Q&A With Elle Kennedy

Today I have the honor of doing a Q&A with bestselling author Elle Kennedy. Elle Kennedy’s novels are USA Today, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal bestselling novels. Elle is the author of the “Off-Campus”, “Briar U”, “Killer Instincts”, “Avalon Bay”, “Prep”, “After Hours”, and “Out of Uniform” series (just to name a few). She also wrote the “Him” series with Sarina Brown.

Q: So Elle at what point in your life did you realize writing was your calling?

A: I’ve pretty much known my entire life that I wanted to be a writer! My mother tells me that before I could even write I was telling stories, so I think it was just always meant to be.

Q: What do you like most about writing romantic suspense? What do you like most about writing contemporary romance? What do you least like writing about both genres?

A: I think what I like most about writing, in any genre, is taking the reader on a journey. Romantic Suspense lets me take the readers on an adventure, and I get to kill characters off and blow stuff up, which is always fun! 😉 Contemporary Romance lacks the action scenes, but it lets me explore more emotional storylines (and the characters have more time to fall in love rather than insta-love on a suspense mission). As for what I like the least: probably trying to keep track of everything that happens in a series before the book I’m working on. It can be a little challenging sometimes to keep all my details straight!

Q: Where do you get the ideas for all of your series?

A: I’m not always sure, to be honest. Sometimes a fun premise comes to mind and I wonder what an entire book would look like. For instance, The Deal was a book I wrote because I wanted to try my hand at writing a New Adult + sports romance. Basically, I usually write what I would want to read.

Q: Since you wrote the “Him” series with Sarina Brown, what advice do you give to anyone wanting to have a friend or family member co-write a novel and or series?

A: I think anyone who is looking to co-write with someone needs to make sure the person they write with is someone they are comfortable with. When you co-write with someone, you always have a sounding board to help progress the story, but you might have to eventually say, ‘You know, I don’t think that’s the way to do this’, or be prepared for them to say, ‘While I see where you’re going, I don’t really like (this thing)’. Also be prepared that as much as you may be on the same wavelength, you might have completely different opinions on how to make things happen!

Q: What advice do you give to those who want to pursue writing as a career? What advice do you give to those who struggle with writers block?

A: If you’re thinking of writing – do it! And by that, I mean write all the time, write all the things. Writing is like weightlifting, or running, or knitting – the more you do it, the better at it you get. You also have to be open to creative criticism, because someone else reading your work can often help you figure out what you’re doing well, and where you may need to improve. 

For writer’s block, I find the best thing to do is to just walk away from what I’m working on and focus on something else.

Q: Does Hollywood have the rights to any of your novels?

A: There are lots of things happening behind the scenes, but that’s all I can say about that now ☺ Fingers crossed we get a TV or movie adaption of my books someday!

Q: Are you writing a new novel now? If you are is it part of any of your series or is it a stand alone? Are you writing it solo or with Sarina Brown?

A: I’m always writing something! Right now I’m working on new books for two of my series, and the first book in a new, supersecret series that I can announce soon. I’m not really sharing anything past that at the moment, but you can always see what news I can share by visiting the ‘Coming Soon’ portion of my website (www.ellekennedy.com) 😉.