Interview with Author Maryn Sinclair

Please welcome fellow Loose Id author, Maryn Sinclair, who has a new release coming out tomorrow: Sexual Persuasion!

• Tell me a little bit about yourself.

o I’ve done a little bit of everything. I started out as a fashion illustrator and switched to drawing storyboards for TV commercials. I’ve owned a home furnishings store and ran a business selling antique textiles that my husband and I imported. Writing hooked me from the beginning, and that was it for other careers.

• Do you use a pseudonym and if so, why?

o Yes, Maryn Sinclair is a pseudonym. I write in other genres and feel if I build a reputation in one genre, it shouldn’t cross into another. I must admit that sometimes I feel a little schizophrenic because while I have two different names, I’m really one person with the same ideas, except when it comes to putting concepts on paper/computer. Plus, I have sons who think their mother writing sexy novels is—how can I say this—icky.

• What genre do you write in? Why did you pick that genre?

o Besides contemporary erotic romance, I’ve written a couple of soft thrillers and a few romantic suspense novels. I don’t feel my erotic romances are much different than my RS books except for the sex scenes. I haven’t written an erotic romance with a dead body yet, but that’s not to say I won’t. I’ve always written sex scenes, but the erotic romances I’m writing now have more, well, erotic moments.

• What inspires you to write the type of stories that you write?

o The characters. Always the characters. When I get an idea, it always begins with either my hero or heroine, and they always have a backstory that needs to unfold so they can get on with their lives.

• How would you describe your writing style? Plotter or pantser? Why?

o No question: pantser. I NEVER know where the story will take me or what characters will evolve on the way. I have a general idea where I want to wind up, but getting there is as much a surprise to me as I hope it is to the reader. I think that’s what makes writing so exciting. I know there are different points of view on this and some writers have to know every twist and turn before they put one word on paper, but that’s not me. Predictable is not a word any writer wants to hear. Erotic romance has a built in conclusion, so there is a bit of predictability. It’s the road traveled that should be interesting.

• What is your favorite genre to READ?

o I like a little bit of everything. I like the excitement of crime fiction, the feel-good emotion and fantasy of romance, and the plot twists of a good mystery. So I guess I’m ambi-lexterous. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

• Do you have a specific place where you like to write? When, during the day, is your most creative time?

o I write in a few places. In the winter, I write under the covers in bed, because I hate to be cold. In good weather, I write outside, and sometimes I write on the sofa in my office. I don’t write on my PC, but I answer all correspondence on the PC in the morning. There’s something more intimate about writing on a laptop, so that’s where I do my best work.

• What’s your typical writing day?

o From morning to night. If my mind bogs down in a story, I switch to another story or edit. Then I go back to it. I have no problem changing gears. There are days when I have to do those housey things. That’s part of life.

• Do you have critique partners or beta readers? Why?

o I have a few wonderful critique partners. Each one has a different strength, and I hope I offer them something their other CPs don’t. It works out well. One thing we all are to one another is supportive.

• Who gives you the most support along in your writing?

o My husband because he leaves me alone, and one critique partner who is always there for me, Ellis Vidler. She’s my rock.

• Do you have another job (besides writing)? If so, what do you do?

o No other job now. When I started writing, I owned a store, but the lure of the stories took over, and that’s all I wanted to do.

• What’s your take on the future of ebooks and epublishing?

o E-publishing is definitely here to stay, so that means e-books are too. With e-book readers such as the Kindle and Nook on the rise, I see the industry developing more to accommodate the e-book world, and that includes the big publishers. They won’t have a choice other than to hop on the bandwagon. This doesn’t mean paper books will become obsolete. Nothing compares to holding a book in your hand and turning pages.

• Do you have a favorite quote -- yours or someone famous or even infamous?

o “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible with the eye.” It’s from “The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Exupéry. I love that quote because it means you cut through the visual and go straight to the core.

• What’s your favorite food?

o Pasta and potatoes. I’m a carbs gal. In my book—excuse the pun—there is no such thing as a bad potato. I don’t care how it’s cooked. I have a picture of me at five-years old with my hand in a bag of potato chips. I haven’t changed.

• What’s your favorite movie? Why?

o There are so many, but I’d have to say Casablanca. It’s a mix of romance, intrigue, and pathos, with a great cast of characters, which, for me, describes the perfect movie. Even though it’s almost 70 years old, it still holds up. And I love the fact that when it was made, the director filmed two endings, and he didn’t know which one he’d use. If that isn’t pantser, I don’t know what is.

• Do you have a favorite book or author?

o The ultimate romance: Gone with the Wind. I don’t think any book matches it for scope or romantic conflict, even though the ending isn’t HEA. I also love Rebecca for mystery and romance combined. I have many favorite authors in many genres, some for excellent writing, others for the sheer power of their stories. I love Dennis Lehane’s work, Michael Connelly, and James Lee Burke. Sandra Brown for RS. There’s an English writer by the name of Mo Hayder who can be downright scary. Too many others to mention.

• Tell me about your latest or upcoming release?

o “Sexual Persuasion,” published by Loose Id, is a multi-layered contemporary erotic romance. It’s about lust, secrets, danger, and love. Charlotte Stone has a weakness for handsome, untrustworthy men. Alex Andros seems to fall into that category. He’s a brilliant attorney with one client--the head of Boston’s mob. Alex also has the reputation of being the mob boss’s lover. Alex knows the rumors and couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of him. He’s as much taken with Charlotte as he was seventeen years before with the man who changed the way he loved. Then there’s Charlotte’s slimy old boyfriend, Alex’s old boyfriend, and—well, you’ll just have to read it to find out what happens.

• Do you have any releases scheduled for 2011?

o Sexual Persuasion comes out tomorrow on the Loose Id website. After that, I have one more, The Escort, also with Loose Id. It’s about a divorced high school guidance counselor desperate for money to pay her daughter’s doctor bills. She takes a job as an escort with a fee of ten thousand dollars. The client is a former Army colonel who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and blinded in an enemy attack. He’s handsome, sexy, rich, and convinced he can bed her during their three-day stay at a five-star inn where he plans to help two soldiers who survived the attack with him. Of course, there are all kinds of complications, because that’s the kind of story I write.

• What’s your next project?

o Something a little different for me. It’s still a contemporary erotic romance, though. I’m not far enough along to be sure it works. Remember, I’m a pantser.

• Where can readers find you on the web?

o http://marynsinclair.com/
I have pages for both books and excerpts too. Enjoy.

Also at http://www.loose-id.com/Our-Authors/Maryn-Sinclair/