Sharon meets author Abigail Roux (and asks her everything about FBI agents and lovers Ty & Zane)

We’re very honored and happy to have Abigail Roux as our guest today here at Rarely Dusty Books. Our reviewer Sharon met this fabulous author of the Cut & Run series (among others) nearly two weeks ago and got the chance to ask her all of her, and your, questions about one of the most fascinating gay couples ever created in m/m romance: Ty and Zane. To celebrate this special occasion with our readers both Sharon and I have a gift for a few lucky commenters on this post. And I must say that Sharon’s giveaway gifts are the cutest I’ve ever seen! Read more about them at the end of this (very, very long) post. Let’s first give the stage to Sharon and Abigail!

Sharon & Abigail at Panera Bread

Ever had one of those “Holy crap on a cracker!” moments? When I realized Abigail lived in the same state as me, I had one of those moments. We met at a half-way point to have coffee and talk Ty and Zane. Was it as awesome as you think? Um...yeah! Abigail is a lovely person and much younger than I thought! And no, I didn’t ask her age . We talked for a long time and went on quite a few tangents. She did answer everyone’s questions... when she could.

Question from Emme:
I guess I would like to know if Abigail's writing process has changed since she is now the solo author of the Cut and Run series? Does she have a division of labor (in her mind) as to how to deal with each of the main characters? Has one of our guys left a vacancy in Madeleine's head, that is now being filled in Abigail's?

Abi: Yes. Before, we had to make our schedules fit. I have a small child and she had multiple little jobs so we had to write at night. We would write through Google documents because it updates instantly and pretty much wrote like a role playing game, taking turns writing lines. It was great fun because neither knew what the other was going to write next. We usually wrote from 10:00 PM till 2 or 3 in the morning. Now I can go to bed when my daughter does and get up early in the morning, but I am a night owl. I actually get more done now because I don’t have to wait for someone else to be online.

I write Ty and Madeleine [Urban] was Zane. So now I have to write both of them. It hasn’t been as hard as I expected it would be, but I was intimidated. After 4 books (and we actually have hundreds of thousands of words that were written for future books or because we were bored, like writing exercises) I knew Zane pretty well, better than I thought I did.

Sharon: are you able to use this extra material since Madeleine is no longer writing?

Abi: yes I am. A lot of it doesn’t work anymore because we went in different directions. I was coming home from Richmond one time and I had an idea and I called her. I was so excited about it. So when I got home we spent the entire night writing, and we wrote 50K words in two days, it was actually the plot of the last book. But that was three years ago and so much has changed I probably won’t be able to use it.

Sharon: you could put deleted scenes on your website!

Abi: I have thought about putting them up after the series is finished. Some of it I have been able to rewrite and use. I don’t get rid of anything. I’ve got what I call my cryogenic suspension folder where I keep everything. I use Drop Box to back it up because I have lost so many things, so many computers have crashed on me. I am rough on them apparently (lol).

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Anita from Germany is asking:
I'm really interested if there will be a coming out to their parents from one of the guys (or from both) in the next books.
And if it's Ty I’m really interested in the reaction of his parents. I can imagine that Mara will be able to live with it... but I’m not so sure about Earl. And if Earl knows about it than Dick Burns knows as well. And how is he going to react?

Abi: I can’t answer that (lol) What I can say is that with Riptide (publishing) they have warnings for the books, so if you go to the Riptide site and go to Stars & Stripes it will tell you that it is a coming out story. That partially answers that question, but I can’t go into any detail.

Another question from Anita:
At the moment Ty is really confident about his relationship with Zane. Will there ever be a situation in the next books where Ty will have some second thoughts? Or is he really plain happy with Zane without a shadow of a doubt and this will last till the end of the series? (Which will hopefully never never never come!!!)

Abi: (lol)

Sharon: again...can you answer?

Abi: yeah, I think so. I mean Ty is, happy.

Sharon: I think Ty is the girl in the relationship...

Abi: maybe (lol) he’s the more laid back and confident one of the two...

Sharon: I always compare him to a love sick teenager..

Abi: yes, that is exactly what he is.

Sharon: and poor Zane has already been through that, he’s been married...

Abi: yes, he is a little jaded about the whole process. So he is the one that is actually going to have more uncertainties and problems, but Ty is going along on his cloud, he’s oblivious to problems, that’s just Ty’s personality.

Sharon: Is there an end to the series?

Abi: There are 9 books and that’s the original romance story arc, there will be an end, there will be closure. But there will be room to do more of the story. It would probably become more of a serial mystery kind of thing instead of pure romance. That’s what I grew up on, the serial mysteries. One of my favorites was the Amelia Peebody series. Also Clive Cussler. You know, same characters, different mystery and you just go on forever. That was the kind of books I was used to.

