When did you write your first story and what was the inspiration for it?
I started writing in my teens, the beginnings of what became the Hidden World series. It had an island that doesn’t exist, aliens living on Earth and all over, and starships. There were occasional forays into talking animals… Don’t ask me what that was about, I have no idea, lol.
Do you have a writing schedule or do you just write when you can find the time?
I write whenever I have the chance. Eating a meal, waiting for appointments, or, currently, after I get homework done, or when I need to take a break from the homework. What I write varies, from new stories, fanfics, or WIPs I’ve been working for years.
Briefly describe the writing process. Do you create an outline first? Do you seek out inspirational pictures, videos or music? Do you just let the words flow and then go back and try and make some sense out it?
I don’t use outlines, because I’ve always ended up with something other than what I outlined anyway, even with research papers. I when I can, I like to have the TV on while writing, but not to watch something I haven’t seen yet, and want to pay attention to. I’ll have Looney Toons cartoons, old British comedies, like Are You Being Served, Monty Python, Red Dwarf, or movies always comedies, or children’s movies. If I’m in the mood for music, it’s always a mix, anything from Nine Inch Nails and Motley Crue to Michael Bolton and Journey. As for the writing itself, I just let it all go, and then come back later and see what it looks like after it’s had a chance to think about it for a bit. Sometimes the story flows easily, and other times I struggle to add any words at all.
Where did the desire to write LGBT romance come from?
I don’t know. I’d found gay romance only months beforehand, and then I lost my job and with no prospects at the time in my town because of the downturn at the time, I was looking for something to do in between job applications. A vague idea about an alien prodigy in college became Jason’s story in the series, the first book I’ve ever actually completed, 104k in nine days. Scary what you can do when you’re unemployed, right? Then Adam, Killian, Kiran, Valerian and Nikita quickly followed, although none of them were written quite as quickly.
How much research do you do when writing a story and what are the best sources you’ve found for giving an authentic voice to your characters?
How much research depends on whatever bug is buzzing in my brain. But mostly when it comes to certain things, for instance a character in a Hidden World WIP that is asexual, I contacted someone amoung my friends who has publicly identified as asexual, and asked them to read the appropriate passages, to find out if I was presenting Olsen well, or if I needed to adjust a few things to make his character more authentic, more true to what someone who is asexual might experience. I’ll ask real live people, to try to understand better where I can. There are things that people every day face that I won’t ever experience, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get story ideas for characters that might represent those people at least in a small way. I’ve been fortunate in that most of the people I have asked to help me make my characters more real have been willing to read stuff in the middle or answer strange questions, like what does an orgasm feel like for a man.
Title: Sweet Clematis
One morning before work, Alan Travers accidentally bumps into Detective Jim Garrison at a cafe where both men stop for coffee. The handsome younger man interests Alan, but he misses his chance to get to know the detective better and wonders if he’ll get another.
Title: My Regelence Rake
Tennant Rowe has it all, a boyfriend he adores, a loving family, and a career on the rise. He’s sure of his place in the world, and the future can only get brighter. Then one night, in a flash of skates and sticks, life changes forever. Getting back on the ice is Ten’s priority, and experts tell him that it’s just a matter of time.
Title: Second Chance Ranch
In a world that is still getting used to shifters, where everyone thinks omegas are second class citizens, nature photographer and omega Braden Payne lets everyone think he’s a beta. That way no one gives him a hard time and he doesn’t have to live a repeat of his failed relationship. But when his car breaks down in the remote Blackwood forest in Western Australia, without the medication that lets him hide who he is, he’s faced with what he fears most: an unmated alpha.
Two clashing colleagues stuck together for Christmas—will opposites eventually attract?
Title: The Englor Affair
The Blogger Girls 