This week in The Loft: Author Sadira Stone!

Joining me today in The Loft is author Sadira Stone.  Sadira writes contemporary romance, which she defines as "steamy, smoochy tales" set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Formerly a high school English teacher, she now writes full-time. Her books focus on small businesses—a quirky bookstore, a neighborhood bar, a vintage boutique, a small-town newspaper—and highlight found family, friendship, and the sizzling chemistry that pulls unlikely partners together. When Sadira emerges from her writing cave, she can be found shaking her hips in dance class, playing guitar, exploring the Western U.S. with her husband, cooking up a storm, and gobbling all the romance books.

Author Sadira Stone

S:   Good morning, Sadira. I'm pleased you could stop by today!

What do you think is the biggest issue facing romance authors today?

SS:  Competition! There are so many of us writing good romance books, it’s a tough challenge to get the attention of readers who’d probably love our stories if they even knew they existed. I mean, I’m an avid romance reader myself, with the bad habit of buying any on-sale eBook that looks interesting, and my Kindle is stuffed with excellent books I haven’t got around to reading yet.

S:  I agree with you. The competition for readers is pretty intense. 

Have you ever attended a writer’s retreat? Did you find it helpful? 

SS:  I'm glad you asked this question! Last October, an author friend set up a small writers’ retreat in Westport, Washington, and I had a wonderful time. We wrote together in the hotel’s café during the day, had lunch and dinner together in local restaurants, and shared writing/publishing industry info around the fire pit at night. It was a super supportive and productive time. I can’t wait for next year’s retreat.

S:  Why write romance?

SS:  Romance is the literature of hope. I’ve lived through too much real-life tragedy, betrayal, rotten luck, and cruelty to want an extra dose of negativity in the stories I read for fun. After a career teaching Li-trah-chur with a capital L, it’s such a joy to write and read stories of hope, human connection, and love. Frankly, I need that guaranteed HEA before immersing myself in a story.

S:  "The literature of hope." I like that!

How do you develop your characters? Do you use photos or a vision board?

SS:  First, I come up with the basic premise for a story, then I create extensive character sketches. Choosing the character’s astrological sign gives me a complex personality to start with. For example, my next book involves a reclusive author with a tragic past, so I Googled “Which zodiac sign is most likely to be a recluse?” Et voilà! Finn Abrams is a Virgo, and his tarot card is The Hermit. I create a Pinterest page for each story, including photos of people who look like I imagine my characters, as well as buildings, interiors, and other places or elements in the story. Having an image helps me lots with writing descriptions. For example, here’s my page for "Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens," https://www.pinterest.com/sadira0641/xander-and-hannah/

S:  That's an interesting and unique process. You put a lot of effort into building your characters. 

Do you utilize tropes when writing romance? 

SS:  Absolutely! Romance readers are looking for a certain kind of emotional experience, and tropes are a handy shortcut to help them find what they want. A writer worth her salt--or ink?--knows how to use tropes as one element of a unique, layered story. My favorites are enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, opposites attract, single parent, and rivals to lovers. Lately, I’m writing mostly over-40 romance.

S:  I am also writing middle-aged romance more often. I need more stories I can identify with. 

Do you write in other genres?

SS:  My first three completed novels--as yet unpublished--are cozy mysteries with romantic elements. In fact, I had to tone down the love scenes. Finally, I took the hint and switched to writing romance because who wants to cut out the steamy smooches? But I do plan to publish those mysteries one day. I’ve also published a short horror story.

S:  What inspired "Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens?"

SS:  "Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens" was inspired by Marsh’s Free Museum, a sublimely eclectic and funky souvenir emporium in Long Beach, WA. In addition to a huge collection of seashells and all the beachy souvenirs, they also display weird taxidermized creatures (two-headed piglet, two-headed calf, shrunken heads), antique penny-arcade games, and Jake “the Alligator Man”—probably a mummified monkey sewn to an alligator’s body. I loooove this place, and for my book, I tweaked it by adding alien-themed tchotchkes. I do love tacky, quirky beach towns, and that’s the atmosphere you’ll find in the Trappers Cove romance series, inspired by all the funky beach towns I’ve visited in Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California.

S:  Is there anything special you would like people to know about "Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens?"

SS:  I had so much fun researching UFO believers and their alien encounters for this book. Xander Anagnos, an entrepreneur with a history of failed businesses, inherits his Uncle Gus’s alien-themed souvenir shop and must deal with interference from UFO researchers who believe the site contains a Cosmic Vortex used to communicate with extraterrestrial visitors! If aliens aren’t interesting enough, there’s also a family curse and a ghost standing between Xander and his plans to renovate Souvenir Planet, so of course I had to research ghostly encounters and ghost removal. Fascinating! But Xander’s biggest obstacle is Hannah Leone, a beautiful local journalist desperate to save the Trappers Cove Beacon, the small-town newspaper her family has run for generations. Souvenir Planet and all its ET weirdness is the biggest story to hit Trappers Cove in ages, and she’s not going to let a pesky crush on Xander stand between her and saving the Beacon—and the soul of Trappers Cove. The death of local journalism is a topic dear to my heart, because without dedicated news coverage, citizens lose their agency to affect change in their communities—or to preserve their communities from rampaging rampaging gentrification, as in the case of Trappers Cove.

Here's the blurb--

HEA vs. a curse, a ghost, and a plague of ETs.

According to the Anagnos family curse, second son Xander is doomed to failure. When he inherits his Uncle Gus’s business in Trappers Cove, Washington, Xander jumps at the chance to prove himself. Of course, he plans to remake the schlocky, alien-themed souvenir shop into something trendier and more upmarket. Who wouldn't want that?

Hannah Leone, that's who. Reporter for the Trappers Cove Beacon, Hannah is hell-bent on protecting Souvenir Planet, the beloved icon that draws thousands of tourists to their quirky beach town. The Beacon is struggling to survive, and there’s no way Hannah will let an inconvenient crush stand between her and the biggest story to hit Trappers Cove in ages.

Caught in a battle of wills and sizzling desire, Xander and Hannah discover the bizarre depths of Uncle Gus’s alien obsession. When disaster strikes, they’ll need Xander’s innovation and Hannah’s connections to save Souvenir Planet. But if these hard-headed foes don’t lay down their arms, the town they love will pay the price.

Come back to Trappers Cove for a steamy, laugh-out-loud, rivals-to-lovers romance full of found family, beachy fun, and out-of-this-world mystery.

S:  Wow. That sounds very entertaining. It's definitely going on my TBR list! 

Where can readers buy "Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens?" 

SS:  It's available at https://books2read.com/LoveLegacyLittleGreenAliens.

S:  Sadira, thanks for joining me today! If you'd like to learn more about Sadira and her books, please visit https://linktr.ee/SadiraStone.