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Cris asks:
In Stars & Stripes, will we find out what the present was that Ty got for Zane in Chicago, but never got around to giving him?
Also, are there plans to delve into the nuts & bolts of Ty and Zane's black ops backstory?

Abi: you will find out eventually (lol) but I’m not going to tell you when. I do actually have a plan for that (black ops) not so much Zane’s, but I have been toying around with... I wouldn’t call it a prequel necessarily, but a story about Ty’s recon team.

The book I am working on now, the 7th one (comes out next year), starts with a series of flashback scenes for Ty and Zane. Zane was married for 10 years so there isn’t a lot of mystery there except for that brief block of years after his wife died and that will be touched on.

Sharon: Do you have a title for it? Or are you not releasing titles yet?

Abi: I’ve got a title for it, but...

Sharon: that is another of my questions...do you come up with the titles?

Abi: yes, I do. The first title we came up with from a line in the book.

Sharon: well, all of them are a line in the book...

Abi: that is by design... but with the first one, the line was there first. I don’t remember what the working title was for it, I think we just called it Ty and Zane. I hit on the “&” sign and phrases, I thought these are cool. If we turned it into a series we should stick to this form. So we started collecting them. I have 174 titles in an alphabetical list. Some are more obscure. I’ve got what they mean written beside them. Stars & Stripes was not the original title.

Sharon: was that because you are writing solo now?

Abi: sort of, I changed the plot a little bit and was sitting there thinking the title doesn’t fit anymore. Then I hit on Stars & Stripes and thought “this is perfect!” sometimes it just comes and sometimes... like Sticks & Stones... oh, it took us months to come up with it. And once we did I went back and put in a couple of scenes that tied it in. Fish & Chips, that was *snaps fingers*, but some of them were harder than others. Armed & Dangerous was another one that didn’t come easily. We had 5 different titles for it, none of them fit and we argued over it. It works, but the original title for that was Cats & Dogs, you will notice references in the book about Ty being a cat and Julian a dog.

Sharon: titles can be a tricky job...

Abi: When I was thinking about Stars & Stripes, I thought, “can I use another S&S title and not confuse people?”. I call them S&S1 and S&S2 when I write notes about it. I have a Tumblr I post on to torture readers (lol) and mislabeled S&S2. But Stars & Stripes was too perfect not to use. What was the original question? LOL

Sharon: I think you covered it

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Anon wonders:
Why did Abigail change publishers, from Dreamspinner Press to Riptide Publishing?
Abi: Riptide is just a better fit for my solo career. It had nothing to do with Dreamspinner. I just wanted a fresh start

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EatAkitkat’s questions:
Would Ty and Zane ever get married? The reason why I ask this is because in Fish and Chips they both seemed to like it and they kept their rings, also I remember reading about Ty feeling sad because his sun tan of the ring was starting to disappear.
God could you imagine the wedding? It would be A-MAY-ZING!
I am so looking forward to Stars and Stripes! August cannot come quick enough! :)
Abi: well, that is why I don’t want to write it (lol) because everyone thinks it will be perfect! The pressure
Sharon: but you could say they went into a mud hole and got married...
Abi: and people would say “perfect!”
Sharon: yes, you can really do no wrong...
Abi: as far as the getting married... I think people want them to get married because they kept the rings, but even if they did, they wouldn’t do anything with those rings. But one of the future books does have a wedding in it, but I’m not going to tell anybody whose wedding it is...

Sharon: well there is Ty’s brother… which brings me to another question about the baby. Are we going to see Ty and Zane babysitting?
Abi: probably actually in Stars & Stripes we meet Zane’s niece who is based on my daughter (also 3 years old) she plays a pretty big part in the next book so you will get to see Ty and Zane interact with a young one.

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Qhuay Lover wants to know:
Will she ever write a novella or book about Dell and Corbin?
Abi: I’ve been asked that a lot! People are actually interested in them. I did sit down and think about and try to figure out how to do it. I think people would want to see how they got together. It would be a fascinating story. It’s a good story. I might write it one day. Once I finish this series. These [Cut&Run] eat my brain, I can’t do anything else. But it is definitely on my list.

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Robin F. has lots of questions and writes:
Based on the early blurb for Stars & Stripes it looks like we'll finally meet Zane's family and delve in to his past. Is this the case?
Abi: yes.

