Author Interview: Lara Ann Dominick
At Scribbles we love to highlight both exciting new and established authors, offering a platform for writers to introduce their work, talk about our mutual love of writing and share valuable industry knowledge.
Today we are talking to Lara Ann Dominick, author of one of our favourite new paranormal romance novels, Oil and Water.
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a native of the Tampa area, but I grew up near the Jersey Shore (and it’s nothing like the TV show!). I used to get punished as a child by having by books taken away, so I guess I’ve always had a love for the written word. I live just outside of Tampa with my husband and young son, and we love to go to theme parks and the beach.
2. When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?
That’s an easy question with a complicated answer! I was always really advanced with reading and writing, and I can remember making picture books for my classmates as early as first grade. I always assumed I’d grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or something. As I got older, I really had no desire for those things, but I loved poetry and writing short stories, so in High School I took a creative writing class and loved it. I never pursued it, but I would write little articles, or try to start blogs that never went anywhere.
When Covid came to the US, I needed something to occupy my time and be an emotional outlet, so I started writing and it completely changed my life.
3. Who are your favourite authors and why?
I adore Neil Gaiman for his storytelling, world building, and characters that feel human, even the ones who aren’t.
I love Anne Rice because she describes things so beautifully that you can almost see, hear, smell, taste, and feel them. And, because I’m a bit of a classic romantic, I will always be a Shakespeare fan.
4. How long does it take you to write a book and what does your writing process look like?
This is my debut novel, and it took about a month to write it, then another two-three weeks to edit it. For me, because it was a form of catharsis, I pulled out my computer every time I needed to deal with something heavy, or wanted to put my happiness and joy on paper.
A lot of it had to be done while my little one was in bed, but the more I wrote, the more accommodating he became.
I love having a laptop or tablet to do my writing though, because I spent time writing on the beach, in my back yard, in a bubble bath, or even in bed. Wherever I needed to be to get the words out, that’s where I’d go.
5. Can you tell us about this book?
Oil and Water is the story of two women and their journeys to discover their own strengths and weaknesses. Elsie is an average struggling millennial, with a close-knit family, great friends, and an on-again, off-again boyfriend. Opal has been a vampire for only ten years, but she rubs shoulders with some of the oldest and most powerful vampires in existence.
Elsie ends up meeting and falling hard for Cy, a new guy in town who makes her forget that she always craved adventure like in the YA vampire novels she loved because he’s so kind and respectful, but his ex, Amber, is a thousand year old vampire, who happens to be Opal’s only friend. Amber also has some trauma in her past that she deals with by unleashing her rage on the world, and it’s likely to cost Elsie, Opal, and Cy anything and everything they ever cared about, including their own lives.
They will be broken down and forced to piece themselves back together to deal with what’s coming, not only from Amber, but from others who have issues and grudges of their own.
6. Who are your main characters? Can you tell us a bit more about them?
Elsie and Opal tell the story in shifting first person perspective, and they are nearly polar opposites. If they are yin and yang, Elsie is light, bright, sunshine, but with a dark streak. Opal is night, dark, uncaring and unfeeling - or so she thinks.
7. What is your favourite scene or chapter from the book?
I have a couple, but, honestly, the end of Chapter 39 is my absolute favourite thing I’ve put on a page so far, and I think it’s because, even now, the emotions I felt as I wrote it come through when I reread that part, and it’s a strange but beautiful moment that is somehow calm and quiet while filled with stormy turmoil and pain.
8. What inspired you to write this book?
As a fan of Anne Rice and, in specific, the character of Lestat, I wanted to have a vampire novel that was focused more around women, but not in a way that was over the top and full-on paranormal. I wanted to use the idea of vampires and supernatural being to take a real look at issues that are relatable to most women, like the struggle with autonomy, having boundaries respected, and dealing with mental illness.
I wanted a book that wasn’t just a vampire romance, but took that concept and used it to really focus on the strengths and weaknesses women find in themselves, as well as the ways women deal with not only the way we can be hurt by men, but the ways we hurt each other.
9. What do you hope readers will take away from this story?
I hope readers will identify with the characters because they are flawed and real, and their struggles are ones that most women can identify with.
10. What do you think happens to your characters after the book ends?
You’ll have to read the sequel when it come out to find that out!
11. Do you find you miss your characters once you finish writing their story?
I miss them so much! They’re like real people to me, and I keep saying I intend to keep writing their story until they stop telling it to me.
12. Do you have any more projects lined up?
I’m working on the sequel to Oil and Water, as well as a second New Adult project focused on the angels seen in Dante’s Inferno at the gates of hell who are neither fallen, nor able to rejoin their brethren in heaven. It will take place in the current era, because I wanted to explore what their motives and desires might be and how that might affect someone today.
I also have a Young Adult contemporary in the works which will also be supernatural/paranormal, but I’m keeping that one under wraps for a while!
13. Where can our readers find your books?
Oil and Water is available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1735073008/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and on most major online book retailers.
You can also find more information and links to buy at OilAndWaterBook.com and on my Author Site at LaraAnnDominick.com.
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