Author
Interview with Suki Fleet.
Cam:
Hi Suki!
Welcome to Smoocher's Voice. Thank you for joining us today.
Suki:
Hi Cam, thank
you for having me! J
Cam:
You've
recently published your first book through Harmony Ink, called This is Not a
Love Story. Congratulations! Can you tell us a little about the book?
Suki:
Thanks J Well, despite what the title says, it is a love story, a love story about two
homeless teenagers and their struggle to stay together and find a way off the
streets. My intention was for readers to see and feel everything through
Romeo’s eyes, all the good and all the bad.
Cam:
Why did you
decide to write lgbt Ya? And why about Homeless youth?
Suki:
Well, I guess
with this story I didn’t consciously set out to write YA, it just kind of
happened that these characters were young. A week before I discovered Harmony
Ink and submitted this story, I wasn’t actually aware there was a market for YA
LGBT stories at all outside of mainstream presses.
I’ve written
M/M romance for a number of years, mostly NA romance. But this story was
inspired by a homeless kid I saw crying in an alleyway in the town that I live
in. People were stepping over him and ignoring him as though he wasn’t there.
It broke my heart and it still breaks my heart to know that there are other
kids out there in the same situation. I wanted to write a happy ending for them,
an ending where they have a choice, because being on the streets takes away
every choice but the most basic ones.
Cam:
One of your
characters also has a disability, not being able to speak. Was it more
difficult to write a character with this sort of disability?
Suki:
Romeo
came into my head fully formed. I never plan or do character charts, most of
the time characters come to me as if they are real, three dimensional people
that I can imagine meeting and conversing with, so being mute is just the way
he is.
Some
characters are more difficult to write and it’s harder to hear their voice than
others (and this is something I’m not sure I’ll ever really know the reason
for) but Romeo has perhaps been the easiest character I’ve ever written. It was
everything that happened to him that was hard (emotionally anyway) to write.
Cam:
What sort of
research went into preparing to write this book?
Suki:
I didn’t have
to do a lot of research. My location was one I was very familiar with as I
lived in London for a number of years. And the struggles of someone who has
nothing was also something I could relate to.
The plight of
homeless teens has always been something which I’m deeply affected by.
Cam:
What's coming
next? What are you putting out next?
Suki:
I have a
contemporary M/M novella called Skeleton coming out with Dreamspinner in
Oct/Nov. That one is a lot sweeter and not so dark.
And I have
just finished a spin off to this story (about one of the secondary characters,
Crash, entitled Wild Summer).
Cam:
Where can
readers purchase your books or find you on social media?
Suki:
Media Links
BUY LINKS
Cam: I also want to mention that in
addition to the titles that Suki mentioned above she also has a recent release
as part of the M/M groups Don’t Read in the Closet Event: Love’s Landscapes. The
story is a free read called Metronomy and can be found here:
Thank you very much for Joining us
Suki!
Blurb:
When fifteen-year-old Romeo's mother leaves one day and doesn't return, he finds himself homeless and trying to survive on the streets. Mute and terrified, his silence makes him vulnerable, and one night he is beaten by a gang of other kids, only to be rescued by a boy who pledges to take care of him.Julian is barely two years older than Romeo. A runaway from an abusive home, he has had to make some difficult choices and sells himself on the street to survive. Taking care of Romeo changes him, gives him a purpose in life, gives him hope, and he tries to be strong and keep his troubles with drugs behind him. But living as they do is slowly destroying him, and he begins to doubt he can be strong enough.
This is the story of their struggle to find a way off the streets and stay together at all costs. But when events threaten to tear them apart, it is Romeo who must find the strength within himself to help Julian (and not let their love story turn into a Shakespearean tragedy)
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