For today’s Author Spotlight, I’m joined by the wonderful, bestselling author V.L. Locey! We chatted X-Men fan fiction, co-writing and cannonballing in at the deep end.
So, without further ado…
First things first, please introduce yourself!
Hi all! I’m so happy to be here to visit with Charlie and you today. I’m a full-time author who shares her life with her hubby of 29 years, her adult daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of rowdy chickens and a pair of geese named Jack and Diane. I call the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania home. My pronouns are she/her.
I write mostly MM hockey romance as it’s the genre of my heart, but I also dabble in contemporary, paranormal, and historical queer romances. I’ve also been co-authoring gay hockey romances with this RJ Scott bird; you may have heard of her. *winks* We’ve recently completed our third MM hockey romance series and are gearing up for the fourth!
Tell us a little bit about your writing style.
I write gay romances with lots of humor, angst, family and family found. There’s always an HFN or an HEA and generally some hockey, not always, but seven times out of ten you’ll find a puck and stick involved in one of my stories. Or a drag queen. Or maybe a cowboy…
Describe your books in only three words.
Sexy. Angst. Love.
What’s your next book about and when is it coming out?
My next solo release will be Family According to Liam, the final book in my According to Liam series. That will come out July 1, 2021. It’s a warm, funny, low angst romantic book that wraps up one of my most popular series to date. It was so wonderful to be able to give Bryn and Mike the family that they’ve dreamed of. *sighs* My next coauthored book with RJ Scott will be Top Shelf, Boston Rebels #1. We’re kicking off our FOURTH mm hockey romance series on June 25th and are crazy excited to have everyone meet this new team!
Out of all your books, which one are you most proud of?
Oh boy, this is tough. I’m proud of all of them. If I had to pick it would probably be either Shake the Stars or Point Shot Trilogy. Shake the Stars has a wonderful Muslim/Catholic couple and spans many years with the guys reuniting later in life. Point Shot because it was where Victor Kalinski came to life which kickstarted my career.
What or who (or both) has influenced you most as a writer?
Mark Twain. Not only is he an amazing author and storyteller, which is reason enough to admire him, but he was not a college educated man when he began writing. As someone who also does not possess a degree I turned to Mr. Twain as inspiration when I was first starting out as an author.
What inspired you to start writing?
My career began in fan fiction, as many authors do, after I was upset with how the X-Men were portrayed in the first X-Men movie. As a comic geek I felt I could do better and sat down to write my own story about Wolverine, a romantic one that was super homoerotic. That was it. After that I kept writing and now I can’t stop. I like to say I owe my career to Bryan Singer. 😉
What’s your writing process like? Do you have a typical “writing day”?
I generally begin my writing day by 8 am and create until around eleven. Then I break for exercise/yoga and lunch and am back at my keyboard for another few hours of either writing, admin work or editing if I have that on my To-Do list.
What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
Usually it’s an idea followed almost immediately by the characters. I’m a total pantser so the plot tends to reveal itself to me as I work through the story. I will work out the trope beforehand and do character bios but other than that it’s just a total cannonball into the deep end. *laughs*
What’s a book that you wish you’d written?
There are so many! The first Black Dagger Brotherhood book (and a few of the subsequent ones) by J. R. Ward were absolutely incredible. Call me By Your Name by Andre Aciman will always have a special place in my heart. I don’t think I have ever been moved by a book as I was by Oliver and Elio’s tale.
If you could only write one trope for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Age gap. There is just something about that older man/younger man dynamic that I adore. Perhaps its how they teach each other different things as they fall deeper in love with each other. <3
What would be your three desert island books?
Call Me By Your Name (I’ve read my poor old, battered copy a hundred times and will continue to read it until it falls to dust), Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (I mean it has Mouse and Anna Madrigal!) and perhaps Outlander (time travel, Scotland, and Jamie Fraser) would do me well I think.
If one of your books could be made into a movie/TV series, which would you choose and who would you cast?
Oh heck this is really hard. If I had to pick just one perhaps it would be the Point Shot Trilogy. I’d love to see Victor and Dan on the big screen. As to who would play them that’s even harder. Perhaps a young John McGinley with some red hair dye as he really did a snarky jerk SO well when he was Dr. Cox on Scrubs, plus Vic idolizes that character. Maybe Elijah Wood as Dan Arou. He’s sweet, short, and quite a skilled actor.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Do you have a secret passion or hobby that we don’t know about?
I don’t have too many secrets to be honest. Most of my hobbies are right out there. I like to play video games when I have downtime. I’m working through the Assassin’s Creed series at the moment. I enjoy reading, watching hockey (LET’S GO RANGERS!!) and chilling with my chickens and cats.
Finally, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Stegosaurus. I always loved them when I was a kid.
V.L. LOCEY loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.
When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.
For more information on V.L. Locey and her work you can find her on Bookbub, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and her website, and you can sign up for her newsletter. You can also join her Facebook reader group, Vicki’s Vixens, for more news and updates.
