Love bytes says hello and welcome to authors Poppy Dennison who is here today with us to talk about the new release of “When He Was Bad”, book 3 in the Coconut series.
Welcome Poppy 🙂
First, I’d like to say a big thank you to Love Bytes for having me over today to celebrate the release of When He Was Bad! I’m so proud of this book and Levi and Whitney are at the top of my list of favorite characters I’ve written!
When I was pondering what to write for this post, I saw a bunch of hoopla on social media about authors writing things they don’t know or haven’t personally experienced. If you’ve been around the community for a while, you know which argument I’m talking about. I thought I’d take a minute to discuss the old adage “Write What You Know” from my standpoint as an author and talk about how I write what I know… and how I don’t.
Often, you’ll hear “Write What You Know” used as both a sword and a shield in an argument. What do a mean by that? It’s a weapon, a sword, and someone claims “You can’t write that because you aren’t that.” I’m not a doctor, so I can’t write a doctor! How could I know what it’s like to be a doctor when I’m not one? Other times, it’s used as a shield, a defense. “Stephen King isn’t a murderer and he writes murderers!”
So how did I write a young, gay, male actor working in Key West? I’m none of those things! Because I don’t try to write the exact thing. The “it” of the person. I try to capture emotions. What does it feel like to be a young, gay, male actor living in Key West? I think the adage should be reworded to say “Write the feelings you know”.
I remember what it was like to be young and living in a new place, just like Levi. I remember what it felt like to have an unrequited crush on a friend. Those are emotions that I know and, as a writer, I try to capture that feeling in my characters.
Writing in general is about creating emotions for your readers. Romance writing in particular is all about emotion. We write about falling in love. Notice the first part of that other famous adage. Falling. Falling isn’t pleasant. It hurts. It’s awkward. Sometimes it’s funny. But it’s more than love. It’s a journey to love. The feelings of falling and then landing in a safe and wonderful place.
When I write what I know, I’m falling right along with my readers. Sometimes I’m laughing, sometimes I’m crying. Sometimes I’ve got a hundred tabs open on my browser window while I’m trying to calculate exactly where in Key West my characters would be standing and what the shadows will look like only to end up scraping the entire scene because it doesn’t make sense. “Writing what you know” isn’t a simple process and it certainly isn’t easy. But it doesn’t mean that I’ve had to experience the exact same circumstance in the exact same way as my character.
It means I’m human and I feel emotions. It means I try to recreate those emotions and bring my readers along for my journey as I trip and fall hopelessly in love.
Blurb:
Coconut Cove: Book Three
Lights, camera… wardrobe?
Coconut Cove is television’s newest hot sensation. The glitzy teen drama set in the beach lover’s paradise of Key West is the talk of every gossip rag eager for dirt and hookup news on the hot young actors—like Levi Phillips, who plays the show’s resident bad boy.
Levi’s attraction to costume designer Whit heads into high romance when Whit orders Levi out of his clothes—in an attempt to save Levi from heat exhaustion, of course.
Sassy Whit knows just how to dress, and undress, Levi, and soon the sexy duo are steaming it up offscreen, which is no surprise to their friends and castmates.
But love in the public eye is complicated, and rumors pose challenges that can threaten careers and love….
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Add two parts sass and one part sweet and you have Poppy Dennison to a T—sweet tea that is. Raised by a gaggle of Southern women who love reading and have backbones of steel, Poppy was brought up to see the best in people but always speak her mind. Mix it all together, like Grandma’s famous cobbler, and you get a sassy, Southern lady with a quick wit and loads of charm, who will soften any blow with “Bless your heart.”
Her books reflect her small town roots, are filled with all the comforts of home, and come with side dish of spicy, because that’s the way she likes it.