Hi Alyssa, Welcome to the blog.
Tell us a little about yourself. You're fairly new to the erotic book market having only premiered in 2011 with a short in BEST WOMEN'S EROTICA 2011. Were you writing before this time? Were you published elsewhere in a different genre? What turned you towards writing?
Writing was my first creative outlet. At twelve I was scribing my first novel on loose leaf notebook paper. In my humble pre-teen opinion, it was pretty good. Better than Sweet Valley High even. I wish I still had it to read now. It would make for a great laugh I’m sure.
I found the need to put my imagination on paper again only about four years ago. Fiction writing is an exercise in intimacy. Sharing your imagination with the world is kind of soul baring. For me, writing erotic fiction is an opportunity to leave the bedroom door cracked on my brain. I suppose that makes me an exhibitionist of a sort, doesn’t it?
My short, Two For One in BWE 2011 was my first official publication of any sort in print or digital. I was beyond thrilled to know that I’d been counted among some of erotica’s most talented and prolific authors. Two For One is a ménage between strangers; two hotel masseurs and one overworked damsel looking for some relaxation on a business trip.
If you hadn't turned to writing, what profession do you think you might have chosen instead?
I’ve always been interested in advertising. I even rewind commercials. Working in a creative team to pull off something requiring such multi-layered savvy and talent would be a rush.
What was it about writing ménage that appealed to you? This genre is only becoming really mainstream now with the major publishers starting new lines for erotica.
For one, the notion of two men in cahoots with each other for one woman’s pleasure is something lots of women covet. Though they might never follow through, the possibilities play loudly. Reading and writing about it is an emotionally safe way to explore. The second reason is my fixation on a good challenge. Storylines where a trio finds satisfaction and even love in situations that are traditionally expected to be for pairs, require careful and thoughtful plotting. I try to satisfy the reader’s curiosity about these arrangements. In truth, I’m also satisfying my own. I want to create a realistic and easily accepted plot that lets the reader feel connected to a situation that might otherwise be foreign to them.
I have heard a few opinions on why people are attracted to reading ménage. What do you hope draws your readers in to read your ménage books in particular?
Whether my readers have purchased erotic romance or erotica written by me, I hope they find the storyline relatable and believable regardless of the sub-genre. Ménage arrangements often require a certain amount of faith and trust in the author’s ability to help suspend the disbelief of the reader.
I want my characters to each have their unique struggle and growth. Their journeys are partly driven by the ménage relationship as well as their own personal challenges. My ménage stories are never just about three people getting together. There is always a depth in character and plot that exceeds the boundaries of hot sex.
I know you wrote a piece about your mfm fascination and have written mf and then there's Send which is one man and three women. What is your preferred coupling to write in? What do you find writing about a multi partner fic to be most challenging for you?
My novel Send is actually not a multi partner story. The alpha hero, Jimmy has just one love interest and shares himself with no other. However, he does have a role in the satisfaction of two other women. There are actually three parallel MF couplings in Send with Jimmy as the consistent tie in. The other two male characters aren’t as prominent as Jimmy, but they hold their own on the heart throb scale. This was probably the most complex character mix I’ve ever crafted and it was a blast.
I can’t say that I have a preferred coupling. I wrote By Surprise because I simply had never tried my hand at an M/M relationship and the idea of layering in the further complication of adding a female to the mix was irresistible. If I had to identify a preference it would be challenging couplings full of sexual tension under unusual circumstances. Bittersweet is a story with ménage elements of a disabled man, whose dying wish is to know his wife will live on with love and passion in her life. It doesn’t get much more challenging than that.
I also try to focus on flow throughout my stories. I want the words to slow dance in the reader’s head, especially during the sex scenes. Naming each character before their actions makes for choppy reading. In multi partner erotic fiction, it’s a challenge to keep a rhythm and keep all the body parts straight, too.
How did you plan out your book By Surprise because it was probably one of the better stories I have read in the ménage genre. The review I wrote for it is posted here. You wrote a terrific storyline that held itself up on its own outside of the hot sex scenes. What came first here? Idea? Characters? A specific scene?
When planning a book I often focus on a concept that interests me. In the case of By Surprise I wanted to explore the struggles of a man with his sexuality, but not from the usual angle. I was interested in taking the journey, with Nicholas, from his comfortable identity as a gay man to the unsettling feelings he felt for a woman he’d discovered a connection to. Jodi acts as a conduit between Nicholas and his husband Paxton. The idea that an external connection could enhance and strengthen an existing relationship was enthralling. So with that intriguing concept in mind, I set out to create a scenario that would bring it to life.
In other works I have been inspired first by a specific scene, like in Bittersweet when Keith unbuttons his wife Sabrina’s blouse and first asks Evan to take her into his mouth, and into his heart. With Send it was definitely the ever complicated and wildly entertaining, Jimmy that drove the story. Every creative beginning is unique.
I know you are working on another book right now that is going to be a sci-fi twin ménage mfm how is that working out and can you give any hints about your plot or its characters?
Set in New York, 150 years in the future, ex-military rebels Pryor and Tristan are twin brothers focused on the demise of the oppressive corporate dictatorship the country has fallen under. Shannon is a strong and capable business woman who has enjoyed the perks of her corporate status, yet she’s thrown into the middle of the resistance and a whirlpool of attraction for the sexy and intense Davies twins. We follow her journey as she realizes who she is and where she really belongs in the dawn of a revolution. Double Take is a sci-fi erotic romance ménage that was as thought provoking as it was scorching hot for me to write. I’m deeply in love with all three characters. I’m anticipating a summer 2012 release.
Can you share with us something about yourself that perhaps your readers don't know? Something you'd like for your readers to know?
I never like to do the same thing twice. That goes for just about everything. Of my husband and I, I’m the far more adventurous one. Somehow that’s worked out quite well. He keeps me guessing in other ways.
Any idiosyncrasies about your writing process? A certain chair, an accompanying cup of tea, music, phones turned off kind of thing? How do you get yourself in gear to write?
I don’t have the luxury of being such a diva. When it comes to my writing I get in anyway I can. Though there is one chair and ottoman in the corner of the room that I seem to end up in with my laptop. It’s comfortable and well worn, but working at a table at Starbuck’s has far less interruptions about when dinner will be ready.
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