JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Elaine Flowers, author of It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Other Stories
(Hollygrove Publishing)
It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Their Stories is a compilation of two novellas and one short story, each having a love triangle involving two men and one woman. “Never As Good As The First Time” is a novella with high school sweethearts Germaine and Melinda who rekindled their relationship after reuniting at their ten-year reunion.
In the short story “The Letter,” silently admiring his beautiful neighbor, Mahogany for months, this brotha discovers a love letter under his door from her. In “Daddy’s Maybe”, the two candidates for fatherhood, Calvin (Kendra’s husband) and Brad (Kendra’s white lover), give us the sordid details of this love triangle while they are both hoping to be the father of her baby.
It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Their Stories (2008) is a Dallas Morning News Bestseller, garnering a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. Elaine Flowers’ Black Beauty (2004) is also a Dallas Morning News Bestseller.
Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Their Stories?
Elaine Flowers: Since there are three different stories in It’s Morning there are really three different detailed answers. But, for everything I write, real life experiences (for me and people I know) inspire my writing. Also, music is a great inspiration.
JP: What sets It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Their Stories apart from other novels in its genre?
EF: There are a lot of books with two women at odds over one man. One thing that sets It’s Morning apart from other novels is each story involves a love triangle with one woman and two men.
JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to It’s Morning: Torn Lovers and Their Stories getting out to the public?
EF: Like anything else, word of mouth is greatly beneficial. Nothing is comparable to reader to reader interaction. Of course, that means having a book that is well written and well put together as a quality product that readers can love and respect is of prime importance. Also, being accessible to the targeted audience through public events, such as book signings and book club meetings is another key. The Internet is a great tool, which I utilize more with It’s Morning than I was able to with my first book.
JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish It’s Morning: Torn Lover and Their Stories?
EF: My writing process is slightly different with each project. One thing that remains the same is that I write/work everyday on something. I don’t beat myself up when a project is not coming together at the pace that I expected. I have a lot of quiet time that I take advantage of. Also, I only write about things that excite me.
The two novellas and short story were all finished at different times and at different speeds. In fact, there was no original plan to put the three of them together until I was deciding what I would do with “Never As Good As the First Time.” This is pretty much how the book came together.
JP: What’s next for Elaine Flowers?
EF: I’m not especially big on mentioning what’s next because an author can sometimes talk a book out of coming to fruition by going on and on about it. However, I will say that I am a full-time writer, and my first love is fiction even though I have been working on a couple of non-fiction projects.
http://www.myspace.com/elaineflowers
elaine_flowers@yahoo.com
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