# Please introduce yourself and your book(s)!
My name is Vivian Mae and I’m a Latina indie author who writes contemporary steamy romance. Burning Little Secrets is my debut novel that published on April 7th, 2021 and it was an amazing day! Burning Little Secrets is a secret romance filled with devious secrets, angsty lure and breath hitching steam. Burning Little Secrets divulges the forbidden journey of an engaged woman’s encounter with a sexy small town hero.
# What is/are the real-life story(ies) behind your book(s)?
Everything in Burning Little Secrets is fiction and from my imagination, but real emotions were inserted into the characters for their development.
# What inspires/inspired your creativity?
Music is my all time creative outlet. I create playlists for each book I write, because it helps me bring out emotion or helps spark creativity with how a song can make me feel. Also, mood boards are very important for visuals!
# How do you deal with creative block?
Writing prompts are my favorite way to get rid of writers block. It is almost like a reset button for me, because a writing prompt is simple and allows me the creative freedom to do whatever I want without thinking of a strict outline. My favorite place to find writing prompts is on Pinterest!
# What are the biggest mistakes you can make in a book?
The biggest mistake a self published author can make is not investing in an editor and graphic designer. These two elements make your book stand out among the hundreds of thousands that publish each year. Your journey of being an indie author is knowing the reality of being an entrepreneur is real and you need to invest in yourself, your business in order to compete.
# Do you have tips on choosing titles and covers?
Titles and covers are always going to depend on your goal. Do you want to sell your book to potential millions or would you rather keep yourself as the audience? I learned as an indie author that I needed to have a gripping title that will hook someone right away and a book cover which would tell someone within a second what type of genre it is. My cover for Burning Little Secrets is very steamy and that was what I wanted to portray. The best tip I can give is to make sure you research what others books in your field are doing, you’ll start to see a trend, a pattern that will help you understand your market in order to sell more.
# How do bad reviews and negative feedback affect you and how do you deal with them?
Positive reviews are great, especially when the reader understands the story and journey my heroine went through. I’m not interested in writing about a character who is perfect, I want to see someone who is flawed, makes decisions whether they can be seen as good or bad. I want to be in her shoes and understand her growth and journey. I look through all my reviews, good or bad. The bad ones, I do take any type of pattern I may see into consideration for my future projects, because there are readers out there with genuine feedback. However, when it comes to a and rating which didn’t appreciate the trope or any type of theme in my story, that’s personal preference at that point and I don’t take those into consideration. My book(s) aren’t written for every single reader in mind. It’s written for the reader who wants to go through a journey filled with angst, emotion, and gripping drama.
# How has your creation process improved over time?
Oh it has improved each day I write. It’s been pretty neat to see how fast I have become with writing, but also the detail I put into characters are better than when I wrote Burning Little Secrets, because I’d had great feedback since then.
# Do you tend towards personal satisfaction or aim to serve your readers? Do you balance the two and how?
I’d like to think I have a balance, but lean toward what I truly want to write about. I know there are many authors who research and write to market, but I don’t think I could do that. I want to create a story that I want to read, something I haven’t necessarily seen. I love taking on harder topics that aren’t well liked either, according to many readers, the cheating trope is not well liked, and that’s ok. Cheating in fiction doesn’t affect me, but it did affect my character in her development and that’s what I want to see. I want to hear about the women who can relate when it comes to their own experiences and I want them to know there are other paths to life they can choose.
# What role do emotions play in creativity?
Emotions are what keep us tied down to a story. It’s very important to connect with readers in that manner.
# Do you have any creativity tricks?
Does wine count? Sometimes if I need to really dig deep in there, I’ll have a glass of wine to pour out my emotions, to bring them to the fore front.
# What are your plans for future books?
I have a current work in progress that is set to be published by the end of this year. I began writing it back in April 2021 and it takes about 6-8 months from writing to publication.
# Tell us some quirky facts about yourself
I’m a huge Disney fan!
I don’t drink coffee, but somehow I have the energy of someone that drinks eight cups of it a day.
Although growing up my family didn’t celebrate Halloween, as an adult it is my all time favorite holiday! I can’t get enough of 70s and 80s slasher flicks, they are the ultimate Halloween mood.
Links: https://linktr.ee/Vivianmae