Meet C.J. Roberts, Author Interview and giveaway!

 
A few months ago, I ran across Captive in the Dark, by C.J. Roberts.  While it's not the normal BDSM erotica book, I found myself too curious and had to read it.  I was simply blown away by the writing, and while the story is very dark, I simply couldn't put it down.  C.J. Roberts has a stunning way with words, and her storytelling.  She also writes Erotica shorts under the name Jennifer Roberts. I have had the pleasure of chatting with Mrs. Roberts, and found that she is a real sweetie, and funny too.  She agreed to do this interview with me so I am very excited to welcome the beautiful and talented C.J. Roberts.

Rhonda: C.J. I am very excited to have you here today. (Contains “fan girl” self)  Would you tell us a little about yourself, and when you decided to become a writer?

C.J. - You crack me up, Rhonda. “Fan girl”…indeed, lol. About me? The truth is I’m sort of weird. Or at least, I started out that way. Nah – still weird, but I embrace it now.

I grew up the oldest of seven children in a mostly-single parent home. I saw my father in the summers and on holidays. My mother struggled to raise us herself, and though we went without certain comforts from time to time, we were always rich in love.

I always felt like an outsider though. I didn’t grow up in the best neighborhood and I felt like the people outside my front door were foreign to me. My interests revolved around theatre, movies, TV, music, and books. I got made fun of a lot.

My mom encouraged me though, and I applied to better schools outside my district; my middle school was a performing arts magnet, in HS I was the president of the Thespian Society. I felt more at home there in some ways, but less so in others. Suddenly, I was surrounded by people with more money, more social standing, and more access to ‘the outside world’, and it was difficult to fit in sometimes.

So, be it at home or at school – I was always the odd one. To get through, I wrote in my journal a lot. I studied people. I kept acting and singing. You’d be surprised how easy it is to become someone else, when you don’t know who you are.

Over time I grew thicker skin; I became stronger, funnier, wittier, and smarter – probably meaner, too. In time, I became someone people wanted to follow, instead of the person always looking in on others.

But to answer your question simply: I didn’t become a writer – I’ve just always been. However, I will add that with practice I’ve gotten better and even now, I know I can still improve.

Rhonda: I am going to be honest; I don’t read much erotica because most of them tend to lack a good story.  I was intrigued by the synopsis of your book “Captive in the Dark” and decided to pick it up.  I have read some erotica involving BDSM, but they have usually involved a sex club and introducing a woman to the lifestyle as the premise.  This book was very different; in fact it didn’t involve clubs at all.  Was Captive always the story it is today, or did it evolve as you were writing? 

C.J. - Captive definitely evolved.  It evolved with me. It was my dumping ground, the place I went to get things out of my head, to escape from things, or just to laugh. At the time, I had never intended anyone to read it.

I was tired about reading books that revolved around a formula. I was tired of reading about ‘bad boys’ who weren’t really bad or messed up people who really weren’t. But I think I mostly wanted to read about a fucked up person, falling in love with another fucked up person. Probably because, at the time, I thought I was messed up and no one would ever ‘get’ me.

So I envisioned the most fucked up couple I possibly could. LOL

Rhonda: “Captive in the Dark” is a really dark story, what was your experience like in writing this book?

C.J.- This is a super hard question and the answer is complex. It was emotional. It was liberating. It was scary and disturbing. It was my guilty pleasure (I hear Charles Dickens in my head right now =P).

Like any piece of writing that comes from your imagination – it reveals things about you. Some of what Captive revealed to me I enjoyed and some of it I didn’t. That’s all I can really say.

Rhonda: Now for Caleb, our unconventional hero of the story.   Caleb is so tortured from his past and also with his present.  He is always dealing with conflict within himself, whether from his past, his loyalty to the man who saved him, or his feelings for Livvie that he doesn’t understand.  What inspired his character?

C.J. - Shit, where to begin! Caleb is a combination of people. He’s the devil that tempts us into doing horrible things. He’s the conscience that keeps us from doing the unspeakable. He’s everybody.

If I say any more, this is going to get very boring and metaphysical. Someday when we’ve split about eight bottles of wine – I’ll hold nothing back. I’ll go full nerd on your ass Rhonda, FULL NERD!

Rhonda: C.J. there were times I found it really difficult to be in Livvie’s head.  The fact that she is so young did add to the difficulty, but you wrote her so smart, and having suffered mental abuse from her mother and the life she had lived basically made her wise beyond her years,  so there were times when I forgot she was so young.  Livvie is written in the first person POV, what was it like to write her??

C.J. - This is my first novel – ever. I don’t have any manuscripts sitting in my house. I mention this because I feel that if you were to read any author’s first work (not first published) you will find that there is a lot of reflection in the work – more honesty. Seduced in the Dark is already very different from Captive.

I tend to be very introspective, always have been. So in a way, Livvie was the easiest to write, but by far, she was less fun to write. Writing her reconnected me to old angst. Old insecurity.

CJ (Forrest) Gump says: “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Rhonda: How did you come up with such a dark story?

My mind is a very dark place to be sometimes. I thought I’d publish and invite others into the fray.

Help me!

I’m stuck in here.

Won’t you come in and turn on the light?

Nom nom nom nom!

You have been eaten by a grue.

 Thank You C.J. for sharing with us today, and I look forward to more from you, whether it's the next Novel... Which I can't wait for!! Or chatting, and I hope you'll visit again soon!  

Coming 2012         

Seduced in the Dark    

Dark Duet book 2    

To Learn more about C.J Roberts:

About C.J Roberts

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Captive in the Dark review 

 C.J Roberts is giving a-way one E-book copy of her novel "Captive in the Dark" in any ebook format to one lucky winner. And I'm going to spruce things up and add another copy to give-away. Two copies! Let's see who are two lucky winners will be.

Please fill out the Rafflecopter Below. And good Luck to everyone! Thanks for Stopping by.

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