Today I am pleased to host Ms. Perri Forrest on my blog. Perri and I connected on Twitter and became fast friends. Not only is she funny, and a sweetheart, but she is also a talented writer and is in the process of building her own empire. Her writing is thought-provoking, heart-wrenching and multicultural. As she once told me, she doesn't write urban novels. She writes suburban novels. Take a minute and enjoy the interview I did with this lovely lady. And don't forget to check out her various works.
AN INTERVIEW
WITH PERRI FORREST
Ladies and gentlemen today I am happy to have with me Ms. Perri Forrest, the author of Revolving Doors, Rendezvous, & The Color of Lies.
Q: Perri thank
you so much for taking the time out to talk with me today. To start with tell
us a little bit about yourself. I am a passionate individual who loves
to write, who is obsessed with miniature golf/badminton, and who is a
perfectionist. I am addicted to knowledge, and attracted to intellect. There’s
nothing sexier than a man who is intelligent…genuinely intelligent. I’m vocal
and will defend my point to the death. Anyone in my immediate circle will
attest to that. I’m a person who explicates just about everything when it comes
to inspirational quotes – or any quotes for that matter. I think people say,
and post things all the time just because they sound good without really
challenging the words or looking at it critically. I don’t care whose quote it
is, I need to fully assess it first before I go, “Liking/Sharing”, or
otherwise. Oh! I’m an admitted control freak. And a Leo. I think that’s it. No,
wait! I love life and am the kind of person who will come down really hard on
myself if I feel like I’ve gone through the day without identifying something
different/new about myself and those around me. Weird, huh?
Q: When did you
first realize you wanted to become an author?
I’ve
known I wanted to be an author since I was 12 years old. I used to write short
stories with two primary themes: 1) Walking through the woods with a group of
friends and finding a magical cottage with a little old lady inside telling
really magical stories about the future. I remember once we got inside her
house it would be glamorous and way bigger than it looked from the outside. I
was really living a dream through these stories and I saw it metaphorically. It
was a picture of how I saw my life at that time, versus what I wanted it to look
like. Probably my obsession with glamour. 2) I also wrote a lot of stories
about kids with invisible friends, though I didn’t have one myself J I think I needed one to help
curb that overactive imagination.
Q: What is the
most frustrating thing about being a writer?
The
most frustrating part about writing to me, is not the actual writing itself,
but the worrying about whether anyone will like my work or not. So much so that
whenever I write a story, I never go back and read it again for fear I will
find something that would give any reader ammunition to hate me and chalk me up
to a wannabe. Don’t get me wrong, I know I can write and I have total faith in
my writing, it’s the “acceptance” factor. I’m slowly shaking that and simply
reveling in a place of finding comfort in the fact that I’m writing after
having put it off so long because of fear.
Q: Are you a
pantser or plotter? 100%
#TeamPantser!
Q: When you
think up a story idea do you concentrate on characters first or the storyline? I tend to
concentrate on a single character first, and build a story around that person.
Q: So tell us a
bit about your two novellas Rendezvous,
& The Color of Lies? Where did the inspiration for these novellas come
from? Oh!
I love talking about that! Rendezvous was actually part of an anthology with
the instruction to just “go for it…make it no longer than 10,000 words…setting Mardi Gras…start it out with a bang!” Enter
the limousine scene. I came up with
the bang first and built from there. I had a complete ball writing that story
because it took even me to another place and it was what I wanted for the
reader as well. Gabriella Alexis Sandoval, the main character in my debut
novel, was introduced in this novella. Rendezvous
tells a small portion of her life – the secret portion of her life – and that
is her time spent in Brazil as a high priced call girl. This particular piece
of her lifestyle is something that she’s held onto since a young adult because
it was a release there for her during a tumultuous time in her life. She has
her own wealth and a full life outside of that secret life, but continues it
because for her it’s a place of comfort for her that was there for her when she
felt she was at the end.
