Interview with Charlie Cochet, Author of the THIRDS + Giveaway

I am finally back from my vacation (best vacation ever, Sarajevo I miss you so!), and just in time to share with you my Q&A with the marvelous Charlie Cochet, author of the THIRDS, North Pole City Tales, A Little Bite of Love series and the newly released novella, Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts. 

TNL: Hi Charlie! Thank you so much for agreeing to answer my many, many questions. I’m having a major fangirl moment right now, I just hope I’ll manage to be coherent as opposed to just rambling excitedly and wasting this opportunity to pick your brain. 

CC: Aw, thank you so much for having me! It’s such a treat to be here. Ask away!

TNL: It’s been just over a year since Hell & High Water was first released. You’ve published four more THIRDS books since then and there’ve been other books in between, so it’s safe to say it’s been a pretty intense year. Did you learn any new things about yourself during that time? How much did your life actually change?

CC: Everything’s changed, in a good way. Hell & High Water officially kicked off my full-time writing career, and it’s been non-stop since. At the time, I had an idea what it might be like as far as the workload, yet at the same time had no clue. I was already aware of certain aspects of writing full-time, but until the THIRDS series started releasing and I was faced with a full schedule of writing, editing, promoting, marketing, conferences, workshops, and everything else under the sun, I had no idea how intense it would actually be. 

I’ve learned how incredibly important it is to multi-task. I’ve always been good at it, but this required a whole other level of multi-tasking. I also learned that anything and everything that can pop up while you’re trying to make a deadline will. Like any writer going full-time for the first time, I was pretty terrified (still am!), it’s only been a year, so there’s no telling what happens next, but I hope to give it my all.

TNL: Did you ever expect the THIRDS to be such a huge success?

CC: Not at all. I mean, before the THIRDS I’d mostly had historical releases and Christmas novellas. I knew I’d be branching out and that if I was going to have a series that helped me get my name out there, that this would be it. I decided I was going to put everything I had behind it, but mostly I wanted to create something fun. I wanted to create this big world readers could lose themselves in, a series with lots of different possibilities with lots of fun extras for readers, a big cast so readers could have their favorites. I had no idea it would become what it has. In fact when Susan65 from The Blogger Girls read Hell & High Water and told me it was going to be big, with groups and fans, I thought she was just being kind. I couldn’t imagine it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. 

TNL: You have a very strong online presence and a very active community of fans, THIRDS Nerds (SO proud to be one, btw). You are one of the very few authors who give back to their fans tenfold, and I’m not just talking about THIRDS Thursdays. Whose idea were THIRDS Nerds and how did they (we) come to be?

CC: Thank you so much! The THIRDS Nerds are such an amazing group of folks! I had readers message me both on Goodreads and Facebook asking if I was going to create a group. I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know how many folks were interested in having a group for the THIRDS, especially since Hell & High Water had just been released, but they volunteered to create the groups and moderate, so I was over the moon and said sure! I thought about a name for the group and of course Dex was the first thing that came to mind and he is such an adorkable nerd, so I went with THIRDS Nerds and created the graphics for it. Both groups now have reached over 400 members each and it’s just amazing. They’re incredibly supportive, creative, and friendly. They post videos, pictures, chat, and have just made this all such an amazing experience.

TNL: Partnerships are very strong in Destructive Delta. The bonds between partners are practically sacred. Could you, at this point, imagine any of them being partnered with somebody else and how would that work?

CC: I can’t imagine any of the Destructive Delta crew partnered with anybody else. They could probably be switched around, and often—depending on what danger they’re facing—end up fighting alongside someone who’s not their partner. Like Ash and Sloane fighting together, or Dex and Cael. That’s happened throughout the series. But taking one out and putting them on a different team, I don’t think they’d like that. But they can definitely work well with each other. Of course each team member has a special skillset, and depending on their species, some of them can’t really swap within their team. So Letty and Rosa couldn’t suddenly switch places because Rosa is Recon and medical support while Letty is Defense. Also Rosa and Ash would not do well together at all. Letty, Calvin, and Dex are all Human, so they could potentially shift, though can you imagine Dex and Ash as partners? Yeah, it’s probably best they stick to their current partners. :D

TNL: Could you share with us some fun fact or lesser known inside info about the THIRDS? You ARE the person to ask, after all. 

