Author Interview with Leslie Fear – Elizabeth Marx Books

Leslie began her writing career as a stay-at-home-mom. Her life-long love of reading and the paranormal lead to writing short stories for friends in high school and college.

Leslie is also the host of her own successful podcast, “Because I Wanna Know” in which she interviews interesting guests, asking how their occupations, hobbies or interests have affected their lives.

When she is not writing or podcasting, you will find her lunching with friends, sipping a cup of joe, binging on Netflix or working on a home DIY project.

Leslie lives in Texas with her husband, teenage son and daughter, and two very silly pugs.

What is the first book that made you cry?

Leslie: First book that made me cry was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon…and I don’t cry often. But, the love story between Clair and Jamie was extraordinarily written and became the basis for how I wanted the romance in my stories to come across. If I make a reader cry, that’s a win for me! Sorry, readers…

Elizabeth: I’m with you, if I can evoke tears from a reader I feel like that’s a win for me! We love you readers but we want you emotionally involved.

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

Leslie: Great question! For me, there’s nothing worse than starting a book and quickly figuring out the entire plot within the first chapter. And, because of that, I write in first person/present tense. That way, the reader finds out what’s happening at the same moment as the character. I want my readers work a little, and so far, they seem to love it. Or they’re lying, but still, I’ll keep telling myself I’m rocking the suspense button.

Elizabeth: When writing romance delivering a HEA is what readers want, it doesn’t mean the journey getting there has to be predictable.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

Leslie: None, actually. Once I start a story, I finish it. Also, I can’t write multiple novels at once. My head would explode.

Elizabeth: More than I can count. Some are just vague ideas on loose pieces of paper, but story ideas that I’m actively thinking about or actually working on each have a spiral bound notebook and I write scene ideas, thoughts, bits of dialogue, newspaper articles or whatever else pertains to that story. I keep those notebooks easily accessible and if something strikes me that pertains to that story I just slip it into that notebook. I usually fill up an entire notebook filled before I even start writing, this way my stories have a head start.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

Leslie: Honestly, I typically only research when the storyline calls for it. Take my Greek mythology/paranormal romance, “Peripheral” for example. Without giving too much away, I did more research on that manuscript than any other book I’ve ever written. It’s an incredibly unique love story, which I love! Studying Zeus and his son Apollo’s bloodline was fascinating! https://amzn.to/3sV1YUB

Elizabeth: I love research but you can’t use it as a way to procrastinate, not that I’d ever do that…. LOL!

How do you select the names of your characters?

Leslie: This question made me laugh because lately, so many book characters have all these crazy-uncommon names like, “Kyler or Declan.”

Nothing at all wrong with those names—I just like to stay away from trends and keep mine simple.

Elizabeth: Sometimes character names just pop into my head but I have a name dictionary that I use, I’m big on checking the meaning of names and make sure that they coordinated with my concept for that character.

What was your hardest scene to write?

Leslie: Oh my God, DESCRIPTIONS!! I’m great at dialogue but man, getting me to paint the picture for a reader, I struggle hard, and usually don’t give enough. That’s when my editor pops in on the track changes and demands more, more, more! Ugh…

Elizabeth: I’m laughing because I have to go back and trim descriptions, that’s what my interior design degree gets me.

Do you Google yourself?

Leslie: I may or may not have Googled myself once or twice…or every week. Besides writing novels, I also host an interview podcast called, “Because I Wanna Know.” I chat with guests who have unique occupations or life experiences. Like a mortician, a near death experiencer, someone who lived through a true crime event, even a woman who escaped from a religious cult.

So yeah, I sneak peeks at myself to you know, make sure the internet is still doing its job.

Elizabeth: Answered this one before, so since I share a name with a porn star I tend to stay away from Googling myself… I guess we each share a nice, natural rack but that’s a story for another day.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Leslie: Depends on my deadlines, but typically, it takes me around nine months to complete a full novel. However, in the past year and a half I’ve released three books…and holy crap, I’m freaking exhausted. Which is why I’m taking a small break. Plus, I was behind a little on my alcohol consumption, so…

Elizabeth: I’d say about six months, but I sit on novels for a bit of time after they’re finished and let them rest for a couple of weeks to a month and then revisit them with fresh eyes. This is why having more than one WIP going at once works for me.

Check out Leslie’s newest release!!!

Some things aren’t such an easy fix…

https://amzn.to/3unbRL8

Georgia Landaische has used her gift for healing people her whole life. But after the death of her father, the one person who refuses her help, she needs a new start. New Orleans offers a clean slate—a place for her to set up a small shop and use her power to do what she couldn’t for the person she wanted to the most. But when she meets an adorable little girl with a heart condition and her handsome father, Georgia finds that some things aren’t so easy to fix.

Matthew Laroux is known to be the best baker in town. As a single father to five-year-old Clara and owner of a small grocery business, his life has finally settled. His money-hungry ex-wife nearly destroyed him in the divorce, and all he wants is to protect his daughter from anything that might hurt her and keep himself free from entanglements.
No more commitments and no more women. Well, except one. He takes her out on the town, and she leaves in the morning. No one gets hurt, and no one expects anything more. They have an understanding, and really, it’s the best of both worlds…until Georgia walks into his store and makes him rethink everything he ever thought he wanted.

But both soon learn that actions have consequences, and in a city like New Orleans, sometimes a little magic is needed to find your happily ever after.