Author Highlight: Interview With Charlie Cochet

OMG! I’ve always wanted to interview Charlie Cochet. And I did!

A.O. Chika: Congrats on the Success of THIRDS series, I read a fanfic of it on A03 and decided to get the first two books in the series. Congrats again, on the release of your audiobooks and translations… You’re one of the first authors I know that has a Korean light novel.

As an aspiring author, I look up to you and hope to one day be as successful as you are.

The interview will cover two parts: the business part which focuses on you as an author and a businesswoman, and the LGBT part which focuses on your thoughts concerning issues the LGBT community is facing.

 

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BUSINESS

Q: You write exclusively gay romance, what made you choose that category instead of mainstream romance?

I have been reading and writing romance since I can remember, but it was only until a few years ago that I decided I wanted to do more, and began writing with the intention of getting published. I started out writing mainstream romance and still hope to one day publish that book that started it all, but as I was writing that book, I had an LGBT character that slowly started taking over the book, and I had to take a step back and figure out why. I started to do some research, and that’s when I realized there was a whole genre of gay romance I hadn’t even known existed. The more I read, the more I fell in love with the stories. I connected with them on so many levels, and that’s when I started to write my first gay romance The Auspicious Troubles of Chance.

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Q: THIRDS is a large series, the Worldbuilding and characters are massive and diverse. How did you create such an Immersive series? What gave you the idea and motivated you to keep at it?

When I was first published, I wrote mainly historical romance in the twenties and thirties, my favorite eras, but then I wrote a shifter story for the M/M romance Group’s Don’t Read in the Closet event. I had so much fun with that story that not only did it become a series, but I decided I wanted to write another shifter series. But I wanted it to be different from what was out there. I’m a big movie nerd, and I love action and suspense. I decided to write the kind of series I wanted to read, a kind of big nerdy action-packed movie/TV series with lots of characters who readers could fall in love with and have their favorites. I wanted it to be fun, a huge world that readers could get lost in for a while.

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At the time there’s been a lot of wolf shifters, but not a whole lot of big cat shifters. I then thought about the world these shifters would live in and asked myself “What would happen if shifters were a part of society? How would the world change?” Those questions had a snowball effect, and it lead to the creation of the THIRDS world. I knew I wanted the series to have a foundation of the real world with one twist: shifters and humans coexisting.

What kept me motivated was the characters and the world. I was having so much fun. Dex was unlike any character I had written, and I just had to see what he’d do next.

Q: This is a cliché question, but I have to ask, Who is your favorite author? What’s your favorite book(s)? Mine is Nora Sakavic’s All for the Game Trilogy

That’s a very difficult question. I have lots of favorite authors and books across many genres, and sub genres. I love talking books, and am always happy to share my favorites. There are many.   

Q: What book or series was the toughest to write?

Each book in the THIRDS series has been tough to write. With a series this long, there’s always the danger and fear that it will fizzle, and no one wants that for their series. I certainly didn’t want that for my boys. I wanted each book to be better than the one before it. I wanted to end the series with a bang. It’s especially hard when it’s a much anticipated pairing because there’s a lot of pressure, and you know you won’t be able to please anyone, so all you can do is write the best book you can. Some of the more emotional books to write were Smoke & Mirrors, Darkest Hour Before Dawn, and the final book in the series, Tried & True.

Q: How do you handle negative reviews?

I’d be lying if I said negative reviews aren’t tough, because so much of yourself goes into your books, but I’ve learned to separate the personal opinions from the constructive criticism. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and you’ll never be able to please everyone. Sometimes you have people who don’t care about hurting others, but I’ve learned to look past all that. I love hearing when readers enjoy a book, but I also pay attention to the constructive criticism, because if the same point keeps coming up in several reviews, then you know something is wrong, and then you can learn from that and improve on it. Writing is a craft you need to keep working at, and as an author I want to continue to grow and improve.

Q: You’d probably answer that all of your books are your favorite, but which of your books would you say is your favorite and why?

I’ll probably go with Hell & High Water because that’s the book that started it all. It was the beginning of an incredible journey for me, and thanks to that book I’ve met so many amazing folks, many of who are now some of my closest friends.

Q: You’ve written a lot of books, I’m SOOOO envious. How did you get into writing and publishing your books? What motivates you to continue writing?

I’ve been writing since I was very young. When I was a kid I used to make up my own stories and draw pictures to go with them. I wrote my first novel in high school, and continued wanting to tell stories. I’ve been reading romance since I was very young. I always loved writing, I just never imagined it was something I could do for a living. What motivates me is the characters and the stories. I start to develop these characters and lives, and it’s so exciting! I love being able to create these worlds.

Q: So, this is probably a weird question, but where do you see yourself in five years?

Hopefully, I will have grown even more as an author. I would love to make the New York Times Best Sellers List with one of my gay romances. That would be amazing. Really though, I just see myself writing, hopefully growing my audience, and continuing to tell new and exciting stories.

Q: What’s a day in the life of a successful author like? Lemme guess, weekly books and coffee parties