As the bestselling author of the Real series and the Manwhoreseries, Katy Evans has made her mark on the romance genre and Audible Romance editor Katie O’Connor was excited to get a chance to chat with her about all that is romance.
Katie O’Connor: Hi, romance fans. It’s your Audible romance editor, Katie, and I’m so excited to be talking with one of my favorite authors, Katy Evans, today. Hi, Katy.
Katy Evans: Hi Katie, I’m so thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.
KO: Oh, my pleasure. So, what is it that appeals to you about the romance genre?
KE: I suppose everything. I started reading romance really early on. I think I was about 12 or 13, and I just fell in love with the heroes, the passion, and the chemistry, and all those little nuisances about relationships and how the heroine and hero work it out. I just feel like romances deep down are about life.
KO: Yeah.
KE: And what we crave as human beings, connecting deeply with someone else and experiencing a range of emotions, that just is incredible, so it’s addictive. Once you find it, you just can’t go back.
KO: Oh, it’s so addictive. So, you’ve had some really great narrators perform your stories and I hear you’re a big Sebastian York fan. I am as well and our listeners definitely agree. What do you think it is about his voice and his performances that hook people?
KE: He really brings the hero to life. You feel like you really are listening to him relate to what’s going on, and what he feels about the heroine. He transports you to the story, and also that really deep voice that he has, it’s just very sexy, so hearing him word out everything that you read, it’s just like the tripliest sexy.
KO: Yeah. It’s just a super, super masculine voice.
KE: Yes.
KO: Who would you say is your ultimate book boyfriend?
KE: I mean my very first was Clayton from Whitney, My Loveby Judith McNaught. He was my very first book boyfriend. And I always come back to him ‘cause I feel like you never forget your first. I don’t know. He just was very alpha and dominant, but also really caring. Ultimately, I think that he’s the one that I always come back to and maybe even compare others to. But of course, I always fall in love with my own heroes. They just kind of sweep into my life and whenever I’m asked who’s your favorite, it’s always the one I’m working on. The one I’m living and breathing and who’s in my head and I’m always just …
KO: Yeah.
KE: I try not to but it’s just sometimes you’re just writing the page and your heart is beating, and your stomach is knotted, and you’re just in there.
KO: So, I just finished the Manwhore series. Do you have any plans to return to it? I’m completely obsessed.
KE: I’m so glad. I do, I do. I’m hoping I get to write a story for Wynn this year.
KO: Oh, that’s great.
KE: Yes, and Callan’s brother also is kind of speaking to me, so I’m wondering if they’re going to hook up, or if they each get a story. So that’s what I need them to tell me, but I’m excited it’s one of my … To be honest my favorite book is Manwhore.
KO: Really?
KE: I have more readers in the Real series maybe, than my Manwhore series, but I personally just love, love my Manwhore series. I love that it’s just fresh and more modern. And I did have a lot of fun writing it. It just feels so realistic …
KO: The characters are great.
KE: … So up-to-date. Yes! So, I’m actually very eager to get back into that world, so hopefully soon.
KO: That makes me so excited, and yes, I remember the absolute pandemonium when it came out on Audible. It was our romance audio book of the year that year and fans just kept going through the series.
KE: Oh my God, amazing! And it did win romance of the year, which made my year.
KO: Huge. Yes.
KE: It was just phenomenal, the response, and I also think because my narrators are so great.
KO: Wonderful. Do you write with your audiobooks in mind?
KE: I feel like in the very beginning. Yes. For example, with the Manwhore books definitely, I mean Manwhore doesn’t have a dual POV, but if it had, I would’ve totally asked for him, but I think Grace was just perfect for Rachel. And then, when I do have dual points of view I always think of Sebastian. He’s exactly the way I think my heroes sound, like, for example, with Racer. I even postponed the release date just because I really wanted him. He did such a great job as Remington, Tate, and Remy in his POV book that I just knew that he had to play Racer. He was the perfect Racer. And I did think of him. I imagined him speaking the lines that Racer gave me, and you know, goosebumps. I loved it.
KO: That’s great. You obviously write within the contemporary space, but if you had to try a different sub-genre like historical, or paranormal etc., which one do you think you would choose?
KE: I think I would choose, possibly paranormal. I really like how paranormal books give you these really larger-than-life characters that can get away with all these either magical powers, or you know the alphas, or werewolves, and you know they mark the women and it’s just very sexy, so definitely it would be that.
KO: Is the alpha male your favorite character trope would you say?
KE: Yes. Yes, totally. I can’t even write a more beta hero. I feel like they just don’t come to me like that. Like my characters, my males are always really, really alpha, but they’re never complete jerks. You know? They are always just …
KO: Yes, they’re more complex.
KE: But I find that sexy. I love it when a man owns his masculinity and how they don’t give their power away, and I love it when the heroines kind of fight back a little bit … It’s nice.
KO: That’s great. So, what are you currently working on?
KE: I’m trying to plot the Wynn or Collan books for the Manwhore series. I have three in the works, either one of the Manwhore series books. I also have a story for Ian and Sarah, who are side characters in Tycoon.
KO: Right.
KE: And then I’m also really curious if Iris, Racer’s sister and Remy’s daughter, is going to get a book. I’m basically kind of plotting all three, and usually it takes me about a month or two, and then one of them is just bugging me. It’s just that I can’t stop thinking about it and it just starts getting momentum, and then I know that that’s the book that I’m going to sit down and write.
KO: It sounds like it’s really the characters that are speaking to you as opposed to you saying, “I want to write about this next.” You have your own relationship with these people and they start nagging you to tell their story, it sounds like.
KE: Yes, I don’t know how to write any other way. Usually, it’s just a feeling. It’s like some of the stories start giving me a certain sensation or emotion that I just need to dive in and explore because it’s kind of a sense of some sort of energy, or just a really strong sensation in the thoughts that are coming, which is what makes me want to just dive in and figure it out, so that’s basically what I wait for.
KO: That’s great. In your own reading or listening, do you tend to gravitate toward a single POV or a dual POV?
KE: I like the single POV because I really like it when guys are a little bit elusive and difficult … And I really like not knowing what they’re thinking and having that heroine second-guess. But sometimes, I feel like the story can’t be properly told when I just have a single POV, so that’s when I go to a dual, just so you get the overall scope of things. But, if it’s possible to have the full story really well-told in a single one, I think I would go for the single.
KO: Okay. So, if you weren’t writing romance, contemporary, or even paranormal, is there a genre that you think you would want to give a try?
KE: I think possibly I could try a woman’s fiction, or even a young adult. I just love how young adults view life and I feel like they’re at the perfect age when you’re discovering yourself.
KO: Yes.
KE: They have a lot of topics that they need to work through to become an adult, and I don’t know, I think there’s a lot of material there, but also with the woman’s fiction. I love just how women feel and the concerns that we have. Because you start growing older and sometimes it’s not just about falling in love, it’s about staying in love, or working through your marriage, or getting pregnant, or waving your daughter off to college, and all of that is just important.
KO: Yes, and you write really strong women.
KE: Yes. I mean I really like my heroines. I feel like they have just enough strength to be their own selves, but are also feminine. Sometimes they let themselves be taken care of, or sometimes say, “Hey, well I do want this and that’s not a weakness.” I really like them.
KO: Yeah. They possess a vulnerability that’s really nice.
KE: Exactly.
KO: Well, thank you so much for speaking with me today.
KE: Oh my God, thank you!
KO: I loved hearing more about your process, and your books, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
KE: Oh my God, me too, Katie. Thank you so much for having me over and for doing such an amazing job with all my books really.
KO: Well, you know it’s a testament to you and your work and how much our listeners respond to you.
KE: Yes! No, no, no, and those amazing narrators and your very incredible listeners. I’m really, really excited also to see what’s coming up next, and I really am grateful to have talked to you today. Thank you so much.
KO: Thank you. You know what? I just have one question that flew into my head as we were saying our goodbyes. Do you continue to read and listen when you’re writing yourself, or do you find that distracting?
KE: I do find that distracting. When I’m writing I don’t read anyone, and not even myself. I feel like I’m afraid my stories are going to get tangled up. Or you know how the subconscious is? You’re just kind of sucking up information, and then when you’re in the creative phase, you’re just unloading.
KO: Yes.
KE: And you really don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s like from the universal pool of ideas but, you don’t want it to be from something you just read.
KO: Right, right.
KE: I really just kind of stay in my own little zone and my own little bubble, so that I know for sure that I am just telling the story that is just coming to me from, I don’t know where … Michelangelo used to say that the way he would sculpt was just kind of bringing out the sculpture that was already inside the rock. And I relate to that. I feel that the books I write are just there, but I just discover them. You know what I mean?
KO: Yes.
KE: I feel that they already existed, but I just kind of, “Ooh, I discovered it.” And now I’m just typing it down. You know?
KO: I love that.
KE: It’s nice.
KO: Well, thank you so much, I so appreciate it.
KE: Thank you, Katie, and have a great day.
KO: Thank you. You too, take care.
