Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life? Which author inspired you to start writing romance? Kiki Howell: I would have to guess end of high school to beginning of college. My mother owned every Danielle Steele book ever written, and I started reading them in high school. Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you? Kiki: I really didn’t get to experiment much. I had not written in years as life had thrown me a few curve balls. When I started writing again, I guess I just started writing all those stories I had stuck in my head. I was an avid reader of paranormal romance by then, so it was where I wanted to start. The erotic thing on the other hand, came from a writing exercise that said you could get your creativity flowing again by writing in a genre you were not comfortable with, as in unfamiliar with. I had just read a few erotic romances, so I gave it a try. Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you? Kiki: I remember writing stories as a kid, but nothing sticks out in my mind as far as subject. By middle school, I was writing the after-school special type of stories that were so popular back then. Only, I have no idea where they went. A question for my mom I guess. In college, as an English major, I was still writing the socially conscious type stories too, with some romance sprinkled in. Thank goodness I can only locate three of those now!!! But, I didn’t start writing romance until about two years ago after a long break of not writing at all. Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and does it take you a long time to gather that research? Kiki: I get so caught up in the research. I really enjoy that phase and tend to linger in it too long. I buy books and get several from the library. I always have a notebook going of things I need to know for the stories. I read a lot of Wicca books, and spin it into fantasy. Right now I am reading about quantum physics, the 11:11 code (not the Da Vinci stuff) and about the Mayan religion to create a world of my own making. You just never know with me. My hardest research was for two regency stories that I have submitted now. Phoebe: How did you come up with the concept for your latest novel The Witch’s Beast? Kiki: It was a personal grudge I had with the Brothers Grimm. As a kid, I could never understand why the witch, who cast the spell that started it all, only got a one sentence mention. When I saw that Whiskey Creek Press Torrid had a line of Torrid Twisted Tales, I had to rewrite it. The erotic aspect was just an added bonus! Phoebe: How do you come up with each of your characters for your novels? How do you choose their names out of so many names out there? Kiki: Sometimes all I have is a character, and I have to ask myself what they are going to get into. If I am working the opposite way with a storyline first, I create a character that would be most interesting in it. All of my characters names have a meaning or two. For example, my current WIP has a character named Kamillia. The “illi” part of the name represents the 11:11 code device used in the story as a way for the spirits to speak to those on earth, K is the 11th letter in the alphabet, and the rest is derived from a friends name who gave me “The 11:11 Code” book that sparked the idea that got the story rolling. Then when I had to name her in her past life, I started with the nationality and time period I needed since she lived in Italy in 1427 and found a name with an appropriate meaning for the personality of the character, which was Alessandrina meaning “defender of men.” Phoebe: Do you have a favorite character that you really enjoyed writing about in your novel The Witch’s Beast? Did you have a character that you felt you could really relate to in your novel The Witch’s Beast? Kiki: Of course, the witch Saraphina, who I wrote the story for. Sometimes Saraphina, I guess. She got to do the things with her powers that thank goodness I don’t have the power to do when thinking vengeful thoughts! LOL! Phoebe: Do you have a process of how you start to write your novels? Kiki: No, they have come at me for all different reasons, and from various sources. Anything from a call for submission that gets an entire story flowing like in The Witch’s Beast, to a Wiccan spell like in The Healing Spell, or to a need to re-write history with a little justice like in “A Witch’s Protection” in the Mystic Stones anthology. Phoebe: Which do you like best, writing a series or writing stand alone novels? How is writing each different for you? Kiki: So far I have only written stand-alones, although I have been asked for sequels. My current work in progress though is calling for one, so we will see. Phoebe: What process did you have to go through to get your first book published and did it take you long? Kiki: I was lucky, and it wasn’t a process at all. When I was trying to write again, my husband went on a trip to Israel for 2 weeks. An explosion in the background during our first phone call caused me many sleepless nights that gave me the time I needed to write. I wrote two short stories in those weeks in response to a call for submissions. When my husband got home he encouraged me to send them in. I got a contract back for both of them! Too easy, I know, but I have had rejections since if it helps. Phoebe: Do you ever get writers block? What do you do to get rid of it so you can get back to writing your novels? Kiki: Not really once I started to write again, but I have had a few burn-out periods after I have finished a story and I just need a break. It only takes a few days for me to get the craving to write again. As I said earlier though, when I had trouble getting back into writing originally, writing exercises are great to get the creative juices flowing. Phoebe: What is your biggest reader pet peeve, if you have any? (stock characters, unresolved endings, predictability, everything wrapped up hurriedly in the end, etc.) Kiki: It drives me crazy the chapters that seem to be just repeats of the previous one to increase word length or something. I find myself skimming through chapters in books to just get to the end because I know it is going to be just one more of the same battle. Phoebe: Which aspects of writing do you enjoy the most and why? And what is your biggest writing pet peeve? (overuse of exclamation points, adverbs, bad guys named Wayne, etc.), if you have any? Kiki: I enjoy description. I love to play with words until I get just the right picture or feeling described. I actually love adverbs, but apparently I am the only one! Phoebe: What is the one writing tool can you not live without? Kiki: Going back to the description thing, it would be the online reference tools of the reverse dictionary where you give them a concept and they give you words suggestions, the standard dictionary because sometimes a better word can be found in the actual definition and the thesaurus for obvious reasons. Phoebe: How do you handle your writing schedule and your personal life without going insane? Kiki: I have never claimed to be sane, and often my family doesn’t think I am either! My kids are both in school full days, so I do the majority of my writing then. I squeeze in house work when they are getting ready for school, or I call it exercise and skip that! No one eats as well as they used to, but I am still there for all of the sporting events, homework help and talks. One thing I do is work on all of the promo stuff at night with my laptop in the living room so I can be with everyone else and doing work that can be easily interrupted. Phoebe: What do you do to relax after having spent a long while writing? Do you have any hobbies? Kiki: Don’t laugh, because my husband does, but I read! I do love to knit, but I don’t do it very often lately except to make bookmarks or coffee mug cozies for promo packages. I am also a certified Feng Shui consultant. So, I do a home from time to time, or I am tweaking my own. I am currently training someone too. I really believe in it and love it! My life in comparison to a decade ago is proof it works! Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you? Kiki: Write your story! What I mean by that is get out of your own way. I spent a lot of time rewriting to an imaginary reader at first, and your creativity suffers for it. I completed my first story when I started writing the words that were inside of me without critiquing them before they even got onto the screen. Phoebe: Is there any writing tips, research tips, promotion and marketing tips that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you? Kiki: Promotion and marketing tips I am still looking for! But, research tips I have. Research your character’s personality traits and settings etc fully, but don’t write your story like a research paper. You have to know enough to just make the story flow right without trying to force it in there. This would have saved me a lot of editing time. I heard that from editors at first, this sounds too scientific or clinical, etc. Phoebe: Do you have a favorite genre you like to read? Who is your favorite author(s)? Kiki: I am always reading paranormal romance in all of its sub-genres. I pretty much read whatever catches my eye in that genre or something someone recommends to me. So, the best I have read within the past year is Teresa Medeiros’ After Midnight and its sequel The Devil Who Loved Me which I had to download the minute I closed the first book it was that good! A longstanding favorite is the Three Sisters Island trilogy by Nora Roberts. Phoebe: What are you reading now? And what do you plan to read after that? Kiki: I just finished Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Side of the Moon, because I have not read the Dark-Hunter series in any semblance of an order. Tonight, I am reading two more chapters in a friend’s WIP. And, I am going to the library tomorrow to get the first Laurell K Hamilton book in the Anita Blake series that someone just recommended to me.