Today my guest answering a Q&A with yours truly is erotic romance author Nicole Swan.
1.
Congratulations on
your most recent book. Why don’t you tell us about
it?
Robbie is a typical modern hard working guy who essentially never finds time out for himself. However, he's coerced by his sister in to taking a weekend off and meeting up at the family retreat with her husband and his two kids. One of these kids is Holly, a just turned 18 hot little number and curiously missing her underwear when giving Robbie a welcome hug and kiss.
“One Way Ticket” follows Robbie as he does his best to try not make a disaster of this growing situation between himself and his niece-in-law throughout the weekend in spite of Holly's best efforts to punch out his ticket to Naughtyville.
Robbie is a typical modern hard working guy who essentially never finds time out for himself. However, he's coerced by his sister in to taking a weekend off and meeting up at the family retreat with her husband and his two kids. One of these kids is Holly, a just turned 18 hot little number and curiously missing her underwear when giving Robbie a welcome hug and kiss.
“One Way Ticket” follows Robbie as he does his best to try not make a disaster of this growing situation between himself and his niece-in-law throughout the weekend in spite of Holly's best efforts to punch out his ticket to Naughtyville.
2.
How would you
describe or characterize your fiction,
either by genre,
by themes,
and/or by
subject matter?
My writing is mostly short medium novelettes and each one that I write seems to come out completely different to the previous one in terms of story line, characters and worlds. Maybe one day after I write a dozen or two books there'll start to be some consistency.
My writing is mostly short medium novelettes and each one that I write seems to come out completely different to the previous one in terms of story line, characters and worlds. Maybe one day after I write a dozen or two books there'll start to be some consistency.
3.
Readers are always
interested in what prompted someone to become an author. To begin with, where
were you born and raised? Describe your
upbringing and early life
for us a bit.
I'm an Australia, living most of my life in a small rural town. There's been plenty of personal struggles, a lot of conflict with imposed church views and lots of internal wrestling of morals. Thankfully I am now married to a man who is very much the other half of my soul and he takes an active role with my writing career and has supported me through a lot of complicated issues.
I'm an Australia, living most of my life in a small rural town. There's been plenty of personal struggles, a lot of conflict with imposed church views and lots of internal wrestling of morals. Thankfully I am now married to a man who is very much the other half of my soul and he takes an active role with my writing career and has supported me through a lot of complicated issues.
4.
What early personal
influences do you think drew
you into becoming a writer,
and to do the
specific kind of writing you
do? Were
there any decisive people or events
in your life that caused you to
take the plunge?
For years I really didn't know what I was going to do, or where I was going to end up in terms of career. I knew there was a lot of creativity within that wanted to be expressed but it wasn't until I tried writing it down on the computer that I realised that writing was the thing for me.
For years I really didn't know what I was going to do, or where I was going to end up in terms of career. I knew there was a lot of creativity within that wanted to be expressed but it wasn't until I tried writing it down on the computer that I realised that writing was the thing for me.
5.
What motivates you
to write these days? Do
you have some kind of aim, goal,
or even mission in your
work?
I honestly don't find I need motivation, if anything I find that I have far too much desire to spend all my waking hours (and half my sleeping hours) with my tush planted into a comfy seat with my fingers doing a lot of walking over the keyboard. So far as goals, missions or aims are concerned I've not really had much thought towards them, everything is dominated by “get the next book written”.
I honestly don't find I need motivation, if anything I find that I have far too much desire to spend all my waking hours (and half my sleeping hours) with my tush planted into a comfy seat with my fingers doing a lot of walking over the keyboard. So far as goals, missions or aims are concerned I've not really had much thought towards them, everything is dominated by “get the next book written”.
6.
The writing life
often is tough and lonely.
What kind of obstacles have
you faced
along the way, and what have
you done
about them?
Facing the real world is the hardest thing, having to come of the possessed state of the writing mind and seeing that the house needs cleaning, or that I need to cook some dinner, it's all too much at times. My partner is understanding and compensates for a lot of that thankfully. Physical wear on the body due to the extended periods of lack of movement is something that I have to be very careful of, likewise forgetting to blink seems to be really mess up my eyes! Writing might not be an extreme physically activity but it still does take a considerable toll on your body. Must learn to get up and move around a bit more.
Facing the real world is the hardest thing, having to come of the possessed state of the writing mind and seeing that the house needs cleaning, or that I need to cook some dinner, it's all too much at times. My partner is understanding and compensates for a lot of that thankfully. Physical wear on the body due to the extended periods of lack of movement is something that I have to be very careful of, likewise forgetting to blink seems to be really mess up my eyes! Writing might not be an extreme physically activity but it still does take a considerable toll on your body. Must learn to get up and move around a bit more.
7.
Tell us
a bit about your writing
methods. For example:
Are you a meticulous outliner, or do
you do just jump in and write by the “seat
of the pants”? Or some
combination? What would an eavesdropper see if he watched you while
you are writing? Do you write in a
special place? On a particular
schedule? What tools do you use?
