Interview with Piper J. Drake

 

Biography

Piper J. Drake is a bestselling author of romantic suspense, paranormal romance, science fiction, and fantasy. Foodie. Wanderer. Usually not lost.

Piper aspires to give her readers stories with a taste of the hard challenges in life, a breath of laughter, a broad range of strengths and weaknesses, the sweet taste of kisses, and the heat of excitement across multiple genres.

Credit for picture and biography : Author Piper J. Drake (piperjdrake.com)

Questions

Why did you decided to write romance?

I love to write character driven stories and I found I preferred to write stories in which a developing romantic relationship was central to the plot. I also prefer happy endings. Once I wrote my first full length novel and began to educate myself about the publishing industry, I found what I loved to write was defined predominately as romance, in terms of genre. Even better, romance as a genre has room for many elemental subgenres – which allowed me to explore additional facets I loved to write, like steampunk and science fiction and paranormal romance and romantic suspense.

What challenges did you encounter while you were writing your first novel?

I found my first draft reflected the voices of my favorite books and it took a couple of revision passes to give the manuscript a voice that was more mine. I also had a lot of room to learn in terms of writing craft.

Which one of your books will you recommend to a new reader?

It depends.

If a new reader is interested in paranormal and science fiction elements in their romance, I would recommend Bite Me, book 1 of my London Shifters series. It’s a fast-paced novella in which werewolves protect humans from zombies at ground zero of a zombie apocalypse.

If a new reader is interested in military veterans, heroes with strong moral compass and very competent heroines, all accompanied by very good working dogs, then I’d recommend my True Heroes series. In particular, I have a soft spot for Ultimate Courage or Fierce Justice.

What advices will you give to a new author?

I often recommend that authors surround themselves with nifty people. People who are doing nifty things and who inspire you to do nifty things too.

Do you do lot of research before you start writing about a new subject?

I research both before and while I write. There’s a certain amount of preparation I put into approaching a new subject and how I will incorporate this element into my storytelling. I’ll also spend time while writing to spot check specific context and delve through layers of information to do my best to give positive representation. Once I have feedback from sensitivity readers, I will do more research to address their suggestions to the best of my ability in revisions.

What are your next projects?

I have a new release coming out in November of 2022 titled Wings Once Cursed and Bound, a contemporary fantasy with very strong paranormal romance elements, featuring a Thai bird princess and a vampire as they encounter objects of myth and magic from around the world. Readers interested in this book can subscribe to my newsletter to get earliest notification of cover art and pre-order links as soon as those are available. (Subscribe here: https://piperjdrake.com/subscribe)

I’m also writing a serialized science fiction romance on Kindle Vella titled An Idol with Luv. In which a grumpy lady mercenary signs on as a bodyguard for a brilliant intergalactic idol as a special favor to an old friend and finds herself sharing guard duty with the rakish station engineer she swore she'd never get tangled up with again. This is already in progress with over 15 chapters already available to readers.

Readers can play Find the Piper on the Internet to keep up to date on my next projects:

Website: https://piperjdrake.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/piperjdrake

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piperjdrake/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPiperJDrake/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PiperJDrake