Author Interview – M.D LaBelle
Helen: Welcome. Tell us a little about your latest book in the Paranormal Romance Defiant collection, May I Please?
M.D LaBelle: The current book that I am working on is May I Please? It is the second in the Defiant Collection. The first being May I Alpha?
It is a paranormal romance that has its own unique twists and turns. In the first book I introduced a new concept, past lives and that each werewolf remembers all of them as if in a dream. They can use this to enhance the lives they are living and hopefully stop bad things from happening again.
However, Anastasia is a human in this lifetime, which causes all kinds of troubles for the two of them. In the second book, their troubles compound and Alexander must realize that she may never be fully tamed no matter how hard he tries. After all, wild things are not meant to be restrained.
Helen: What were your thoughts behind your cover? The couple are the same so the same characters must flow through the collection.
M.D LaBelle: Paranormal romance is always magical, and this is a romance, so I placed the man and the woman in the clouds holding each other, with a moon behind them. The sayings always come directly from the books. I picked purple this time for the second book so you can distinguish between the first and the second. The first book has a blue cover.
Helen: How did you come up with your title?
M.D LaBelle: May I Alpha? And May I Please? I named it that, because there is a BDSM element to it with the Domineering man trying his hardest to dominate over the beautiful woman and how she is willing to do this because she loves him.
Helen: What made you write this particular book?
M.D LaBelle: With every book, I write them because I have vivid dreams. I am writing this one now because the first book went over so well, and the story is not fully completed. The first book did have an ending, but the story was so loved that the readers begged for me to continue Anastasia and Alexander’s story on.
Helen: It is so wonderful when your readers engage with the characters and want more! When did you realise you had a passion for writing?
M.D Labelle: I have always loved to read horror novels, but when I was 12, I wrote a horror story and won the Young Author’s Award. It is published in a collaboration called The Who’s Who of America and it was from the 1980’s. For years I forgot about writing until I graduated from Central Michigan University with an art degree. Then I became pregnant and wrote a children’s book. It was never published because while I was still pregnant with my oldest daughter, a drunk driver hit me, and I lost all those memories and so much more.
For years after learning how to walk again, I was in so much pain that I didn’t do much of anything, except for watch over my children. However, one night when they were old enough to go to school, I had a vivid dream that turned into something else. I decided it was time to write again but I had never thought to publish it because I didn’t think it was good enough for anyone else, let alone to sell.
After a time, my family pushed me to publish and then I found an inexpensive way through KDP. It took a year or two before I ever did, but in April 2021, I published on my own. The first time someone bought my book, and it wasn’t a family member, I was ecstatic. So, then I began to think that just maybe I had a calling. From then on, I wrote a book and then published it.
Now, I have over 44 novels, and novellas published on all the major online bookstores, and even on my own eBook store within 2 years. I also have them in several physical stores, plus I do a lot of book signings, and other events where I sell my signed author copies, and my merchandise. I am proud to say that at least one of my books has sold well over a million copies between paid web novel platforms, bookstores, online bookstores, in person book signings and my own website at https://www.mdlabelle.com
Helen: That is fantastic, congratulations on your success. You are such a prolific writer, I can’t belive you’ve published 40+ books in two years! Quite amazing. Which genre do you typically write and why.
M.D LaBelle: I am a multi genre author. I have novels in horror, fantasy, erotica, thriller, romance in various genres and tropes such as dark romance, CEO romance, paranormal romance, also young adult fiction, and children’s fiction.
Helen: Who inspired you to write? Who are your favourite authors?
M.D LaBelle: Of course, authors like Anne Rice, Danielle Steele, Koontz, and King filled my head as a young child, so it is only fitting that I would love to write about horror.
Helen: I know this can be a tricky question, but who is your favourite character from your book?
M.D LaBelle: I would have to say Anastasia because she is both sassy and independent. She knows what she wants and has a mind of her own, but she also has so much to learn.
Helen: If your Main Character could answer, why would they say we should read your book?
M.D LaBelle: Anastasia would say that “You should read this sizzling hot paranormal romance because it is sinfully delicious, has a one-of-a-kind story line and always delivers in a world where most stories are no longer original.
Helen: Which element of the writing process do you find most challenging and why?
M.D LaBelle: I must mention the fact that there are not nearly enough hours in a day for all my ideas. I constantly have ideas popping into my head. As a matter of fact, I have well over a hundred planned in the next several years and I will have at least 50 done by the end of this year.
Helen: It is quite amazing how many books you’ve written. How do you come up with all the ideas for your books?
M.D LaBelle: Like I said in an earlier question, I often have vivid dreams that I take them from. They often are like movies, but I also will see a picture and a story instantly forms in my head or if I hear a song that stirs up an emotion. That is when my thoughts go rogue and develop stories. One, I have written up the blurb, made a cover and the storyline summed up because my niece used to be a kickboxer. It spurred a story in my mind that I have yet to publish.
Helen: Let’s talk a little about your writing process. What resources do you find most useful when writing?
M.D LaBelle: I would have to say that the most useful keys are Microsoft Word and the second Canva. I use both every day, but without Word, I would not be able to write quite so effortlessly.
