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Interview with EL Roux!

I'm so excited to know you better! Thank you for being one of the amazing people in my world, and thank you for the interview. And thank you, also, for being a guest at my launch party!

I’m really excited myself! My first Facebook interview!

So tell me a bit about yourself?

I’ve been writing for years now, but nothing I really felt would be book worthy until last year when I started my Revival series about women from the past who save the future. As for everything else, I’m still in school (6 years now) trying to figure out how prosthetics and orthotics play into my future. I have a cat, a compulsion for coffee and chocolate, and try not to get too involved in possible futures with all the exciting technology being developed today.

What is it that you write?
My first published novel will be a Science Fiction Romance, but I have a few Paranormal Romances in the works as well.

What else do you like to do?
I taught fencing for a while and really hope to get back into that in the future, but for now I like to spend time with my family and close friends when I’m not writing, studying or reading!

What is your favorite way to story build and brainstorm?
For my Science Fiction Romance novel’s I tend to have a few ideas playing in my mind at the same time and like to think about the ways they’d interact. Usually the ideas come from science articles I read on line on new and exciting discoveries in space, technology and medicine.

As for brainstorming, I’m mostly a pantser (non-plotter), so I tend to have a general idea of how I want to story to play out and the world the characters will occupy but no real path or idea of conflicts along the way that might occur. The few times I’ve attempted to plot, I either push through what I had thought would be the whole novel only to find it’s only half of it or my storyline diverges entirely. I do tend to spend some time figuring out motivation for my characters, and how the world they live in works.

How do you create your characters?
That’s a very difficult question for me as a pantser. My characters tend to evolve over the course of writing that the hard part is going back to the beginning when editing and adding the information needed. Usually I have an idea of what type of job the person needs to fill and then work backwards from there. I try and be inclusive when writing and make a diverse group to pull from that don’t represent stereotypes. In Unexpected Revival, one of the hardest parts of my novel was creating characters that worked together and didn’t reflect only one race, ethnicity, sex, and orientation. With that strong base, the other novels characters were easier to develop.

What was the best feedback you've ever gotten from a reader?
The Science Fiction Romance field used to be very small so getting beta readers or critique partners in the field was virtually impossible. Out of all the advice I’ve received so far, the best advice always makes me rethink why something is happening, or ask myself why I needed an event to happen. Anything that helps me improve my storytelling and character development is always a plus!

Tell me more about your writing: What was your first published work?
My first published book is Unexpected Revival and is due to be released in January 2017, and is about a woman who died in 1999 and finds herself revived over 1000 years later to help stop an alien invasion that would wipe out most of Earth’s population. There’s aliens, space ships, a changed Earth, space stations, fighting, genetic manipulation, and love of course. It’s pretty exciting

Do you have a favorite project so far? What makes it so?
I have to say that the Revival series is my favorite project so far. I already have several of the books planned out, or started in the series. It’s great because of the revival (think a form of cryogenic freezing), I have characters from a diverse timeline that I can create and plunk into a story set even in their future. I’m enjoying the possibilities.

What's next on your agenda? What can we look forward to in the coming year?
I’m hoping to have the second book in the series, Unwanted Revival or Unwelcome Revival depending on how the timeline plays out in Unexpected Revival out in June 2017. And the third book hopefully released by January 2018.

Why did you decide to write and publish?
I love creating stories and seeing how the character’s flush out. My first desire to write came about wondering my none of the historical romances I read had people going to the bathroom and wondering how that could play out. Then I read a book that had it in there and realized it could be TMI in most situations. But most of my writing is driven from the types of stories I would like to read and not really finding them, so I decided to create them myself. I wish to publish them for the same reason, to share my unique stories with the world so that others might enjoy them as well.

What do you think is your driving force behind your writing? What keeps you going?
For me, once I started it was really hard for me stop. My first attempt at a novel was through Nanowrimo and reaching the end of a story is like no other experience. Even now, after having written several novels, getting to the end of a story is a pure adrenalin rush. I get super excited and have now even learned to enjoy the editing process.

The mother of all questions: Tell us about a favorite book?
I am a sucker for dark romances where the characters have had horrible pasts but find love in the end. It’s that hope and emotional connection that is my favorite type of book. Of the traditionally published authors Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward that really hits the spot for me. In the self-published arena the one that was such a rollercoaster of an emotional ride was The Last Hour of Gann by A. Lee Smith. This book is not for the faint of heart, and deals with several issues that were hard for me read that involve the heroine and her sister, but it is worth reading and is an amazing book.

Anything else you'd like our adoring masses to know? 
Yes! All author’s love reviews! Even if their bad they let us know how we’re doing from a broader audience then we would hit through beta and ARC readers, plus it helps other readers see our work. So please, if you’ve just finished a book be sure to rate it and leave a brief review

And you can come meet me and other authors in the area at a Free Reader Event in Bellevue on Saturday, October 15th at the Bellevue Westin!


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