Ink Motions - Interview
How do you get an idea for your novel?
I’m pretty political, and yet romances are my passion, not political thrillers. So almost everything I write has a kernel of politics at its heart. The Dragon in Training series was about equality in all its forms. Heartwood and its sequel, Black Mahogany, are about the difficulties of coming out in a small town—and some of the attendant stereotypes on both sides of that challenge. Tell Me I’m Home is, at its heart, about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, although the first story in this omnibus takes place before DADT was put in place.
What is your writing style? Do you just sit down and write or do you create character sketches, outlines, or notes?
Oh boy. My outlines are notorious among my writing friends. I go scene by scene, writing out Goal, Motivation, and Conflict (GMC). Character sketches on top of all that have also become commonplace. I’m a writer trapped in a mathematician’s brain.
Who is the "Writing Muse" in your life? I.E. who gets your juices flowing when you are blocked? For people, that’s my girlfriend Kitty and my best friend, Katie. For music, it’s mostly Nickelback and musicals.
How many novels have you written including all work in progresses you are currently working on?
I have six published, but there are three others on the way. (I try not to work on so many at once, but I couldn’t help it this time.)
Who is your "writing idol"? I.E. Who do you like and what is it about their writing that captures your soul?
Two authors: Suzanne Brockmann and Stephen King. Suzanne Brockmann wrote the first mainstream romance where two gay men fall in love. If that’s not inspiring, I don’t know what is. (It’s called Force of Nature in case you’re interested.) From Stephen King, I’ve learned that it doesn’t take monsters to be scary. It’s all about the anticipation and horror you create in the mind—yours and your readers’.
What is your favorite plot line type?
I love romances where both heroes (or heroines) start with a seemingly insurmountable difference (in ideology, emotional make-up, or something physically daunting) and grow to love each other because of that difference. If my novels all have a kernel of politics, they also have a kernel of this plot type.
Is there any advice you can offer to anyone who would like to write?
Start with what you love, not what you know. If you like writing about the Civil War but don’t know anything about it, write the novel first before you do the research. There’s always time to tweak the facts in the second draft. Get the story down first.
What is a good villain?
Someone who scares your pants off by how normal they seem on the surface while planning terrible things against the hero.
Blue Ticket:
Small town New York, 1946: Fresh from the horrors of post-atomic Hiroshima, all Don Chesterfield wants is to forget what he saw, and grieve the friend and almost-lover he lost. Back in the States after receiving a blue ticket discharge, he finds shelter a few days before Christmas with Will Jefferson, a black man who immediately sparks Don’s sexual fire and imagination.
Will refuses to accept their powerful attraction, because of trouble he’s had with white men in the past, but try as he might, he can’t resist the pull to get to know Don. They grow closer, revealing their struggles and bonding over their unfair discharges, until their sexual attraction explodes into violence and tenderness.
As each seeks for a way to reunite with his family, he wonders: could this man be the answer to something he wants even more than the family into which he was born?
Adeste Fideles:
As half of the first gay couple on his Air Force base, Xander Tsoukatos feels like he’s being studied–like a bug under a magnifying glass–by the base community. His lover, Sergeant John Tsoukatos, doesn’t help when he directs Xander like he would any fellow soldier.
After seven years together, in which Xander follows John through transfer after transfer, from base to base, they are finally settled in one place and married. Without all the upheaval, they learn quickly they’ve lost any connection between them beyond sexual attraction.
Now they must either explore the virtues of Christmas–hope, faith, and fidelity–to bring them closer, or give up each other forever.
Excerpt
(This is from my WIP, A Pack of His Own: Hunter’s Claim)
A strong, well-remembered hand closed around Charlie’s automatically outstretched right. Then the man before Charlie pushed that hand aside and grasped Charlie’s left, white cane and all.
Charlie laughed as lean, muscular arms pulled him close and tightened around his back. It was Luis. His nose had been right.
