Author Interview: Liza Malloy

About the author:
Liza Malloy writes contemporary romance, new adult romance, women's fiction, and fantasy romance. She’s a sucker for alpha males, bad boys, dimples, and muscles, and she can’t resist a man in uniform. Liza loves creating worlds where the heroine discovers her own strength and finds her Happily Ever After. When Liza isn’t reading or writing torrid love stories, she’s a practicing attorney. Her other passions include gummy bears, jelly beans, and the occasional marathon. She lives in the Midwest with her four daughters and her own Prince Charming. Sixty Days for Love is her first published novel. She has three more steamy romances slated for release in 2019.

What inspires you to write romantic fiction?
I’ve always been a voracious reader in a variety of genres, but I realized that what has always interested me the most in any story is the relationship between the characters. Friendships and sibling relationships are fun to develop, but romantic relationships are my favorite. Every romance is rife with emotion and drama, which are critical components for any captivating story. Besides, love is such a big part of life that I can’t imagine writing an entire novel without a love story, and I’m a sucker for happy endings.

Tell us about how you write.
Once a story idea wanders into my brain, I tend to obsess about it for a few weeks as I hash out a basic plot. I focus on developing the characters, and once I have a rough outline, I start writing. I always plan to write the story in order, but I usually end up skipping ahead to the parts that excite me the most, and then I come back and fill in the details later. Occasionally, after I get into the story and fully flesh out the characters, I realize a certain plot point isn’t a realistic portrayal of what those characters would do, so I revise the outline as needed.

Do you listen to or talk to to your characters?
I’m constantly listening to my characters. They talk nonstop and won’t get out of my head until I’ve written down their whole story. Occasionally, during long distance runs, I’ll talk back to my characters also. Hopefully people who see this assume I’m singing along to music and not chatting with the voices in my head!

What advice would you give other romance writers?
Read! Of course, writing is important, but I’m shocked by the number of writers who say they don’t read other books in the genre. Reading is the best way to grow and improve as a writer. Also, the more you read in your genre, the better you’ll understand the current market. There are so many amazing romance writers today and we all can learn so much from each other.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
After signing a contract for representation with a literary agent, I was sure traditional publishing was the route for me. I then received a publishing offer from a small publisher. They’ve published some great books, but as I read through the contract and realized all the control I was sacrificing by publishing with them, I decided the indie route might be a better fit. I may go with a traditional publisher in the future, but for now, I’m happy to choose my own cover artists, editors, and publication date. When I first began writing professionally over a decade ago, there was a notable gap in quality and professionalism between self-published/indie books and traditionally published books, but today, that simply isn’t the case anymore.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I suspect that as traditional publishers continue to decrease their marketing budgets, more authors will struggle to see the benefits of the traditional publishing route. Hopefully this will empower more authors to take the leap into publishing and will benefit readers as more books reach the market. I also anticipate (and hope) that the future of publishing will involve more books by diverse authors and more books with diverse characters.

Which romance sub-genere(s) fit your stories best?
Sixty Days for Love, released April 15, 2019 is an adult contemporary romance with comedic elements. For Love and Italian, released May 13, 2019, and Forbidden Ink, released June 17, 2019 are both new adult contemporary romance. The Awakening, slated for September 2019 release, is the first book in my new adult fantasy romance trilogy. Some of my work falls into the category of upmarket women’s fiction rather than romance, but those books still contain a strong, central love story.

My books are available in the following formats:
eBook, Print