CC: The THIRDS world is about to expand. For those who’ve already read Against the Grain, you can probably guess what I’m talking about. Although no definite books are planned as of yet in this new development—since we’re still in the middle of the initial series—I have notes and potential MC’s for me to revisit any time. It was always going to be a part of the THIRDS world, but nothing I was going to jump into right away, so it’ll be fun to see what happens with that. 

TNL: Okay, and here are a few short ones:

Favorite character.

That is SO hard. I love each one for different reasons, so I couldn’t pick one absolute favorite. But one of my top favorites is Dex. He’s just so much fun to write.

Favorite character NOT written by you.

Oh no! Just one? That’s impossible! I have so many favorite characters across so many different
genres. For M/M Romance, how about three of my favorites? Prophet from S.E. Jakes’s Hell or High Water series, Cole McGinnis from Rhys Ford’s Cole McGinnis series, Whyborne from Jordan L. Hawks’smWhyborne& Griffin series. Oh and Victor Bayne from Jordan Castillo Price’s PsyCop series. Sorry, that’s four. See what happens when you ask me unanswerable questions! LOL.

How many bags of Cheetos and Cheez Doodles can Dex eat in a single day?

As many as it takes before he passes out or Sloane wrestles them away from him.

Favorite music while you write.

It depends on what kind of scene I’m writing. If it’s an action scene, I need something fast paced and pumped. If I’m plotting or working things out, nothing with lyrics that’s new or it’ll interrupt my flow. Usually film soundtracks.

You’re a movie geek like Dex, so favorite movie scene.

That’s like asking me my favorite characters. I adore movies. They’re what I turn to when I’m having a rough day or need cheering up. I have a lot of classic 80s movies. One of my favorite scenes is in Indiana Jones. After Indy and Miriam have escaped for the moment and poor Indy is beat to hell. She’s trying to help him and he’s groaning about how everywhere she touches him it hurts, so she gets frustrated and asks him where it doesn’t hurt, so he points to his elbow and she gives it a kiss. Indy catches on quick, so he points to his brow and she gives him a kiss there, then his eyelid, and then his lips where they end up in a romantic kiss. It’s absolutely adorable. At least until he falls asleep. Hm, sounds like someone else I know.

TNL: And finally, you have a new release coming up on August 19th. Could you tell us a bit about

Beware of Geeks Baring Gifts? Would you recommend it as a starting point for new readers?

CC: Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts is a sweet little novella about a gruff Miami SWAT officer who gets injure don the job. He’s trying to recover in peace, which isn’t easy with his big Cuban family. He’s unaware of his geeky next door neighbor Spencer who’s had a crush on him almost a year now. Spencer is the complete opposite of Quinn in every way. He’s sweet, cheerful, loves to bake brownies and dance around in his apartment in his super hero apron and not much else. Their first meeting is interesting to say the least. 

As a starting point, it depends on which genre readers prefer. If you’re straight up contemporary then Beware of Geeks is a great place to start. If you like Paranormal/Urban Fantasy or sexy shifters, then I would say Hell & High Water. 

Thank you again so much for having me! And thank you to everyone who’s stopped by!

ABOUT CHARLIE:

M/M author by day, artist by night, Charlie Cochet is quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, and no star is out of reach when following her passion. From hardboiled detectives and society gentleman, to angels and elves, there’s bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!

Aside from being the funniest and kindest author known to man, Charlie has the most wonderful website full of additional content and many, many surprises. Find her at www.charliecochet.com and make sure to check out THIRDS HQ. You'll find basic information about the series, the characters, several quizzes, and Thirds Thursdays, free fiction about our favorite characters.

GIVEAWAY!

Enter to win one of 2 e-copies of Charlie's new novella, Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts, from Dreamspinner Press or Amazon.

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