Helen: What is the most useful piece of writing advice you’ve received, and by whom?
M.D LaBelle: To not pay attention to reviews and not take them at heart, because they are for the readers not for the authors. They are not to make us better as writers, but to direct the reader to buy or not what is good in a book or could use some work.
Helen: That is great advice, thank you for sharing. Do you listen to music when you write, if so, what do you listen to and why?
M.D LaBelle: I used to listen to music when I first started to write but quickly realized that my mind worked quite a bit faster when I could hear the words of the story in my head, not the music. It only served to slow me down.
Helen: Research can be a bit of a time consumer. Do you find you have to do much for your books?
M.D LaBelle: If it is something I don’t know about, I read about it first. For instance, I didn’t know anything about werewolf romance novels, so I read a few when I first started writing so I understood the myths and how they treated each group, but I still added my own elements and made a completely different storyline.
Helen: Are you a pantser or a planner? Do you write free form, or do you have a framework you stick to?
M.D LaBelle: I never plan anything. My fingers lead and I follow. As I write, I often will go in a completely different direction than I had intended to, and it is always more interesting and fantastical that way.
Helen: What is the best thing that has happened to you since you began writing?
M.D LaBelle: I have won two international competitions, awards, and have been #1 on the Amazon Bestsellers list so many times that I have lost count with numerous novels in varying genres. I also have been in the top 5 of Kobo and other bookstores for at least 2 books. However, when I sold over a million copies of The Luna’s Mate: The Alpha King, I realized that dreams really could come true if you try hard enough. Even if it seems that the odds are against you and insurmountable.
Helen: I am so excited to hear of your success. It gives other writers’ hope that they can succeed as well. What advice would you give new writers?
M.D LaBelle: Never give up. If you feel like quitting, just remember that you wanted to do this and that everything worth doing is hard.
Helen: How do you fit your writing into your everyday life?
M.D LaBelle: I have teens, so when they go to school, I write. For a year and a half, I was writing 24/7 but it took a toll on my body and mind, so I have slowed down and fit it in around the rest of my life. Plus, I write really fast and then edit each chapter after I write it.
Helen: What is your favorite book and why do you like it so much?
M.D LaBelle: I love them all. Each one is so different that I could never pick, but if I had to pick, I would say The Lake because it is everything in a book that I love to read. It has suspense, mystery, horror, thriller, and it develops the characters and the storyline completely. It leaves you guessing until the very end how it will turn out. Plus, I love creature features.
Helen: It has been a pleasure chatting with you. Was there anything anecdotal you wanted to share before we finish?
M.D. LaBelle: Ironically, when someone says you need to find your reader base, you need to listen because it is entirely true. At first, when I had written the dark romance Just Love Me, I could not get anyone to read it. But once I found my target audience, it spread like wildfire and everywhere I look in those specific groups, readers are recommending it.
Helen: Thank you so much for spending time with me today and congratulations on your writing success. It is is wonderful to meet someone rocking the Indie Publishing world! Just to close us out, one final question. Do you have any advice to overcome self-doubt?
M.D LaBelle: I had never really had too much of a problem with it because I was always writing. That is until this summer. I wrote in a new sub-genre, dark romance. I have what I know to be a wonderfully written dark romance series of novellas. They were meant to be a fragment of a split personality female serial killer’s life. However, some could not wrap their head around it because they did not understand that she suffered from split personality disorder. It was a big twist, so I didn’t want to just come out and say it in advertisements. I guess I had thought that the reader could figure it out by what I said in the book, but I was wrong in a few cases. It hurt because my ratings suffered.
Also, it was fast paced because I wanted to make it different from everything else out there right now. Now mind you I do have many absolutely wonderful 5- and 4-star reviews from those of my readers who did understand, but then I also received a few 1 and 2’s from those who didn’t. When I started to get 1- and 2-star ratings, it really made me start to question myself and my ability to write. I had thought in the beginning that it would be possible to make it another #1 Bestselling series, but the damage had already been done because now readers see those 1 and 2’s and how it brought down my average.
I am lucky to have a wonderful husband who is always backing me and pushing me towards the next book, otherwise I would have quit and never wrote the rest of my stories.
About the Author
M.D LaBelleM.D. LaBelle is an international, award-winning, bestselling author from Mount Pleasant, Michigan, with numerous novels that hit #1 on the best-selling charts on Amazon. She has won two awards in the last year. Also, she is an author of several different sub genres of romance, dark romance, erotica, horror, thriller, fantasy, youth horror and children’s books. She currently has over 48 of her novels on all the online bookstores and her own. Her presence is all over the internet in social media under her pen name. The Lake: The Complete Special Edition can be purchased in store at Barnes & Noble physical locations, but the rest of her works can be found anywhere books are sold.
Contact M.D. LaBelle via her Website or on social:
InstagramAmazonPurchase May I Alpha? via Amazon:
Amazon UK: ebook
Amazon US: ebook
As an Amazon Associate I may benefit from purchases made using these links.
If you enjoy fantasy books with a touch of romance then you will love SoulBreather, or my epic fantasy Sentinal series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey.
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