COCKTAILS AND COCK TALES WITH SELESTE DELANEY

COCKTAILS AND COCK TALES would like to welcome Seleste deLaney! Sexy paranormal romance writer extraordinaire!
Today we will be sipping a Mommy's Special Hot Cocoa

Mommy's Special Hot Cocoa
6 oz hot cocoa
1 shot peppermint schnapps
1 ox Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka


Deanna: So here we go! Where are you and what are you wearing?

Seleste: I so should answer this at a different time of day LOL. I’m at my desk in my kitchen (new office sooooooon!) and I’m wearing jeans, a teal tank top, and a dark brown cashmere wrap sweater.

Deanna: Sounds sexy just the same! Now what’s your poison? Vodka? Hot Coco?

Seleste: I like my hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps, but I’m now thinking about trying it with vodka too. Hell, let’s go for all three…yummy!

Deanna: OMG! I haven’t had one of those in a while! And since its 20 degrees out, I say we defiantly add the vodka. Wouldn’t want to get cold, would we? (((evil grin)))Now that we’re comfy, tell me about your new book?


Seleste: My newest release (I actually had two holiday releases, how awesome is that?) is THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT and it’s the sequel to OF COURSE I TRY.

Deanna: Where did the idea for this story come from?

Seleste: Well, I had already decided to turn OF COURSE I TRY into a series, and I was toying with the plot of the novel (which is drafted now) while I was thinking about doing something for Decadent for the holidays. And I wondered if I could figure out a way to bridge from OF COURSE I TRY to the novel. I was taking a tiny page from your book and trying to think of a classic holiday story and seeing if I could twist it. THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT kind of came at me fully formed from that initial brainstorming session. I love it when that happens :)

Deanna: What was the hardest part of writing this story for you?

Seleste: Since THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT and OF COURSE I TRY are written from Jocelyn’s point of view (the novel is third person, multiple points of view) I needed to work in some little hints of things to come without giving away everything. The other difficult part came from the fact that through the whole story, from beginning to end, Jocelyn is never sure if it was a dream or real. Conveying that for the reader and making it believable was tough. Hopefully I pulled it off though

Deanna: What’s the easiest thing about writing it?

Seleste: I love this world and these characters, so sinking into Jocelyn’s head is easy. It’s always the most fun for me to write characters that I inherently “get”, and I know what it’s like to be a woman searching for her identity in the world.

Deanna: What is your dream story, your opus, if you will? The one you dream about writing but haven’t don’t it?

Seleste: The one that makes me an international best-seller? I don’t know if I have a dream story specifically. Basically if I have an idea, I get it out on paper. A friend of mine is still pushing for me to finish the one that I was working on way back when I first started writing again. But it’s another vampire series and the world would contradict with the BLOOD KISSED world, so I’m not sure how well that would work LOL.

Deanna: When did you first discover you were a writer? Were you like sitting on the toilet and just said, “Ya know, I think I’m gonna write a book.” Or was it more profound?

Seleste: I don’t know if it’s profound, but I’ve been writing since I was little. I stopped for a long time because I was told to “get serious about my future”. It took a lot of years before I realized I was happier writing. Pretty much since then, I haven’t stopped. I’m always working on at least one manuscript.

Deanna: What helps you when you are stumped on a scene in a manuscript? I usually have a cocktail or three. But that’s just me.

Seleste: Cocktails can help. Music too. Sometimes I just veg in front of the TV. But for me, the best thing is chatting with a friend. You know those moments on TV shows (House comes to mind right now) where the main character is just talking to someone and suddenly a random word or phrase makes the lightbulb go off and they know what to do? That happens to me a lot, so you’ll usually find me writing with at least one chat window open. It’s a good thing my friends are so understanding :)

Deanna: Most of my stories have a theme song, do you do that for your characters?? If so what is it?

Seleste: I have playlists (soundtracks if you will) for my novels, but not necessarily for shorter pieces. If I had to name a song for Jocelyn for THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT , it would be “That’s What You Get” by Paramore. I think it fits the mental turmoil that is still plaguing her.

Deanna: Tell us about a scene that you have written then afterwards, when you read it, you shocked yourself? You know I want a dirty answer (((hint hint)))

Seleste: Wow, I’m not sure I am ever that drunk that I completely forget the whole scene LOL.

Deanna: That's not what I meant, silly!

Seleste: I know! I will say in the novel, there is a sex scene that completely wasn’t in the plan and when it popped up, I just went O.O. My first thought was along the lines of “Well, this may be the scene that pushes the series to a heat level of five.” Oddly enough, it isn’t very long and doesn’t involve Jocelyn at all LOL. (But it will probably be your favorite, just because I know what you like :P)

Deanna: Thanks for stopping by, Seleste! I had fun and now I'm all out of vodka!

Leave a comment below and win your choice of OF COURSE I TRY or THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT

For the rest of you Seleste is all over the internet. You can find her at her website, blog, Facebook and Twitter. And THE GHOST OF VAMPIRE PRESENT is available now at Decadent Publishing.