Author Interview with Angela R. Watts

Hello, dear readers!

I’m back at it with another interview (these are SO fun!) with the wonderful Angela R. Watts! She’s the author of the well-loved Infidel Books, and the second installment, THE GRIM ALLIANCE, releases on July 24th!

1. When did you first decide you wanted to publish your novels?

I was fifteen when I began Seek, Whispers of Heaven #1. I sought healing, comfort, and fun when I wrote the first draft. I wanted to write a novel as fast-paced as Blink by Ted Dekker (my latest book obsession then) and also handle the topic of mental abuse, as I was freed of my abusive sister… but had no clue how to process my emotions. I found the online writing community during that time and realized that self-publishing was a thing! At first, I didn’t give it much thought. Most Indie novels didn’t look that great and I didn’t have any money. But it really didn’t take long for me to realize that was the path God wanted me to take. I haven’t looked back since and it’s been around three years.

2. What is your biggest pet peeve when reading?

I’m often interrupted, whether I’m reading or writing…

3. How has being an author shaped or changed you?

OH, what a question. Actually, I have always been a story teller. Always. Ever since I was tiny. I wrote and illustrated my first book before I could even write it properly (I narrated, my sister wrote it down). I completed my first novella at the age of twelve. There are many stories and poems in between those milestones… but I’ve always been a writer. So, I don’t think it has “changed” me, but it has helped me view the world differently, see people differently, and learn to process emotions and thoughts. I would not be who I am if God had not given me this gift.

4. What is the #1 thing you want people to take away from your stories? What’s the #1 thing you think they need to take away?

Whatever God needs that soul to take away from my story, that is what I pray they find in my story. Maybe the story offers one person hope and the same story offers another a good laugh. Books are complex things. I pray over every book I write that it helps someone, even if that’s just one person. God knows what the person needs. All I can do is write and pray that my stories give them what they need–be that hope, or encouragement, a good laugh, a good cry, or maybe a character that they are inspired by. I actually had one reader begin the novel and stop because of the Christian themes once. I was heartbroken before my father told me, “Your book planted a seed and you don’t know what God might use that seed for at a later time.”
I don’t really market my novels as Christian fiction anymore. They contain Biblical elements and Jesus’ love as central themes, but I want to reach the secular audience, as well. My dad’s words reminded me that we, as authors, truly have no clue what people might find our books… and what our books might do in the future, without us even knowing!

5. If you could go take down the government with only one of your characters, who would it be? (Assuming the government needs to be taken down, of course xD)

Ooh, tricky question and I LOVE IT. Ideally, I’d choose the group from The Infidel Books. But if I had only one person… Gideon or West would be the best men for the job. I’d just be there for help. Or moral support. Or shooting people…

6. What is your favorite scene you’ve ever written and why?

I have different slots of favorite scenes… favorite scenes that I hated to write… favorite scenes that make me happy… favorite scenes that make me wanna cry… And most, of course, are spoilers… But I really adore the scenes that are most difficult for me to write.

7. What is your biggest motivation to write?

Writing is honestly a part of me. I face burn out, and lack of motivation, but I rarely have to think “this is gonna be my motivation to write today!”… Usually, I just love being in the world and being with my characters. But I would say God and my family are the biggest motivations to write–I know God has a purpose for my stories.

8. If you had to see only one color for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Hmmm. Tough question. “My favorite color” seems default but actually… I think, if possible, the color of the sun. So yellow. It is my least favorite color the majority of the time but if I was like, basically blind, I’d still like to see the sun, I think.

9. If you could live in any fictional world, which would you choose?

I’d like very much to live in Hobbiton, thanks.

10. Lastly, give us your best one line hook for your latest novel, THE GRIM ALLIANCE, coming July 24th!

God, I’m the one becoming a monster—and I can do that. If You need me to go to hell to scrub even a little hell off earth, I will.  (I think that’s two, but it is one of my favorites, so…)

Thanks SOOOO much for having me, Oceane! 

Well, that’s it, folks! If you’d like to learn more about Angela and her novels, you can find her on Instagram, Goodreads, Facebook, Amazon, or her website.