Author Interview - KD Grace - Erotic Romances

 

      K D Grace was born with a writing obsession. It got worse once she actually learned HOW to write. There's no treatment for it. It's progressive and chronic and quite often interferes with normal, everyday functioning. She might actually be concerned if it wasn't so damned much fun most of the time.

K D's erotic romance novel, The Initiation of Ms Holly, published by Xcite Books, is now available everywhere.

Her erotica has been published with Xcite Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, and Scarlet Magazine.

Her second novel, The Pet Shop, also published by Xcite Books, will be available in October 2011.

Tonya:  KD, thank you for being here for the next few days to chat with our readers.

KD:  I’m excited to be here and to let your readers learn about my books and a bit about me; thank you!

Tonya:  Some of us have things we do to get into the writing frame of mind like music, or drinks. Do you have anything special you do to get into the writing mood?

KD:  If at all possible, the best way for me to get in the mood to write is to go for a walk. I always write better and more creatively after a walk. I write on a laptop in a black leather recliner that no one else would DARE sit in. It’s my office! I always drink iced tea while I write. I drink from a glass that never really gets empty, and never really gets washed. If I’m writing in the evening, I forsake the tea for a glass of red wine, preferably something full-bodied and South American.

Tonya:  Drinking wine as we write does help the creative process! Do you like pushing the envelope when writing?

KD:  I do. It’s not so much that I try to push the envelope in a ‘shock factor’ sort of way, which I suppose is often the way people would expect an erotic author to push the envelope. Instead I’m always trying to push the envelope of what I think I’m capable of as a writer. As a writer, I know the list of things I don’t do well on the written page, and I work at shrinking that list. But there’s another way to push the envelope that’s a lot more frightening to me. A creative writing teacher once told me that our writing will be the most powerful if we write about the parts of our life that make us the most uncomfortable, the parts of our life that frighten us. That kind of pushing the envelope is much harder to do and much more uncomfortable. But it’s good advice. Whenever I’ve forced myself to write from a place of fear or discomfort, the writing shines. But I’m totally exhausted afterwards, and not brave enough to do it very often. 

Tonya:  I hadn’t thought of it that way but what great advice! Thanks for making us think about that as writers! Do you have a card file where you keep story ideas? Where do they come from?

KD:  I keep story ideas in my Blackberry, which for the most part is synonymous with my brain. I always have my Blackberry with me, and I don’t know when I’ll get an idea because they do come at strange moments, don’t they?

      I get a lot of my ideas while I’m walking. I’ve walked whole stories, whole chapters of novels and come home with totally new ideas that hadn’t occurred to me before. Without the Blackberry, I may think the idea’s just too good to forget, but unfortunately, ideas are very nebulous things. They can’t escape the Blackberry, though!

      I also get ideas when I’m gardening. It pains me to say it, but I even get ideas when I’m ironing sometimes. And no, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t give up ironing in a heartbeat if I could get someone else to do it for me. I figure if I could find an ironer, I could walk more and garden more, and that would make up for the loss of ironing ideas, right?

Tonya:  Many of my plots are contemplated in my garden. It frees the mind to come up with all sorts of ideas! Tell us about a day in your life as a writer.

KD: I get up around six or six thirty. My husband and I cook breakfast together, though in the summer, we usually spend twenty or thirty minutes working in the garden before. We linger over breakfast, usually reading or chatting, or watching the birds in the back garden. We both love the morning, so it would never occur to us to sleep to the last minute.

      After my husband leaves for work, I walk if the weather allows. On a busy day, it’s a short walk, on a day when I need to generate ideas and think, it can last a half day. I really do find that I write much more efficiently when I walk. Walking time is just another form of writing time for me.

      After I walk, I write the rest of the day, or at least as much as my other obligations will allow. The days when there are no other obligations are absolute bliss! I sometimes break for a cat nap because I’m always under-slept.

      In the summer, I spend a lot more time gardening. My husband and I grow our own vegetables. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a veg garden fanatic. My husband says I’m a Veg Evangelist, spreading to good news of veg beds. Not only do I love the process and the fab veggies, but the garden is another place where I find inspiration and story ideas. Some of my best naughty stories are garden-inspired.

      By now you’re probably already figuring, ‘this chick is a little bit obsessive around the edges,’ and you wouldn’t be far wrong. But I enjoy writing more than anything else I can think of, and I shudder to think what other nasty psychological traits might ooze to the surface if I couldn’t write. (So glad you can’t see the twitching or the drooling)

Tonya:  (pushing a box of tissues toward KD) *wink* I totally understand the need to get our thoughts on paper! Are you a daytime writer, night time writer, and do you have to be alone to write?

KD: I can write anywhere, anytime, anyhow. I only get twitchy when, for whatever reason, I’m unable to write. But I am a morning person basically. I’m married to a night person, though, so I’m always a bit off balance where sleep is concerned. When my husband travels with his work and my own schedule asserts itself rather than our weird hybrid one, I get up at 6:30, walk, write all day, go to bed at 10:30. On our hybrid schedule, I write whenever I get the chance, and I sleep when I have to.

Tonya:  I’m the night person at our house and when hubby works, he’s up before me. Do you intentionally give your characters flaws so the reader might relate to them better

KD:  I don’t think I give my characters flaws so the reader might relate to them better. I think I give them flaws so I might relate to them better…and also because characters with flaws are a lot more interesting to write.  

Tonya:  Do you write about things that may teach your reader new ‘ideas’ they might use at home?

KD: Not really. I write mostly about things I find fascinating and hope my readers will too. I write about things I hope will give my readers the same ‘ah ha’ moments that they gave me. My novels have a mythological motif running through them, though not always blatant. That’s because I love mythology, and I like the archetypal relevance those myths assert even in modern times. They’re larger than life and full of layers of meaning that you can peel back like an onion. I love that about myths, and I love that in stories. I’m always trying to give my readers layers because I like layers. I think erotica writers have even more luscious layers to work with because sex and romance are so multi-faceted, and so full of surprises.

Tonya:  Where can our readers find you and your books?

KD:  The Initiation of Ms Holly is available on Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Xcite Books, and in lots of other places too. You can check out my website, kdgrace.co.uk, for more details.  I’m also on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Tonya:  Is there anything else you want to tell our readers?

KD: First, I’d like to thank you, Tonya, for having me as your guest. It was great fun talking to you. Second I’d like to thank you fab readers from dropping by to say hi. I’ve had a great time, which is no surprise. I always have a great time when I talk writing with other writerly and readerly types. I’d like to invite you all to stop by my website, kdgrace.co.uk, to say hi, see what’s new, and find out how the sweet corn is growing. Thanks again!

Tonya:  KD, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you! Best of luck in your future writing and we’ll be looking forward to more wonderful stories!

      Readers, KD will be around for questions and comments. We both want to thank you for stopping in!