When an idea germinates in my mind I really need to get it all down in short note form as quickly as possible, which often means crashing through the house half naked at 3am to get to the computer (perhaps I should invest in a voice note taking machine?). After I've managed to get all my idea notes down in to the computer I can take a break and come back to it later and see if I'm still interested.
I have myself a lovely writing office, big screen on the computer, using a kitchen table as my workbench ( plenty of room under there to swing my legs around without knocking them on corners ). I also have one of those ancient keyboards that are quite loud to use, but they feel so nice.
When an idea germinates in my mind I really need to get it all down in short note form as quickly as possible, which often means crashing through the house half naked at 3am to get to the computer (perhaps I should invest in a voice note taking machine?). After I've managed to get all my idea notes down in to the computer I can take a break and come back to it later and see if I'm still interested.
I have myself a lovely writing office, big screen on the computer, using a kitchen table as my workbench ( plenty of room under there to swing my legs around without knocking them on corners ). I also have one of those ancient keyboards that are quite loud to use, but they feel so nice.
8.
What’s the hardest
thing for you about writing? The easiest? What
gives you the greatest pleasure or reward?
Is there anything you are particularly proud of?
The hardest thing is probably trying to decide which story to write next, and to try keep the other stories from interrupting. The easiest I perhaps spending hours on the computer grinding out the developing story. So far as rewards go, having my partner hand me back my manuscript with a smirk on his face and telling me that the story “got him all worked up”. Of course, there's no denying as well that seeing rank and sales movements ( in the right directions ) on Amazon is a great reward.
The hardest thing is probably trying to decide which story to write next, and to try keep the other stories from interrupting. The easiest I perhaps spending hours on the computer grinding out the developing story. So far as rewards go, having my partner hand me back my manuscript with a smirk on his face and telling me that the story “got him all worked up”. Of course, there's no denying as well that seeing rank and sales movements ( in the right directions ) on Amazon is a great reward.
9.
You decided to
self-publish. Why was that? Did you try to go the traditional publishing route
first? How has the “indie”
experience been for you,
and would
you recommend it to others?
After sending out some of my earlier manuscripts to traditional publishers or agents and getting the usual boilerplate replies I decided it was just as much work to try the independent route and manage things myself. Fortunately my partner is experienced in handling a lot of the technical aspects of self publishing, which was a great bonus for me, more time to focus just on writing. I would recommend the self publishing route, it's a good way to get started, and you will live or die by your own sword.
After sending out some of my earlier manuscripts to traditional publishers or agents and getting the usual boilerplate replies I decided it was just as much work to try the independent route and manage things myself. Fortunately my partner is experienced in handling a lot of the technical aspects of self publishing, which was a great bonus for me, more time to focus just on writing. I would recommend the self publishing route, it's a good way to get started, and you will live or die by your own sword.
10.
What qualities do
you think are most important for any would-be writer? And what advice,
if any, would you offer
them?
Persistence, and a certain level of self-delusion. While some people do genuinely manage to have a first book major success, for the most part you're going to have to work at it long and hard. Even if your first few books don't set the market on fire, you will at least have a nice collection of books ready to go when the “one” finally finds its market. Just keep on persisting, and don't forget to make friends with other fellow writers, they can be a source of great support when you feel that you want to throw it all in the trash.
Persistence, and a certain level of self-delusion. While some people do genuinely manage to have a first book major success, for the most part you're going to have to work at it long and hard. Even if your first few books don't set the market on fire, you will at least have a nice collection of books ready to go when the “one” finally finds its market. Just keep on persisting, and don't forget to make friends with other fellow writers, they can be a source of great support when you feel that you want to throw it all in the trash.
11.
Where can people
buy your books? And how can
readers contact you or learn more about you and your books? (Please
supply links to various online sites.)
My
books can be found here.
For
Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Nicole-Swan/e/B0075168ZS
http://www.amazon.com/Nicole-Swan/e/B0075168ZS
For
Kobo:
http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=%22Nicole+Swan%22&t=none&f=author&p=1&s=none&g=both
http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=%22Nicole+Swan%22&t=none&f=author&p=1&s=none&g=both
My
facebook page is:
When it comes to
writing erotica, it's a bit more complicated telling people you know about
it. I don't mind letting our friends and
family know I write some things on the risque side, but the actual pen name is
still kept secret. I do enjoy writing
more traditional fiction, but there is an extra edge of pleasure for me in
creating works of erotica.
Bio.
Born, raised and
living in rural Australia, living the ideal relaxed lifestyle, writing erotica
in the comforts of home while watching the unique wild life outside. Nicole
Swan has been writing since the early 2000's and started publishing since
2011. Nicole's erotica stories vary from
light romance-erotica theme through to the full XXX-rated “let's get right to
it” scorching.
