When the Heart Falls(91)

When life gets difficult, when the screws start to tighten around you, you can either cave in to the pressure, or use it to help you grow. We try to use those experiences to help us grow as people, and as writers.

10) You write vivid peripheral characters. Without naming them of course, are there any characters in When the Heart Falls that are based off of real life people?



None of our characters are specifically inspired by anyone in particular. Their personalities are formed from archetypal characters and the strengths and weaknesses of humans everywhere. We hope that readers will see some of themselves in many of the characters (though there are a few we hope none of you can personally identify with!)

11) When you find yourself in a writing rut, what do you do to unblock your creative stall?



We might work on something else, take time off of writing and read, play video games or watch movies, or do something with our kids. Sometimes we just need a new view to get our minds uncluttered. We never get writer's block, but sometimes we can get burnt out and just need to recharge doing something else. We're always on the look out for great books to read!

12) Is there a tool you use (music, reading, movies etc.) that you draw inspiration from?



Reading is a big one. We love reading well-written books with rich characters. We also listen to a lot of music (and write to music), and watch a lot of movies. We dissect everything, talking about plot, structure, characterization, etc. It's a lot of fun!

13) Give us a peek onto your bookshelf and give us the names of those books you reread over and over.



Name of the Wind and that whole series by Patrick Rothfuss, Neil Gaiman (particularly his short story collection Fragile Things and his children's books), C.S. Lewis (The Narnia series), George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones (the early books), Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (the early books), Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, anything by Tamora Pierce and Anne Bishop. J.K. Rowling and Patti Larsen are also favorites of ours.

14) You mention a friend, Roland Bellugue, in the beginning of When the Heart Falls that you felt inspired your love of all things France. Can you expound on this mentor?



Kimberly: Monsieur Roland Bellugue was my French professor in college and took me (as part of a group) to Paris for a summer program at the Sorbonne. He was a French man who had lived in the US for many years, but retained his love of his country and culture and passed that down to many students. I got to know him and even spent time at his house for an interview and article I wrote for the Press Telegram about him and his French program. A few years after that trip, I heard from someone in our class that he had lung cancer. When I called him, he confirmed it. This was a man who hadn't been sick a day in his life, didn't smoke and was in top health. I couldn’t believe it. Several months later, I called him again to check on him and the phone just rang and rang.

He'd already died.

We named the French professor in When the Heart Falls after him, to honor his memory. He made learning French fun, and a few of the lines from the book are pulled straight from my time with him, including the little tidbit about 'le caput.'

15) What’s next for you guys?



So very much! We are continually expanding on the Seduced Saga, which is a fan favorite. That series may not ever end at this rate! We will also be writing more books in the Deveaux world, and while all of them will have romance, there will also be mystery, more literary coming of age themes, and even a Naughty Deveaux series with the bad boy half-brother of Daring. Fans are sure to love the naughty Damon Deveaux in The Naughty Live Longer.

We also have plans for a historical fantasy romance, an urban fantasy series and eventually an epic fantasy.

16) Are there any genres you haven’t touched yet, but are dying to delve into?



We both started out writing in epic fantasy, but ended up publishing in romance and some urban fantasy/paranormal, so we're looking forward to going back to epic fantasy and writing those stories. We also want to explore mystery and possible psychological thrillers.

At the heart of our goals is to be innovative in our storytelling, to constantly improve our craft, and to tell epic stories that touch the hearts of billions. We don't think in terms of genre as much as the story and the characters, and we have many, many characters in us begging for their voices to be heard.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


A huge thank you to Tracy Riva and Josette Schaber for all of your editorial help. You ladies are an instrumental part of our team.

And to our beta readers, (Patricia, Sharon, Helena, Amanda, Marianne, Dalene & Erin), who dropped everything at the last minute to read and give feedback on the original version of When the Heart Falls. Thanks to you, this book is stronger. We hope you enjoy the changes and extra content.

To all of our fans, particularly our street team, who support us and share our work. You've helped us earn a living doing what we love, and we're forever grateful!

Finally, to our children, who will not read this book until they are older, but who give up time with their Mom and Dad so we can write.

~Kimberly & Dmytry





ABOUT


KARPOV KINRADE





Karpov Kinrade is the pen name for the husband and wife writing duo of bestselling, award-winning authors Kimberly Kinrade and Dmytry Karpov.

Together, they write fantasy, paranormal, mystery, contemporary and romance novels and hook readers into new and exciting worlds with writing that blends side-splitting humor, heart-wrenching drama, spine-tingling twists and sigh-inducing happily ever afters.