Contemporary

Character Interview: Honor Castillo from Honor C @authorczampa #RLFblog #LGBT

Honor C 
Title Honor C
Genre Contemporary Romance Fiction
Author Name C. Zampa
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG13
When Honor Castillo convinces himself he isn’t gay, he begins
a new life. He ends his affair with his lover, Jorge Villagomez, and marries Rebecca
to establish a life with her as a respected San Antonio businessman. They have a son and he
tells himself he is happy.
Eleven years later, Jorge returns to San Antonio, and his path crosses with Honor’s
once more. The flame of their passion never died, and neither did Jorge’s love for
Honor.
When Jorge approaches Honor to design his studio, Honor believes
he can walk the line between friendship and lovers. But when a sudden crisis threatens
to take Jorge from him forever, Honor must choose between his duty and his heart.
Most of all, he’s forced to decide what he’s willing to lose in order to be true
to who he really is.
Publisher http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3823
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Honor-C-C-Zampa-ebook/dp/B00D2KE11E/

Interview with Honor Castillo

Tell us about yourself,
please.
I’m a successful Hispanic businessman in San Antonio. I’m married to my college sweetheart,
Rebecca, and we have a son, Michael.
What is it that you want,
but cannot have? Authors call this the conflict of the story.
All my life I’ve wanted to just be who and what I was. Gay.
What’s your internal limitation?
Meaning, what is it about you that makes it so you cannot do what it is you need
to do during this story?
My love and loyalty to my wife and son. My fear of losing my
family if I came out of the closet. My fear and shame that was beaten into me by
my father when I was a boy, though, has been one of the biggest nails on my closet
door.
What inner doubt causes
you the most difficulty?
The pain, the horrible, pain that would be caused if I came out
of the closet. My successful business position in the community and what would happen
if I came out as a homosexual.
What’s your external complication?
In the story world your author created, explain what it is you fear most.
The biggest complication to enter my life was a lover from my
past. Jorge Villagomez. I’d left him behind long ago and locked myself in the closet,
hoped he would always just be a secret from my past. But, when he returned to my
world, I knew my love for him had never died. It was stronger than ever.
Tell us about your significant
other, that person who makes living worthwhile.
At the risk of being hated, my life is divided between two significant
others. My wife, Rebecca and Jorge. And that is my pain. A love and respect for
the woman I married, who I truly love, and an equal love for the man I loved since
I was a kid.
What would that person
say about you?
Oddly, they would both say the same thing, but from different
points of view. That, although I am a loyal, good man who would do anything for
those I love, I am also a miserable mess. A man torn between two lives—my straight
life and being the homosexual who I really am.
What is your family like?
We are a typical family. Happy. Deep into our Hispanic heritage.
What special skills do
you rely on?
Skills. Funny, I never thought of having skills. I am, though,
a talented and innovative architect.
If someone from your past
showed up, who would you NOT want it to be, and why?
Jorge, of course. With him comes the pounding on my tight closet
door. And, most of all, my father. A man who hated me, who was ashamed of me.
Are you happy with the
way your story ended? Why or why not?
Very happy. It was a painful road, my coming out. I did hurt
my wife, I confused my son. But, in time—because ultimately she loved me enough—Rebecca
came to terms as best she could with my homosexuality. And, after an equally rocky
road, I finally reunited with my soul mate, Jorge.

About the Writer

You have the length of
a tweet (140 characters) to describe yourself as a writer. Let’s see what you can
do.
Ha! That’s a good one! Let me see…Nah, I can’t describe myself.
Why did you choose to
write about this character?
I simply love Hispanic culture and the character was inspired
by one of my favorite crushes, Hispanic actor Eduardo Yanez. Personality, looks,
everything. It felt good to turn a passion for a type of man into a character.
Was there anything you
discovered about this character that was a surprise to you? When you wrote about
this character, what made you the most happy? What made you the most sad? Happy?
That he was beautiful. He was NOT perfect, as he was a big man,
had been a big kid. Sad because of other imperfections. Sad because he was going
to do some things, in his struggle to finally come out, that would hurt others,
that would make him seem selfish, that would make him seem weak. But it was who
he was, and it was real. Not easy to make a character have flaws that you knew readers
would not like.
Why do you write?
I know it’s cliché, but it’s true: because I can’t NOT write.
But, then, too, I’ve always had this huge, huge world of folks in my head. And since
I can’t paint of sing about them, I have to produce them in the only other means
I know. Writing them.
What do you want to write
next?
I’m already into a story, another Hispanic set of characters,
only a bit darker than ‘Honor C’. A story where a horrific event that happened years
ago ends up being an unsuspected bond between the two main characters.
What other character from
this book do you want to write about? Care to tell us why?
The supporting character, Gabriel Barbosa, who had loved one
of the MC’s (Jorge). Just one of those guys you write, who you don’t plan to be
awfully significant, but then—ouch—you kind of like him a lot and want to write
him, to explore him further.
Are any sequels planned
for this book?
Actually, there is a sequel. The book was left with what readers
keep calling a ‘happy for now’. I want to go beyond and let the readers have that
conclusive happy ending.

Author Bio

C. Zampa’s earliest stories were not written words, but drawings.
Adventures, romances—all drawn in comic book style, complete with dialogue bubbles.
Countless hours were spent in her room with her Mead Academie sketch pad and pencils.
While the stereo headphones piped the classics into her ears, she feverishly sketched
the wonderful characters who lived in her head, creating little vignettes for them.
Even her early drawings reflected romance as she felt it—erotic,
sensual, natural, uninhibited.
In her pseudo-hippie days of high school, she began to write.
Her teachers encouraged her to take her writing seriously, but to her it was strictly
for pleasure. Once entering the working world, she left writing behind; but, a few
years ago, overwhelmed by a need to create, she opened a blank document and began
to write again and has not stopped since.

Author Social Media

Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/C.-Zampa/e/B004QSDSG0/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1402760970&sr=1-2-ent

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