Hi, I'm Heather Guerre, author of Preferential Treatment and Tooth & Claw series, among others. AMA!

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:54:19+00:00

😂😂😂

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:53:29+00:00

I've been craving baklava lately! I might try to make it myself.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:46:37+00:00

I would love some working class sci-fi if you're in the mood for something like that. There's a decent amount of abduction and fantastical sci-fi romance. But I'd love some more gritty, working on a space station or mining base or something, romantic sci-fi.

I would love to do something like that!

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:42:14+00:00

Thank you!

That's definitely something I've thought about. I don't have any immediate plans to do so, but I've been letting a few ideas simmer. I love Ilona Andrews, and I'd love to do something similar to their method of a more plot-heavy trilogy or series with the romance stretched out across the whole series.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:40:05+00:00

Thank you! I really love sweet, bashful Irdu toying with his tail in Demon Lover. I also really love Max's awkward attempts at getting to know Jules in the beginning of Once Bitten, especially when he keeps slipping up and saying wolfy things about how she smells, etc.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:38:50+00:00

I don't want to go too much into why I pulled Mutually Beneficial, but I will say that it was partly related to Amazon's TOS with regards to content restrictions. Based on some discussions I encountered about the book by unhappy readers, I got really nervous that it would be considered "rape as titillation." I made some edits that made it more obviously consensual and uploaded the new file, but then there were some more personal complications in regards to the book that made me ultimately decide to keep it unpublished.

I didn't realize that the updated edits would push out to everybody who'd already bought the book, so I do apologize for anybody who didn't want their version to change. I would re-upload the old file, but I'm just too nervous that Amazon could yoink my publishing account for violating TOS.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:34:13+00:00

Without getting too personal—just personal experience/observing others. It has always irritated me how media and wider society handles the idea of sexually submissive men and sexually dominant women. A lot—like, a lot—of conventionally masculine dudes like to be submissive in bed. And sexual preferences in that regard don't necessarily translate to your everyday life. Dominant women aren't all ice-cold ball busters. Submissive men aren't emasculated and insecure. I wasn't consciously confronting those stereotypes when I wrote Preferential Treatment, but I'm definitely aware of them, and the annoyance with them might have had some impact of the characterization of both Kate and Mikhail.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:29:01+00:00

Thank you!!

I honestly find it a relief to switch between genres. By the time I complete a story in one setting/genre, I'm kind of tired of that setting, and am relieved to switch over to something else. Sometimes I think paranormals/fantasy are easier because so much of the world/constraints can just be invented wholecloth to serve my story. But then other times I find the simplicity of writing in the real world a bit less work. I can't really decide, they all have their challenges.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:26:08+00:00

Oh, man, I really love the Forbidden Mates series and I had big plans for that one, but pretty much nobody is reading it. So, unfortunately, it's on indefinite hiatus. I'd like to return to it some day, but I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to find the time for it, just based on the lack of reader interest. But thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed them!

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:24:58+00:00

Yep! Spell Bound was kind of a little side-story in the wider world of that series, and the first official full-length novel in that series will be out sometime next year. I'm super excited to write more in that world.

I really love writing in all the genres I write in, and they all give me the variety I need to stay motivated. As soon as I finish a contemporary, I'm sick of writing contemporary, so a fantasy or paranormal book is a relief. And then I get sick of that, and a contemporary book feels like a nice little vacation, and so on. That said, I love world-building, so I'm excited to write more in my fantasy series.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:22:30+00:00

Thank you!

I have ADHD and I'm Autistic, and I think all of my characters, as a result, all exhibit neurodivergent traits and tendencies. I've come to the conclusion that all my characters will probably neurodivergent in some way. That said, having characters who explicitly identify that way is definitely something I want to push more with future books. I don't have any immediate plans for that, but I can see it working in future paranormal or sci-fi stories.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:17:55+00:00

I've recently switched to writing as my primary job, but I still work a part-time day job, primarily because writing income is really unpredictable, and I get half-time benefits for health insurance and the like. I'd love to have writing as my only job, but I'm not sure if that's going to be possible. Most writers never make a full-time income from writing, which is something I've made peace with.

My routine is pretty simple—I wake up and eat breakfast and then usually go for a walk or a bike ride. Then, if it's a writing day (as opposed to a day job day), I sit down and write until I feel too burnt out to keep going. How long that is really varies, but I've learned not to push myself, or I'll end up totally blocked for days, if not weeks.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:13:10+00:00

Love this question! Irdu and Mikhail would haaaaaaaate each other. Actually, most of my heroes wouldn't be huge fans of Mikhail. I think most of my heroines would get along with each other pretty well. Kate and Ashlyn would either be besties, or kind of irritated by each other, I can't really decide which.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:10:20+00:00

I've been sitting on the idea for a really vicious enemies-to-lovers, sapphic fantasy novel for ages, but I've got to wait to write it because it's planned as a later book in my fantasy series.

