Aftereffects by

Posted: December 3, 2018/By: achristay@aol.com

Please welcome author of Aftereffects

LJ Greene will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Aftereffects

by LJ Greene

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

John Lennon said that artistry is like being possessed. I’m sure he was right – in fact I think all forms of art involve some sort of madness. Once you really open yourself up to creativity, you have no control over it.

My dance with madness began with a musing that was triggered by a song I heard on the radio as I was sitting in traffic one day in 2010. That musing lasted for the rest of my commute, and if I’m being honest, for the better part of the next three years.

That’s how my first novel, Ripple Effects, took shape. The characters seemed to take on a life of their own in such a natural and organic way that, although they’re completely fictional, they and their circle have always felt very three-dimensional to me.

For a long time, I resisted writing them down because I felt weirdly protective. In my head, I loved to create and re-create their stories in fine detail. But, as I often hear authors say, eventually, these characters demanded to be let out. They would not accept my excuses. They were annoyingly pushy about it.

So I suppose John Lennon was right, writing is a little like being possessed!

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

My day job involves writing a lot of really boring stuff on a daily basis, which has undoubtedly provided a level of competency for the mechanics of writing that I draw upon often. After all, you should probably know the rules of the written word before you unapologetically break them. But the truth of the matter is that when it comes to storytelling, that’s a whole different skill. How you tell a story—how you tease it, how you let it out slowly so readers can’t turn the page fast enough—that’s a skill you have to learn. And there’s only one way to do it . . . through practice!

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I have a fourth novel in the works, which will be the last in this series. It’s based upon one of the secondary characters in Ripple Effects, Marcus, who was just too irresistible not to write. But not to worry if you haven’t read Ripple Effects, all of my books are stand alones and can be read in any order, so readers can jump in with any book at any time.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

That’s a great question! I think I’m all of them, in one form or fashion. My job as a writer is to discover the humanity in every character, no matter how distasteful (or perfect, for that matter!) a character may seem initially. Characters who are all of one thing and nothing of another are not interesting. So, more often than not, I find that character development comes from my being honest with myself about my own complexities, and being willing to examine those in an honest way through my characters.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

Here’s the truth: I wrote my first book to see if I could. And when it came time to decide whether or not to publish it, I thought, why not me? There are so many roadblocks for writers wanting to get published – so many things that are intimidating and discouraging. But the bottom line for me is that I believe I have something to say. And I work very hard and take a lot of care to make sure that I say it well. I think there is an audience out there for well-written romance novels that reflect the lives that real people live. And why can’t I be one of those who brings it to them?

6.What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

LOL. This actually makes me laugh because one of my favorite scenes in Aftereffects involves Keir and Selene discussing the best and worst advice about sex they ever received. I’ll be honest that the best advice I’ve ever received for writing came unwittingly from The Fray, who said about the song-writing process that they live by the motto, head down, chin up. I’ve thought about that so many times through the years as I’ve struggled with all the things writers struggle with. Because let’s face it, writing of any kind is hard. It’s like an angsty teenage romance. One minute, it’s all sweet, sweet ecstasy and you swear you’ve landed Thor himself (the movieversion!), all perfect and beautiful, and muscles on top of muscles. The next minute, you’re kicking him to the curb, drinking boxed chardonnay to the music of Adele and planning your satisfying life with cats. Writing to me feels just like that, often with very little in between. It’s something you have to be willing to truly work at. Earning even one reader is a privilege. But at the same time, you have to be kind to yourself; you have to believe in the value of your words. You have to trust that your voice is worthy to join the chorus.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I try outlining but it’s hopeless. In fact, it’s truly entertaining for me to look back at my scene lists and see how differently (and better) the story turned out because I didn’t follow them. My books tend to be very character driven, and as a result, the characters themselves often determine how a story will unfold or the direction it will take. They can be completely unruly in that way. Having said that, it’s not a total free-for-all. My story ideas most often grow out of one bit of dialog, or one single line that I have in my head early on and I work towards it, chapter by chapter. When I reach the point in the story that I can put down that line in its proper place, it’s the most rewarding feeling.

In Aftereffects, there were two such lines for me. And they come later in the text, which allowed them to serve as a north star, if you will. I knew where I was heading, even if at times I couldn’t say precisely how I would get there. Kind of like life.

8. Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

My husband would laugh at me for this question. I’m a working mom of two and writing is about the only hobby I have time for. But my characters have a diverse array of hobbies, talents, and careers, which I research extensively and write about (I hope) convincingly. My husband always laughs at me for that. What the heck do you know about hockey? J

Do you have an all time favorite book?

