Today’s guest author is doctor and fiction author L.B. Wells to chat with me about her new erotic novel, The White Coat Effect.
Bio:
L.B. Wells is an ambitious, female physician with a developed sense of humor who makes her way through a veritable jungle to succeed at the top while discovering her sexuality and forbidden love for the first time. LB Wells is a high-level professional with a powerful sex life.
Please tell us about your current release.
In The White Coat Effect, I have created a multicultural story that is often overlooked in today’s literary landscape. My protagonist, Rory, a student from a devout Jewish background, is a late bloomer who loses her virginity in her twenties. Her early interactions with men are bumpy affairs that have her wondering what love and sex are all about. With humor and compassion, I describe how her mother kept her under wraps and worried more about the upkeep of their elaborate suburban home than her coming-of-age frustrations.
And then in Med School, Rory falls passionately in love with Amir, an Islamic surgeon from Pakistan. Both families turn against their children when confronted with a love affair that tears down religious boundaries. The resolution of their relationship is a dramatic study of whether love can conquer all obstacles.
What inspired you to write this book?
Nothing could stop me from writing this book. I felt like I was a writer, if only for this one book (I hope not!), bubbling under the surface ready to explode. I had a lot of emotional memories that needed to work their way out of my brain. I wasn’t quite aware of this until I sat down and began writing, but in short order it started flowing. As for the sexual component, I’ve always been a little mischievous, and I wanted some of my experiences (I’ve fictionalized most of them, swapped real life for unreal characters) to guide my readers, teach and entertain them. I also desperately wanted to recount my medical school days and explain what it was like. Those days were very hard, and we’re expected to bear a lot of burdens in silence. Finally, I wanted to recount my own very personal experience within a very special interracial experience. While Amir was not his name, this was a partially true relationship. And while we didn’t encounter the level of ignorance portrayed in the book, I drew from famous works like Romeo and Juliette, West Side Story, Fidler on the Roof (the latter two known to derive from the Shakespearean classic), seeing these plotlines very plausible in the story of Rory and Amir.
Excerpt from The White Coat Effect:
The Intruder
The next day, I fought my way through the cancerous tumors discussion and managed to sneak home early for a long night’s sleep. A dozen hours later, I jumped out of bed and vowed to enjoy a Saturday morning where I had a full day off. It was the first time in days that I could recall coming awake clear-headed in natural light. The crisp, clear morning called for a fresh-air jog, one of the luxuries lost to early morning rounds.
I longed to traverse muddy trails caked with fringes of ice, inhale the winter scent of pine trees, and hear the honking of snowbirds headed in V-formations to warmer climes.
Slipping on my winter-fleece Lulus, I shoved half an energy bar into my mouth and chased it with a couple of gulps of water. I flipped the door shut and walked swiftly to a nearby reservoir where jogging tils abounded, almost deserted in the onset of the morning chill.
I ran for over an hour, letting endorphins flood my brain. My mind wandered, the thoughts flitting through my mind like squirrels scampering out of my path. For the moment, anxiety seemed to dissolve into the particles of ice crunching beneath my feet.
I was back at the apartment before 10 a.m., and I decided to treat my sweat-soaked body to a fast shower. I was in and out quickly, steam following in my wake. Then I heard a strange noise. A creaking? A banging? A knocking?
Maybe a pesky squirrel was crashing against a windowpane.
Wait, that wasn’t a scampering varmint. Those were footsteps.
Human footsteps! Someone was inside my apartment.
I reached for a towel and quickly dried my body, then wrapped the towel around me. Another towel was wrapped around my hair so it wouldn’t drip. (Mother would be proud of my fastidious behavior even in crisis.) I tiptoed out of the bathroom and located my dusty tennis racquet in the bottom of a storage bin, a pathetically wimpy weapon. All the knives in the kitchen. I searched for some camouflage in the closet and tried to calculate the proper form for an overhead smash on the human skull.
What exciting story are you working on next?
I plan to work on a combination thriller/erotic fiction book. I’m just starting to create the characters. I think this one will be fun to both write and read!
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think I first considered myself a writer when I saw my book jackets for sale on Amazon.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write adult fiction part-time and I’m working on a few screenplays. I have currently taken clinical time off.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I manage to intertwine sarcastic wit with a serious edge and then blasting the reader with a number of sensual experiences, from sensing love to sensing an experience in the Operating Room or medical school. For me, it was imperative that the readers actually felt what Rory was feeling.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I knew that I wanted to be a doctor since I was 5 years old. My writing dream came later. I’m transitioning away from medicine for now and into the creative world.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I believe in following your dreams. It’s often not easy to do this. I have faced many obstacles, but have persevered. Nothing that you will love will ever come easy, so take stock of that and don’t let fear hold you back. What could be scarier than being a surgeon and writing an erotic book! Thanks for having me, reading a little about my story. I hope you will buy The White Coat Effect and love it!