Indie Author Q&A with Shonel Jackson
Getting to know this contemporary romance author
What got you started writing?
My writing journey started over twenty years ago when I was sixteen years old, living in London, U.K. However, before I explain about that, I need to go back a bit to when I was twelve in my native, Georgetown, Guyana. I was a pre-teen who hated reading. No one could pay me enough to voluntarily pick up a book. The only books I ever read were the ones mandated by my high school curriculum.
Then one day, while staying at my aunt’s house, I happened upon a little book with a red cover, a hundred and ninety something pages, a man and woman on the cover, dressed in black and holding each other in a tight embrace. ‘Mills & Boon’ was written at the top. I was clueless. I’d never seen a book like it before. I was intrigued. Also on the cover, was the title, Stranger From The Past by Penny Jordon. So, I absconded with it and over the following few days, I read it cover to cover. Needless to say, I loved it!
In the four years that followed, I’d moved to the U.K. and started formulating my own idea for a book in the very same genre of that little red book I’d found. I first started putting fingers to keys on my mother’s old electric typewriter and with time, I’d transferred it to a pc and then saved a back-up copy to a floppy disk. (Who remembers those?!)
Twenty-three years after I’d first started writing it, I finally finished and then indie published More Than Friends. It’s a friends-to-lovers romance. It was a labour of love, set in my hometown. The journey of writing this taught me that I hadn’t actually hated reading as a child, I just hadn’t yet found something which was a page turner.
What do you write?
I write Contemporary Romance with feisty women of colour and happily ever afters. Over the years, I’ve also developed a love for writing poetry too. In addition to my romance novels, I’ve also published two poetry books called, Poetry on Love, Lust & Love (Vol. 1 and 2).
How do you feel about writing?
Writing feeds my soul in a way nothing else can and I suspect ever will. When I write, like many authors, I tend to get lost in the worlds that I spin and don’t come up for air for hours at a time. I come up with the ideas for what to write and then I let my characters take over. They’re all unique and they have something to say. So, I let them.
What’s your latest book about?
My latest book is the series finale of my martial arts romance trilogy. In the early 2000s, I trained in the Brazilian martial arts called Capoeira. After I finished my debut novel, I knew that I wanted to explore romance in the Capoeira world. Also, I’d never seen a romance novel in that kind of setting before, so I thought, why not? It’s a truly wonderful art form and it’s given me the opportunity to shine some light on.
This finale will be called, Outplayed (Era Capoeira, Book 3). Look out for the release on April 16th, 2025. Here’s a sneak peek of what it’s about:
Willow Blake is a viper by nickname in the Capoeira arena, but perhaps she should've also been a viper by nature in other aspects of her life too. If she had been, she'd have sniffed out her ex-husband's antics before it was too late. Willow has been burned, but not broken, and she's determined to keep her guard up next time.
Dominic Made is going through his own version of hell at the moment, and tonight, he's in the foulest mood imaginable. He'd like nothing better than to shut the world out. But he can't. Not tonight. So, he just sits at the bar with his gaze pointing downwards, nursing his top shelf bourbon.
Then, something makes him look up. What, or rather who, he sees, guarantees that he won't look down again. In fact, she causes him to keep a very keen eye to see what will unfold. Blink, and he would've missed it.
Tonight, Willow wants to drink... drink until she forgets where she has to be in a week. The bar is packed, but she wants to speak to no one. Fate, however, has other ideas. Fate sends her two 'someones'. The first, she has no other choice but to introduce to her alter ego, Viper. And the second, well... let's just say he not only wants to get to know all of Willow, but he also seems to be the type of man who doesn't want to play games. But what does she know? Her instincts about men have done her no favours of late.
Where can we find you online?
Happy reading!