The Mists of Avalon. I know there’s a lot that’s come out about the author in recent years but as for the book itself, it was the first one that truly wrecked me. Morgaine is the most badass heroine, and I don’t think I’ve ever stopped wanting to be her!

Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.

My books are all stand alones but several of the characters overlap across my novels. This happened initially by accident. When I wrote Ripple Effects, I absolutely fell in love with Jamie and Mel, who were major secondary characters. I couldn’t resist writing their story in Sound Effects, which actually steps back a bit in time in order to stay with the timeline. This allowed me to explore my original hero at an earlier time in his life (his cologne phase! J). In Aftereffects, one of the scenes I most enjoyed writing was one in which all the characters from my first three books come together and interact. It was such a joyful romp that I’m already cooking up ways to do it again in #4!

BLURB:

What could be more terrifying than falling in love with the person who is your good place? Maybe realizing just a smidge too late that there can be dire consequences to becoming your best friend’s lover.

The lives of Keir Stevens and Selene Georgiou serendipitously collide midspan on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, one jarring step ahead of fate. He’s a temporary transplant from Seattle; she’s facing the biggest career opportunity of her life. They have no notion of the common thread that connects them.

As they come to discover they share a similar adversity, their relationship evolves from a fun and frivolous infatuation with nowhere to go into a true friendship with sincerity, humor, and respect at its heart.

It’s awfully hard not to fall in love with that—even if you’re pretty darn certain you shouldn’t.

But when love and friendship suffer their own devastating collision—their interests brutally conflicting—the consequences of blurring the lines between the two suddenly become real. In the end, which one will be the stronger? And more importantly, can either survive?

AFTEREFFECTS is a standalone dual POV adult contemporary romance about the things we choose in life out of all the things that are beyond our choosing—a tale of love and friendship, of time and how we spend it, and of the inner wars that ultimately show us what really matters.

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EXCERPT:

Selene lifted her left hand and touched my face with her palm. It was definitely a new kind of closeness for us, at least sober—one to which I gave no resistance. Her skin felt warm and smooth as she stroked my cheek gently. And I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. My God, she was stunning. This close, I absorbed the perfection of her features, of her delicate earlobes. A tiny piece of dark hair curled around the back of one.

The air between us seemed to crackle quietly, and I sat frozen in my seat in case any movement might cause her to draw away.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you clean-shaven,” she said softly.

I could feel her breath, too, warm against my face. My fingers itched to reach up and touch her mouth, to feel whether it was as soft as I remembered. My heartbeat picked up not only faster but harder, like it was punching me from the inside.

Had a goal been scored just then I wouldn’t have noticed. Nothing could have pulled me from that trance. I didn’t hear anything going on around us. Not the crowd, not the announcer, not the buzzer.

Only her.

Only her voice and her eyes and her breath. The memory of her mouth.

“Do you have a preference?” I asked roughly. I had no idea what possessed me to ask her that.

No, that’s a lie. That other side of me wanted to be everything she wanted and would have shaved every single day if that’s what she asked of me.

“No.” Her beautiful lips curved slightly upward. “How could I choose between James Bond and Indiana Jones?”

Her palm came to rest on my jawline, and I took a deep breath. When had my wanting her turned into this painful kind of ache?

Under the sanctity of her expression, I had a sudden and startling thought that maybe we could write a different ending for the two of us. One I hadn’t yet considered. Maybe there was a different story we could tell in which the things we had to offer would be enough.

There was obviously more to our relationship than just friendship, and perhaps we could figure out how to have something more than what we’d allowed ourselves. After all, there was care and respect at the heart of everything we did together. That had to mean something.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

LJ Greene is a self-professed obsessive multi-tasker who writes really boring stuff by day and lets her inner romantic fly by night. This California native is married to the most amazing man and has two beautiful children, not old enough to read her books. (They probably wouldn’t want to anyway on account of the “Ew, gross” factor.) She’s an avid reader of all genres with an embarrassingly large ebook collection, and a weird penchant for reading the acknowledgements at the end of a novel. She’s also a music lover with no apparent musical talent, a travel enthusiast, and a cheese connoisseur.

Buy links:

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Aftereffects-Ripple-Effects-Novel-Greene-ebook/dp/B07H1Y4ZCC/

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/aftereffects/id1435706918?mt=11,

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aftereffects-lj-greene/1129490736

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41634021-aftereffects?ac=1&from_search=true

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?Query=Aftereffects+lj+greene

Author Website and Info:

www.ljgreenebooks.com

Twitter: @authorljgreene

Facebook: LJ Greene

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