Bachelors Abroad Series
Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Sofia Aves's Bachelors Abroad Series!
***Synopsis***
A grumpy sunshine billionaire veteran is paired with a geeky girl who loves space rocks on a reality TV show neither want to be on…until they meet each other.
Each book in the Bachelors Abroad Series focuses on a Weston brother, displaced from his home and away from close-knit family support while he discovers (or rediscovered) his Happily Ever After.
Bachelor and the Geek focuses on silver fox Sirius Weston, the eldest brother who is out to set an example, though it doesn’t happen quite in the way he expects.
What
is the sub-genre and trope? Did your
characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
Bachelors Abroad are steamy contemporary full length novels that deal with bodyguard and security romance/romantic suspense, with a flair of the bizarre and a flicker of humor in those darkest moments.
Romantic suspense is where my heart lies. For whatever reason I struggle to write a book that isn’t based around trouble in some form and love to see how it can bring my couples together–or push them apart.
Are you more character or plot driven?
A bit of both. I need to see how my characters will react to each other - their first contact, first kiss, first fight, how they will be together in bed before I can see how they will react in different circumstances.
As those scenes evolve in my head, so does the tension and plot until it all comes together.
I generally outline rather scantily but a lot of what doesn’t go on the page is inside my head, still marinating.
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 keep series bibles for every book (very rarely do I write a true stand alone). Each character with their physical description goes in there (because I’ve gotten to book 7 in a series and realized I didn’t know what color a character’s eyes were and had to go back through to read everything) along with friends and family structure, workplaces, what interests them, and anything else I need to know to make the story work.
I tend to alternate series as I write and publish, so those reminders are critical in terms of not tripping over my feet in the next book.
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?
Quite a few have developed on their own or throughout a series. One turned into a pair of twins and another pair of twins went in a different direction to what I expected.
Rather than force the plot I've learned to go with it, though it gets interesting to discover I’ve dug myself into a deep hole and somehow left the shovel on the surface.
Are any of the fe/male POVs based on anyone you know?
No. I don’t base characters on real people. On occasion a situation (a cop rear ending a girl’s car then asking her on a date) may be the inspiration for a particular scene but the world develops around them into its own creature.
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
Micah (his book in Blue Blooded Brothers is Impact, rather than Bachelors Abroad) started as a fun, quite big guy who was a bodybuilder and an adrenaline addict.
He seemed an easy write and I didn’t really worry much about his book, knowing he would come out of his shell when I needed him to. And, shockingly, he did.
What I didn't expect was to find that he was a sapiosexual (attracted to a person’s intellect first and foremost). That wasn’t a show stopper, and I started researching. Then the girl he adores turned out to be homeless, just to throw a cog in the works.
Then Micah’s popularity grew, imposter syndrome slammed into me and…I froze. In fact the entire book froze. It’s not the last time that has happened to me but it was the first time, and I had no benchmark to go back to.
I started writing scenes out of order (a no-no for me as critical joining info tends to get lost) and eventually all the white spaces filled in. Micah’s book was well received, but it was a terrifying ride from day one.
What is your favorite book in the series?
In Blue Blooded Brothers my favorite book is Reckoning, the final book in the series. All the strings come together and there's aLOT of banter.
For Bachelors Abroad I loved writing Sirius and getting in as many dad jokes as possible. I am looking forward to writing cheeky Mitch’s story set in Tokyo next.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
I think every character I'm writing at the time is my favorite, because I’m right there with each of them and am deeply invested at street level.
Like reading for me, writing I like living in the world of a movie so there is no time where I stare at the page and see words, though my fingers do recognize when I’ve made a typo and fix it.
Writing isn’t a black and white process for me. It’s in full color, viewed and experienced by all my senses.
Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?
Sirius and Annie just fell into each other. I adore that he thinks he has to be all protector while she’s smart enough to know so much better, despite their age difference. They have a lot of fun together, break through conventions and familial expectations and support each other through a swath of emotional scars.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
As above, I have to see who they are together. If I can’t see that, then they can't have a HEA that works for them until I do. Whatever happens has to be perfect for that couple - how they fall in and out of love, how they deal with their conflict and what form their forgiveness takes on. Those things define what sort of happily ever after they will get and how it comes about.
