Kristen Ashley interview

I was born a middle class white child in Gary, Indiana, USA. One of the last of a dying breed. I nearly killed my mother and myself making it into the world, seeing as I had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck (already attempting to accessorize and I hadn’t taken my first breath!). Mom says they took me away, put her back in her room, she looked out the window and Gary was on fire (Dr. King had been assassinated four days before). She remembered thinking it was the end of the world. Quite the dramatic beginning.

​Nothing’s changed.

All I’ve ever wanted to do was write (well, and be the Queen of the World, but you gotta start small) and I’ve published a gazillion books and counting (and a gazillion is a lot! shoo!). You can learn about my titles that have been released or that are soon to be released in the Titles section of my website.

Even though I jump genres, there is always a theme to my books…humor (hopefully), engaging characters (again, hopefully) and romance (definitely).

My loves are movies, music, food and fashion and I partake of all of them as often as I can (the middle two more than the others, the former, which takes time I don’t often have and the latter, which takes money and I have to be careful to have enough to feed my cats). In fact, I love food so much, I like to share my good fortune so I put my recipes on offer for you on this page (see my Recipes section and don’t miss them, they’re awesome!).

I grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana and have lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus I’m blessed to have friends and family around the globe. My family was (is) loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write and growing up it was large and multi-generational. We all lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the heartland. I grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.

And as I keep growing up, it keeps getting better.
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So here I am, thank goodness.

As an author of scorching-hot romance, in your opinion, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about the romance genre as a whole?
What a good question! And I could probably go on for ages on this topic but I’ll only hit a couple of points.

The first being my most disliked terminology when it comes to romance. The word “smut” (alternatively disliked moniker “mommy porn”).

I don’t write smut. I write love stories. I don’t read smut. I read love stories. Reducing this genre, which is populated by incredibly talented writers supported by incredibly talented editors (and designers, and formatters, and I can go on) telling incredibly beautiful stories, to a word with negative connotations that repudiate the power of these novels irks me.

​I often hear readers saying they “ugly cried” during a novel. Or laughed out loud. Or got so angry, they had to stop reading for a while. A writer being able to invoke these emotions and a reader reading a novel and feeling them isn’t just about sex scenes. It’s about well-told stories with deep emotions and multi-faceted characters that sweep readers away.

I know some readers embrace that word, turning it around and wearing the badge as a reader of “smut” proudly. I get that and they’re romance readers so they can do whatever the heck they want to own what they enjoy.

As for others using that word, it’s just not on and it segues into the final point I’ll make on this question.

I feel that romance—a highly lucrative genre in the publishing world, the vast majority of the production of which is accomplished by women—is looked down on for that purpose. Because it’s created by women for women.

It’s just “smut.” It’s just “fantasy.” Not very well-written and its purpose is to give women who don’t have lives or men in their lives (because we all know women without a man in their life need to escape said life for they’re not leading a full one—read: sarcasm) a fantasy world and/or sexual titillation.

This is hogwash. This is another way of disempowering women, diminishing what they enjoy as something…less. Something not worthwhile.
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I feel that romance—a highly lucrative genre in the publishing world, the vast majority of the production of which is accomplished by women—is looked down on for that purpose. Because it’s created by women for women.

There is utterly no reason why romance should be considered a less meaningful form of entertainment except for the fact that those who partake of it have vaginas. There are exceptionally beautiful stories being told in the romance genre that are so well-crafted, it boggles the mind. Words strung together by artists that settle in the soul. Topics explored that rend your heart. But for some reason, sharing these through a love story makes them less powerful, less significant.

My entire life has been shaped by reading romance novels. I feel they’ve given me a more positive outlook on the world we live in. They’ve shown me my power as a woman. They’ve nurtured my never-ending ability to hope and to dream. And they’ve taught me amazing things along the way from drastically increasing my vocabulary to sharing the intricacies of tea ceremonies.
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And I see with what I’ve written that this opened the floodgates! To end, romance is not smut. It’s not mommy porn. And it’s not meaningless fantasy. Romance is a billion dollar business and I’ve read statistics that it makes up to 30% of all books sold. We’re a power to be reckoned with and this is not because women need company during their lonely glass of wine in the evenings. It’s because women have power of the heart, soul, mind, intellect and pocketbook.

