A cheery hello to you all,
My main news item this week is that my daughter-in-law, Kate, is 'braving the shave' and having her hair shaved off to raise funds for MacMillan cancer support! I'm so proud and she is very brave, don't you think? Go Kate!!
So, today's interview is with Tanith Davenport!
Eva: Welcome Tanith, and thank you for agreeing to be a part of this series of author interviews. Now, tell us all about yourself (as in, a bit of a biography).
Tanith: And thank you too, Eva for giving me this opportunity! Hi everyone! I'm Tanith and I first started writing seriously when my tutor on a creative writing course pointed me towards the Romantic Novelists' Association and their New Writers' Scheme. Thanks to them, my debut novel "The Hand He Dealt" was accepted by Totally Bound in 2011 and was nominated for the Joan Hessayon Award for 2012. I haven't stopped writing since.
When I'm not writing, I love to read historical fiction and non-fiction as well as anything paranormal. I love to visit the theatre, watch horror movies and go to rock concerts. I also have two cats who like to destroy the house at night.
How many books have you written up to now? Are they published or self-published? What
genre are they?
I’ve had twenty-one published so far, all erotic romance and traditionally published, although two
have since been self-published due to receiving the rights back. I’ve been published by Totally
Bound, Naughty Nights Press, House of Erotica and Evernight.
Of all the genres there are, is there any genre/s that you feel you wouldn’t be able to write and
why? Is there any genre that you really wish you could write, but feel you wouldn’t be able to
do it justice?
I love to read historical fiction, but I don’t believe I’d do a decent job at writing it. I like to use my
imagination when I write, so I think I would feel too constricted having to stick to historical facts.
Do you sing at all, be it karaoke, in a choir or have done so professionally? Whether you have
or not, have you ever written (or had the urge to write) any song lyrics? Have those lyrics
been used at all?
I used to sing in a choir and perform musical theatre many years ago, and have written song lyrics
in the past. They weren’t any good (to my mind, anyway) but I’ve used them several times in my
“Rock My World” series.
Of all the characters you have created, who is your favourite? And why?
Probably it would be Astra Scott, the heroine of “The Hand He Dealt”. Astra was a heroine I had
originally created some years earlier for a story that ended up being scrapped, and I liked her so
much I had to re-use her. She’s fun, she’s adventurous and she knows exactly what she wants.
Have you ever killed off a character in your books (I’m sure you have)? If so, was it
because…it fitted nicely into the storyline? OR…Did you start to really dislike the character
and, with too much work involved to re-write without that character, think it the easiest
option to have that person die?
I haven’t killed off a character, but I did have one get abducted by aliens in “Watch the Skies”. I had
intended that to happen right from the start, but I did regret it a little as she was a great character to
write and I’d have liked to use her again in a sequel.
Are any of your characters based on family members or friends? Have you kept their
characters totally true to life or have you given them bonus traits that you wish they
possessed in real life?
When I initially started writing I was often asked “Ooh, am I in it?” and it became a problem to deal
with, as people started to get possessive about how much page time their characters got (and one
person even threatened to sue me for using her first name). As a result, I generally try to avoid basing
my characters on people I know. Celebrities, however, are fair game.
What was your best subject throughout your school years? And your worst?
I was always good at languages and linguistics in general – I love to pull languages apart and see
how they work. My worst subject was probably physics – I was good at other areas of science but
physics simply doesn’t work with my brain.
Tell me about your favourite teacher throughout your school years? Was it a crush you had?
Were they just an excellent teacher of your favourite subject?? Or some other reason…kind,
fun, generous…?
My favourite teacher was Mr Steeple and he taught me A’Level French. Everyone was terrified of
him when we were younger because he was known to be sarcastic and have a very loud voice, but as
an A’Level teacher he didn’t need to do any of that – he freely admitted he created that reputation for
himself so that nobody would mess with him, and it certainly worked. He was an amazing teacher
and managed to get me the highest mark in the class, so I was very happy to have worked with him.
Tell us about your ultimate ambition, be it personal, travel, writing, work, hobby related or
other?
I have an ambition to see every Shakespeare play in the theatre at least once. Lockdown put a hold
on that for a while, but I’m doing quite well – I have eight left to see.
What is your ‘go to’ snack, whatever the time of day? And drink of your choice?
There’s nothing quite like a packet of Quavers and a bottle of Lucozade.
Cats or dogs? What do you have? Do you introduce any pets into your books?
I have two tuxedo cats, Dash and Spot – I also love dogs, but we don’t have the time to
devote to one at the moment. I did have a cat in one of my paranormal stories, “Spiritwalker”
– the cat was very helpful at detecting spirits and also picking up on negative people.
AND FINALLY, Hit me up with all your Amazon book-links? And the links to your website and social media profiles.
www.facebook.com/TanithDavenport
www.twitter.com/TanithDavenport
http://tanithdavenport.blogspot.com
Links for my new release “When I Look In The Mirror”:
Books 2 Read: https://books2read.com/u/bOPO7W
Amazon US: https://tinyurl.com/28sjjkcr
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Look-Mirror-Tanith-Davenport-
ebook/dp/B0C9XNDJ6K/ref=sr_1_66?qid=1689075452&refinements=p_n_date%3A367747031&rnid=36774
4031&s=digital-text&sr=1-66
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/when-i-look-in-the-mirror-2
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1417354
Thank you for taking part and for your interesting answers, Tanith. This coming Friday, our guest in the spotlight is author, John Clewarth!
Have a fabulous week!
Namaste,
XXX
Thanks for having me on here! - Tanith