A Visit with Angela Knight

Angela honey, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today, I’m glad to have the chance to talk with you.

Thank you for interviewing me!

Can you please tell us a bit about what you have going on?  Releases?

I have a new story coming up in August in an anthology called BURNING UP.  The story is called “Blood and Roses,” and it’s a vampire medieval set in a different universe than the Mageverse.

I’m also working on MASTER OF SMOKE, which is the sequel to MASTER OF FIRE.  My hero, Smoke, appeared as a cat in most of MASTER OF FIRE, but his true form is that of a sexy Sidhe warrior.  Smoke has godlike powers and the ability to shapeshift, but Warlock, the werewolf villain, has stripped him of his powers and memory, and is trying to kill him.  My heroine, a werewolf, finds Smoke, saves him, and christens him David, since he doesn’t remember his name.  They become lovers, and find themselves dodging Warlock’s attempts to kill them.  I love this story, partly because heroine Beth Roman is a wonderful smart alec.

A bit more info about your Passionate Ink online classes please.

I’m teaching a month-long online class on writing erotic romance for the Passionate Ink chapter of the Romance Writers of America in May.  I’ll talk about characterization, plotting, heroes, heroines, villains, and writing steaming sex.  You’ll find more information here:

http://passionateink.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=14307%29

I’m donating my services in teaching this class so the money raised can go to the chapter.

How sweet of you!

My introduction to the Mageverse was Galahad’s story.  I thought it was one of the most creative twists on the Arthurian/Merlin legend I’d ever read.  How’d you connect those dots?

I have loved Arthurian legend since I was twelve years old.  So when Cindy Hwang at Berkley asked me to do a vampire series, I asked myself, “What if King Arthur was a vampire, and is alive today, acting as mankind’s immortal protector.  I’ve had a ball writing the series too – I love vampires.

I too grew up on comics, what was your favorite?

I’ve been reading comics since I was nine years old, and I actually started out as a comic book writer.  My first book was a science fiction series called CYCOPS.

My favorite comic book series for many years was X-MEN, but I also love Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man.  Among many, many others.  I love comics.

From comics to erotic, that’s quite a leap.  Is erotic what you always wanted to write or did you feel you’d gone as far as you could with comics?

I always wanted to be a novelist, and I love romance.  Comics are a lot of fun, but they’re more about art than writing.  So writing fiction was the way to go.

When I first started writing I noticed that the love scenes were what I did the best.  So erotic romance was the natural way to go.

Do you have a favorite character or couple?

I love all of them, but right now I’m really in love with my current people, David/Smoke and Beth Roman.  Beth has a great sense of humor, which makes her a lot of fun to write, and I find David really sexy.

I love the art work you’ve created of your characters.  You’ve not only described them, you’ve brought them to life, so to speak.   Was the art an outgrowth of the writing?

I actually started doing art when I was five, so writing came second.  I eventually decided to become a writer instead of an artist.  Then I discovered Poser, and started doing computer generated art.  I love doing it, because it seems to feed into my writing.  So I share my pictures of hunks with the members of my Yahoo group here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/angelaknight/?yguid=310647443

Do you create your characters or do they come to you with their stories?

I start out with the characters, and the plot grows from them.  Then the plot, in turn, influences the growth of the characters.

Do you have a favorite author?  Currently reading anything good?

I just finished reading Jim Butcher’s CHANGES, a book in the Dresden Files.  I adore Harry Dresden, and CHANGES was a wonderful rollercoaster ride of a book that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I also love JD Robb, JR Ward, Marjorie Liu, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patricia Briggs, and Tanya Huff.  That’s just the ones that leap immediately to mind.  I love reading, and when I’m not writing, I’m reading.

I have CHANGES on my TBR Mountain.  I love Harry Dresden too…

What are you looking forward to most this year?

I always look forward to going to the Romantic Times Conference, because it’s a great opportunity to meet the fans.  I also look forward to the Romance Writers of America national convention, because I’m teaching a workshop on writing fight scenes. And I’ll get to spend time with my agent, Roberta Brown, my editor Cindy Hwang, and all my best writer friends like Kate Douglas, Diane Whiteside, Dakota Cassidy and Treva Hart, to name a few.

Angela, thanks again so much for being here hon…I’ve really enjoyed our visit & I can’t wait for MASTER OF SMOKE!

Thank YOU for interviewing me!

Best,

Angela Knight