An interview with Author Sonnet O’Dell on the sexy side of urban fantasy & paranormal romance

An interview with Author Sonnet O’Dell on the sexy side of urban fantasy & paranormal romance  

By Angelique Fawns

 

“What is normal for the spider may be chaos for the fly.”

Sonnet O’Dell is a UK based author and she writes titillating tales. With several series on the market, including her Cassandra Farbanks adventures, Cera Raine trilogy, plus some more adult titles, I thought it would be interesting to chat with her about career. As O’Dell says “sex sells.” 

 

AF: As a prolific writer of several genres, tell me what your favorite is and why you like to write it?

SO: I suppose urban fantasy would be my favourite – the modern world, things people can relate to but with that fantastical element. I find it hard to imagine times in the past, how people did things without the technology that has been at my fingertips most of my life. However, I find it easy to imagine how convenient a vampire would find a cellphone or the ability to call for takeout food.

 

AF: What has been most profitable for you?

SO: I find paranormal romance has done me well in the past. I suppose the old adage of sex sells is true. I’m not a big fan of writing ordinary romance because just boy meets girl just isn’t interesting enough for me. I need real obstacles for my characters to have to overcome.

 

AF: Explain the genre of paranormal romance and the major tropes you use?

SO: As I sort of said above, Paranormal romance is boy meets girl but in a fantastical setting. For example, girl and boy meet but one turns out to be a werewolf and is afraid the other will find out their secret. Major tropes include this one, trying to keep the secret, love triangles with two different supernatural creatures vying for the attention of the same girl, magical bindings either intentional or accidental, unknown destinies or responsibilities. I am particularly of that last one, the idea of growing up with no knowledge of a secret and how people react when they know the truth.

 

AF: Where do you draw the line/define adult fiction vs so called normal fiction?

SO: Is there a line? I mean what is normal. What is normal for the spider may be chaos for the fly. I mean I understand to a certain degree that there is fiction with no nookie, fiction that may not even feature any romance at all and books on the other hand that are so raunchy it should be locked in a special safe to keep it from falling into the wrong hands – ie minors.

 

AF: Describe your writing journey. Do you have any advice for success?

SO: I’m very cautious at describing myself as a success. It’s a struggle most of the time, trying to get yourself and your work noticed. I didn’t ever imagine I would reach the heights of the New York Times Bestseller list and the most I hope for is some healthy sales now and again. It’s been a long journey in a lot of ways. I started out with a boutique publisher backing me, they helped me launch my career, however, after ownership changed hand several times, we ended up parting ways. It was a very different thing doing it on my own, I became editor, formatter, and publicist, all on my own. I find so much time is taken up by these things that I am not getting a lot of time to work on anything new. I have been slowly trying to work my way through relaunching my back catalogue as all of them had to come down when I left.

 

AF: Do you have a day job, if so what is it?

SO: I do have a day job. I work in the administration department for a mail order collectibles company. I do about forty hours a weeks, and squeeze what I can in around that and my family. Its easier when work is slow but when we’re very busy at the office, it leaves little energy for other things.

 

AF: Do you publish wide or use KU? Why?

SO: I am guilty of clinging to the amazon platform simply because it is the easiest to use, I understand how it works and the royalties are fairly decent. I’ve even begun branching out into their audible schemes as I love audiobooks myself.

 

AF: Where does your inspiration come from? Any authors have a major influence on your work?

SO: A lot of my stories come out of my dreams. I have some pretty vivid ones. I also have always been into a wide selection of mythology and old stories that have helped my flesh out ideas. I usually read quite a lot, I have a large collection of books in my TBR pile and it’s ever growing. I like a lot of different authors ranging from Crime Fiction to books in my preferred writing genre; I’ve even been known to pick up a biography or two.

 

AF: What is in the future for Sonnet?

SO: My main goal this year has just been surviving 2020 and seeing what the New Year brings fingers crossed 2021 doesn’t just say “here, hold my beer”. Writing goals are to finish a trilogy I have been working on, get the remainder of my back catalogue up and work on some other ideas that have been patiently waiting their turn while I deal with the issues this year has thrown my way.

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