Author Interview
1.) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Unlike most writers who seem to have come sliding down their mother's birth canals clutching a laptop, I only started writing about a year ago. – When the feeling strikes, it strikes hard!
2.) What type of genre do you write in?
At the moment I'm writing 'reality' erotica where the heroines are large or older or have body hair or lumps and bumps in unfashionable places, but I'd like to also explore stories about sexuality in ordinary women/girls in non-explicit genres. I'm currently experimenting with a young adult novel about a teenage girl coming to terms with the loss of her mother and her own possible homosexuality. – Sounds intriguing and many women have had to go through this.
3.) What inspires you to write in this genre?
When I first started reading erotica in my mid-thirties I was struck by how removed from reality most of it was and how there were no women like me or any of my friends in any of the stories I read.
In desperation, I turned to Nancy Friday's Women on Top, and really loved reading about people's real sexual experiences, but discovered that the real thing was far sexier than the, often bland, fantasies that they turned them into.
So I started writing some little scenes of my own and gradually expanded them into stories and then novelettes which I showed to a small publishing firm and the rest, as they say, was history. – Sounds like it was meant to be!
4.) Where to you get your ideas for your writing?
Usually from real life. When I see people that intrigue me I think, wow, what would she look like naked? What would he look like with an erection? And just what would those two do if I put them together? Nearly all my characters started as strangers who caught my attention. – Interesting way to find your characters
5.) Who are your favorite authors and why?
Virginia Woolf, Collette, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath. The list is endless. Really, all those women who pushed boundaries and demanded to be recognised as themselves, not the little wives and mothers that men wanted them to be. – These are great women and their writing is phenomenal.
1.) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Unlike most writers who seem to have come sliding down their mother's birth canals clutching a laptop, I only started writing about a year ago. – When the feeling strikes, it strikes hard!
2.) What type of genre do you write in?
At the moment I'm writing 'reality' erotica where the heroines are large or older or have body hair or lumps and bumps in unfashionable places, but I'd like to also explore stories about sexuality in ordinary women/girls in non-explicit genres. I'm currently experimenting with a young adult novel about a teenage girl coming to terms with the loss of her mother and her own possible homosexuality. – Sounds intriguing and many women have had to go through this.
3.) What inspires you to write in this genre?
When I first started reading erotica in my mid-thirties I was struck by how removed from reality most of it was and how there were no women like me or any of my friends in any of the stories I read.
In desperation, I turned to Nancy Friday's Women on Top, and really loved reading about people's real sexual experiences, but discovered that the real thing was far sexier than the, often bland, fantasies that they turned them into.
So I started writing some little scenes of my own and gradually expanded them into stories and then novelettes which I showed to a small publishing firm and the rest, as they say, was history. – Sounds like it was meant to be!
4.) Where to you get your ideas for your writing?
Usually from real life. When I see people that intrigue me I think, wow, what would she look like naked? What would he look like with an erection? And just what would those two do if I put them together? Nearly all my characters started as strangers who caught my attention. – Interesting way to find your characters
5.) Who are your favorite authors and why?
Virginia Woolf, Collette, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath. The list is endless. Really, all those women who pushed boundaries and demanded to be recognised as themselves, not the little wives and mothers that men wanted them to be. – These are great women and their writing is phenomenal.
6.) In your opinion, what key parts of a story make it great?
Great characters and a strong narrative. Pretty writing and neat metaphors are all very well, but without strong, real characters and a compelling narrative they're pointless. – I totally agree, a reader needs to be able to relate.
7.) What activities do you undertake for inspiration?
I watch people and let my imagination run riot.
8.) Do you belong to any writing communities, or critique groups?
Good Lord, no!
9.) Do you have a day job?
Full-time mom.
10.) If you could do it over again, what aspects of the writing/submission process would you change before becoming published?
This was such a painless process for me that there's nothing I would change. However, if I ever stray beyond the cosy boundaries of small press genre publishing and strike out for big money I'm sure I'd have to learn pitching and power lunch manoeuvres and all that other stuff. Actually, power lunches sound like a lot of fun, as long as they involve me being taken to fancy restaurants to talk about rights and stuff while someone else picks up the tab.
11.) What is the title of your upcoming/newly released novel, and where can we find it?
I'm under contract to bring out a new novelette each month, plus I contribute short stories to various anthologies. You might want to look up my erotic ghost story, Melancholia Falls on Amazon, and while you're there check out my collected stories in Tales from a Tangled Bush. Both are available as downloads or paperbacks. – I’ll definitely check them out, thanks so much for being on my blog today, and I love your titles J
Happy writing!
Thanks for stopping! I love her plot and her cover is awesome :)
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