My Writing Process – Blog Tour

My muse can be the death of me or whisper ideas that take my mind on an incredible journey.

The question often arises about how I write,

so I figured this blog hop would shed a little light on my

darkly twisted, often kinky, and wonderful Muse,

and how I put onto paper what she whispers in my ear.

First things first. I have been tagged in this blog by the wonderful and talented Sotia Lazu  I’ve known Sotia for a good while now and we both began to grow into the writers that we are around the same time. Her romances offer a good deal of heat, but also contain characters who are real. They make mistakes, they are far from perfect, and yet even with those flaws, they find love. I like her style because none of us are perfect and yet so many romances have a hero and heroine who are painted as characters who have few flaws, amazing beauty, and deserve the very best of everything. While that makes for likable characters, Sotia adds the element of realism along with a good dash of humor. Please take a moment to hop over to her page before you begin your journey into my twisted, dark, and often diabolical mind. Go on, she’s waiting.

Sotia Lazu’s Writing About Love

Now that you’ve spent some time getting to know Sotia and browsing her books, let’s get on with the questions of the hop!

1) What am I working on?

 Right now I’m writing a new kinky historical romance. It takes place in England in Victorian times. The title is His Lordship’s Wayward Wife. As in nearly all of my books, the male lead isn’t a knight in shining armor. Nathaniel Tarrington isn’t the cruel anti-hero most of my leading men are, but he certainly is in need of an attitude adjustment when it comes to women. The heroine is a woman who comes from high society, is spoilt, and treats those in a lower station with disdain. She also is in need of reform. This is very different from my usual heroine.

This is the long version of the blurb. I haven’t fine-tuned it yet.

 Claudia Stafford lived a life of luxury in Victorian England. She was a rebellious and spoilt girl who thought only of herself, treating those below her station with contempt. After discovering the power of her womanly charms, she used them to her every advantage, spurning any suitors her mother deemed appropriate, in favor of those who offered excitement regardless of scandal. When her father returns from his job overseas, her life is suddenly turned upside down. Married to an Earl and shipped across the country, Claudia finds herself in the role of those whom she has disdained. She is expected to be subservient and obedient, and saying no brings consequences Claudia never dreamed of.

As the wife of a man who belongs to a secret society that takes the role of the dominant husband to new heights, Claudia is expected to be submissive in all she does, and comes to crave the deviant sexual practices of her husband. Though she learns a new respect for those who waited on her all her life and her body delights in all her husband does to her, Claudia’s sass and fire keep her from allowing love into her heart.

Lord Nathaniel Tarrington has had his share of submissive women. It’s part of his lifestyle, and has been for generations in his family. While lovely, Claudia really isn’t much different than those he’s accustomed to, that is until her fiery passion and refusal to be tamed first grabs hold of his admiration, and then grabs hold of his heart. Nathaniel finds himself wishing to win Claudia’s love and admiration, something that is very foreign to him, and he isn’t well versed in the ways of wooing a woman. Once the few tricks he has up his sleeve are spent, and the passion he instills in Claudia doesn’t win her heart, Nathaniel must look in the mirror and try to find a man whom his wayward and wild wife, can truly love.

2)How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I’ll be honest and say that I don’t really read books of the genre I write, but my wife does. This gives me a good ideas of what is out there. With my kinky historical novels, I have the advantage of actually being kinky. My wife and I have a BDSM domestic discipline relationship. We do impact and other types of kinky play as well as have marriage rules and consequences for not doing as she is told. We are also active in the kink community and have seen nearly every type of play out there. Both witnessing and participating in kinky play and living in a power exchange relationship gives me insight those who just write what they have not experienced don’t have. I know how it feels, I know the ins and outs of dominance and submission. I know what flogging really is and feels like, I know what aftercare is needed. I know what safety aspects must be written into the scene, etc.

My other difference that is very apparent is that I write dark. I mean really dark. My heroes are not heroes. Sometimes they are in need of a bit of reform, and sometimes they are heartless and evil right down to the bone. In my paranormal trilogy, Mikhal is an evil, soulless, corrupt, and cruel vampire. He has no morals. He is driven by lust and what brings him pleasure, he feeds on terror and blood. My vampires do not sparkle. You will hate Mikhal long before you love him, but you will most definitely love him.

My heroines are depicted and live lives that are accurate for the time period. They have no rights, they are considered property. They are bedded, disciplined, and treated as their husbands see fit. Some readers find this disturbing. My only answer for them is please refrain from reading my books. My book excerpts are detailed and specific. My characters find love, they get their happily ever after, but the road there is twisted and rough.

 3) Why do I write what I do?

I am a history geek. I love researching the specifics of time periods. I also love to travel and have been all over the world. My Muse is sparked by many things. Elizabeth’s Destiny was sparked by a visit to Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Different sights, sounds, experiences during my travels inspired much of what I have written. Beneath the Shadows of Evil came from seeing and learning about what real Medieval times were like. In reality, Mikhal Arcos wasn’t any more cruel or evil than many of the rich lords of that time. Those who had, controlled those who didn’t with an iron and often bloody fist.

I like gritty, never easy, riddled with thorns plots and drama. I am not a fan of sunshine and rainbows in what I read. Some of us just enjoy the dark side. I think that things mean more, whether they are relationships or events in our lives, if we have to work for them. Real life is a struggle. Real life throughout history was hard, especially if you were poor, and if you were a woman. We tend to romanticize the past. The clothes were beautiful, the tales of the ladies and their knights gallant and sweet. That is not how it was. Oh I put a great deal of romance and another great heaping of erotic sex in each book, but I also love the dark and twisted trials I get to throw their way because of the time period.

4) How does your writing process work?

I have no real writing process that is ‘by the book’. I know many writers make themselves produce a certain number of words a day, or keep a schedule for what must be written. That isn’t me. First and foremost, I write for pleasure. Yes, I write because I want to sell books. It helps pay the mortgage. I won’t say I don’t write for the money, but my main reason is for the sheer delight of it.

When I write I am somebody else is another world. It’s very freeing, and I refuse to put pressure on myself by setting deadlines or must do productions of words. I can’t write during the week because I am simply too exhausted from work, so I write on the weekends when I can. My book is never far from my mind though. I think of plot twists, actually have dialog out loud to hear what is sounds like outside of my head, and I sometimes dream up an answer to a problem. Other times I let my mind wander when I soak in the tub. I have a wonderfully deep bathtub and spend an hour in it every day after work to unwind. Sometimes I read, sometimes I let my mind drift.

I guess I am a very unorthodox writer. I have no restraints on time, I don’t really do book outlines, I just go with something that pops into my head and run with it.

I am tagging LA Cloutier in the writing process blog hop. Her first book, The Story of M: The Seduction, would be for those that like Lessons of Love, or Elizabeth’s Destiny.  Go check her out at her blog, and on Amazon.