Meet Heidi Belleau

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write. She has a degree in history from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. (Ask her about Highlanders!) When not writing, you might catch her trying to explain British television to her daughter or standing in line at the local coffee shop, waiting on her caramel macchiato.

Julie: Welcome, Heidi. Why don’t you start us off by telling us how you discovered/decided you wanted to become a writer?

Heidi: I’ve just always loved telling stories. I’m one of those people who is always coming up with these elaborate (okay, sometimes exaggerated) tales from my own life, and that same flair for drama carries into my fiction. Even before I could write, I was dictating stories to my father to write down so I could illustrate them. Of course, those stories were about unicorns who lived behind a magical waterfall, not erotic gay urban fantasy and thrillers. . .

Julie: What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?

Heidi: If you asked me this a few years ago, I’d say I was a seat-of-the-pants writer. However, I would always peter out trying to tie my stories together, get overwhelmed by the complexity of the story, and then give up. My frequent co-author Violetta Vane, who is much more of a planner, taught me some skills that I’ve carried into my solo work, and now I plan everything and am much better at getting a handle on my imagination.

Julie: If you were going to cast the hero of your book, what actor would get the part?

Heidi: Well, in my current WIP Rear Entrance Video that’s contracted with Riptide Publishing, the main character is a gawky mixed-race guy named Christian. In my head, he’s like a more awkward and slightly lighter-skinned version of the very gorgeous male model Ty Ogunkoya: http://models.com/work/esquire-uk-how-to-wear-denim (in the center here)

Julie: I know you’re not supposed to show favoritism but who’s been your favorite character to write?

Heidi: That would have to be a tie between King Finnbheara, from The Druid Stone (Carina) and Felix from Mark of the Gladiator (Riptide). Both of them are a bit similar in that they’re tricksters with flairs for drama, with dialogue that’s always fun to write. Finnbheara of course is an otherworldly immortal so he has an extra layer of unpredictability that makes him very fun, but Felix has this wonderful hidden humanity and vulnerability behind his games that makes him equally compelling. So I love them both!

Julie: Do you have a favorite TV show you can’t miss?

Heidi: Yes! I obsessively tune in for Once Upon a Time and Doctor Who. I love the camp and the sense of the fantastic, and Once’s cast of compelling female characters, and Doctor Who’s timey-wimey (as we Whovians say) approach to time travel as a plot device.

Julie: If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why?

Heidi: Oh mm, that’s a tough one! It’s one thing to like a man in fiction and quite another to like him enough to actually date him. I’d probably gel best with Kalani from Hawaiian Gothic, but since he and Ori are Soulmates with a capital S, I could never come between them!

Julie: Please share with us some juicy details about your latest release.

Heidi: I’ve actually got two October releases! The first is the first episode of the thriller serial I’m writing with Rachel Haimowitz, The Flesh Cartel, which readers are treating like some kind of particularly cruel and demented game of “truth or dare.” Rachel and I have really enjoyed writing this, in the sense that it’s definitely challenging us as writers because the characterization is so intricate and we want to do the subject justice.

And then I have a self-published work with Violetta Vane, the erotic short Galway Bound all about boyfriends Cormac and Sean experimenting with bondage for the first time on their anniversary. It’s definitely got its fair share of kink, but it’s also a sweet, fluffy story. Perfect for readers who like a bit of pain and denial but also want to see real affection between Dom and sub.

Julie: Well thank you Heidi for stopping by and answering my questions.

Coming Soon

The Flesh Cartel #2: Auction, Riptide Publishing

Mark of the Gladiator, Riptide Publishing

Rear Entrance Video: The Roommate (working title), Riptide Publishing

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