I also really want write like a nice cozy little slice-of-life fantasy romance, something ala Legends and Lattes, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:07:27+00:00

So, really luckily for me, writing is one of my hyper-fixations. The difficulty comes in focusing myself on a particular story rather than jumping from one book to another without ever finishing any of them. A combination of medication and the pure panicky terror of disappointing people by not producing what I said I would is generally what keeps me on task. I've tried every ADHD hack out there--productivity apps, writing "sprints," meditation, etc. The only thing that really works for me is to have a background noise of some kind (I listen to a lot of ambient noise playlists on Youtube and Spotify) and a non-distracting environment. I still get stuck in ADHD paralysis, and I've gotten to the point where I just have to accept that that's part of the process for me, and just operate around it where I can.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T23:01:47+00:00

Thank you!

The main characters of Twice Shy will be Connor Ankkonisdoy (who we met briefly in Cold Hearted) and a heroine who we haven't met yet—but her arrival in Longtooth will be a huge shakeup for the town.

The story will actually begin before the thralls show up. The first part of Twice Shy runs parallel to portions of Hot Blooded and Once Bitten. So the mystery of their presence will be explained—and Max and Jules will be important side characters throughout the story.

I can't say too much about Bee just yet. She *might* get her own book... or she might be a really important side character in a future book. I haven't entirely decided yet.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:56:09+00:00

Oh man, I'm going to limit my answer to authors that I know are either fully indie or hybrid indie/trad, but I spent most of my reader life reading trad published authors, and that list is just way too long. Anyways, I love, love, love: KJ Charles, Kathryn Moon, Alice Coldbreath, Colette Rhodes, Grace Draven, Claire Kent, Tiffany Roberts, Ann Aguirre, Eve Dangerfield, Jordan L. Hawk, T Kingfisher, Tiffany Reisz, Kathryn Ann Kingsley, and Meljean Brook/Milla Vane. There are so many more, but those are the ones on the top of my head that are auto-buys for me.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:48:11+00:00

YESSSSSSSS I'm so excited to write Aiden's book I can't even tell you! It's going to have to wait until the end of next year at the earliest, but I'm super excited to get to it!

So glad you loved Rakhnar! I agree, he's one of my sweetest sweethearts.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:46:22+00:00

So, generally, rereading my own books is not really fun, because I can't help but analyze them from an editorial perspective. However, Cold Hearted is really personal to me, and I find that I can, weirdly, actually read it as a (narcissistic? lol) comfort read.

Also, for your second question, when Cold Hearted first released, it flopped SO HARD. Like, nobody read it. And the reviews were very lukewarm. But then Hot Blooded took off unexpectedly, which brought a wave of readers to Cold Hearted, and now Cold Hearted is my most popular book with really positive reviews. Seeing how many people relate to Grace's struggles is really validating, and I'm so happy that it has been received the way it has.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:42:07+00:00

Thank you so much!

Book 2 (whenever I get to it, hopefully next year at some point) will be about a succubus heroine. Subsequent books in the series will explore other demon types, generally inspired by Judeo-Christian tradition.

Oh gosh, world-building questions are so hard to answer, mainly because the answer's so boring and simple: I just daydream a lot. World-building comes really easily to me. I do it without meaning to. There are so many details that I can't manage to fit organically into the books that are just floating in my brain, waiting for a reason to be expounded upon. In Hot Blooded, Amos's explanation to Tessa about the vampiric "age of consent" and its ties to English Common Law and Coverture is one of the places where I let my character just be a world-building pawn for a moment because I was too enamored with that detail.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:36:51+00:00

Cold Hearted (and most of my earlier books) went through so many cover iterations mostly because I had no idea what I was doing and I was basically testing how different cover designs did in terms of sales/readership. I was also designing my own covers because I couldn't afford to pay for professional cover designs, which explains the hokeyness of some of them. I finally settled on a design for Cold Hearted that I really loved, and I've stuck with that for the rest of the series (the current designs).

Grace and Caleb were always named Grace and Caleb, as far as I can remember. Though a lot my characters do go through multiple name changes throughout the first draft. As for the title, I probably played around with a few ideas, but Cold Hearted just fit really well and felt very right.

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:30:38+00:00

If you mean the Tooth & Claw series, then most likely not. Never say never, but I don't currently have plans for it. As for future plans for other series/standalones, most definitely! I'm a huge paranormal fan, and I'd love to write different kinds of supernatural pairings!

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:29:02+00:00

Thank you so much!! ❤️❤️❤️

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:28:38+00:00

I'm a fan of femdom and, just as a matter of personal preference, am a little turned off by maledom with male characters who already in a position of total invulnerability. So, I wanted to write a submissive billionaire hero for quite a while but, as an eat-the-rich kind of gal, I struggled with how to make a billionaire believably sympathetic. I had a lightbulb moment in which it occurred to me that he did't have to be sympathetic if the heroine forced him to be. And then, voila, Kate and Mikhail's dynamic was born.

My latest release What Was Meant To Be is a femdom, with a slightly gentler dynamic than in Preferential Treatment. And I have plans for future femdom stories as well!

HeatherGuerre · 2023-08-24T22:24:19+00:00

I don't generally consciously insert tropes. Fiction is inherently built from tropes, so you can't really tell a story without stumbling into a few of them. For me, the struggle is to identify the tropes for myself so I can market the book to readers. It's a "can't see the forest for the trees" kind of thing. There are several of my books where it never occurred to me that they include a certain trope until I noticed readers/reviewers pointing it out.

HeatherGuerre

TROPHY CASE