Behind the Books – An Interview with J.R. Ward

The King: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood
<— It’s LIVE!!!! The KING is LIVE! My first The Black Dagger Brotherhood “love” is back again in all of his leather-clad bad-ass vampire king glory, and we get to indulge in him for hours on end, once again! 592 pages, my friends!!! Allllllll HAIL the KING!!!!!!

New to the Black Dagger Brotherhood? I’ve written a post this weekend, just for you, entitled: J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood ROCKS my world… and it will rock yours, too! Do yourself a favor and read this article and then read this series. We absolutely LOVE this series, and I just know… if you love true bad-ass alpha males like we do, you’ll LOVE it, too

Heidi: Maryse! How good is black dagger brotherhood? I haven’t started yet either!

Kim: OMG if you haven’t started this series DO IT NOW I’m not a huge paranormal fan but this series totally sucked me in!!!!!

Maryse’s Book Blog: Heidi… How good??!!! HOW GOOOOOOD???!!!!! GAH!!! Soooooooooooooo AH-MAZING!!!!!!!! That’s HOW good. Oh yes…. I am IN LOVE with these guys BIG time, and have been for YEARS now. My #1 guy ever is from this series, and this is one of my main #1 FAVORITE series in the world. That…. is how good.

Danielle: I am sooo excited for The King. These books are like crack! I have to agree with you they are def re -reads! If anyone has yet to dive into them now is the time. I have goosebumps just waiting for midnight. Read these books ladies you will not be dissapointed. My fav character is Revhenge…love him so sexy!!!!!!

Tricia: I’ve read that set 7 or times. Every time a new one is scheduled to come out, I start reading the set again until the new one comes out. She is one of my fave authors and that is the best set ever!!!

Heidi: Consider me sold! THANKS LADIES. YAYYYY NEW BOYSSS!!!

Allaina: I think everyone kinda goes through that manic excitement when they discover the black dagger brotherhood lol

Laura Kaye: Ah, I just love when a newbie starts reading the BDB! LOL

See? Even our favorite authors are addicted to these guys!

But before I start reading, how about an INTERVIEW with the fabulous author herself, J.R. Ward! THE WARDen, here on little ol’ me’s book blog. The author. My favorite author, that brought me “Zsadist”, the book-love of my life. Here!!! And on THE KING’s release day, no less.

*thud* <— whoops.  I think I just fainted. I keep doing that. Too much fangirl-hypeventilating. 😉

*rubs hands together with glee*

Maryse: Welcome, J.R. Ward! I’m so thrilled to speak with you today about my very favorite bad-ass males in the whole world. I know you’ll be having a VERY exciting day today, and I’m honored that you took the time to come and speak with us about your males of worth! How did the The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series come to you? What was your inspiration for Wrath’s original story?

J.R. Ward: First of all, thank you for having me!  And there was no inspiration.  Wrath just showed up in my head, barged everything else out of the way, and was like, You’re writing about me.  Naturally, because I’m not stupid, I said, Yes, sir, may I have another – and the Brotherhood appeared!  I had the first ten books sketched out in two weeks.  It was unparalleled.

Maryse: *sigh* Lucky woman!! I don’t blame you one bit. I’d accommodate Wrath’s big bossy self, anytime. ;). It In the BDB world, the danger of giving birth is high with shellans, and we know Wrath is already against putting Beth through this (even though she desperately wants to have a child with him). I can imagine his reaction to Beth’s insistence on having a baby is going to hurt him, and her, which in turn will hurt us bad, too, won’t it?

J.R. Ward: You know, true love can exist in the real world, but it means that even the closest couples sometimes are at odds.  What I love about the BDB series is that the HEAs in it are subject to the same rules as regular life – couples disagree, and when it’s something like having children, that conflict can test even the strongest of emotional bonds.  Guess this is a long-winded way of saying – yes, this hurts.  This whole thing between them hurts, mostly, I believe, because neither one of them is “wrong.”  You’ll see that, yes, Wrath’s delivery SUCKS, but his position is not unreasonable given the risks to his mate. And Beth’s desire for a baby is a perfectly natural, normal thing, that, for a lot of women, once it kicks in is hard to ignore or put off.  I think what makes The King compelling is what they do about this fundamental disagreement.

Maryse: I love that you keep them real. They continue to “live” their real lives, and deal with real-life issues, and we get to be right there with them, every step of the way.

Once upon a time, I read that your favorite brother was (is?) Zsadist. He is absolutely my #1 hero of all time (and has been for years). I couldn’t believe my luck when we got to explore this angry male’s world, via the eyes of a girl that felt just like us. Hesitant yet undeniably attracted to him despite his vehement insistence that she leave him alone. Can you tell me what it was like to write his and her story? Is there anything you can tell us about Z that we don’t already know? A “Z” secret perhaps?

