Interview with Kendall Grey!

Hey everyone. Tamara Mataya here. Today we've scored an interview with the undeniably sassy chick, Kendall Grey! 

If you're not acquainted with her sexy Hard Rock Harlots series, RUN out and grab them. Warning - they're not for wimpy prudes.

1. Unlike STRINGS, and BEATS, NOCTURNES is dual POV. What prompted the change in format? Do you prefer single or dual POV?

All of my urban fantasy books have multiple POVs--like a TON of them. HAHA! So, writing in more than a single first person POV was easy for me. I'm not sure which one I prefer, but I really like being able to get inside more than one character's head in a book because I think it makes the characters more multi-dimensional. STRINGS and BEATS were all told in single POVs, and I felt that worked for Letty and Jinx. But I knew people HATED Rax with a passion after BEATS (I kinda did too, the stupid bastard!), so I had to find a way to show he wasn't as bad as he seemed. Getting inside his head allowed me to do that. Also, readers knew next to nothing about Eve going into NOCTURNES, and I wanted to give her a fair shake too. Hence, the dual POVs. It was a risk veering from the status quo on this series, but I can't imagine Rax's and Eve's story any other way.

2. As a musician and synaesthete, music and sound tend to bleed into my manuscripts. Are you a musical person IRL as well, or is the music industry just something that appealed to you to write into the HARD ROCK HARLOTS series?

I was in band all through grade school, and I sang in a couple of rock bands in high school and college. Other than that, I don't have any training or insider knowledge about the music business. I've always LOVED music though, and with a little research, I was able to write about what it might be like to live on the road with disgustingly hot (and horny) musicians. HA!

3. I have a book about an up-and-coming (pun intended ;) ) band, and I also include the band's song lyrics in parts of the book. Do you write the songs first, and work the manuscript around them, or write the book first, and find lyrics for the songs later?

Some of the lyrics in NOCTURNES were ones I'd written ages ago for another project. I didn't get to use them for that book, but I always save ideas like that. Never know when you might need them! In addition to the saved lyrics, I also wrote some songs along the way when I got to a place in the manuscript where I thought I needed lyrics. I think some of them are kind of lame and cheesy, but they serve their purpose. And it's fun pretending to be a rock star. :-)

4. Which character's POV has been your favourite to write from?

In the Hard Rock Harlots series? Probably Letty's. She's just balls-to-the-wall insane. Crazy. Funny. Filter-less. Smart when she needs to be. She has a way with words I think many of us wish we could emulate, though we'd probably get in big trouble for it. HA! Rax's POV was fun too because he was drunk most of the time. I kept asking myself, "What would a hot, drunk rock star say here?" Yeah. Good times. :-)

5. If you could use the force and BAM everyone suddenly GETS one thing about your writing, what would it be?

Wow, that's a great question. In real life, I tend to think in metaphors. When I'm involved in a face-to-face conversation, my wheels are turning, and I'm comparing everything the person says to something else in order to make sense out of it for myself--relating what they're saying to my own life experiences helps me assimilate what they're saying. Some readers don't like that I use a lot of similes and metaphors. I'm not sure if my analogies don't make sense to them, or they're too over-the-top, too complicated, too off-the-wall…? I just write the same way I think, I guess. Not sure if that's good or bad.

6. You can save the life of *any* fictional character. Who do you choose, and why?

I don't read much at all, so I don't really know a lot of fictional characters aside from my own. Dr. Zoe Morgan from my JUST BREATHE urban fantasy trilogy is the person I wish I could be. She's a whale biologist (I LOVE WHALES SO MUCH!) with some...issues. She's smart, determined, and fiercely loyal despite her flaws, and I just love how strong she comes across (at least in my mind). And did I mention her "hero" is a hot Australian rock star with Elemental and super dream powers? Yeah, that might have come into play in my choice. Just a little. ;-) But…WHALES!

7. Are you working on anything new that's blowing your hair back? We love a good tease. ;)

I'm working on a short story for an anthology with several KICKASS authors. Not sure when that will be out, but it should be in the next few months. I also have four Hard Rock Harlots shorts planned for 2014, along with a stand-alone contemporary romance (NOTHING like my other stuff), a 5-book JUST BREATHE spin-off series, another possible contemporary series, and (don't laugh) a Middle Grades novel I hope to write with my ten-year-old daughter. Needless to say, the next couple of years will be very busy for me!

One of my favourite lines of yours, is from Rax's song in NOCTURNES. 'Your eyes close but it's me who dies.' Guess that's not a question, just a fangirly moment. :) Your work is SO MUCH MORE THAN 'smut' and I just wanted to say I enjoy the shit out of it.

Thank you so much. These books are much more than smut to me too, but some don't see it that way. To each her own. We all forge our own meanings from art, and some things are more relevant to individuals than others. Interpretation is a beautiful thing. That's why it's called ART. :-)

 Kendall Grey is the self-appointed past, present, and future president of the Authors Behaving Badly Club. A whale warrior and indie freedom fighter, she spends summers in the corner (usually with a dunce cap on her head) and winters hunched at the peak of Mt. Trouble, fiery pens of fury (complete with invisible ink) flying across the pages. She has a big set of cajones, and she's not afraid to use them. In her spare time, Kendall speaks your mind so you don't have to.
Kendall lives off a dirt road near Atlanta, Georgia, but don't hold that against her.
Experience her questionable antics at kendallgrey.com.