Why does Zane have no friends? He could conceivably have lost or cut off most of his ties during his lost years, but surely he has some people who haven't given up on him?
Abi: I have a friend who is studying to be a psychiatrist and she loves Zane, so we sit and talk about Zane a lot. She said as a couple, you have “couple” friends, and when you are single you have “single” friends. When you become a couple you meld them together and when he lost his wife, all those “couple” friends were painful and he cut them off. Then the life he was living didn’t require friends. He has been 5 or 6 years being used to, and liking, not having anyone around to remind him that he was once a couple. Being around Ty has been culture shock and he realizes he does have friends and can make friends. That is part of his story arc, the healing after losing his wife.

Why is Zane estranged from his family?
Abi: we will find out more about that in the next book.

What is Zane's relationship with his sister?
Abi: They are friendly, they call each other on holidays. They aren’t close in age. She is 10 years younger.

What was Zane's marriage like?
Abi: I have a scene written, a flashback, between Zane and his wife. It was kind of eye opening for me to write her. She was just a word that Ty didn’t like to hear, she was the kind of person Zane would love.

How did Zane develop the ruthlessness to kill more easily than Ty? Isn't this something Ty would want to know about his partner?
Abi: You would think so. Zane developed it because he had nothing to live for. Classic action movie tropes. Ty spent 15 years of his life around people who kill. He sees that in Zane and recognizes it. Doesn’t bother him.

Why has Ty never asked about Zane's family, marriage? Are these questions that only a woman would ask of her lover?
Abi: I don’t think so. Ty really doesn’t want to know. He started out trying to convince himself that he didn’t care about Zane, then it morphed into that is part of Zane’s life that is painful and he didn’t want to bring it up. And partly, if Ty asks a question then Zane will too. Ty also says live in the present, don’t worry about the past. A person like that isn’t going to ask someone else to do that, I think that would be the same for a man or woman.

Why is Ty so sure, so early, that he loves Zane? In Armed & Dangerous we finally learn that he fell for Zane because he saw his potential, but I'd love to see a little more detail.
Abi: I think the reason Ty knew so early was because it was his first time falling in love. Ty had been with a lot of people, some of them pretty long term, like the woman in A&D. But you will find out there are others Ty was involved with. He just knows they never felt the same way. It is actually easier for someone who has never been in love to recognize it.

In Divide & Conquer, why doesn't Ty defend Zane to the Recon boys? Ty knows that Zane is afraid to love again after losing his wife, but all Ty says is that Zane needs to "crunch the numbers" and take his time figuring out his feelings. This seems really unfair, and gives a poor and mistaken impression to the Recon team, esp. Nick.
Abi: I think it was just a boys night out. Ty knows that Zane is a private person so he isn’t going to talk about those things and we all know Ty doesn’t think things through completely before he does them. It probably wasn’t the best way to handle it, but it is the only way he knows how. It wasn’t malicious on Ty’s part, it is just the way he is.

We are repeatedly told about Zane's analytical skills and ability to crunch numbers and see patterns, but the only display so far has been playing poker. Will we have a chance to see Zane crack a case or otherwise show of his mad skillz?
Abi: depends, the thing about them being FBI, most of their job is spent at a desk, which isn’t interesting (lol) most of Zane’s skills are boring, when you read about them, you kind of glaze over them. Zane’s skills are more told than shown, but you really aren’t supposed to tell, but show... unfortunately Zane’s skills don’t lend themselves to the books as well. You do see it a lot because he just sits and thinks and thinks and analyzes things a lot. You see the same thing with Ty except he is doing it, not thinking about it. Zane has other skills he displays often.

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Orannia writes, with two questions:
Hmmm... I have all these questions, but they are all future ones, and I'm not sure if Abigail will want to go there. Hmmm. Maybe... ATM Ty's brother is the only one who knows about their relationship. I'm curious whether he will remain the only one...
Abi: he’s definitely not going to be the only one (lol).

So looking forward to Stars & Stripes! And… OMG! Can Sharon please ask how Nick's book is going? *SQUEE* I *heart* Nick! Thank you!
Abi: I am writing Nick. I knew Nick’s story from the very beginning. For some reason, Ty’s recon team... I had their story from the start. It’s there. When I can’t get anything done, I go write snippets of that one. But, I knew Nick’s story and I knew what he was going to do and that I was setting him up to be the villain for a book. I was hoping the ending would redeem him. And I think it did.

Sharon: I would think this book would be sad, with him pining away for Ty.
Abi: That prequel I have planned, Nick would be heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking. That’s one reason it wouldn’t be a romance at all because no one gets a happy ending. But Nick will get his own story. I have it planned.
Sharon: will it be a novella or novel? Won’t it be sad?
Abi: It will be a novel and Nick will get a happy ending, I know who it will be.

