  Pen Name: Maxime Jaz
Pronouns: he/they Book Series/Latest Book Published: My book series is Omnia Vincit Amor, a dark, queer steamy romance set in Ancient Rome. My latest release is His Lordship’s Coachman, a gay romance set in 19th century England. Introduce your current favorite character – who are they and why do you prefer them above all others at the moment? This is a very tough one… I have so many great characters whom I love. I have a soft spot for Doug, my MC in Fall, my first published novel. Doug’s a poor trapeze artist with a heart of gold, a genuine family guy with a love of books and horses, and despite his hard life, he always keeps going. The one who lives rent free in my heart is Kyle, my slave MC from Omnia Vincit Amor. Despite unimaginable trauma, pain and loss, Kyle’s kind heart shines throughout the story and balances out Marius’ darkness and deep seated traumas. He is also one I loved to write… and so many more. How to choose? I can’t. Who is harder to write – an interesting hero or an interesting villain? My characters tend to be grey, there’s no well-defined hero or villain, even if the “villains” tend to be more just scumbag humans. I write my characters as they appear to me with their own personalities, and they do shift often between “good” and “bad,” and are sometimes downright hated by readers (like Marius in Omnia, and Damian in Home) before winning their hearts over. I also have “villains” who don’t get “what they deserve,” just like in real life, sometimes, scumbags get away with things. I think the hardest parts to write emotionally are when my morally grey MCs do something truly horrible, even if their motives to do so make sense in their story. I do hope all my characters are interesting. You’re trapped in an elevator with your main character. What are you discussing? Let’s then say it’s a character from one of my contemporary romances. With Doug from Fall, it would be easy. His job, horses and pets, circus life would all be topics we could talk about. With Damian from Home, we could talk about wild pigs, island life and the return to civilization and its challenges. With Roman, the vampire from In Aeternum, I’d be very curious to talk about eternal life and how he feels as an immortal. We’d also talk Phantom of the Opera as he plays the lead in it. What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you? How do you conquer it? Not to let social media discussions, buzzing, “writing advice,” “genre boxes and labels,” “what will the people say?” type of anxiety inducing and limiting discussions and takes influence me. I’m firmly set in my path, which is to unapologetically write down the stories my characters show me, writing down (pantsing) the movies in my head, and to self-publish them. It is easy to be swayed by the masses, trends, so-called writing advice and hot takes, but I tend to tune out the noise and rarely participate in various debates. As I said in a tweet once, the day has not come when I will change my writing for anything. Also, another challenge is finding the time to write. I have a full-time high responsibility job, business travels, a whole family to run, and writing needs to be squeezed in here too. I try to write whenever my characters play but sometimes I’m just too tired, or I ran out of hours in the day. It’s very frustrating sometimes. If you could write a cross-over with another book/series, what would it be and why? (Or, if crossovers don’t interest you, why?) I sort of have a WIP in which the history professor is researching Marius and Kyle’s relationship (my MCs in Omnia Vincit Amor, my trilogy set in Ancient Rome). This is more a fun little Easter egg than a cross-over. Any of my contemporary romances could potentially be written into a cross-over. I haven’t thought of doing one, but maybe, one day… In your opinion, what is the purpose of storytelling? To me, it’s bleeding out on the paper my characters’ stories as they show it to me, to the best of my abilities, and staying true to them. Stories are meant to be told, and some stories can only be told by you, and no one else. Storytelling is an ancient art, and it’s fundamental. It makes people dream, transports them into new worlds, and makes the heart race. It’s an adventure, and there’s nothing better when readers resonate with your characters, their stories, and talk about them as if they existed. And they do exist. I firmly believe it. Ok, last but not least… Tell us a bit about what made you want to become a writer and why you write what you write. Oh, this could be an essay… It started at age ten, maybe? I wrote Star Wars fan fiction, and Aliens fan fic, with a fountain pen in a small notebook. Then poetry and short stories as a teen (those are very dark), then lots of academic writing doing my language and literature Masters. Lots of writing as a teacher, and teaching creative writing, essays, and such. My own writing took a break for a long time, and at age 42, I started writing again, a scene came to me, like in a movie, a pair of boots descending a spiral staircase in a castle’s tower. This is my shelved (and maybe one day I’ll pick it up again) dragon fantasy book. This started then another scene, one I planned being a short story, the encounter between a Roman general at a countryside noble’s party and a pleasure slave… Rings a bell? From that short story