Writer To Writer Wednesday

Hi everyone, I’m Savannah Rayne

and today I have the great privilege of interviewing the very talented

Kevin James Breaux!

 (And the HP Cheerleader’s, Robin, Lyn, Jen & Carol, shake their pom-poms!)

Savannah: Hi Kevin and thanks so much for stopping by today!

Kevin: Thanks for having me, always happy to take some time to hang with the HP crew, and its wonderful cheerleaders. Hello ladies.

Savannah: Well Kevin, I’m sure our readers would like to find out a bit more about your book, The Way to a Man’s Heart Is Through His Stomach, can you tell us how you came up with the idea for this story?

Kevin: I wanted to write a horror-love story, something that would have a gross and shocking outcome. As I was thinking about how to approach this concept I came up with the idea of working with of a character with an oral fixation. Someone who loves to cook and eat. I don’t outline my work, so once I had that thought firmly grasped in hand I just started writing. An earlier draft was much more salacious… I decided to go more with stun and less revulsion.

Savannah: How long have you been writing and is it something you always wanted to do?

Kevin: I have been writing since 1998. I did not realize that writing was “my thing” until the end of college. I went to art school and I never could seem to find the style of art that creatively satisfied me. I was often frustrated with my drawing, photography and painting… there was always something missing or I was just not as talented as I wanted to be.

When I was writing I was happy, so slowly I decided to delve deeper and see what that really meant to me. When I met author Jonathan Maberry in the mid 2000s I started to piece the puzzle together. His career was just starting to take off and he helped me out immensely with advice and support. I had the raw talent, but I needed to refine it and turn it into a business. By 2008 I knew that writing books was what I wanted to do. My first book was published in 2010, an epic fantasy called SOUL BORN. Now I write about two 80-100K books a year. I am seeking an agent to help further develop me career and hoping for big things in 2012.

Savannah: Besides writing, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Kevin: I enjoy movies. I like to go see them in the theater, as much as I enjoy watching them at home. I like to play a lot of video games too, although I do not spend the amount of time on them I used to. I’m a self proclaimed recovering World of Warcraft addict. J I used to work 40 hours a week and play WoW about 25 hours over that. Suffice to say, I did not have much time to write back then.  Now I enjoy playing Xbox; games like Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2.  Sometimes I am on Halo: Reach multiplayer playing with my buddy the BeerPope.

Savannah: Let’s go back in time a little bit now. What kind of student were you in High School?

Kevin: I was a poor student in all my academics and even gym class. I got great grades in all my art classes though. I just did not have the focus or desire to try in high school. It was not until college that I even put the slightest effort into schooling, and I did finally have some very high GPA semesters then.  Yep, I have a few English teachers from High School that would be like. “Kevin… wrote a book? No!”

Savannah: Did you take part in any High School extra-curricular activities and if so, what were they?

Kevin: Does detention count? It was extra-curricular. Otherwise… nope. When school was over I was a blur of motion running out the door and straight home. I did not want to spend an extra minute there.

Savannah: If you had the chance to be one character from any video game, and live in that “virtual world” for one week, who would it be and why?

Kevin: Which video game character gets all the girls and totally hangs out in paradise doing nothing but relaxing?  I can’t remember his name…

Seriously? Most video game characters have to work too damn hard for their goals. And they never REALLY get the girl, I mean look at freaking Master Chief he saves the universe and never gets so much as a vacation… or a trophy from a bikini girl (they still do that in Nascar right?) So… yeah… I guess on coolness factor alone I might have to say Solid Snake (Metal Gear) or Simon Belmont (Castlevania). 

Savannah: If you could meet any one person, past or present, who would that person be and why?

Kevin: George Washington. He IS the father of our country and I think it would be interesting to hear him tell the story of Valley Forge and the crossing of the Delaware in his own words. 

If he’s too busy I would settle for hanging out a day with Cleopatra. I mean she did seduce Julius Caesar and there is a divide among scholars as to whether she was beautiful or not. I could totally help history by letting her seduce me, and determine if she was good looking or not… for science, of course. Just give me some anti-venom first. Just in case.

Savannah: Ok, how about some rapid-fire questions Kevin? Just answer with the first thing that pops into your mind…..Ready…Set…GO!

Savannah: Monster Trucks or Nas Car?

Kevin: Muscle Cars!

Savannah add in: LOL, Okay…option “C”! A man after my own heart, I LOVE muscle cars!

Savannah: Log Cabin or Pent House? (and not the magazine! LOL)

Kevin: Multi-million dollar, state of the art, Log Cabin!

Savannah add in: Hmmm, maybe I should have explained the game better, lol But great answer!

Savannah: Red or Black?

Kevin: Red

Savannah: Chinese or Italian? (food that is)

Kevin: Chinese

Savannah add in: I think he’s getting this! (The cheerleader’s are shakin’ it again!)

Savannah: Morning or Night?

Kevin: Night

Savannah: Slow Dance or Shake your booty?

Kevin: Head Banging.

Savannah add in: I spoke too soon…Again with option “C”… lol, I see a trend here ; )

Savannah: LOL, that was fun! Okay Kevin, before you go, I am giving you the chance to turn the tables on the interviewer and ask me one question, so go ahead, but be kind, (Savannah’s just a little bit scared, LOL)

Kevin: If you could be Hugh Jackman for a day what would you do?

Savannah: I’d get all the gals at HP together, take his…I mean ‘my’ credit cards and go shopping, then have a champagne lunch. Very cool to be seen in public with talented, beautiful women! I’d buy that, black with red interior 1967 Ford Mustang coupe, I’ve been dreaming about forever and I’d look into producing several of the HP books; turning them either into movies for the big screen or made-for-TV. Also, I would donate large sums of money to all the HP-Hot Causes…giving from the heart feels good.

Savannah: Now that I made it through that, lol, I think it’s time to call it a day. Thank you again Kevin for letting me have the honor of interviewing you it has been fun!

Kevin: Thanks for taking the time, sorry about dropping the cheerleading competition. It’s been a while since I saw Bring it On and my moves are rusty. Maybe next year. GO TEAM!

Today, one very lucky commenter will receive a free eBook copy of Kevin’s book The Way To A Man’s Heart Is Through His Stomach

So Leave Those Comments!

You can find out more about Kevin James Breaux at the following sites:

My author site is www.kevinbreaux.com 

My author blog site is http://kevinjamesbreaux.blogspot.com/ 

My Soul Born Saga site is www.soulborn.net

My Twitter is @KevinBreaux

My author Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-James-Breaux-Author/120181774697106?sk=wall

Well folks, thanks for moseying on over and joining us for another Writer To Writer Wednesday. Be sure to stop by every day and see what’s new with the folks at Hellfire Publishing!

Hugs & Nightmares,

Savannah Rayne