I was fortunate enough to get to interview Steph Campbell, author of GROUNDING QUINN, BEAUTIFUL THINGS NEVER LAST, DELICATE (and many others!) for Simon and Schuster UK's Month of Men Blog Tour. I don't only admire Steph as a writer, but as a person as well.
So grab a cup of coffee (or tea) this Saturday morning and get to know the lovely Steph Campbell a bit better!
(ME) You write good guys. Why?
(STEPH) For a several reasons, but mostly because I think that “nice guys” are underrepresented in romance. I think there are plenty of male characters who don’t always behave well, and I think that there’s a stereotype that female readers don’t want to read nice guys and only find badly behaving men attractive. I’m not trying to take some stance against that, but I do try to add balance to that, by writing guys that I think are pretty stand-up men.
I also tend to write female characters that are maybe a little more broken than others, so giving them a nice hero is a nice balance.
There’s also the fact that I didn’t always date the nicest guys in my teen/early adult years. I definitely get a lot of inspiration for my male characters from the kind of guy my husband has always been.
(ME) Can you share with us what project you're working on now?
(STEPH) I’m working on two things at once, actually.
One is a companion book in the series of books that includes DELICATE and GROUNDING QUINN, called FRIEND IS A FOUR LETTER WORD. It’s the story of Shayna, a familiar face in those two books.
I’m also co-writing a third book in the LENGTHS series with Liz Reinhardt called LIMITS. This story is Cohen’s (from DEPTHS) youngest sister Genevieve’s story. Like the rest of the series, it’s beachy and sexy, and full of heart. We’re so excited about it.
(ME) What authors did you grow up loving?
(STEPH)I read the basics growing up: R.L. Stine, Ann M. Martin (The Babysitter’s Club), Roald Dahl, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. In middle school, I went through a serious John Grisham/Michael Crichton phase.
So grab a cup of coffee (or tea) this Saturday morning and get to know the lovely Steph Campbell a bit better!
(ME) You write good guys. Why?
(STEPH) For a several reasons, but mostly because I think that “nice guys” are underrepresented in romance. I think there are plenty of male characters who don’t always behave well, and I think that there’s a stereotype that female readers don’t want to read nice guys and only find badly behaving men attractive. I’m not trying to take some stance against that, but I do try to add balance to that, by writing guys that I think are pretty stand-up men.
I also tend to write female characters that are maybe a little more broken than others, so giving them a nice hero is a nice balance.
There’s also the fact that I didn’t always date the nicest guys in my teen/early adult years. I definitely get a lot of inspiration for my male characters from the kind of guy my husband has always been.
(ME) Can you share with us what project you're working on now?
(STEPH) I’m working on two things at once, actually.
One is a companion book in the series of books that includes DELICATE and GROUNDING QUINN, called FRIEND IS A FOUR LETTER WORD. It’s the story of Shayna, a familiar face in those two books.
I’m also co-writing a third book in the LENGTHS series with Liz Reinhardt called LIMITS. This story is Cohen’s (from DEPTHS) youngest sister Genevieve’s story. Like the rest of the series, it’s beachy and sexy, and full of heart. We’re so excited about it.
(ME) What authors did you grow up loving?
(STEPH)I read the basics growing up: R.L. Stine, Ann M. Martin (The Babysitter’s Club), Roald Dahl, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. In middle school, I went through a serious John Grisham/Michael Crichton phase.
(ME) You're a busy wife and mom. How do you find the time to write and stay inspired?
(STEPH)I think with like any other career, this is my job and I take it seriously. I have to put in the work to see results. I have to put in the time, sometimes when I really don’t feel like it, but I always try to take advantage of the quiet times in my house and often forego sleep for several days to get what I need done on time.
(ME) If you could go back in time and give the teenage Steph one piece of advice, what would it be?
(STEPH) Stop trying to please everyone. I was sort of the queen of telling people what they wanted to hear when I was younger because I just wanted to keep peace with everyone. That can never last, and it was exhausting.
(ME) One word to describe yourself.
(Steph) Generous
Thank you so much for stopping by and giving me a chance to share you with the readers, Steph! Congrats on all of your success and wishing you even more!
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