Sunday, August 21, 2022

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY - CLOSING BID by Margot Swan

 


THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Closing Bid

 

Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Margot Swan's Closing Bid part of the The Auction Series - a multi-author collection!


***Synopis***

Series Blurb

Step inside the world of The Auction Series where the highest bidder wins.

It's not goods and services on stage to be bought and sold, but people who have put their bodies in the spotlight. When the hammer comes down and the amount is paid, will love be the real currency?

Join some of your favorite romance authors as they take you behind the auction room doors. Bidding starts this August.


 

What is the sub-genre and trope?  Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?

Genre: Auction Romance

Trope: New Adult, Instalove, Second Chance.

The genre was set in stone to be a part of the series, and I knew I wanted my main character to be finishing college, so the only trope that I knew I was using was New Adult Romance. 

Elle and Harrison weren’t supposed to know each other, and they definitely shouldn’t have had a past together. I wanted to write a short, sexy one-night stand with major benefits, so there wasn’t supposed to be a ‘happily ever after,’ but Elle and Harrison had other plans…

 

Are you more character or plot driven?

The characters can sometimes (most of the time) change the plot, so yeah, character-driven.

 

With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind?  Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?

I have a spreadsheet that I write down all the different characters’ appearances and characteristics, as well as their Hogwarts House. 

(For those of you who want to know… Elle is Gryffindor and Harrison is Hufflepuff.)

 

I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own.  Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?

Curtis, Elle’s best friend, completely blindsided me when he decided to be a virgin for the auction, wanting to explore his attraction to men and then wanting his own book.

 

Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?

Harrison is very much influenced by my husband, not so much his personality but his loyalty and moves in the bedroom.


Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?

Merissa is a side character and based on a girl I knew in high school. It was pretty cathartic writing her downfall.


Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?

The first and last chapters I always find are the hardest to write. The struggle of not knowing where to start or to end the story is challenging.


I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?

Harrison is so sweet, loyal, and sexy. How could I not choose him?


How do you get inside these character’s heads to find their perfect HEA?

With this book, it was actually very difficult. 

I had two endings in mind, one where Harrison is the chasers and the other where Elle is the chasers, and it came down to which one felt more natural when I was writing the ending. 

You’ll need to read the book to find out who chases who in the book 😉


What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you?  Why?

There’s a flashback to their youth, where they both wanted to be together but couldn’t, and I love the push and pull between them in that scene.


How long did it take you to write this book?

About six months. I don’t get a lot of time to dedicate to my writing. Mostly it’s a few hours a week.


How did you come up with the title for your book?

I knew I wanted to play with the terms used in real auctions, but I didn’t go with Highest Bid because there are already too many books with that title on Amazon, so … Closing Bid was the closest, and it also worked with my book in the long run.


If you met these characters in real life would you get along?

Totally. I definitely need someone like Elle to hang out with; she’s outgoing, strong-willed, and rebellious.


Duet question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a duet or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?

I did not anticipate changing the planned standalone into a duet, but Curtis’ development was so unexpected, and he deserves his own happily ever after!


If your duet was made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?

Jennifer Lawrence would be a good Elle. Clean-cut Henry Cavil for Harrison.  Zayn Malik for Curtis and Scott Eastwood for Jared.


Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next?  Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series?  Can you share a small tease?

Next up is Our Story, a novelette for a charity anthology: Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights, which is releasing on 8 September.

After that, I’m working on Curtis and Jared’s romance in Hammer Price, which will be book 2 in the duet about the Merriweather Auctioneers.

 

 Check out all my interviews/reviews for Margot Swan!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/08/author-at-glance-margot-swan.html


Bio:

Margot Swan lives in a small town in South Africa with her husband, four cats, and one very talkative Swiss Shepard. 

Her hobbies include reading, building Lego, and crocheting. She loves all things Disney, Harry Potter, and romantic. 

Margot Swan lives for a happily ever after. She’s been called a sappy romantic, and she wears that badge with pride. Love stories are life, and the books she reads need to be blissful and sinfully steamy.​​

If you’re looking for a short, sweet, and filled with heat romance—I’m your girl!


Connect with Margot!

Email:
authormargotswan@gmail.com

Website:
https://authormargotswan.wixsite.com/romance

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Margot-Swan/e/B08CXD5J4P

GoodReads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20512300.Margot_Swan

BookBub:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/margot-swan

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/margot.swan.733

Facebook Group:
https://web.facebook.com/groups/sinfulromantics/

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

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@margotswanauthor

PINTEREST:
https://www.pinterest.com/authormargotswan/

Spotify:
CLOSING BID Playlist
MARGOT SWAN on Spotify

Newsletter Sign-Up: On website

Social Links:
https://linktr.ee/margotswanauthor


 


CLOSING BID by Margot Swan
The Auction Series (a multi-author collection) - Book 5

Get your copy today!
Available in Kindle Unlimited!

BLURB:

Step inside the world of The Auction Series where the highest bidder wins. 

It's not goods and services on stage to be bought and sold, but people who have put their bodies in the spotlight. When the hammer comes down and the amount is paid, will love be the real currency?

Join some of your favorite romance authors as they take you behind the auction room doors. Bidding starts this August.

Merriweather Auctioneers is the perfect way to start your life debt-free.

Elle Cartwright has just finished her last exam at NYU. All that’s left to do is graduate and get a job. But before that, she is going to put herself up for auction—for one night. She knows what that one night will entail… but for a means to start her life debt-free, she's willing to do it

Harrison James just made his first million and wants to celebrate. Who needs another expensive car when you can spend your hard-earned money helping a struggling student? At least that’s what he tells himself when he decides to put a bid down at the Merriweather College Auctions.

But he didn’t expect to see his best friend’s sexy sister being auctioned off.

He needs to save her—have her for himself—and be her closing bid.

Will their chance meeting bring them closer together or push them apart?

Closing Bid is a short, steamy, friends-to-lovers, new adult romance.





Start reading The Auction Series!
Available in Kindle Unlimited!


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