

7.Too often in M/M fiction, we see female characters reduced to caricature. This isn’t the case with your stories – Renata and Lt. Gomez are both good examples. Do you have role models in your life or in pop culture that you draw from to write strong women who aren’t crazy or evil bitches?

I don’t consciously model my female characters after people I know or famous women but I’m sure that the women I’m drawn to who are strong and multi-faceted are informing me even if I’m not realizing it. I think it’s important that both the women and the men who appear in m/m fiction are fully realized and show the range of humanity from evil bitches to sweet mothering types to strong women who are true friends.

8. Writing sex. Your favorite part.

I do love writing sex, particularly including character development in sex scenes. Sex can make even the toughest man vulnerable, whether or not he wants to be.

9. If one of your own kids said to you, “Mom, I want to be a writer,” what would you say?

I’d say that’s fantastic but I’d also be realistic about how it’s truly hard work.

10. Dream cast time! If someone wanted to make IWWH into a movie, we know Karl would play Ken. But how about the rest of the cast?

Hmm. I always struggle with actor names outside my circle of favorites. I could go with Chris Evans for Andy. *am now lost in fantasies of him and Karl and unable to think of much else*  Let’s see. Gina Torres for Gomez. I love her so much. For Rusty…maybe Colton Haynes.

If Wishes Were Horses
Silvia Violet
Cover Artist: LC Chase

Blurb: Kenneth Carver had everything growing up except warmth and acceptance. When protecting his family’s name became more than he could bear, he came out as gay, sold his company, and bought a horse ranch.

Andrew Wofford's last undercover assignment nearly cost him his sanity. Now he has another chance of catching the drug runner who killed one of his informants and then escaped, but gruesome flashbacks threaten his ability to function in the field.

Andy’s latest investigation sends him to Ken’s ranch where he poses as a ranch hand. Ken is a prime suspect, but Andy refuses to believe Ken is guilty, in part because Andy is falling for him. Ken knows Andy isn’t who he seems, but he can’t bring himself to push the man away. When Ken hears rumors that someone is using his land to move drugs out of the city, he worries that it’s Andy. Neither man can trust the other even though that’s exactly what their hearts tell them to do.


Author Bio: Silvia Violet writes erotic romance in a variety of genres including paranormal, contemporary, sci fi, and historical. She can be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like "Do you write children's books?" She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she's actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinfully delicious treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading to her incorrigible offspring.

Author Links:

Website: http://silviaviolet.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/silvia.violet
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Silvia_Violet

To visit the rest of the Blog Tour (and for more chances to win):
Tour Dates: May 19 - 23

Tour Stops:

May 19 - MM Good Books, Top2Bottom, Prism Book Alliance

May 20 – Kimi-Chan, Mrs. Condit & Friends, Dawn’s Reading Nook

May 21 – Havan Fellows, My Fiction Nook, Parker Williams

May 22 – Angel Martinez, Lee Brazil

May 23 – Love Bytes, Amanda C. Stone

---

a Rafflecopter giveaway