‘Love Conquers All’ opens with Lanie Hall stepping into her now half-empty house after her husband moved out. To get away from the memories, she visits the old radio hangout and runs into Azarius, a blast from her past. Lanie has no idea Azarius has loved her from the moment he saw her eight years previously, but as the two hang out, Lanie begins to develop feelings for him. However, Azarius has pain in his past that have made him secretive and protective of his emotions. Will Lanie be able to break down those walls or will he push her away forever?
Will Lanie be able to build a new life with Azarius? To see if Lanie can break through the walls Azarius has created, Lorana Hoopes, author of ‘Love Conquers All’ has joined me today. Lorana, what inspired you to document Lanie’s new life direction in this novel?
It started with a friend of mine. After many conversations, I felt his story needed to be told. He became my Azarius (he picked his character name), and even though Azarius is fictional, I pictured my friend when I was writing.
If you’re going to pick a character name you can’t go past anything as fantastic as Azarius! As you had a tangible inspiration for the character of Azarius, I’m intrigued to find out how the personalities surrounding him came to life. In particular, how did Lanie evolve?
Lanie has some characteristics of me. I was a DJ and I did have a John Stamos poster on my wall, but otherwise, she was just a vision of who I thought my friend described.
Were the circumstances that Lanie and Azarius find themselves influenced by your own life?
My main character is a DJ, which I was for about five years of my life before I met my husband. I miss it sometimes.
Hopefully, you’ll get to return to the DJing one day in the future. Were there any other messages that you wanted to share with the readers in your book, of course apart from the fact that DJing is awesome fun?
As with all my books, my message is that Christians aren’t perfect. We make mistakes just like everyone else, but there is always redemption and always hope. This book had an extra special message of multiracial couples. Our differences are what make us beautiful, and I tried to emphasize that.
Did you learn anything new about writing or life while tackling the message of multiracial couples, or the beauty of differences?
That my readers don’t like my editing program! HA! I’ve had more positive feedback on this one and I think it’s because I told it like it is, I didn’t try to fancy it up with removing all my adverbs or my glue words.
*Laughs* Oh, software can be a huge problem. I hope that you and your software program have at least agreed to get along so that you can continue to practice the art of simplified writing. I’m sure that you’re continuing to refine your author voice and written language, so can you share a little taste of your current writing project?
I am currently working on my first historical book. It’s called Lawfully Matched and will release the first week in February, shortly after this one. In fact, I better get back to writing it lol.
Yes, I don’t want to interfere with the release of a new book, but I’m curious to find out how writing affects you. Do you feel that each new project gives you the energy to keep going, or are you exhausted at the end of a writing session?
Mostly energize, but when I get stuck it becomes exhausting.
One of my favourite ways to get unstuck writing, is to twist a favourite word into the text. If you had to do this, what would you say is your favourite word?
Loquacious and Laconic
And sometimes it’s fun to spin into your zodiac sign into the story as well. So, what’s your zodiac sign?
Sagittarius
Are you left or right-handed?
Right
Finally, today I hope that your right hand, can give me a hand tempting readers to pick up a copy of ‘Love Conquers All’ by sharing your favourite phrase from the book. What’s your pick?
“That Nine Inch Nails song you keep playing? What does it even mean?” “It means everything.”
Indeed, Nine Inch Nails really can tell you the meaning of everything. Lorana, thanks for sharing a taste of ‘Love Conquers’ all with myself and the readers today and I hope that your new historical release leads you into a new world of writing!
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘Love Conquers All ( ASIN: B078TNPTYW )‘.
Want to find out more about Lorana Hoopes? Connect here!