started in 2019 a trilogy grew out, Omnia Vincit Amor, with this scene starting my now best-seller and legendary book Donum-The Gift. From then on, characters started pouring into my head, and I wrote several WIPs, or started writing them, then stopped, picked up others… I never write when my characters don’t play, and sometimes they don’t act for years. I’ve been praised on being a fast writer, but all the books published last year and this year have been written for years, or finished beginning of 2023. There’s no stopping now and I intend to write until my last breath on this planet. As to why I write what I write, queer erotic romances, this also could be an essay in itself. I am queer, have always been, but of course growing up in post-communist Hungary, in the eighties, there was no information on any of this, what it mean to be queer or wanting to be a boy, or liking both boys and girls. Besides slurs, there was nothing else, but the dread that I’ll end up in hell (Catholic religion was another trauma of childhood. Thankfully discarded into the sun)… So now, at 47, and having met the queer community online during the years, and learning more about myself, it was evident to me that my characters appeared as men in love. They come from the ethereal realms of my mind, and we are intertwined in many ways, and I love giving them life, and sending them out into the world so others can fall in love with them. I’m very sexual myself, I love sex, and so I guess my characters too. Sex is pivotal in my books and a fundamental part of my characters’ lives. I don’t choose how they have sex, how they love each other, it’s all just there, and I am just the scribe. Writing queer love stories living in a country where rights and freedom of being queer are severely repressed is not easy, I can’t put my face online, and can’t be out (I’d risk my job, and my family’s security), but it is all the more important to have queer love published out there, especially in today’s world where anti-LGBTQ+ laws are rife all over the world. Everybody deserves love and everyone deserves to be loved. That is why my main motto is “Love conquers all,” as it is the title of my Ancient Rome trilogy ‘Omnia Vincit Amor.’ I firmly believe this is true. Here's where to find Maxime: @MaximeJaz | Linktree Are you an indie author who wants to be featured on 7 Questions? Send me an email!  Welcome to 7 Questions from the Serrulata Saga Desk, my blog feature that boosts fellow indie authors! This week, I chat with Rita A. Rubin!
Pen Name: Rita A. Rubin Pronouns: she/they Book Series/Latest Book Published: Of Knights and Books and Falling In Love Introduce your current favorite character – who are they and why do you prefer them above all others at the moment? Right now, my favourite character is Claudia, from my WIP A Ballad for Slayers & Monsters. I’m really interested in everything about her character, and all the things I still need to develop with her. A big inspiration for her was Alucard, my favourite character from Castlevania, so that probably also has something to do with why I’m so partial to her. Who is harder to write – an interesting hero or an interesting villain? Personally, I think both can be pretty difficult to write. It’s easy to give a character qualities that will either make them loveable or hated, but actually making them interesting, regardless of what role they play in the story, is a different ball game. You’re trapped in an elevator with your main character. What are you discussing? If I’m trapped with Jayce from Of Knights and Books and Falling In Love, then I think we’ll be having a nice, in-depth discussion about books, as well as talking about our furry friends. What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you? How do you conquer it? The self-doubt, for sure. It’s so easy to fall into those feelings of inadequacy and comparing yourself to other writers and all the ways they seem to be doing better than you and thinking you should just give up. Usually whenever these feelings rear their heads, I look back on all the kind words I’ve received about my writing, and the positive impacts my book has had on readers. If you could write a cross-over with another book/series, what would it be and why? (Or, if cross-overs don’t interest you, why?) I would love to do an Of Knights and Books and Falling In Love crossover with Taylor Hubbard’s A Corruption of Souls. I think Jayce and Alexius and Deklyn and Kai would get on swimmingly! Claudia also needs to meet T.L. Morgan’s vampire, Lucien. In your opinion, what is the purpose of storytelling? To express ourselves. Ok, last but not least… Tell us a bit about what made you want to become a writer and why you write what you write. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what made me want to become a writer. I’ve always loved making up stories and worlds I’d much rather live in. Although I didn’t actually start writing until I was about 11 years old and wanted to create my own sequel for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I haven’t stopped writing since. Here's where to find Rita: Instagram: @ritarubin9 Twitter: @ritacoolbeans TikTok: @ritacoolbeans Website: https://ritaarubin.wordpress.com/ Are you an indie author who wants to be featured on 7 Questions? Send me an email! |
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