New Adult Book Club discussion

Hey NABC! We have the fabulous Harper Bentley joining us this week for a Q&A! Harper is the author of Discovering Us, Unbreakable Hearts, Loch, The Fighter, and many others. Please be sure to leave her your questions below! <3

How do you come up with the names for your characters?

What inspires you to sit down and write?

How goes your writing process is it in seperate parts from the middle to the beginning or from begin to end? Thank you! Xo

If you could be any book character for a day, who would you choose and why?

Do you use people in your life as inspiration for your characters?

What or who inspired you to become a writer?

You are a new author to me. What book would you recommend reading first?

Do you use some of your life experiences when you're making your masterpieces?

Who are some of your favorite authors (within the same genre as you)?

Would you want to write a book with another author? If yes, which one?

What genre do you want to write that you haven’t had a chance to do yet?

What is one of your guilty pleasures as a reader or author? Do you have a favorite book?

S.Shade wrote: "How do you come up with the names for your characters?"

Hi!

Oh, I Google the crap out of names allllll the time, especially if they're for my lead characters. I'm constantly looking up "Cute names for girls" or "Cool boy names" etc lol Some of my villains, I've named after people who've wronged me (muhahahahaha) But I steer clear of naming main characters after people I know or who are in my family because if they're having sexy times, that's just gross lol

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Gennesis wrote: "What inspires you to sit down and write?"

Hi Gennesis :)

That's a great question!

I know it sounds cliche, but I have all these stories bouncing around in my head and feel I HAVE to put down on "paper" or I'll go berserk. I have a great support system in my family and friends which helps tons, too. The best part of finishing a book is hearing from the readers, which is what truly inspires me to move forward and write the next book!

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Steffi wrote: "How goes your writing process is it in seperate parts from the middle to the beginning or from begin to end? Thank you! Xo"

Hi Steffi :D

My writing process starts when I come up with the ending first, then I start at the beginning and write towards it. I know it sounds weird & it's probably as backwards as can be, but that's how I do it! lol

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Hi :) How do you select the names of your characters?

Hello, what made you realize that you wanted to become an author?

J. wrote: "If you could be any book character for a day, who would you choose and why?"

Hi!

Oh, that's a tough question! I'm gonna get really raunchy & say I wanna be Holly in Kresley Cole's Dark Desires After Dark 'cause OMG I'm in LOVE with Cadeon! LOL
On the non-raunchy side, hmm...maybe Jane Eyre since she sticks to her values OR Lisbeth Salander just 'cause she's badass!! ;)

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Katrina wrote: "Do you use people in your life as inspiration for your characters?"

Hi Katrina!

For some characters, I think I do, like in my book Ryker, Mrs. Bertolini was inspired by my grandma & other characters in other books have some elements of either my relatives or friends :)

But I have to say that most of the time when I use someone from my life for a character, it's a bad character & it's someone who's done me wrong lol But it's actually kind of cathartic! ;)

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Debra wrote: "What or who inspired you to become a writer?"

Hi Debra :D

I've enjoyed reading as far back as I can remember, and as an English teacher, I read a bunch. So several years ago, I got to reading Twilight fanfiction and thought I'd give it a try too, and I LOVED it. After writing several stories, a friend who also wrote fanfiction encouraged me to start publishing, so I thought I'd give it a try & I haven't looked back!

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Sophie wrote: "You are a new author to me. What book would you recommend reading first?"

Hi Sophie!

My Powers That Be series, that starts with the book Gable, has been my most popular series by far, so you might try it. If you like hot alpha males who fall hard for their women, you might check it out! If you like sweet stories, you might like my True Love series, which tells the story of Jagger and Ellen from childhood on. But all my books have HEAs & hot alpha guys, so if you like reading about that type, any of my books would work! :)

Thank you for the question!
Harper <3

Sharie ♚ wrote: "Do you use some of your life experiences when you're making your masterpieces?"

Hi Sharie!

Masterpieces, huh? LOL :D But, yes! I most definitely use my life experiences when I write! It can be anywhere from something that happened in my childhood (in my True Love series when Ellen and Jagger kiss through the fence at school, that happened to me lol) to something funny one of my students said that makes its way into a scene, to a tragic breakup. Writing can be pretty fulfilling when I can get some things off my chest in a story line ;)

Thank you for the question!
Harper <3

Emily wrote: "Who are some of your favorite authors (within the same genre as you)?"

Hi Emily :D

Oh, there are a bunch, but some are Kristen Ashley, Penelope Ward, LJ Shen, Lauren Blakely & Vi Keeland, Colleen Hoover, Helena Hunting, Tijan, TC Matson & Anne Mercier, just to name a few!

Thank you for the question!
Harper <3

MiDouradoP wrote: "Would you want to write a book with another author? If yes, which one?"

Hi!

I'd love to write a book with another author if I could ever find the time lol We're all so busy with our own schedules, that it's tough to find a "break" when we could both sit down and plan it. As for which one, it would have to be someone who writes similarly to me--some humor along with a bad boy & a complication--so that being said, I think the possibilities are endless! :D Maybe one day it'll happen!

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Whitney wrote: "What genre do you want to write that you haven’t had a chance to do yet?"

Hi Whitney!

I'd love love love to write paranormal romance where I create my own world full of supernatural beings! That's something I plan on doing at some point (hopefully!), and I think I'd totally enjoy it. I also wouldn't mind looking into writing some young adult romances, so maybe that's in my future too! Never say never, right? ;)

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Megan Glass wrote: "What is one of your guilty pleasures as a reader or author? Do you have a favorite book?"

Hi Megan :D

Paranormal romance is my guilty pleasure by far. I love Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series along with JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Oh! And then there's Karen Marie Moning's Fever series, Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books, Larissa Ione's Demonica series & Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series. I think you get the picture here LOL Out of these, I don't have a favorite book per se, although if I had to choose, I'd pick JR Ward's Lover Awakened from the BDB series. SO GOOD.

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Irma wrote: "Hi :) How do you select the names of your characters?"

Hi Irma :)

I told another reader that I Google the crap out of names LOL But some names just come to me. In my The Wait series, the female lead is Birdie, a nickname for Bernadette, which was a childhood friend of mine's confirmation saint that just came to me one day! The male lead is Beck which I messed around with years ago for another character & didn't use it, but I liked it so much, I used it for this series. It usually depends one what type of character I'm writing. If they're strong (which they usually are in one fashion or another) I look for what I think is a strong name. If it's a villain, I usually use a name of someone who's done me wrong LOL But, yeah, Google is an author's best friend at times!

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3

Caryl wrote: "Hello, what made you realize that you wanted to become an author?"

Hi Caryl!

I've always loved reading & as an English teacher, I still do! I'd always kind of toyed with the idea, but never got too serious about it, but when Twilight came out, I started reading fanfiction & I was hooked. Then I started thinking, "I can do this," so I did! A friend encouraged me to start publishing, which, of course, I did, and I just kept going! I love putting these stories in my head down on "paper" and sharing them with others. I've had an amazing time with this whole process & I see myself continuing writing for years to come :D

Thanks for the question!
Harper <3