Whose idea was it to
start writing novels? What peaked your interest?
Becca- I started writing when I was 12. I think we both read
so many books that our own imaginations sparked, and we had stories in our
heads that needed to get on paper. So I started jotting them down until a whole
messy book was the end product. My first books weren’t very good, and I’d have
to say the best things we’ve ever written have been things we’ve worked on
together.
Krista – Becca started writing before me. My first books were
more like “middle” of books. I never liked to write the beginnings or the ends.
Like Becca, I began writing because I had stories in my head and it felt like
they needed to be written down. Plus,
it was so much more fun having someone like Becca to swap stories with.
Who are your
favorite authors? Did they have an influence on the genre you chose? If not,
how did you choose?
Becca- This is so hard for me. I love so many different
authors for so many different reasons. Growing up, I was a huge Meg Cabot fan.
She’s a middle grade / young adult author who weaves some beautiful and witty
contemporary tales. As I got older, I was really enamored with the A-List
series because—hello, it starts out with a girl joining the mile high club. I
loved that the book took risks, even though it was meant for a younger
audience. And it was like crack reading that series. I can’t say any certain
author has had an influence in the genre. We just love romance and we just
graduated from college, so we put together something we love with something we
know. Poof, we have New Adult ;)
Krista
– I
love Stephanie Perkins. I think she knows how to write romance and comedy so
well. I always aspired to be able to have that sort of witty dialogue that
never crosses the line into cheesy. I was also a huge Meg Cabot growing up. Her
books are just so feel-good that it’s hard not to fall for them.
Do you find writing
a challenge? Do you ever agree to disagree?
Becca- It can definitely be a
challenge when something isn’t working within the book. Krista and I can tell
when the plot is off or something is missing. And it just takes some time to
really find the solution to what’s wrong. We do occasionally disagree, but we
always compromise in the end.
Krista- I’d love to admit
that writing is super easy and we can crank out a perfect book in a couple
weeks, but the truth is that every book is a challenge. We revise like crazy
and we fight to get the best story out of our plot and characters. But the
challenge is what makes it so much fun.
Do you see writing
as a short or long term career? If short term, what will replace it?
Becca- Long
term! This is our passion and what we love, so writing forever would be a
dream.
Krista- Definitely
long term. It’s kind of surreal being able to do this full-time right now. It’s
always been a dream of ours.
Do you enjoy attending your book events? Does it ever
become overwhelming?
Becca- Our first signing as authors is in August in
our hometown of Atlanta, so we’re super excited about that. We’ve been to
signings and book fests before, but never as authors, always as readers. It’ll
probably really overwhelming initially, but we’re looking forward to it.
Krista- Like Becca said, the only book events we’ve
attended were as readers. It’s going to be a whole different experience
attending as authors. I still feel like we should be on the other side of the
table, so again, it’s going to be a little surreal. I may have to pinch myself
(or Becca) a few times.
Are any of your novels based on events in your life,
or someone you know?
Becca- We incorporate small things from our life in
ever book. For instance in Hothouse Flower, some of the main characters go to
Paris. We’ve been to Paris—for about three days total—and we were able to add
an event there within the book. I’m being super vague, but Hothouse hasn’t
released yet.
Krista- Many of the situations are related to our personal experiences. We’ve
been to Cancun and to a night club almost like the same one our characters go
to in Addicted for Now. In Addicted to You, Lily gets caught watching porn in
class. One of my greatest fears in college was to have some porn ad or pop-up
appear on my computer during class. It’s
little things like that that we try and weave into the books.
Who is your
publishing company? Who creates your cover art?
Becca- The Addicted series is self-published, so we
have total creative control, which is really nice. Krista designed the covers
of Hothouse Flower, Kiss the Sky, and Ricochet. Addicted to You and Addicted
for Now were designed by Icey Designs.
Krista- Love Icey Designs! She
creates some of the prettiest blog designs too.
Krista- We’re
currently working on Thrive (Addicted #2.5) and Addicted After All (Addicted
#3), the last two books in Lily & Lo’s POV in the Addicted series. And
we’re also finishing up a couple New Adult stand-alone novels that aren’t part
of the series.
Becca- Upcoming, we have another New Adult series
called the “Like Us” series. We’re going to talk more about it in April, but
Krista and I are really excited about it.
From all your novels written, which is your favorite?
Why?
Becca- This
is really hard! It’s like picking your favorite pet or child. I love them all
for completely different reasons. But I’m going to say Addicted to You is my
favorite for the pure fact that it started this journey for us. Without that
book, none of the others would exist :)
Krista- I’d probably choose Addicted to You for the
same reasons. But Kiss the Sky has a special place in my heart too. It was the
most challenging book we’ve ever written (with the most revisions and scraped
drafts). We really pushed ourselves with Kiss the Sky, and I think it shows in
the finished product.
Would you like to give a ‘shout out’ to your fan base?
Becca- We
have some of the most amazing fans! Without which, there’s no way we’d be able
to extend the series and keep it going. We can’t thank you all enough for
reading and reaching out to us on social media. We LOVE talking to you!
Krista- I hope you all know how special you are to us!
We wouldn’t be able to do what we love and continue doing it if it wasn’t for
all of you. Your support and readership is amazing and more than we could have
ever dreamed of. We’re so lucky to be at this point in our writing careers, and
we wouldn’t have made it here without any of you. ((HUGS))
Where can your fans
reach out to you?
Website - httritchie.com/p://kb
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/KBRitchie
Twitter – https://twitter.com/KBRitchie
Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/Krista-Ritchie/e/B00DEHIAO4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Pinterest
– http://www.pinterest.com/kbmritchie/
Tumblr – http://kbmritchie.tumblr.com/
I would like to thank Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie for stopping by my blog on their "Hothouse Flower" tour!
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