Please join me in welcoming author LIsabet Sarai to Living After Midnight.
Not Me
Most authors put some of themselves into their characters. We can’t help it, really. We’re all shaped by our experience, in ways we can’t fully or consciously appreciate. Our characters are likely to share our assumptions, our biases and our values, whether this is our intention or not.
For instance, my female characters tend to be independent, well-educated and unapologetic about their sexuality. Anyone who knows me at all will recognize these traits also describe me. I don’t think I’ve ever written a helpless, timid virgin or a self-obsessed beauty queen. I don’t create violent characters, either, or at least not violent protagonists. You won’t find any mafia capos or special forces agents in my books. (The one exception is Cecily Harrowsmith in Rajasthani Moon, who is Queen Victoria’s spy, and she’s a slightly comic figure.)
Sometimes I deliberately try to create characters who are different from me, but that can be a struggle. The thing is, how can you imagine the inner life of someone whose background, priorities and goals deviate significantly from your own?
So my success varies. In that regard, I’m pretty proud of Wild About That Thing.
My heroine Ruby Jones is definitely not me. She’s a black woman, for one thing. As much as I try to empathize, I doubt I can really understand what it’s like to grow up black in America. She’s also a mother – a single mother, having divorced her cheating ex-husband. I’ve never had children, so it’s a stretch to imagine what it would be like to have total responsibility for someone else’s safety and well-being. Scary. My experience with marriage has been ninety nine percent positive. Ruby in contrast has been badly burned, and is naturally wary of new commitments.
Despite our differences, however, I feel that I know Ruby well. Early in the writing process, I learned about Ruby’s parents and came to see how her relationships with both her mother and her father shaped her personality and her behavior. Somehow these insights were not intellectual. Instead, I found myself in Ruby’s head, listening to her inner critic who often speaks with her mother’s voice.
Ruby is constantly torn between her analytical tendencies and her passionate nature. I suppose this is somewhat true of me, but in Ruby’s case the conflict is particularly painful. One minute she’s a hard-headed businesswoman. The next, she’s a puddle of lust.
Anyway, I do hope my readers enjoy Ruby Jones. I feel that she’s one of the most realistic heroines I’ve created, as well as one of the most likable.
Note, though, that she still shares some attributes with me. She is independent and, as you might guess from the tag line, unapologetic about her sexuality..
Wild about that Thing
Ruby Jones has clear priorities. Her teenage son comes first, then her struggling blues club. Her love life ranks as a distant third. Deserted by her cheating ex-husband, Ruby's determined she's going to make it on her own. She's not about to let any man into her heart. Now her hot blood seems to have landed her in an impossible situation. Two lovers…and she wants them both.
Kinky Literature – https://www.kinkyliterature.com/book/1342-wild-about-that-thing-/
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPDD3JR9
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CPDD3JR9
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1485627
Barnes and Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wild-about-that-thing-lisabet-sarai/1110738210?ean=2940167659858
Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/wild-about-that-thing-4
Apple Books – https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id6474285642
Add on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203152943-wild-about-that-thing
Add on BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/books/wild-about-that-thing-by-lisabet-sarai-2023-12-10
About Lisabet
Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wroteher first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials,scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundredpage dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – over one hundred titles, and counting, in nearlyevery sub-genre—paranormal, scifi, ménage, BDSM, LGBTQ, and more. Regardless of the genre, every oneof her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
You’ll find information and excerpts from all Lisabet’s books on her website(http://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html), along with more than fifty free stories and lots more. At her blogBeyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com), she shares her philosophy and her news and hosts lots ofother great authors. She’s also on Goodreads, BookBub and Twitter. Join her VIP email list here: https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmgh
