Lucia Omonobi’s Interview With Peter Oshoke on her Debut Series.

Question: What inspired the Fated Hearts Series?
Lucia: The Fated Hearts Series was inspired firstly by my love for the historical romance sub-genre. I’ve been reading lots of historical romance over the last couple of years and though I’d mostly been writing contemporary books then, I decided I wanted to debut with historical romance. Secondly, I was inspired by an article I read about the French colonization experiment with Louisiana in the 1700s. As I mentioned in the author’s note, I wanted to use this as a backstory but also wanted complete creative freedom hence I decided to create a fictional world.

Question: What is the Fated Hearts Series about?
Lucia: The Fated Hearts series tells the stories of different characters who find themselves in unique situations that bring them together. In the series, we follow these characters on their different journeys in the fictional world of Eurae. They face lots of challenges that threatens them individually and as couples. In Book One, we follow Andrew and Leah on this journey and in Book Two, we continue with Nino and Alia.

Question: What did you learn about yourself when writing the first two books in the series?
Lucia: I learned many things but two stood out the most. When writing Winds Of Fate and Hands Of Fate, I realized that I can be pretty resilient and also quick to learn new things. Writing books when working a full time job with other responsibilities at home was very tough and stressful but somehow I managed to finish and publish both books. I didn’t think much of this then but now, I wonder how I managed it. Also, I’ve never written a historical fantasy book before but I think I got it well enough at the first try :)

Question: Where did you get the inspiration for the book titles?
Lucia; The way the characters in all the books meet is quite unusual. If you’ve read WOF and HOF you may understand what I mean. It can only be Fate that would bring two people together in such ways. This inspired the titles.

Question: Did you experience any difficulties when working on the series?
Lucia: I sure did. As I mentioned, I didn’t have as much time as I would have preferred. I had so many responsibilities so I had to use every spare second to write. It got overwhelming sometimes, but I’m a feverish writer and can’t stop until I finish haha. Also, when writing, I tend to lock myself up in my head hence I lose touch with friends and family in the process. This also comes with a feeling of guilt. Now that I’m taking a break before going on to the next book though, I’m catching up with loved ones and mending my relationships :)

Question: What impact do you want the books to have on the audience?
Lucia: I want Winds Of Fate to remind readers that with Hard work, honesty, kindness and determination, we can achieve anything. And I hope HOF shows that courage, honesty and strength can help us overcome every adversary.

Question: Who are your target audience for the series?
Lucia: Romance readers but more specifically historical romance readers. I understand this series is a mixture of genres but I went into it hoping to create a historical romance so historical romance readers are my main target audience. However, I wouldn’t mind having a new set of audience that love this combination of historical romance and fantasy :)

Question: Will there be a book three?
Lucia: Honestly, this depends very much on how the audience receives Book 2. This is because Book 3 is to be set fully in the Capital and not Luctown. Since the characters in Book 2 travel to the Capital for a while, I would love to see how readers feel about exploring more of Eurae. While I would definitely be writing book 3, the reception would determine if I will publish it :)

Winds of Fate and Hands Of Fate from the Fated Hearts series are both available for purchase on Amazon and Kobo Books.