The Wednesday Interview

This week’s brilliant Author is Elaine Lowe with her book Scandalous Profession. Don’t you just love the hot cover? Next week we have the brilliant author duo of Chris Power and Terri Beckett with their book Nettleflower - and let me tell you now that cover also sizzles.

The Blurb

Charlotte Mallory is a single mother blessed with a very vivid imagination. Her imagination has allowed her to provide a comfortable existence for her family, despite all the barriers for a widow to succeed in Regency London. That same imagination just might get her into trouble when it runs wild over a handsome redheaded gentleman she spies in the park. When Richard Wilcox proves able to far surpass her most sensual dreams, will she lose everything once he discovers that hers is a Scandalous Profession?

The Interview

1. You have some sizzling sex scenes in your book. How hard is it to write sex and make it convincing?

Thanks for the opportunity to do this interview! You ask some great questions. I’d have to say that there’s a fine line between graphic description and emotional realism. How much do we really think during sex? But it’s essentially for the story telling…all the thoughts that blaze through your mind at high speed or happen after the fact have to be condensed into the action to make it ring true. The graphic “insert tab A into slot B” has to feel right and has to be hot. It helps if it can be just a bit naughty, if not in real modern day life, at least for those characters at that time. I actually love writing the sex scenes. I have to admit sometimes imagining the sex scenes as the touchstones around which to design the rest of the plot!

2. Romance and the condom. How hard do you find to slip it in or on when the action is hot between characters?

Ah, the joys of writing historicals and sci-fi! Not a lot of condoms to go around. I fervently believe in safe sex, and dealing with the consequences of sex without condoms is always a big plot mover. The reality of disease and/or pregnancy shapes life in historical period pieces, moving virtual strangers in lust toward the requirement of marriage or some kind of commitment. In sci-fi, it’s interesting to deal with new and unique forms of birth control. I actually have a gland in one subspecies that women can adjust internally to prevent ovulation…but what happens when the male of a difference subspecies seems to be able to unconsciously circumvent that little precaution? The next book, that’s what.

3. Do you think romance just happens or do you make your characters work for it?

A little of both. I think sparks just happen, call it fate or phermones, but having that HEA or even the potential for an HEA requires work and dedication. A lot of a story can center on convincing all characters involved that whatever problem present themselves, together they can work around them. Those difficulties might be external, but often they are internal, problems a character had in the past or mental blocks or lack of self-esteem. Then you really have to work for romance, and break through all those barriers.

4. What is it about your hero that makes him irresistible to women?

In Scandalous Profession, Richard is a man who knows what he wants and once he decides to go after it, nothing is going to stop him. I think confidence is one of the sexiest qualities in a man, and on the outside, Richard has that in spades. He’s tall, with fiery red hair that you just want to run your fingers through, and blue eyes so hot they could melt you into a gooey pile of need. And he’s wonderfully sweet to his little boy. A cute, confident guy who’s a great dad and has an arse you’d like to wrap your legs around…what more could you want? Add that a Regency top hat and easy access fallfront trousers and riding boots and I’ll be ready to swoon.

5. Do you think readers want to escape or do they want to identify with a character?

I think it depends on mood of the reader. For me personally, I love a tightrope balance between the two. Sketch me a world of fantasy or plunge me into the past or the future, but at the same time, I want to meet characters whose emotions and reactions ring true. I want to know that they have strengths and weaknesses and insecurities and foibles so that I want them to have that happy ending no matter if they are Vikings or seven foot tall blue aliens.

6. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when writing romance?

Balance. You want to test your characters, but you have to give them some moments to really connect. For everything that goes to hell, you have to give them a few moments where all they can feel is each other and the potential for something magical. I call it balancing the fluff and the angst, so what I tend to want to write is “flangst”. Sounds more like a steak than romance, but what the hell.

7. What are you working on now?

At the moment, I’m focusing on a sizzling dance between a couple in New York City in the Roaring Twenties. They’ve both got a bit of magical powers…he’s gypsy, and she’s from a long line of healers. They’ve both been running from themselves, and find their magic again in one another. I hope for it to be the first in a series, Mage Wanderers. I’ve also got outlines for a futuristic sci-fi in the Jewels of the Nile series about a “Pearl”, and a story of royal intrigue set in the courts of the pre-Columbian Maya.

**Click on the cover and buy the book**

Last week brilliant author – Charlene Leatherman and Prophecy of Vithan

As always check out the latest edition of the peeler trials of Emmeline on www.annycook.blogspot.com on Wednesday and www.kellykirch.blogspot.com on Thursday…go on you know you want to. A little madness never hurt anyone…much.

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