“I was planning to see you here,” Luis whispered in Spanish, his voice richer than the thrum of the best-played bass. “But I didn’t think it would be so soon.”
Charlie drank in Luis’s scent for another moment, relished how Luis held him for a breath, and then pulled back slightly, though he was still safe in Luis’s embrace. “It’s good to see you.” That was an understatement, and he was hard-pressed not to resume the kisses he’d run from in March. He had no right to such a warm welcome, and for a breath his heart lodged in his throat.
Then another smell, a stench compared to Luis’s heady aroma, invaded the library, and Charlie stepped away completely. He held up one finger. “Un momento.”
Luis retreated several paces, and Charlie blinked at the psychic vampire’s discretion. Luis hadn’t possessed anything close to respect for duty or circumspection when they’d worked together in Tampa.
Charlie went to the library doors, meaning to close them, but the werewolf he’d smelled stood before him. He made the conscious switch to English, realizing he must be overwhelmed by Luis’s presence if the change needed to be willed rather than instinctive. Or maybe I’m intoxicated again. As he’d been when he and Luis tumbled into bed for a single, blissful hour. Maybe it wasn’t the Lady Lavender drinks that got me drunk in March. It could’ve been Luis.
“Yes?” he asked, pushing for the authority he didn’t technically have here but that he should. If only.
“I came to see if everything’s all right,” said the female wolf.
Charlie blessed his quick ears and his quicker memory. “Thank you, Cassandra, but Agent Delgado and I are fine.” It had crossed his mind to say “satisfied” or “more than comfortable.” Five minutes in Luis’s presence and I’m ready to throw in all the hard-earned camouflage. “He’s here regarding the peace summit.”
“Stop talking,” Luis whispered in Charlie’s mind. “She’s intimidated by you already. Don’t spoil it.”
That was why Charlie had fled Luis. The psychic vampire couldn’t be trusted not to spy.
Or feed.
“Get out of my head.” Aloud he said, “Thank you for your diligence, Cassandra.” He reentered the library, closing the doors in her face. He crossed to Luis and the two of them sank down onto the leather sofa. “Thanks for telling me, but ask my permission next time before you jump into my thoughts.” As if such a reminder would keep Luis in check. Charlie had watched, back in March, as the psychic vampire tapped indiscriminately into people’s heads.
He’d pissed off Agent Tavery, when angering a water dragon wasn’t wise.
He’d barged into an unshielded human’s mind in the name of doing his job.
“It’s not that I’m not grateful for your insight,” Charlie continued in Spanish, in case Cassandra still lingered by the door. “But I’d appreciate it if you’d stay out of this pack’s minds.” Now that was interesting. He’d planned to say “my pack’s.” What had changed his mind?
“I’ll be good.”
Even though he sounded repentant, Charlie didn’t believe. Still, it was a step in the right direction. So he spoke more gently. “They’re all suspicious. How did you handle getting in here?”
“I hid my eyeteeth when I smiled. And of course I sent out a general impression—not into anyone’s mind specifically—that I’m harmless.”
If Luis wasn’t a SearchLight agent, such things would be accepted as a matter of course. SearchLight’s employees were held to a higher standard however, and Charlie wondered how Luis had risen to such a high position—second in command of his department—with such a slipshod modus operandi. Then, remembering that Luis was a tracker and that trackers were allowed many freedoms, Charlie set aside his frustration. It felt too good to see Luis. There would be time for chewing the younger magical creature out. Surely Luis would give him plenty of opportunities.
So Charlie smiled a little to hide his feelings. “Since when have you known how to manipulate werewolves?”
Bio
Emily Carrington started writing with Loose Id in 2011. She discovered erotic romance—especially fantasy and contemporary—were a joy to write. She has published five novels and two novellas (under one title) since that time, and has several other manuscripts in the works.
www.emilycarrington.com
https://www.facebook.com/emily.carrington.370
https://twitter.com/CarringtonEmily
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