Cheris Hodges, a Charlotte-based romance novelist, has just written her 13th book. In a Q&A session with Qcitymetro, she discusses her craft, her inspiration and offers advice to aspiring writers. (Photo: Courtesy of Cheris Hodges)
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Qcity author Cheris Hodges says writing romance novels began as a way to escape from her day job.

“I started writing my first book when I was covering police and courts in Covington, Ga.,” she says. At the time, Hodges was working for the Covington News. “Everyday was murder, mayhem and spending hours at the jail looking up arrest reports.”

A decade and 13 books later, Hodges no longer covers police and the courts but says she still looks to her characters for a mental diversion.

“Being a journalist, you have to stick to the facts,” says the Creative Loafing staffer. “When you are writing a novel, you are creating the world, so you make the fictional facts. You have to kind of let the characters drive you. You don’t do that in a news story. The facts drive you.”

Hodges’ latest release, “Too Hot for TV,” goes on sale Sept. 6 and takes place behind the scenes of a fictional reality-dating show. Hodges recently sat down with Qcitymetro.com to talk about the novel, her source of inspiration and to offer advice to aspiring writers. Below is a Q&A excerpt from that interview:

Q. Tell me about your newest book, “Too Hot for TV”

It kind of grew out of this whole reality TV craze. There were all these marriage shows on TV. So, when I was plotting out my next book, I thought, “What if people went on TV and America chose if they got married?” But then I thought it would be too easy to make it two characters who both wanted to get married and were having a hard time meeting someone. So, I wanted to create two characters who were on TV for different reasons.

Imani, the heroine of the book, is an actress. She was in a movie that flopped, and she is trying to raise her level of visibility. She didn’t want to do it [the reality show], but she was about to get evicted. She needed the money.

The hero is Raymond. He’s a doctor who runs a free clinic in Harlem, and after 9/11 in real world, people stopped giving as much. So I wondered, “What would happen with this free clinic that worked with a lot of people that needed medical care but couldn’t afford it if they [the clinic] were struggling as well?” So Raymond’s partner put him in the mix to be on the show.

They both go on the show for different reasons, and when they meet, sparks do fly and they end up seeing that they do want to have a relationship. They just didn’t want to have it on TV. In looking at how reality shows are produced with the editing and everything, I wondered how would you hide what you are really feeling from these producers that are watching your every move.

Q. A lot of reality-television shows - like Basketball Wives - have caught a lot of flak for their portrayal of women, particularly black women. What do you think about that? Does your book touch on any of it?

I used to think it was just a black thing, but I have a friend in New York that loves Mob Wives, and she was telling me about it. So, I watched an episode of it, and I think if you watch reality TV, you’d think that all women just fight with each other.

It’s a little bit of that in the book, but I didn’t want to put a lot of that in the book. There is nothing physical. It’s not a lot of cursing, because I think that’s very unflattering to women in general. It’s highlighted more when it’s African American women, but in all these shows you have these crazy, big personalities. You have to wonder how much of that is editing.

Q. Did any televised reality-TV shows inspire this book?

To be honest with you, I hate reality TV. When I was watching to just get a feel for what was out there, I thought reality shows sucked. I would rather watch scripted TV. I kind of did the opposite. I didn’t want to have people who were so gung-ho to be on reality TV. I wanted to create characters that didn’t like reality TV almost as much as I don’t.

Q. But you’ve said that we all have our “guilty pleasure realty-TV show,” so I know you have one. What is it?

I do have one. Bridezillas. I always wonder what kind of man marries these crazy women. If they get that crazy planning the wedding, what are they going to be like when they get married and some real issues happen? I just watch it and laugh.

Q. How does “Too Hot for TV” differ from your previous titles?

The characters, their situation… Imani is different from a lot of my heroines. I like to write about tough chicks. She’s a little tough, but she’s not going to reach in her purse and pull out a gun and shoot somebody.

Q. Oh, so the rest of your characters tote guns and shoot people?

Some of them do. I wrote a book Cautious Heart, which was about a female police detective and set here in Charlotte. She was tough. I had so many people ask, “Is that you?” Come on now.

Q. What advice can you give to aspiring authors who want to get started?

If you want to get started, you really have to be serious about your craft. You need to research what’s out there. You need to research what you are writing about and who is publishing it. The publishing industry has changed a lot since I started writing until now. Everything is moving towards e-books, and self-publishing has become a lot easier because it’s electronic. But ask yourself, is that really what you want to do? Is your story edited clearly? You have a lot of people that will throw together their first draft and maybe get somebody to copyedit it, but there are holes in the story…. You damage your brand that way, even if you do get a contract with a major publisher. [People] may make judgments based on what you’ve put out there. You have to make sure that you have editors and people around you that can read your stuff and give you honest and helpful feedback. It’s a lot of work. It’s more work than people realize. You have to have a business head.
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Editor's Note: Hodges will host a book signing on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Park Road Books. Follow her on Twitter (CherisHodges) or friend her on Facebook. Qcitymetro.com is giving away two copies of “Too Hot for TV.” For a chance to win, email the title of your favorite book or the name of your favorite author to mduckett@qcitymetro.com.

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