Nuclear families haven’t been the norm for a while now and not every book ends with a proposal, a wedding or a baby. In fact, I reserve those for truly romantic couples, and even then those sorts of endings may be several books later in a series.
But at the end of every book, you can assume that the couple will be happy together in their own way. For the angst and situations they have to deal with and come through together they earn nothing less and I refuse to short change them in that way.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you? Why?
Toward the end of Bachelor and the Geek there’s a scene where Annie is suspended in a buck above a pool of green goo. Sirius has to answer questions on her behalf and if he fails, she falls.
It was a lot of fun writing this scene because they had accepted their love for each other at this point and it was a great glimpse into what their everyday snark at home would be like–with or without the primordial ooze.
This question is if you write in MULTIPLE POVs not just the hero and heroine - I love the multiple POVs in a book. It’s not just the hero and heroine, but we get inside the heads of multiple characters throughout this series. I feel that it gives the story further depth. Do you think you will write another book or series following this multiple POV outline?
Most of my books are written in dual POV. I like to be able to see what’s happening inside each other's head and putting them in situations they have to deal with alone without their supporting partner to see how they deal and how that affects their relationship when they’re flying solo.
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
This book (Bachelor and the Geek) took four weeks to draft and a few more weeks to edit.
How did you come up with the title for your book and series?
Honestly as with all my inspo, it just happens. No, really. I have a full spreadsheet of “titles for grabs” and cute character names I jot down so I don't lose them and can come back to later on.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
I’m married to a man around Sirius’ age and with a military background and can geek out any time so I’d like to think so.
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?
I plotted out a brief outline of four brothers and two were away from home in that outline. I adjusted the others to fit and the series was born.
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?
This year there is a full new series based in Montana releasing, as well as two books each in Texan Devils and Red Hart Ranch.
Ruski gets his own book in Z Boys and there are four sports romances releasing for a new college romance series I’m birthing in 2024.
There’s also a rockstar romance, a dark mafia romance or three and a Christmas rom com coming up in 2023 as well as 3 more books in Bachelors Abroad. In my PNR series writing as Raven Hush there are 3-4 more Club Fray books on the way and a potential new series there.
All my books can be found at www.sofiaaves.com
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Sofia Aves:
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2023/05/author-at-glance-sofia-aves.html
.png){kind=spacer}
USA Today Bestselling author Sofia Aves writes fast-paced police romances, sizzling military units, steamy cowboys with a Montana backdrop and the occasional cheeky god. Married to a veteran, she often tackles topics of PTSD and reintegration and has a soft spot for all who work in uniform. Sofia writes kidlit for charity and has over one hundred and fifty publications across four not-so-super-secret pen names. She is the Marketing Manager for Romance Cafe Publishing and loves discovering new romance talent.
Sofia is a mum of three crazies in a returned veteran household and has an overly large fur baby who thinks she’s a teacup puppy. After eighteen years of planning and dreaming, Sofia and her husband opened their very own alpaca park, Lorendel, this year. Sofia lives near Brisbane, Australia.
Connect with Sofia:
His brand of grumpy sunshine clashes with her outer geek...on an international stage.
Silver fox and security firm owner Sirius Weston is the eldest of his band of bachelor brothers and feels some responsibility for his siblings’ security. Intent on leading by example, he lets himself be goaded into joining the cast of a reality TV show in an effort to boost his firm’s reputation and find himself some form of stability as a model for his brothers - in whatever form that might take.
Mousy brainiac Annie Pillingston is nothing like what he imagined, either in his bed or out of it. When he’s partnered with her for the duration of filming reality TV show Geekily Yours, ending in the biggest gala event of the year, he helps the chaotic and shy woman battle catwalks, heels and social awkwardness as she transforms from geek into gorgeous in her own way.
But there’s more fingers in the reality TV pie than either of them expect, from exes and interfering bosses to controlling fathers. Together they navigate the political landscape despite the risk of ruin for his firm’s reputation-and his own-until one secret too many threatens the trust they’ve built together. Though Sirius didn’t want to be on the show in the first place, he no longer wants to go home alone, though he might not have a choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment