(EXCLUSIVE): Emerging Literary Star Writes Rare Romance: From Man's Perspective

Author admits there are some love secrets a man just has to keep, and the type of person who's feet you'd find him worshipping.

Kenneth Zak is a name bookophiliacs may want to commit to memory. The former lawyer turned world traveler has followed the footsteps of many of his legal brethren by becoming a writer. Like the John Grishams of the world, Zak cuts an impressive pose; where he detours from most writers of his background is in the type of stories he weaves. This man knows romance and writes it very, very well.

Zak’s panache for tapping into the zeitgeist of love is universal and very appealing. The relationships he creates are vibrant and real; that the ending is wholly unforeseen is evidence of the author’s talent for mystery and suspense skills.

The Poet’s Secret is his first book, and Zak is an artist on the threshold of discover. In this exclusive interview, this self-declared romantic recently explained what it’s like to write a book after a broken heart and the advantages of grief.

Synopsis: The Poet's Secret is a lush tale of a young woman who travels after a reclusive poet in search of answers to his mysterious disappearance and the muse that inspired his popular collection of poetry. What she finds against an Island background is something all together more mysterious, convoluted and satisfying: a fated romance between the famous writer and someone who turns out to be more important to our heroine than she can imagine.

Modern Love: What is it about the relationship between grief and creativity that often inspires thoughtful, universally appealing writing?

Kenneth Zak: Every romance, and life itself, is a suspense since we can never be sure how it will turn out. I just finished Milan Kundera's Laughable Loves, and in one of his collected short stories entitled Edward and God, he writes: "But this is the way life goes: a man imagines that he is playing his role in a particular play, and does not suspect that in the meantime they have changed the scenery without his noticing, and he unknowingly finds himself in the middle of a rather different performance."

To me, the notion of romantic suspense is a bit redundant. An inherent tension exists between spectacular, intoxicating, passionate, patient love and pretty much anything and everything else.

A side benefit of the grieving process, as painful as grief can sometimes be, is it shatters our expectations and alters our perceptions of both the world and, hopefully, our true self. To honestly wrestle with the great spectrum of confusing and conflicting emotions can reveal a shared humanity. Grief certainly inspires creativity, but so can every human emotion if we stop and absorb it, play with it and ponder its particular magnificence. Maybe grief's great advantage is that we often grieve alone, and it is no secret that writing requires a fair amount of solitude.

ML: Looking back at that time in your life, and seeing the fruits of your labor and what you describe as a hollow time in your life, do you think your broken heart was a gift in disguise, something that triggered your creativity, or was it simply that the time opened up for you to write? Or something else altogether?

KZ: I had been writing a bit already, but the end of that particular relationship certainly granted me a remarkable freedom on several levels. In addition, my son posed the greatest question: Why not sell this big house and write your stories? I didn't need more money or a big house to live or write, I simply needed more time.

Getting away to that mountaintop village in Crete to write was the only existence that made any sense. It was unprecedented, but I had no doubt it was the correct path for me.

The broken heart was definitely a gift, because I tend to be creative rather than destructive. Some of the early, raw poetry was certainly a bit of an exorcism.

I was tackling something deep inside and exploring what was at my core as a person. It was a fascinating process since the story developed quite organically from two images that I couldn't shake. I just tried as best as possible to let the dots connect without too much interference.

ML: How much of this story is romantically autobiographical? Tell me about the style, which is a bit unusual but something I imagine readers will really respond to once they read The Poet’s Secret.

KZ: On a personal level, even though The Poet's Secret is fiction, it certainly pulls back a bit of the curtain veiling my inner self. I think any honest writer reveals a bit of his or her self, or why bother?

As a romantic, The Poet's Secret is not quite autobiographical, but certainly is drawn from my imagination, which in turn is formed by an amalgamation of people, places and adventures I've either experienced or dreamt. I have been fortunate, because I've experienced things I've dreamt about and dreamt up things I've ultimately experienced. More of that will come out in my next novel as I grow to embrace that process even more.

As a writer, the style is a bit unique in that it is upmarket Impressionistic fiction. It is meant to be reflective and thoughtful. There are passages about light and color and water that run counter to certain styles of popular fiction currently in vogue.

ML: Who are your muses?

KZ: Creative people who dare challenge the norms of thought, style and what is considered possible, those who venture into the exotic without being paralyzed by fear, those who move in love in what they do.

Those who care about the smallest gestures, those who realize a masterpiece is made up of many small strokes, and aren't afraid to paint outside the lines, those who combine just the right mix of passion, mischief and curiosity, splat it about on the canvas of their life and entice me to paint along with them, or is it me enticing them?

I'm never quite sure. And those who do all of this with such patience I don't know whether to bow at their feet or explode in their presence.

As to actual names, well, that must remain, for now, the poet's secret.

For more on Kenneth Zak visit his website.

You can follow Tinamarie on @ModernLoveMuse and facebook. She blogs at www.tinamariebernard.com.