Q&A with Carter Quinn – Part 2

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WayBackAlrighty then Mr. Quinn …. you came, you wrote, you conquered …. BUT there were some bits in the book that I think we need to discuss 🙂 are you quivering? shaking in your boots? I’m uber scary, right?

No, seriously, I loved the book! Your balance of sweet, funny and angsty was perfect! Thanks so much for agreeing to answer yet MORE questions, and remember these are book specific — so for people that haven’t read the book yet (and, why the heck not?) you have been warned. There be spoilers ahead!

Any other posters, please add any comments or questions for Carter to answer at his leisure.

Will we get an Eric story?

LOL I don’t know. It’s possible, but it’s not in the pipeline at the moment.

How about Shannon — if ever there was a character that could never be redeemed – surely he is the one. Or would you see that as a challenge?

Shannon’s an interesting character. He’s pure evil to Riley, but Jase was with him for a long time, so he has to have some redeeming qualities, right? We’ll see how readers react to Riley’s story before I decide on anything else with them. I have Avery’s story to finish and then a visit with Nate and Trick.

How the heck did you get me to be angry at every single guy in this book. At times every single one of them had me fuming. Even Jason. Who I adored..and it isn’t just about my J-spot. Really. Do you ever get angry at your own characters?

Aw, I’m sorry–and thrilled to hear that! I guess they’re all flawed and issue-prone. I wouldn’t say I’ve been angry with them, but when Riley pulled his stunt, I wasn’t thrilled. I kept telling him he was going to get me in trouble, but he just said something along the lines of “Shut up and write, bitch!”

As a writer do your characters really take on a life of their own and go against what you had orignally planned? Who misbehaved in this book?

Oh my gosh, yes. Eric is 100 percent opposite of what I’d intended in the outline. He was meant to be doing nothing but stirring up trouble, “banging chicks” on the side, something Riley was going to be suspicious of from the beginning but unable to prove until it was too late. But then Eric started telling his story and the outline went right out the window. Every bloody one of them misbehaved! You should have seen the frantic texts I was sending M while I was writing the epilogue! That’s when they went crazy. It was a free-for-all for a while until I got them all under control again. I have a new-found respect for cat wranglers!

Readers often hate cheating as a trope (I know I do!) – are you nervous what readers may think? Personally, I let you off the hook, as it was “just” a blow job., and shouting out Jason’s name won me over too.

I know that scene is going to cause me grief. Readers are going to hate it, or absolutely refuse to read the book because someone told them about it. But it was the story Riley needed to tell. It was one of the things he’d longed for since he met Eric. It seems authentic to me. If it costs me readers, then them’s the breaks, yeah? I’ve been on Jason’s side of things. It sucks. I don’t in any way condone cheating, but it is an unfortunate fact of life, so I refused to avoid it in this case–mostly because Riley was screaming at me, but also because it was real.

I hate love triangles – yet this didn’t feel like one to me for some reason. Maybe because Jason almost threw Riley at Eric . Was it a definite decision to not over-angst the triangle? (I should qualify this by adding…. to an “angst-whore” like me it didn’t feel overdone!)

I didn’t really see this as a triangle, even though I suppose it is. I knew where they were going to end up, it was the journey to get there that was a mystery. Plus, Eric and Jason don’t have much interaction, so that cut down on the triangulation–or something! *g* Jason throwing Riley at Eric was such a self-protective move that it was hard to write. Short answer (about time, right?) is yes, I did make a conscious choice to de-emphasize the angst. I could have dragged it out or been more specific about the month that is spent off-page, but all that would have done was highlight how horrible the situation was making Jason feel and I just didn’t have that in me.

For those that have finished the book, and for bragging rights only, who can answer the following questions?

1. Did anybody notice the shoutout to “In the Crease“?

2. Which scene did Carter write to “Pretty Vegas” by INXS?

Once again, Carter, thanks so much for stopping by and we look forward to hosting you and your Rockies posse on June 23rd.

Category : 5 Stars, A Book V-Z, Q&A
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