J.R. Ward: Z is, hands down, my favorite hero of all time.  But writing his story nearly killed me.  In fact, I have reread all of the books in the series except for LOVER AWAKENED.  I just can’t go there.  That book, of the twenty-five or so I’ve written, is the one that got to me the most – I cried all the way through drafting it, editing it, copyediting it and reviewing the galleys.  I wrote that book how long ago?  And I’m STILL wrung out lol.  So, yup, that’s how it was to write him.  As for secrets, I don’t have any I can really share.  Well… except I’d LOVE to write Nalla’s love story  – just because, holy hell, Z is going to be ON FIRE if she ever comes home with a male!

Maryse: Oh PLEASE YES!!! Nalla’s story. I would swoooooon like crazy, all over again, for an over-protective “Z”. *sigh* And boy… do we readers experience that extreme emotion, too. I love to feel deeply when I read (from absolute angst and pain to sweet elation). In fact, Z’s book is the one I DO re-read, because I can “feel” him (and Bella’s connection to him) so deeply. You’ve revisited both Zsadist, and now another upcoming book about Wrath (P.S. Both of them are my favorite brothers). Considering how much we are attached to the original “crew,” which of the other brothers can we expect to “live with,” again?

J.R. Ward: Rhage and Mary!  Absolutely—I have a short story on them and their road to having a child of their own 😀

Maryse: Woooooooohooooo!! *claps* Another favorite brother!! YAY US!! 😀 Have any of your books or scenes affected your personally? Emotionally while writing it, and after you were finished?

J.R. Ward: Well, here’s the thing with me.  I’m just the first reader, really.  These stories download into my head and my job is to record them on the page as effectively as I can – it’s like going to see a movie and then having to describe it to your friends?  So the bottom-line is, if I’m not affected by the story, the people, the scenes, why would anyone else feel something?  And let’s face it, people read my books to feel things – or they’d be buying another kind of story or doing something else with their time.  While drafting, I better be going HOLY SH*Tballs, and OMG!, and Whhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaa – or I’m doing it wrong.

Maryse: Wow, that’s a really fun way to describe your writing process, and I totally get that! We DO read to feel and we want to feel it all (the good and the bad), and your “BDB crew” sure delivers! You’ve mentioned in past interviews and chats that your characters dictate the story, and that they have even surprised you! It must be an emotional experience living with these guys in your head while attempting to release them in your writing. What is that like? Are you surprised by what you hear when they start talking to you?

J.R. Ward: LOL what is surprising is when I’m at a dinner party or at a basketball game or trying to talk to a buddy – and then all of the sudden, the world recedes and I’m sucked into a scene.  Kind of embarrassing, but at least everyone’s used to it!  My husband can tell I’m really into a book when I start walking around like a zombie and putting the Reynolds wrap in the refrigerator (cuz yeah, it needs to go there *rolls eyes.*)  As for the people dictating the story?  Long ago, I learned to shut up, keep my opinions to myself, and let sh*t roll.  If I try to change anything, the pictures stop and the voices shut up and I’m left with nothing.  That’s why, although I certainly respect readers’ opinions and hopes about the future of the series, I’m kind of hog-tied.  These stories do what they do and even I don’t get to change it lol!

Maryse: I love that you go with the flow. It makes the “getting there” that much more exciting. It’s fun to anticipate, but it’s even more fun to be sidetracked by an unexpected twist (or a life-like situation). Makes every story that much more surprising, and that much more tangible in the grand scheme of things (even with the paranormal aspect).

I’m thrilled that we were afforded Blay and Qhuinn’s highly anticipated and super-intense love story. Are you surprised at how receptive and enthusiastic female readers are over the M/M romance genre?

J.R. Ward: You know, honestly, I think the thing that was most awesome about the response to that book… was the non-reaction.  A large number of readers read it and liked it just because it was simply a love story about two characters they were invested in.  And that’s a fantastic commentary about where the market and the world have evolved to.  Do we have further to go?  Sure.  But like Macklemore says, it’s a good place to start.

Maryse: It sure is! 🙂 We are simply addicted to love, and I fell for them, as they fell for each other. Do you have any crazy/funny/surprising fan reactions you’d like to share?

J.R. Ward: I don’t know if this counts as a reaction, but I had a reader show up in a wheelchair in ACTIVE labor to a signing!  It was crazy!  I was like, Girl, WTF!  (&*%^$%^*^!!!  I’ve mentioned this before – but that was by far the most extreme I’ve ever seen 😀  (Well, except for the lady who left her husband out in the car for the signing… which would have been okay, but for the fact she’d JUST PICKED HIM UP FROM THE HOSPITAL AFTER SURGERY.  But I digress!)  She was SUCH a doll – next signing, she brought her beautiful, healthy baby with her in her arms!  I was so happy for her!