MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MEASHA STONE

 

 

What’s your name and what genre would you consider your books to be? 

My name is Measha Stone, and I write Dark Romance.

 

Tell me about your book. How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?

My upcoming release, Daddy Ever After, was first part of an anthology, Daddy Demands. So, the Daddy Dom idea was sort of handed to me, but once I sat down to write it, I just knew Hunter had to be involved with the Annex in some fashion. The Annex is a sex club in my Ever After Series.  It sort of just blossomed from there.

 

 

How did you get interested in writing this particular genre (historical novels, mysteries, sci-fi, children’s books, etc.)?

I’ve loved romance novels since forever, the only other genre that’s come close is psychological thrillers, so it was a no brainer when I sat down to write that I would stick to the romance genre. 

 

Can you tell me about your Series?

My Ever After series is a series of stand alone books that are adult depictions of the fairy tales we grew up reading. Beast is my kinky version of Beauty and the Beast, and Tower is the sexy Rapunzel retelling.  The third book to be released, Red, that’s in edits right now, is the hot version of Red Riding Hood.

Daddy Ever After is the first novella in what’s going to become a spin off series from Ever After, called Girls of the Annex. The second novella in that series will be released in May and it’s titled Obediently Ever After.  These novellas don’t follow the fairy tale rules of the Ever After Series, but will all revolve around the women working in the Annex; which is owned by Ash Titon (the hero in Beast).

 

Do you have a favorite book out of this series?

Beast is my favorite book of Ever After, because I LOVE Ash, the hero. He’s definitely my favorite character so his story has to be my favorite, too. Also, Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favorite, so I guess it all goes back to that.

 

 

Was it always meant to become a series?

Yes. Ever After was always going to be a series, but Girls of the Annex sort of just happened. I wanted to play around with the other characters living in the Ever After world but not be restrained by the fairy tale concept for each story.

 

What’s a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

My daily goals have changed over time. When I first went full time, I wanted to write 5,000 words a day. And that worked- for about a month. Then I started to find I wasn’t enjoying my work as much. I had given myself to restrictive of a schedule. So, now, when I’m working on a project, I aim for 2,000 words. I’ve found this way, I’m not chasing a word count so much as chasing the story, which is working much better.   I have an office space in my home that I use for my writing. I start work every day after the kids go off to school and usually finish when they get home.

 

Do you have a new book in the making and if so, what’s the name of your upcoming book?

Red. It’s the next book in the Ever After Series, and will be the retelling of Red Riding Hood.  It’s currently with my editor so we’re aiming for a release date in April. 

 

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?

Not typically, but there are times when I do something special with the names. In Tower, the heroine’s name is Azalea because it’s a flower and in the original story Rapunzel is named after a flower. In Red, the hero’s name is Erik Rawling. Rawling means wolf, so it was very fitting.

 

 

Have you always liked to write?

Yes! Since I could put a pencil to paper, I’ve written stories. It is such an escape for me, I can’t imagine not doing it. Even when I’m not writing a story, I make them up in my head. Daydreaming for me is a pretty common activity, like all the time!

 

What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Do it and don’t stop! Keep writing, keep inventing characters and read! READ READ READ!  It’s the best way to get better at writing, and well…reading is awesome!

 

If you didn’t like writing books, or weren’t any good at it, what would you like to do for a living?

Before I went full time with my writing, I was a practice manager for an ophthalmology practice. So, maybe I would go back into that- although, I feel like if I went back to a day job I’d rather do something book related. Like work in a library.

 

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad? 

I do read them, but I shouldn’t. A good review will make my day, but a bad review can ruin my entire week. I’m just sensitive to it, so I shouldn’t- and yet- I do.  LOL I never respond to them. If someone reaches out to me directly, I do respond with appreciation. But I don’t respond to reviews left on websites like Amazon or Good reads.

 

 

Can you give us a few tasty morsels from your work-in-progress?

Sure!

Here’s a snippet from Daddy Ever After

“What is it?” Hunter asked. Damien should have been enjoying the time free of having to drive him around and escort him to meetings. Not standing guard at the stairs.

“That girl you brought home last night. She’s wandering around, and I can’t find her.”

Hunter’s heart clenched. “What do you mean you can’t find her? Why are you even fucking looking for her?” The hardness crept into his question.

Damien’s eyes widened. “Because you don’t usually let the girls wander around and when I saw her in the kitchen, I asked her about it. She said she was going back up to your room, but when I checked, she wasn’t there. Now I can’t find her.”