Now
The Color of Lies is my absolute
favorite story. I think it’s my favorite because of how it was developed. There
are so many memories with that story. Let’s begin with the fact that it was
written in four days out of a nervous energy. Imagine working every day all day
on a book and then all of a sudden you’re done. It’s the one thing you’ve done
every day for months – morning, noon, and night. Then it’s off to be edited and
you’re inside your own head about what the feedback will be and wondering if
the editors and beta readers will hate it. Since I’m a girl who wants the
truth, and sugarcoating, I was prepared for the worst and I had nowhere to put
that energy. So what did I do? I wrote a story and honestly as I wrote TCoL, it
flowed so fluidly I was scared. That had never happened to me before and I was
deathly afraid of what it meant instead of embracing it as a talent (something
I have a hard time doing). The story has several characters, but its focus is
on an agency called Pandora’s Box that outs the cheaters of the world. In this
particular installment, we had Erik Warren a super dog! He is a married man
living a single life and when his wife’s women’s intuition kicks in, she
enlists the help of the beautiful Brooklyn Kellogg, and her agency to get to
the bottom of things. The Color of Lies
is my best seller to date, ironically and I am currently at work on the next
installment which closes up some loose ends with a few characters, and
introduces some new ones along the way.
Q: What made you
decide to continue Gabriella’s story in Revolving
Doors? I
knew early on that I wanted to give her a full story. I wanted to read her
story! Lol! I wanted to see what led her to that secret life in Brazil, and
what else she had going on in addition to that life. Gabriella told me that she
wanted her story told and it was my job to tell it. There’s depth to her and it
needed to be revealed alongside her life at the beautiful resort of Belo
Paraiso. I wanted to tell the story of how heartbreak led her to become one of
Valentina’s girls, how she found herself there, and how she developed as both a
woman and a businesswoman from that experience.
Q: What do you
want readers to take away from your work? I want them to see that I work
extremely hard to make my stories, and characters individuals. I don’t look at
other author’s characters and take from them, I build these characters…these
stories from scratch, and I feel that I owe it to them to tell their stories as
thorough as possible, from the glorious to the imperfections. I want them to
take from my work that I put my all into it because it’s important for me that
I deliver a fine piece of work.
Q: What was your
road to publication like? What made you choose the self-publishing route? I haven’t had
a road, per se. I just got in my car and drove, and am still driving until I
reach a destination. I will say that the beginnings were awesome in how it all
came to be. It came in the form of, “you never know who’s watching.” Literally.
I used to blog heavily. I’ve since retired that blog (but will resurrect it one
day soon), and had a pretty decent following. Well, there was one follower who
I didn’t even realize was watching my work. Never commented, never emailed, but
I knew she was a follower because I kept up with that list of people, for the
sake of seeing who my audience was. After about two years of blogging, I
received a message one day from her asking me if I’d like to participate in an
anthology. I was so green that before I responded, I had to look up what that
even was. I have always been an avid reader, but had only ever read complete
novels, so wasn’t up on the lingo. As soon as I got the definition, I responded
back with, “you know I’ve never published anything before, right?” to which she
responded, “well you should. I’ve followed your blog for years now and you can
write!” I think I started crying at that moment in front of my keyboard. It was
the first time that my writing had been officially validated, and it felt good.
It was years in the making.
With
the self-publishing route, I decided that it would be much more effective for
me to just write and get editing and publish my works to get my name out there,
rather than wait for weeks, months, and YEARS, to find a Literary Agent who
believed in me to get behind my work, or a huge publishing house that already
has their focuses on a particular genre of work. I wanted to see who Perri was
first before I introduced her to that population of individuals. It was kind of
like finding myself, and building my brand before I got my “30 seconds to tell
me your story,” type deal going. I want to get to a place where if I meet
someone in the Literary world one day, I can tell them without blinking, why
I’m their girl and be able to sell that with confidence and truth. Right now,
I’m figuring out where I fit and thus far, I can tell it isn’t in any one box
so I need to figure out how to clearly articulate that. I do feel that my day
is near though. It isn’t wishful thinking, I just feel it. I’m hardworking and
this writing thing is what I would for free, so I know I’ve found my purpose.