Sharon: what do you want for yourself career wise? 5 years from now or 10?
Abi: I would like to still be writing. That’s it. It is awesome to be successful and it’s cool to just write. I was a stay at home mom, but after separating I had to find a job. The writing is paying the bills. And that is all I can ask for. If I become bigger, I might have some anxiety issues .

Sharon: Do you have any thoughts on why women love m/m romance so much?
Abi: I’ve sat and wondered about it a lot, Always in books I’ve read and shows I’ve watched there has been the two buddies. They make a great team and do things together, then one falls in love and it all falls apart. So it just fixes everything when they fall in love with each other. That was always my thought on it. I think people have their own reasons for liking m/m some like to live vicariously through it, some think it is “hot”. I do! My main reason was that it was always so tragic to see these great friendships fall apart because one falls in love and the best way to fix that is have them fall in love with each other. I watched Sherlock Holmes last night. I am thinking they made such a great couple, why did they get married? Well, that’s why I write what I do...

Sharon: do you write under any other name?
Abi: nope, I would hate to start over with a new name . I kind of fell into this, it was accidental. I didn’t struggle like I was supposed to. My first story, Caught Running, Madeleine [Urban]submitted it without telling me. It is a no plot love story. They accepted it and it’s one of the most popular books still, and I don’t understand , it is a cute little story but we wrote it as an exercise and that’s why it is a little rough.

Sharon: What was your first romance you read? What made you say “I want to write this”?
Abi: it was Lord of the Rings and then I discovered slash fiction. I was in college still and my classes weren’t hard so I was bored... I would read and came across a slash about Legalos and Boromir and I was like “hey!” this is nice! That is what started it.

Sharon: where do you write?
Abi: I usually stay at home. I would probably be more comfortable someplace like this (Panera Bread). Cause when I write at home... I’ll be in the middle of a scene and my daughter will come flying through and I’ll be gone for 30 minutes getting her whatever she needed. I can sit for 5 hours and get two sentences written. I sit with my computer all the time. Part of that is because of my knee. I had surgery April 19 and was on crutches for 7 weeks and a cane until Wednesday. I had nothing to do but sit. And instead of writing, I played solitaire. I stayed on the computer. I like to torture people on Tumblr with snippets before the release of Armed & Dangerous, a month before, I would do one thing a day and call it prerelease torture. Sometimes it was just a pic, like of guns. People have already started asking when I am going to start doing it for Stars & Stripes, I already posted a family tree for Ty. When I can’t write, and get bored, I do stuff like that. I do graphics and I did a timeline for them. Starting with Ty graduating high school going all the way up to Armed & Dangerous, hitting all the highlights. A lot of people don’t realize Armed & Dangerous was written in 2010...
I have an office set up, that if I really want to I can shut myself up, but I actually don’t go in there much. It is full of t-shirts and bills.

(at this point we went off on a tangent about bloody shower curtains and bath mats and teenagers, my 11 year old daughter called, 3 year olds on crack, my teenage daughter’s collection of animal fetuses in jars...and it was time to turn off the recorder )

Abigail will be attending GayRomLit this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is very nervous about going and talking to so many people in one room.

We also talked about the book covers. She wanted covers that she wouldn’t mind her young daughter running across on the book shelf . She really liked the knife and how that turned out and felt that would be a good brand for the series. Do you know what makes the cover of Divide & Conquer different from the rest? It is the only one that the object isn’t angled out toward the reader. The other covers all do this, with a shadow by design.

I told Abi that I would be tracking her down for her August release of Stars & Stripes and maybe we can do another feature to help promote it. Not that she’ll need it with all the fans Ty & Zane already have. :)

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A huge thank you to Sharon and Abigail!!

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Giveaway

There are 5 prizes to win:

• The cutest one: a signed pig like the one in the picture - inspired by the cover of Divide & Conquer
• 3 signed bookmarks
• An ecopy of Armed & Dangerous (or the winner’s choice of one of the other books in the series) purchased from All Romance eBooks.

To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, before Sunday July 8, when I’ll announce the winners.
The giveaway is open worldwide.
Leave a way for me to contact you in your comment or profile, or be sure to check back here yourself for the winner announcement on Sunday, because winners will have 72 hours to respond to claim their prize.

Good luck to you all!

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The series so far:
#1 Cut & Run -> reviewed here | #2 Sticks & Stones -> reviewed here | #3 Fish & Chips -> reviewed here | #4 Divide & Conquer -> reviewed here | #5 Armed & Dangerous -> reviewed here | #6 Stars & Stripes (expected in August) | Related book: Warrior's Cross -> reviewed here

Where to find Abigail Roux:

Website | Weblog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr | Visit the Ty & Zane Fan Shop here | Buy Abigail’s books here
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