“You think she’s walking around swiping the crystal?” Hunter asked with more of an edge than he meant.

Damien shook his head and put out his hands. “No, nothing like that.”

“It’s too far of a walk to the city, and she doesn’t need to run away. She’s here somewhere. Keep looking and when you find her, bring her to my office.” Hunter went back down the hall.

Maybe she wanted him to find her. Maybe she wanted to play a little hide and seek and get another spanking out of it. He’d told her to go to his room. He’d told her to stay put.

He didn’t like disobedience. For any reason.

Almost the second he sat back in his chair, Jaelynn strode through the door, her cheeks flushed and her hair windblown.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked, giving Damien a glare when he walked in beside her.

“Where was she?” Hunter asked.

“In the main office. On your computer,” Damien answered, matching her expression.

Hunter sat back in his chair.

“Why does she look like she’d been outside?” he asked, enjoying the little flare of her nostrils when he didn’t direct his question directly at her.

“She ran.” Damien narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t used to having to chase women, and sure as hell not one in Hunter’s house.

Hunter fought back his smile. His little girl had some grit.

“I wasn’t running,” she said with a hard tone. “I was just trying to go back upstairs.”

“You should have been up there to begin with,” Damien shot back at her.

“You can go, Damien. And get out of here, take the damn day off like I told you.” Hunter folded his hands on top of his desk.

Damien gave her one more glare. “Yeah. I think I’ll do that.”

Jaelynn scratched her elbow. Shifted her weight from one foot to the next. The whole while avoiding his gaze.

“Jaelynn.” His voice dragged her attention to him.

“I was just—”

“Go stand in the corner.” He looked at the corner he meant.

“What?”

He narrowed his eyes. Her defiance was higher than before. Maybe giving her an orgasm had been a bad idea. He wouldn’t make that mistake this time.

“I said go stand in the corner.”

She fisted her hands on her hips and laughed. “Stand in the corner? Like some bad girl?”

He gripped his hands together tighter. “Well, that’s what you were.” He raised his eyebrows.

“I was just checking email.”

“You were supposed to be up in the bedroom,” he countered. “Go. Now.” He kept his expression blank, but he wouldn’t tolerate any more defiance from her. She would obey him.

She snorted.

Bounding from his chair, he was on her in moments. Sinking his hand into her hair, he fisted it at the scalp, pulling her head back far enough that her arms flailed to keep her balance.

“I said go to the corner,” he said with gritted teeth. Twisting her body so she faced away from him, he led her by the hair to the corner while his right hand began to drum onto her ass every step of the way. She twisted but couldn’t get far and didn’t succeed in avoiding his hand.

Once he had her in the corner, he pressed her forehead against the wall and leaned hard against her back. He inhaled her. Sweet smelling; even after using his soap, she still had a soft feminine scent.

“You will stay in this fucking corner because you were told to. If you turn, you twist, you so much as take half a step back, you’ll wish you’d never signed that fucking contract. Do you understand me?” He didn’t release her hair but used it to pull her head back again so he could see her face. Tears sat on the rim of her lids.

“Yes, Daddy,” she whimpered, her hands rubbing at her ass where he’d spanked her.

At least she’d addressed him properly.

 

 

Where did your love of books come from?

My mother.  I’m very much like her in this way, we both have a book with us at all times either in hand or in audio. She is also the one who introduced me to Romance novels.

 

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

If it’s an intense scene, it’s exhausting. I want to get the right pace, the right emotion, and doing all of that can really wring out the brain! 

 

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I have to be original. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I write for myself. When I try to write to market or for the readers, the story suffers. But when I push all that away and just let the characters run wild in my head for my own enjoyment, the story comes out easier and much better. Everyone benefits from my selfishness.  lol

 

 

 

Where can your fans find you and follow??

I’m most active on Facebook. You can find me on my author page or in my reader group: Measha’s Madhouse. Here’s all my links to follow me whichever way is easiest. On Sunday’s I put out a vlog, Sexy Sunday. I release it in my reader group every Sunday, and also put some of the video’s up on my Youtube channel.

 

Book Bub Link	http://bit.ly/2DUs0hY
News letter link	http://bit.ly/2tTBRmV
FB Author Page	https://bit.ly/2kzQT7r
Measha’s Madhouse	https://bit.ly/2M9C9Op
twitter:	https://twitter.com/measha_stone
Youtube:	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9i-i2SghCKnn8G6JIfFg9A

 

Thank you for taking your time to do this interview ❤️