Interview with Kayelle Allen

KAYELLE ALLEN is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

How important is setting to your story?

In FOR WOMEN ONLY, the characters meet on a world alien to the heroine. They continue and bond their relationship on a world alien to the hero. Being alien, being different, is vital to the plot.

Which is more important characters or setting?

Unless you’re writing a travelogue, it’s the characters. They are what people rave about and what they remember about a book. I’ve had many emails from readers who said they loved this or that character, but setting is mentioned only in passing. “I’d like to live in the Tarthian Empire,” one wrote. But many have emailed and messaged me online about Khyff, Senth, Luc, Izzorah, and the other people in my stories.

Are any of your characters loosely based on people you know in real life?

I will claim the fifth on that. Of course not. (Batting my eyes innocently.)

Do you people watch for character inspiration?

It’s a hazard of the profession. I’ve come up with some great characters after a trip to the dentist, airport, grocery store, park, you name it.

Do you have a favorite fictional character by another author you’d like to meet?

Ooh, I would totally love to meet Roarke, from JD Robb’s In Death series.

What do you hope readers take away from your work?

That being yourself and accepting others is the best way to enjoy life. There are themes of betrayal as well. All of us have faced betrayal in some form. The thing is, how do you handle it? As my hero in Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas says “Enemies will never betray you. Betrayal is reserved for family and friends.” I deal with that in my books. But I also sprinkle in humor and hope readers will be caught off guard by a funny moment, and come away laughing.

Do you have an interesting quirk about your personality that you’d like to share?

I’m crazy organized with my writing and anything related to it. I will find the easiest way to do something and then organize it, label it, and stack it neatly where it belongs. But do not make the mistake of thinking I keep house the same way. Sad, sad, sad. Not the same world at all. I’m a writer. I’m entitled to be messy somewhere. It’s part of my inspiration. (You believe me, don’t you?)

Which book impacted you as a teenager?

Reading the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov. That series made me think about how an effect now could change the future. I created the Sempervian race as a direct result of considering that. If you live forever, you would see the effect of what you did today. So that became the basis for many stories in which they’re found, including At the Mercy of Her Pleasure and For Women Only, books 1 and 2 in the Antonello Brothers series.

What social media do you participate in?

I love Twitter and follow the #Thranduil hashtag every single day. If you’ve seen the Hobbit movies you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, Google his name and you’ll get it. I also use Facebook every day, I actively host authors on my guest blog, Romance Lives Forever, and I share to Pinterest, G+ and my Tumblr. But the one that takes most of my time and attention is Twitter.