​What’s the best line from a book, movie or TV show that you wish you wrote?
Oh boy. I could probably go on for ages on this too. But I’ll just share the first one that springs to mind. I loved it so much, I paused watching so I could write it down. It’s from the TV show “Banshee” and it isn’t said between two lovers, but a father and daughter. You might have to watch the show to feel the significance of these lines, so simple, so power-packed, but to set it up briefly and hopefully without too many spoilers…

Lucas Hood, after being imprisoned for years, comes to Banshee to find the love of his life and reconnect with her. When he finds her, he also finds that she’s had his child, a daughter, and he had no idea she existed.

The love story between Lucas and Anna/Carrie (the lovers) is bittersweet.

The love story between Lucas and Deva is exquisite.

Deva (daughter): “You came here for her.”

Lucas (father): “I stayed for you.”

God! Now I need to rewatch that show from first episode to last!

​Your Colorado Mountain series is beloved here at Romance Rehab. If The Gamble and Breathe (our all-time favorites) were to be made into movies, who would you want to play Nina and Holden, Faye and Chace?
I’m sorry but I never do this. The characters are so very defined in my head, they’re real up there, I find it difficult to “cast” real people as them. I even had someone say to me once before my books took off and while I was writing Lady Luck, “I hope that this book is so popular, it’s made into a movie and Dwayne Johnson is cast as Ty.” My response is, “No way! Ty is Ty! There IS no other Ty Walker!”

Now, do not mistake me, should some miracle occur and Lady Luck is made into a film and Mr. Johnson wants to play Ty, I wouldn’t say no. I absolutely would not. But that’s an indication of the extremes of my first reaction someone “being” one of my characters.

​But so as not to leave you with nothing, I’ll share that Max’s hair was inspired by the BACK of Bradley Cooper’s hair (those curls!). He doesn’t look like Mr. Cooper in my head, they don’t even have the same hair color. But, oh, those curls. As for Chace, I wouldn’t turn down Chris Hemsworth. He’s bigger in frame than I envision Chace, but I think he’d fill the bill. The heroines, I just can’t go there!

If you could co-author a book with anyone you haven’t worked with before, who would it be and why? (feel free to time-travel on this one—it can be any author, living or dead)
Gosh, this is another great question because my first thought is Judith McNaught. I love her books. I loved romance before I found her but the first book I read of hers, that was it. She was my favorite with one book, it grew with each one I read and that hasn’t changed for decades. However, I’d feel very weird working with her (even though I’d love it). It’d be like what Bill Withers said at his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after Stevie Wonder inducted him. “Stevie Wonder inducting me in the Hall of Fame is like a lion opening the door for a kitty cat.” Working with Ms. McNaught would feel just like that.

You’ve written so many amazing novels in such a short time. How do you manage to be so prolific while still maintaining a real life (and your sanity)?

Well, until recently, I haven’t. One thing I’ve noticed is that when you do what you love, essentially your hobby, for your living, it’s hard to differentiate life from work. I’ve recently made Sundays sacrosanct. I don’t “work” during those days (regardless of this being sacrosanct, I break this rule often). However, some Sundays, I think, “Okay, I have the whole day to do with as I wish…and what I wish to do is I WANNA WRITE!”
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I’ve learned to just go with it. It’s what I love. Yes, I need to take the time to go to a movie or out to dinner and I’ve learned to build those times into my life. And I need to take breaks, live life, fill the well so I can pour that goodness into my writing. But I love what I do and it fits the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” adage. It’s not broke…so I’m gonna just keep on keepin’ on.

The zombie apocalypse has hit (as we all knew it would one day). Which TV or movie characters do you want as part of your crew? (no superheroes…that’s cheating)
I want Major from iZombie. First, his name is “Major” and I wish I’d thought of that as a name for a hero because it…is…AWESOME! Second, he’s not a natural badass, he’s learned to be badass and he’s bad…ASS! And last, he’s protective, loyal, resourceful, sensitive and not hard on the eyes.

Note: This interview was first published on KnockinBooks.com.

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