Sep 11, 20216 min read

Lucy Scott Bryan's Author Interview

“If you could build your own harem using the characters from any of your books, who would you choose?”

Oh I love this question. Definitely King as my first - he’s from The Bone Wolf. Not everyone has met him yet, but he is GODS yes - freaking delicious! Then Jonathon from Stolen Destiny without a doubt is a close second! He has a hand tattoo - SWOOOOOOONNNN - and isn’t afraid to risk everything.

I’d also take Grady from Amarli, Kerston too. Okay, okay, I’d have a Hewe and Dorian.

How many can I have in my own Harem? Because I really, really, really like Cardell too (The Bone Wolf). Maybe one more? Like Gray, I can’t leave Gray out.

Sshh, don’t tell anyone I’m sneaking in Tanner from Stolen Destiny.

Right. Hope that helps. I am a complete #whychoose author. And I’m greedy. All in all, I have nine, maybe ten. I haven’t decided about Dane.

“Is it true that you keep a bottle of your readers tears to drink when you’re in need of new ideas for how to torture us?”

FALSE! They definitely are a motivation, though. I kind of like it when I hear that readers throw their Kindles or readers after finishing a book.

I’m such an emotional reader and I guess that comes out in what I write too. Life is pretty damn messy sometimes. And a Happy Ever After always needs a couple of slip ups, reminding you to hold on tight to what you have.

“If you could only choose one fated mate for Amarli, who would you choose?”

One mate for Amarli…. Wow. That’s like a super hard question to answer. I suppose each of her mates provide something to her. Ummm… thinking, thinking.

I am such a fan of broken Alpha’s and I think they deserve their happy ever after too, so perhaps in this instance I would say Dorian.

I think he slipped up with Amarli at first, spectacularly but underneath it all is a man - albeit a little bit broken. I like that he refuses to be defined by his past, and that he puts his son first.

I just want to say that this question is really hard to answer. Not fair Merbabes!

“Why are you obsessed with the word moist? Is there a reason you love it so much?”

MOIST? Even the definition of moist makes me laugh - slightly wet, especially in a good way.

(I’m giggling as I write this)

You are quite correct, moist is one of my most favourite words in the universe. Only because it makes me laugh so much. The cringe factor gets people, which makes me laugh. It probably shouldn’t but it does. I like to try to use it at least once in my books. (giggling again).

For the record, my cringe word is - cum. (EEEWWWWWWW).

“How do you feel about cliffhangers as a reader? Have you ever wanted to push an author off their own cliffy like the Merbabes have wanted to push you off of yours?”

Cliffhangers are a necessary evil in books. And excuse me, I don’t think the end of The Bone Wolf is a cliffhanger at all - a soft landing is what I’m calling it. My ARC team doesn't seem to agree with me on that.

I’m a fan of cliffhangers as a reader too. I’m good with waiting. I think they provide readers with an opportunity to do rereads and fall back in love with a book or series. I am eagerly waiting on one now, and I just know that the next book is going to be amazing.

As an author, there really does come a point when you have to put a pause or a stop on a book. And a cliffhanger is the perfect tool to do that, the story is usually better for it too.

“What is your favorite genre/trope to write? We know you’ve written more than a few!”

Paranormal and Urban Fantasy definitely. Honestly, since I can remember that has been my go to as a reader. I flipping love vampires and shifters. I remember reading Laurel Hamilton, Faith Hill, Illona Andrews, Ann Rice …. my mind was absolutely blown.

So yeah, definitely my favourite genre to write. You have so much scope, so much opportunity to take the characters and a story wherever, by any possible means. And hello did I mention vampires and shifters!

I had a funny discussion with my husband about how pissed off I will be if I die and find out that vampires and shifters are actually real. And yeah if I was given the chance I would totally be bitten - by either - but I’d also want to be the Queen or the Alpha’s mate, so lowly wolves and vamps please do not come knocking on my window late at night.

“If all of your FMCs were in a fight, which of them do you think would win and why?”

Oh, another good question. I’m going to say Destiny from Stolen Destiny. She is a complete badass - physically, mentally and emotionally. And she can do it looking amazing in heels, or boots.

“We know that you started out as an alpha reader for multiple authors. What was it that made you finally decide to start writing your own books?”

A dream. As cliche as that sounds, it’s the truth.

Being an Alpha and an ARC reader for a few years gave me such a different experience - I saw how things came together. You see the mechanics of writing and the whole process. Blood, sweat and tears are on those pages. It was such an honour and privilege being involved with those authors - like they are trusting you with their baby!

I think understanding how it works gave me the confidence to try too.

Once I finished my first book, it’s like the gates opened up. Some days are a real challenge, don’t get me wrong, but I do try to write everyday in some way, shape or form. Now I have characters that keep me up at night - new and old ones. Lots of characters live in my head now!

“Have you ever had a character’s personality change from how you originally planned them to be?”

I think each character develops the more you write them. At the start you can visualise parts of them but as they become more, which each new word, they evolve.

I think the truest character I ever wrote was Jonathon. He stayed exactly the way he was when he first demanded I listen to him and his story. See, you thought it was Destiny’s story, but it wasn’t. It was his.

I probably didn’t answer the question exactly, but I hope that makes sense.

“When writing sexy scenes do you use real life inspiration or do you do “research” for inspiration?”

Checks to see where the husband is….

I read a lot. Like a huge amount. So I know what I like to read as a reader. But I definitely do ‘research’ as you say. You probably don’t want to see my Google search history - or my PornHub history!

A lot of my sexy scenes come from an emotional connection. I’m not so much a wham, bam, thank you ma'am person so I don’t write it like that either.

I keep snapshots of my favourite sex scenes.

“What is your favorite type of book boyfriend to write and your favorite type to read about?”

Book boyfriends - wow I still have the same two from years ago and I suspect they are the original draw I use for my inspiration on a lot of the characters I write. I like loud and honest characters. I’m a pretty black and white person so sometimes I forget that there is gray in between - most of my characters are like that too.

But in my book boyfriends - I want it all - stunningly good looking, rich and know how to treat a woman properly. I’m not a fan of redeeming bullies so I try to steer clear of any of those traits. Certainly I can work with characters having secrets, but maliciousness and lying in real life are such a turn off for me, makes sense my characters wouldn’t be like that either.

I like emotionally available characters. And book boyfriends who aren’t afraid of honesty.

“Have you ever had to go back and change the way something was written because it uses phrases only Australians would understand? What’s a saying you use on a regular basis that would have the rest of us scratching our heads in confusion?”

Too funny - I have polls in my group about this very thing! And yes most definitely. It’s such a balancing act of writing to your audience without losing your voice. It’s great fun trying to teach you guys some of our language.

Your fanny and our fanny are quite different! As are thongs. It’s just the little words that get my Alphas and my editors. There have been some pretty funny messages popping up about those.

I’m thinking of doing a Lucy dictionary, if I’m honest.

So just for future sake - pack up laughing - means to burst into giggles. And bowers are petrol pumps, rocket is cilantro.

For the record, moist is universal.

A huge thank you to Kara, Tamara and Yashira for the opportunity of doing this interview with you guys. You guys are really smashing these interviews! I love reading them - and now I have my own… mind blown.

Thanks for taking that risk!

Xxx LSB