Q: What’s easier
for you? Writing the first draft or editing? Definitely the first draft! Which brings me
to something that is so embarrassing to talk about. Don’t judge me when I tell
you! Lol! Okay, so you know how when we get our first jobs we are so new to
everything? Well, when I got my first job I started it in I believe May. One
day I was talking to the office manager and asked her, what day do we begin our
summer break? I just remember her staring at me for the longest time and then
as clearly as she could explaining to me that grown ups don’t get summer
breaks. I think she wanted to laugh, but when she saw the seriousness in my
demeanor, she decided against it. What does that have to do with the question?
Well, let me first answer the question and say that “first draft,” is easier.
Then, I’ll tell you that I was under the impression that when it got sent off,
that the editor would make the changes for me! I had no idea that I’d have to
get that beast back and do more work! Not once thinking that if I allowed someone
else to make said changes, it is no longer my story! Whatever, don’t judge me.
I told you. I was as green as Kermit!
Q: What’s coming
down the pipeline next? I’m finishing the second installment of the
Pandora’s Box series and have just ordered the cover for the 3rd
installment so those are back to back projects that I plan to deliver on before
Thanksgiving. Then I’ve gotten a lot of feedback lately for Revolving Doors and am going to begin
mapping out a sequel to that. It may be a bit shorter, and in fact I may make
them into smaller series of one another versus trying to tackle a full novel
again. I think I might have tackled a complete novel too early in my career. A
Type-A like myself needed to start small. I am too much of a perfectionist! I
was actually reading and re-reading while the book was gone to editors. It made
the work more difficult for me because I was finding errors that I knew they
would find and fixing them before they came back so the cross-referencing
process was a bit tedious. Thank God for dual monitors!
Q: Besides
writing are there any other hidden talents you have? Oh boy…let’s
see. I LOVE to build Wix websites. I like watching them come to life. I love
writing business proposals. For some reason a lot of people come to me for
advice in their relationships. I read somewhere that the people with the best
advice are the ones who have been through a lot. That would be me, so maybe
they sense that when they come. I hear I’m pretty good too. I braid hair. I
keep that a huge secret though, but I’ve been braiding hair professionally
since I was a young girl. There’s actually really good money in that. Okay
here’s one that some might find a bit weird, but that I’m very proud
of…explicating dreams. I love helping people decipher their dream’s meanings.
Q: Before we go
what’s your advice to aspiring writers? I would say more than anything don’t try
to impress others before impressing yourself because then you begin to lose
touch with your organic writing voice. I did that for a bit – and in some ways
am still trying to get away from it. In my case, it almost made me not want to
write anymore. I’m thankful that didn’t happen. I think that aspiring writers
should just write from the heart and that no matter what comes during their
day, to make sure they at least give a part of that day to writing something!
Keep the ideas fresh and flowing. Even if it’s building a dream character on
paper, just write. It’s the most important thing you could for your career.
Also try as hard as possible to surround yourself with like people of like
minds. Don’t get so caught up in the popularity game that you allow anybody
into your space. If they must be deleted, do so. Add and follow the ones who
want to see you do well. Seek healthy relationships that you can learn from and
grow with. When I entered this world, I automatically expected others to
embrace me and that didn’t happen so I had to feel my way around – much like
everyday relationships. There will be trial and error, but at the end as long
as you have a healthy balance of genuine people, it will be worth the trouble.
Q: Where can
readers find out more about you and your works? The best place
to go would be to my website: www.perriforrest.com. There you can
find what I have up to date, complete with links to their location.
Thank
you so much for your time today Perri. I look forward to more from you.
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