Interview with Tess Oliver

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One on one with:

Tess Oliver * Scottie Barrett * C.J. Evans

(Whichever name you know her by)

As someone who is a fan and follows your career, first I have to say that you are one busy author.  You write under 3 different pen names and just under your Tess Oliver author name you have four Goodreads pages worth of novels you’ve written.

-What would you say the biggest struggle of being the mind behind 3 different pen names and balancing the work you do for each, is? 

• Well, the Scottie Barrett name is a coauthor team with my sister. We recently got the rights back to several of our books, historical erotica, and we're republishing them again.  It's been about seven years but now we are working on a contemporary erotic romance under our old pen name.  It's fun to be working with my sister again. I recently retired early from my long time career as a teacher to become a full time writer. And I love being able to spend my whole day creating stories. It gives me a lot more time to develop characters and plots.  The Scottie Barrett stuff has a different flavor than my Tess Oliver books because my sister and me combine our styles in the creation of those books.

That's really interesting and it must be great to be able to share an experience like this with someone you are so close with!

-Now that we’ve established how busy you already are, what new books do you have in the works for us and can you tell on anything about them? 

• I'm working on a project that I'm really in love with. It's a standalone contemporary new adult romance titled That Time with Sugar. It's something I've been working on between the Barringer Brothers books. It's coming out in March and we'll have some sample chapters up on my web site soon.  I hope readers enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

I will definitely be checking out the new work, as I am sure most others will be. I can't wait for the sneak peaks!

-Who or what inspires your stories: other authors, people in your life, things that have happened to you in your life, etc.? 

• Tidbits of my life end up in a lot of my stories. People, conversations, events, places, they show up in my writing-- sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident.

-If you had the ability to live in one of the book you have created, which one would you choose and why? 

• Good question! Blackpool Cove takes place in a small 19th century American town on the coast with a lighthouse and a hot vampire. I would definitely live there.

Goodreads link to Blackpool Cove: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18624476-blackpool-cove?from_search=true

-What does it feel like when you are drawn back to different characters, what is the feeling that tells you their story isn’t done or is it mostly to make your fans happy? 

• When I wrote the sequel to Camille, it was so much fun bringing all those characters back to my computer that the story just wrote itself. Same with The Wedding. Diving back into the Custom Culture world felt like coming home. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the guys until they popped back onto my keyboard. With romances, I like to leave off when the characters have overcome the obstacles and reached their happily ever after moment.

These past questions have covered your career but I would also like to learn more about Tess, the person; so these questions will be a little more personal in nature:

-Can you tell us five things your fans would not have previously known about you before reading this interview? 

1. I've been a vegetarian since I was nineteen and I raised my kids without meat. 
2. I'm scared to death of ventriloquist dummies. 
3. Before I was a teacher, I was a microbiologist. 
4. I'm a hardcore romantic. 
5. I'm an unabashed flirt. 

-Tell us something strange or quirky about yourself (a bad habit, guilty pleasure, a love of a strange food combination, something like that)? 

• Chocolate , chocolate and more chocolate.

-Why did you choose to write under Pen names instead of your legal name? 

• I actually have a published science book under my real name. It's a kid's science book . But mostly I used a pen name because I was an elementary school teacher for many years. Just seemed better not to use my real name on sexy romances. 

-What are the benefits and disadvantages for you by using a Pen name? 

• The only disadvantage that I've found is confusion with royalties, taxes and financial stuff.

-We will end this interview with a little, "either or," I'll give you the choices and you give me your decision:

Salty or sweet? 

• Sweet, always sweet.

Beach or mountains? 

• Beach-- I'm a California native!

Hot or cold? 

• Hot - again the California thing. I've only seen snow a handful of times.

Bad boy or boy next store? 

• I married a bad boy who lived in the next town. Does that work?

Tattoos or no tattoos? 

• I like them but I don't have any. 

Casual or dressy? 

• Definitely casual.

True love or hot sex? 

• I don't think you can have one without the other. I was lucky enough to find both in the same man!

Alright, that's it! Who enjoyed that?! I know I did. Thank you so much Tess, for taking the time to answer these questions and giving the readers, your fans a glimpse into your life. I hope you all loved what we have found out! Thanks for reading!

Tess Oliver's information:

Website: http://www.tessoliver.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tessoliverauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tess_Oliver

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/tessoliver

C.J. Evans information:

Website: http://cjevansauthor.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CJ-Evans/416944035121247

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/authorCJEvans

Scottie Barrett's information:

Website: http://www.scottiebarrett.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1754461.Scottie_Barrett