Author Interview: Kate Prior

Author Interview: Kate Prior – I am still fairly new to the world of paranormal romance. I was lucky enough to read an early copy of Kate Prior’s newest novel, The Orc from the Office and I loved it. I’m so excited to talk to Kate – we chat about our favorite movies, Kate’s writing style, and of course, orcs! This post may contain links to purchase books & you can read our affiliate disclosure here.

About the Author: Kate Prior

When Kate was in the 7th grade, she dug out and she booted up a computer older than her from her parents’ attic, determined to write an extensive honeymoon for her favorite Pride & Prejudice characters.

She spent the next ten years ear-marking the pages of kissing scenes before she thought she had to stop and be a serious adult that did sensible things. Serious and sensible things could not hold her full attention, so in her free time she writes to represent ADHD in fiction.

Synopsis for The Orc from the Office by Kate Prior

Mate-bonding with a co-worker is against company policy… accidentally or not.
Janice knows better than anyone that entanglements with co-workers are risky business.
But when Janice accidentally breaks a co-workers nose, she finds herself unexpectedly mated to an orc, and under Monster Resources’ scrutiny.
Khent from the IT Department is quiet and nerdy, despite the tusks. His emails are overly wordy. He won’t stop apologizing even though she’s the one who broke his glasses.
Clearly, fate got this one wrong.
All Janice has to do is stay away from Khent until the bond dissipates. Easy enough, right? Except…
…Her company laptop chooses this week to need the orc from the IT Department, repeatedly.
…She accidentally clicks on orc porn at work and has to take remedial phishing training with Khent.
…Their bond will keep pulling them back together until it is completed.

Buy Your Copy of The Orc from the Office by Kate Prior

 Author Interview: Kate Prior

Can you tell me about the inspiration behind your book?

 I have a long-standing grudge against the IT department where I work. I started just writing down the issues I’d been having with them and making them into funnier scenes.

Please tell me what The Orc from the Office is all about.

Janice, from Human Resources, one day finds herself in an accidental mating bond with an Orc from IT, Khent, and they get in trouble with the company because that’s against policy. She starts trying to figure out how to get out of it, except now she can’t stop bumping into Khent and keeps talking to him and starts to fall for him. Office shenanigans ensue, and now she’s stuck between her personal no-relationships-at-work rule, and her feelings for him.

Can you tell readers what tropes and/or themes to expect from your The Orc from the Office ?

Fated Mates, size difference, flirting via email, and idiots to lovers. It’s kind of continuing that theme of capitalism being equated with the almost cartoonish evil you see in high fantasy works, but it takes a little bit of a back seat this book.

 I am newish to Orc romances, but I am gobbling them up as fast as I can. I love them. Can you tell readers who may be new to orc romances what to expect?

I think for a lot of them you can expect that high-fantasy world building, you see a lot of a beauty-and-beast kind of dynamic between m/f couples. I think a lot of them are kind of resurrecting a lot the tropes you’d get in old school barbarian romances.

Please tell us some of your favorite things about your Janice & Khent.

Khent’s an introvert, which is little unusual for an orc, but Janice is fiercely protective of people she loves and always willing to go to bat for them. I really liked that they just ended up complementing each other this way.

Do you have any favorite scenes in your book?

Chapter 2, “giving head immediately to a person you just met” is quickly becoming my favorite thing to see in romance, and I had so much fun crafting how that ends up happening.

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Author Interview: Kate Prior – All About Writing

I would love to know if you’re a plotter or a pantser. What seems to work best when you’re working on a new manuscript?

I’m a little of both, I tend to plot a couple chapters ahead and then write until I run out of steam, or until I hit a roadblock. Then I have to plot myself out of whatever corner I ended up in. I really like to use Gwen Hayes’ “Romancing the Beat” structure, and at least work from a vague idea of a scene for each narrative beat she lists.

Do you have any favorite snacks, music or rituals for your writing? For instance, are you blasting music or need complete silence?

Honestly my ritual is just writing a little every night from my phone until I can’t keep my eyes open. My notes app is just a mess of all things that ended up being chapters one way or another.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Whenever you read something in a book that just really works for you, keep it. Stick a post-it note in that page or write it down in a notebook, something so that you can hold onto it. When you get stuck on something, you can go back to that collection and it’ll help you re-align what makes a story good to you. Also, watch bad movies, and really look into what makes them bad.

What are some books on your TBR?

I just bought The Kiss Curse because I loved the Ex Hex. I’ve also got Book Lovers because I liked the other two Emily Henry books I read, Weather Girl, and Valley of the Horses. I keep telling myself I’m going to actually sit down and read something new these days, but I’m probably just going to re-read Well Met and Ice Planet Barbarians for the fourth time.

Author Interview: Kate Prior – TV, Movies & More

I always love talking about TV and movies. If you were to cast an adaptation for your book, do you have anyone in mind for your characters?

Oh man I am no good with actors’ faces/names. Is it weird that I think Jona Cena would be good for Khent? Or Ma Dong-seok from Train to Busan. Also 100% because I think Lily from the first book had Elle Woods vibes, Janice would be Selma Blair.

Do you have any favorite TV shows or movie franchises?

This is such a hard question!! I majored in film in college so now whenever I watch something I’m always like “hmm thought the editing could have been tighter and also I want to fight whoever did the lighting design” etc. It’s not enough for a movie to just be fun and enjoyable, it has to be perfect, it has to have efficient storytelling and it needs to raise the bar for everything else I’ve ever seen. Most importantly, it needs to not remind me of all the student films I worked on, lol. That said, it’s hard not to love what comes out of A24. I loved The Green Knight, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Midsommar and the VVitch.

I’m still so in love with Emma (2020) and it has set the bar for every Austen adaptation ever after. Less recent faves are Knives Out and The Man from Uncle, which I think are just so perfectly made, and they both really had a self-awareness about their respective genres that was put to fantastic use. Also, a lot of animated movies really have my heart, like Turning Red and Into the Spiderverse, for fantastic emotional storytelling and pushing the bounds of animation as a medium. But if you want to watch a really bad movie, I just love Ator the Fighting Eagle. It scratches an itch that’s vaguely shaped like barbarian romances and He-Man.

How can readers best connect with you?

You can find me on socials like twitter, insta, tiktok @bykateprior, find news on my blog, kate-prior.com, or listen to a podcast I co-host with Marty Vee, Romance Writer’s Therapy.