A big warm Love Bytes welcome to author Ashavan Doyon who is here today with us to kick off his blog tour for his new release Steven’s Heart which released from Torquere Press on the 27th of August.

 

Welcome Ashavan!

Danielle: First can you tell us something about Steven’s Heart and how it came to exist?

 

Ashavan: Thanks for having me here at Love Bytes, Dani. When I wrote Loving Aidan, which was my first published full length novel, I included Steven as a character meant to both remind Aidan of the romance he was missing, and also to provoke a jealousy response from Aidan’s roommate, Sammy. The character grew into a much larger role, taking on a life of his own. I love it when that happens, because it means the character is really alive in my head. But it’s also hard, because the characters really do their own thing when that happens. So people who read Loving Aidan became very attached to Steven. When I was thinking about the next book, writing one centered on Steven just made good sense. When readers are attached to a character, that says a lot.

 

Your first release at Torquere was Loving Aidan. Are the readers required to read that story in order to read Steven’s Heart, or can it be read as a standalone too?

 

It can absolutely be read as a standalone novel. I was very intentional about that, and I was fortunate in that my editor at Torquere had not read Loving Aidan, so she was quick to point out where the lack of information really made a difference in the story (thanks Elizabeth!).

 

I will say, though, that the reverse is harder. Reading Steven’s Heart by necessity also tells you how Loving Aidan ends, so it can spoil reading the first story. To me that doesn’t matter, because the specifics of a story are so much more important than the end result. But I know people for whom that would spoil the fun in reading Loving Aidan, so I wanted to mention it.

 

You have succesfully published quite a number of books over the last year / year and a half. Did you ever expect to be a published writer?

 

Absolutely! But I never expected to be writing romance. I thought I’d be a fantasy author, or maybe science fiction. Romance came later, as an outgrowth of writing fan fiction. I realized that when I wrote there was always a romantic relationship in there, central to the story. So I began to focus more on that.

 

What is it that you love about writing? What does it add to your life?

 

I love that instant when a character rebels, when the character is so real in my head that they start telling me what they’re doing rather than me telling them. It’s something I think only other writers really appreciate, but it’s such a great feeling. As for what it adds… for me writing is something I have to do. People who know me could tell you, when I haven’t been writing in a while I get irritable — they’d probably say mean. For me it’s a little like eating. It’s something I need to do. And, not unlike eating, I love it, which helps.

 

How does a story begin to work for you? Do you think of something and start writing or do you plot a story out , what does work best for you?

 

I’m a total pantser. Give me two characters, throw them in a sticky situation and let them grow until they sing!

 

If there was anything you would like to change in how you write what would it be ?

 

I write best at two in the morning. Which is fun and grand, except that I’m not nineteen anymore and I have a full time job working fairly standard business hours. I wish I had control over when I get inspired and how I reach that point where everything is flowing and the characters are talking to me so fast that I can barely write it down. I need to be independently wealthy. That way I could just listen to them instead of telling them to just shut up until tomorrow night. When you tell a character that, sometimes they just stop talking to you and then you have to tell them what to do again. It’s subtle (well, I hope it is!), but I think readers notice when that happens.

 

What would be the perfect way for you to spend a day off?

 

I just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary, and I think spending a day with my husband and our puppies (they’re not really puppies anymore, but I still think of them that way) is just perfect. But the reality is that often I spend days off writing, because finding time to write with a full time job is really hard sometimes.

 

Is there more coming in the near of distant future from your hand?

 

Yes! I actually have two releases scheduled for next year already, one in late winter and one in early spring. The first is a novella based off my very first published story, The King’s Mate. It follows Russ and his paramour through the start of their relationship and the trials they have as two really injured people trying to make a life together work. It’s titled A Wounded Promise. The second is a brand new story that spawned from a story I originally wrote for a Christmas anthology. It didn’t make it into the collection and I’m kinda glad, because it became something bigger that I think is really exciting. That one is titled Gerry’s Lion.

 

In the more distant future, I’m not done with the characters from Loving Aidan and Steven’s Heart. I expect there will be at least one more story, possibly more. Roses have some significance in these stories. The first was red — a focus on romance and love. Steven’s Heart was blue, for reasons you’ll have to read it to discover. So I was thinking of doing a story for orange or yellow. Deciding on which characters to follow next can be hard, but I think I’ve settled on which character and I expect I’ll be writing the next story in the series in the next couple months.

 

Is there anything you would like to add to this interview or want to share with your readers ?

 

I just want to say thank you to my readers. Especially the ones who reached out to me in email to tell me how much they wanted to hear more from Steven. I hope Steven’s Heart is everything they were hoping for.

 

Buy Links:

Steven’s Heart is available from Torquere at:

Torquere Press

Amazon

 

 

Thanks for stopping by Love Bytes , Good luck on your new release and with your blog tour!

 

Thanks Dani 🙂

 

Ashavan also is doing a great giveaway during his blog tour.

Make sure to enter the giveaway below!

Blurb:

When a love triangle breaks, Steven Everett is left alone to grieve over a boyfriend lost to someone else. Surrounded by friends too tied to Aidan’s new lover to give advice, Steven turns instead to a broken and beaten man, Aidan’s other ex, Michael Rossier, who also knows the pain of having loved and lost Aidan. Steven’s and Michael’s confessions grow deeper, each confiding in the other until neither can deny an attraction. But being with Michael feels like cheating, and Steven isn’t sure what to do. The connection get stronger every day, and Steven realizes he’s facing an impossible choice.

 

To make a relationship with Michael work, Steven needs to make peace with Michael’s troubled past. Even more terrifying, he’ll have to tell Michael the secret he’s never told anyone, not even Aidan. With Michael recovering from yet another surgery, Steven leaves to face the ghosts of the past. He has to be certain. This time, Steven knows, the decision means revealing the secrets of his heart and hoping their fragile feelings can survive.

 

Author Bio:

Ashavan Doyon spends his days working with students as part of the student affairs staff at a liberal arts college. During lunch, evenings, and when he can escape the grasp of his husband on weekends, he writes, pounding out words day after day in hopes that his ancient typewriter-trained fingers won’t break the glass on his tablet computer. Ashavan is an avid science fiction and fantasy fan and prefers to write while listening to music that fits the mood of his current story. He has no children, having opted instead for the companionship of two beautiful and thoroughly spoiled pugs. A Texan by birth, he currently lives in New England, and frequently complains of the weather.

 

Author Contact: ashavandoyon@gmail.com

Twitter:

@ashavandoyon

FB: www.facebook.com/ashavandoyon.writer

website: www.ashavandoyon.com

 

Tour Shedule

aug 29 th Love Bytes:  https://lovebytesreviews.com

aug 30 thPrism bookalliance: http://www.prismbookalliance.com

aug 31 st Andrew Q Gordon : http://andrewqgordon.com

sept 1 st Larry Benjamin : http://larrybenjamin.com

sept 2 nd Kimi-chan Experience : http://www.kimnsarah.co.uk

sept 3 rd The Blogger Girls: http://thebloggergirls.com

sept 4 th GGR- Review :http://www.ggr-review.com

sept 5 th JoyfullyJay : http://joyfullyjay.com

sept 6 th Rainbow Gold Reviews: http://rainbowgoldreviews.wordpress.com

sept 7 th The Novel Approach :http://thenovelapproachreviews.com

 

 

Rafflecopter Prize : 2 ebook copies of  “Steven’s Heart” and 1 signed paperback copy of  “Loving Aidan” ( US restricted )

a Rafflecopter giveaway