Author Interview: Suzanne Selfors

With Mad Love being your sixth release, has the writing process gotten any easier?
It never gets easier. Isn't that crazy? You think it will but every novel comes with its own set of problems. What does get easier, however, is accepting the fact that not everyone is going to love every word you write. And some will like one book but not the other. That's how it works and it's all good.

I know characters are like your children, but do you have one you favorite a little bit more than the rest?
Yes. I adore Isabelle from my kids' book Fortune's Magic Farm. I based her on my daughter, Isabelle, and she's about the most hopeful, wonderful, beautiful person I've ever written and have ever known.

Is there any topic or genre you don't think you'll ever write?
I'm not into crime stuff. Don't watch CSI or any of those shows that open with a gruesome murder and then they start picking at the dead body to determine the cause of death, which is always something beyond disgusting. Not my thing.

I'm always curious of what the first idea was to spark a novel. What idea turned Mad Love into what it is now?
I love Greek and Roman Mythology. I'd just finished my book, Coffeehouse Angel, in which I reimagined the messenger god, Hermes. So I knew I wanted to do something with Cupid. That's how it began. But what could I do with Cupid? What if Cupid was walking around amongst us? So the idea emerged to turn Cupid into this eternal 17-year-old teen who has a final mission, and that is to tell his true love story. But he's not a writer and he needs someone to help him tell his story. That's when Alice Amorous, daughter of a famous romance writer, popped into my head.

Do you base your characters off of anyone you know or even yourself?
It's not possible to write a story and keep yourself completely out of it. Bits of my personality will always seep into my books. I see parts of myself in many of my characters. I have, however, based a few of my characters on real people. My father has appeared in many disguises, as have my kids.

Why Cupid?
See #4

What is one thing you want readers to take away from Mad Love?
Alice, the main character, believes that she's unloveable. She feels abandoned by love. What she learns is that love never left, it was always swirling around her. She just had to open her heart to it.

If you were in Alice's shoes, meeting Cupid and all, what do you think your reaction would be?
Same as hers. I'd think he was a lunatic.

What are some of your favorite young adult books?
Hunger Games, The House of the Scorpion, Catcher in the Rye.

Lastly, tell us five random things about you:
I draw cartoons, I love dark chocolate, I live in a hundred-year-old farmhouse, my best friend is a bellydancer, and I'm so grateful that I get to make my living as a writer.