Sensuous Promotions: Sensuous Promos Interviews Capri Montgomery

Hello everyone, please welcome Capri Montgomery to Sensuous Promos today as she shares with us a little bit about herself and her work.

Capri, thank you for joining us today. I know the readers are eager to get to know you , so let’s get started.

How much of your book(s) have a bit of you in the characters?

Many years ago I told one of my favorite English professors that I wrote a book, but it didn’t have any of me in it. He said, “are you sure about that?” He always had a way of making me think, and what I realized was that it did have a lot of me in it. I think all of my books do have something of me in them. Sometimes it’s things I’m working through. Sometimes it’s experiences I have had. Sometimes it’s just a quirk that is a part of me and I let one of my characters own it in their story. Sometimes it’s little things, and sometimes it’s more. In my February release, When the Heart Breaks, Ailey Rogers’ math tutor experience was my own. I have to say I felt kind of sorry for the guy. I mean I know he was being paid, but seriously I just didn’t get it. Ailey was a bit more mathematically challenged than I am, but her character did draw a little bit from my experience there.

Is there a message in your book(s) that you want readers to grasp?

I have a tendency, not just with my books, but others too, to analyze the characters, their emotions, their situations. I hope that readers can read one of my books and get wrapped up in the characters and their world enough to develop their own message. But as far as writing a specific message for people to take away from a book, no, I don’t do that—at least not on purpose. But if a reader walks away thinking beyond the fictional characters and their fictional world then I think that could be a good thing in some cases.

How did you come up with the titles to your book(s)?

Usually titles just come to me. Sometimes I have the title before I have the book. Sometimes I have the movie in my head and a title that fits it comes to me. But every once in a while the title evades me. I can have an entire story and I’m still sitting there trying to figure out what to name it. Sometimes, in those occasions, there’s something in the book that stands out to me and makes me think it would be perfect for a title.

Do you have a specific writing style? In other words, are you a plotter or a pantser?

I guess I would be a pantser. I don’t plot out my books before writing. I dive right in and see where the story takes me. Because my stories start off as movies in my head I have generally seen a huge chunk of it before I start writing so I know approximately where the characters are going, but once I start writing their journey to their destination it sometimes follow some rather interesting twists and turns that I hadn’t seen in the movie in my head. Sometimes I will jot down notes when I’m not in a position to write; I don’t want to forget anything after all, but following my characters and my imagination is really the fun part of writing for me.

Can you tell us a little bit about where you are from?

Oh gosh, it feels like everywhere. I have moved from one end of the States to the other. I used to love going to new places, but at some point along the way I think I lost that youthful energy and just hit a point where I realized, I can’t pack another crate like ever again.

What does your writing desk look like? What would we find on it right this minute?

Um…what desk? Seriously, I have an office, I do, but currently my desk is my bed because I’m working in my bedroom. I pulled the computer chair in there to be more comfortable while I work. We moved, and what didn’t get unpacked ended up in my office. I’m getting to it slowly but surely and soon I will be back at my desk once again. Typically, it’s uncluttered. I hate clutter, so I keep the basics of pen, paper, folders, office supplies and business materials stored in the storage compartment.

What are you currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?

Currently I’m finishing up the last round of preparation for my next release, The Cellist. I love music so writing this story was fun for me. Cellist Yessenia Cartwright will follow conductor Johannes Vonlanthen to the gates of hell and beyond; that’s something she has known for a long time. She just didn’t know the day would come when she would have to make a choice to protect her dreams or sacrifice everything for love.

Johannes and Yessenia are an interesting pair because they are so different, yet in the areas where it counts they are so very much alike. Yessenia balances Johan and he, even though he doesn’t know it, gives her strength to push beyond her limits. I like their first battle of wills—that moment when they realize just how far they can push each other. Here’s a fly on the wall look at that moment.

Excerpt

“It is not B-flat. It is just B,” he looked at her pointedly. “Do not let it happen again.”

She was so nervous her bladder was ready to burst. She always said when she got nervous her bladder was the first thing to go and God knows she was nervous now. Of course they hadn’t had a break all morning either and it was now after one, so the bladder issue could just be the result of not going since she left home this morning.

He led them in the piece again and she heard it, she felt it when her finger didn’t make the correct shift back from fourth to first and there it was again—B-flat.

“Yessenia,” he growled.

“I’m sorry,” she snapped. “But when people yell at me it just gets under my skin and it makes me…completely…insane!” She felt her ponytail flapping from side to side as if she were trying to conduct an orchestra with her hair. She had her Kate from French Kiss moment and she was sure he hadn’t expected it because he looked shocked—no, he looked afraid. Well good. She was tired of being picked on and she was tired of being yelled at. In all her years of dreaming of being here she had never dreamed of being yelled at like she was a dog in training.

She heard the silent, yet somehow still audible, gasp from the other company members. She was probably going to get fired. He was definitely going to fire her.

He shook his hair, blond silky straight strands fluttered across his shoulder. “Well,” he said. “Again.”

They all commenced playing and once again she messed up. “Yessenia,” he said in a low, yet somewhat sexy voice. God she loved the way he said her name. “Did you just play B-flat again?”

“No. I played A-sharp.”

Everybody sat silent and she wasn’t sure what would happen next, but Johan did the unthinkable. He tossed his head back and laughed heartedly.

The Cellist comes out in April so I’m working on the final prep work for it now. It’s more romance than mystery, but there’s a little of that in there too.

Do you have any advice to offer other writers?

Write from your heart. Write the story the way you see it. Don’t focus on word count, or money. I know that’s sometimes hard to do because if this is your only means of income thinking about the need to make a living with writing will always be on your mind, but don’t let it force you to write something you don’t care about. Realize that some people will like it, some people will hate it, but it’s your story and you have the right to tell it the way you want it to be told. Don’t give up. Keep pushing forward and believe in yourself even when it seems like nobody else does. You’ve taken one step that some never take. You went from dreaming to doing, and nobody can take that away from you, but you.

Where can our readers find you on the world wide web?

You can find me at my website: www.caprimontgomerybooks.com on my blog: http://caprimontgomery.wordpress.com/ at my Newsletter: http://www.caprimontgomerybooks.com/blog/ and on my Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/caprimontgomerybooks

Thanks for having me here.

Thank YOU for joining us, Capri!

And to all of our readers, here is a look at some of Capri's books: