Hi there you guys! Hope you are okay. ^^ It's release day! Acsquidentally In Love comes out today, and I'm so happy you will get to know Sloane and Azaethoth. You will totally love them, hopefully as much as I did, hehe. I had the chance to have an interview with the author, K.L. Hiers, about this novel, her inspiration and future projects. There are good news here! ^^ Remember to visit her website as well.
1. What gave you the idea to write this novel?
It all started as a smutty birthday present for a very dear friend. She wanted me to do something dirty with tentacles, and I was instantly intrigued. Even though I had never written anything like that before, I decided just to go for it. I had so much fun, and I was really surprised how much I had liked it. Like wow, this is amazing and really hot. I knew then that I was hooked and wanted to write more.
2. How would you describe the writing process?
Most of it was trying to figure out a way to justify writing tentacle smut with a solid story! I knew that I needed some kind of special universe in which there would be creatures with tentacles who could then get it on with mankind. Aliens and mutations are both really popular choices in tentacle literature, but I wanted to do something magical. I’ve always been a fan of fantasy and fascinated by H.P. Lovecraft’s Old Ones, so I went about creating my own tentacle god religion. Once I started working on the details of the lore, the actual story for the book came along pretty quickly.
3. Would you say there's a part of you in the characters?
Oh, definitely. I’m sure a lot of writers do this, but I love putting little bits of myself into all the characters I write. It helps me connect with them and hopefully makes them feel more authentic to the reader.
4. Sages and their religion are an important part of Acsquidentally In Love. Although I have an idea already, are they based on some religion?
If you’re thinking witchcraft, you are absolutely right!
When I was first trying to put together my new tentacle religion, I obviously looked to H.P. Lovecraft for inspiration. Although he wrote about worship of the Old Ones like Cthulhu, there was almost nothing about how that worship was actually conducted. There were no rituals, no holidays, and not even a clear structure for the faith. That wasn’t going to work for me at all because I wanted the gods and their worship to be a big part of the story.
My tentacle gods live up in the stars, so I needed a religion with strong ties to the movements of celestial bodies. Many ancient holidays were based on lunar cycles and events like solstices or equinoxes, so it made sense to me that Sages would celebrate their faith focused around these. While I was researching religions, Paganism jumped right out at me because there’s so much focus on being attuned with the planet, and it fit well with the kind of “natural” faith that I wanted to create.
Obviously, there are differences in the meaning behind the holidays, and actual witches do not worship a massive pantheon of tentacle deities. I created my own unique rituals for the Sages to practice and specific traditions for big events like the birth of a child, funeral rites, and so on. I’ve written page after page about the Sages and all the gods, and although I may not even use but a fraction of it, I’m very happy that I created a religion with such depth. I put so much time into it, and I hope that readers will enjoy learning about it.
5. Why did you decide to make a trickster God one of the protagonists and not another one?
I honestly thought a well behaved god would be boring. I wanted this story to be really fun, and I loved the idea of my mortal hero having to constantly curb all the god’s wild antics. There’s a lot of potential in writing two characters in conflict, both for sexual tension and some laughs, and it was a freakin’ blast letting my trickster god get into all kinds of mischief.
6. Death and grief are an important part of Sloane's life, and I really felt his pain. How did you build him as a character and made sure he would be real?
Without going into too much detail, the part of myself that I put into Sloane was definitely grief. Writing has always been therapy for me and working out some of those pesky emotions through a character like him is a wonderful outlet.
7. Do you think God/ the Gods/the Universe listen to prayers or are we on our own?
The ultimate question for all of mankind, right? No pressure! Ha! Oh, my goodness. Well, I’m an absolute heathen, but I do want to believe that there is a higher power somewhere out there. I’m very wishy washy on the details, but I want there to be a meaning to all of this. I don’t think we are entirely on our own, but I do believe we need to help ourselves instead of waiting around for some sort of divine intervention.
8. What do you expect your readers to feel when reading this novel? I definitely felt aroused more than once!
Aroused was definitely one of the goals, hehehe! It’s such a weird and exciting story, and I really wanted to create something unique that people hadn’t read before. I hope that they gasp at all the surprises, laugh at all my silly jokes, cheer for these characters when the going gets tough, and that they will have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
9. What are you working on right now? Any project, perhaps book 2, in the making?
Yes! I am very happy to say that Book 2 is done, and I’m just finishing up editing before getting ready to turn it in to my publishers! Rough drafts for books 3 and 4 for this series are also done, and I’m planning to have nine books in total. We will see Sloane and Loch again, but we’re also going to meet lots of new characters and see other parts of this magical universe.
For my BDSM fans, I’m also finishing up a new title about a lonely undertaker and a very bossy florist, so be on the lookout for that as well!
10. Which would be your advice for future writers?
Never give up and don’t be afraid to kill your darlings.
Getting published can be a long and very frustrating process, but just keep at it. Make sure you find a solid proofreader or editor who will help you make tough decisions when trying to prepare your manuscript for submission. Accept that you may have to make some sacrifices like deleting scenes or rewriting them and keep on pushing. Also, research your potential publishers. Be sure to find one that already publishes books similar to the ones you’re writing. If you’re ever unsure about something, there are countless author groups on social media that you can reach out to for help as well!
Kinky regards, K!
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