Spotlight on Alexandra Adams

May 2003

Sharyn:The self-published author of four erotic romance novels, Alexandra Adams holds a place close to my heart. Six years ago when I first began reviewing, I was given the opportunity to review In Honor Bound, her historical erotic romance. That novel introduced me to the unknown world of erotic romance and I have never looked back.

Alexandra, thanks for chatting with me today. I'm looking forward to it. Let's start things off with a simple, but often dreaded question: When did you first realize you wanted to be an author? Did you actually start writing then?

Alexandra: My interest in writing came rather late-after I quit one successful career, married, and bore children. While staying home so as to raise them properly, I began to think of writing. I didn't begin in earnest, however, until I invested in a computer system, and sat down to a blank screen. From then on, writing fiction became almost an obsession.

Sharyn:Is writing your dream job?

Alexandra: Yes, I guess you could call it that. I certainly have devoted a wealth of time to writing.

Sharyn:How do you find your ideas? Do they come from any particular source?

Alexandra: I am blessed with a vivid imagination, and a sensual nature. I fantasize readily and colorfully. Most of my novels start as fantasies. I imagine characters, and interactions. I polish conversations in my head, and fill in the gaps between the interactions. For a considerable span of time, the story exists as a fluid, changeable set of occurrences existing solely in my mind. Then one day, I sit down to write, and the complex narrative-beginning, middle and end-pours out onto the screen of my computer. At that juncture, the book controls me. I have spent whole nights sitting thus, unaware of the time, or even of where I am: totally immersed in another time, another place, another persona.

Sharyn:What's the one thing you know now that you wish you'd known when you first began writing?

Alexandra: I wish I'd known how difficult it is to interest agents and conventional publishers in books that don't fit a conventional mold. I could have saved a good bit of the time I spent sending that sort of person queries, if I'd known at the start that such people value marketability in ever-narrowing genres far above fresh ideas and good writing.

Sharyn:Aspiring writers are always asking published authors for advice. What advice do you give them?

Alexandra: So many aspiring writers wrote to ask me questions about self-publishing, that I composed a blog in which I answered the most common of those questions. Now, when I get such a query, I advise the author to click on that link on my Web site, and read the blog. I almost always urge such a person to submit his or her manuscript to a reputable online publisher rather than to leap into the arduous task of self-publishing. I also stress that before an author even thinks of submitting his masterpiece to anyone, he should sit for weeks with a dictionary on his right, and a good grammar book on his left, and proofread, proofread, proofread!

Sharyn:Sometimes, families aren't as supportive as we'd wish them to be. How does your family feel about your writing erotica?

Alexandra: My husband is my biggest supporter, and my first and most enthusiastic fan. My children, who are now grown up, and are quite broadminded, think it's great that Mom writes naughty books. In that regard, I am extremely fortunate.

Sharyn:Could you tell us a bit about your currently available novels?

Alexandra:At this time, I offer four e-books from my Web site, http://www.sexynovels.com/. Three of those works, all of which have contemporary settings, contain strong dominance/submission themes. Those three books, which should be read in this order, Gabrielle's Awakening, Evolution of an Affair, and Eternal Triangle, all feature dominant male protagonists: men who belong to the mysterious Order of the Black Lily. These character-driven narratives combine erotica with romance, in a genre sometimes called romantica. Gabrielle's Awakening, which graphically depicts sadomasochistic practices, I recommend only to women who enjoy fantasizing about submitting to a dominant master.

The fourth book, In Honor Bound, is an historical novel set in fifteenth century Romania: a lively, offbeat narrative that combines action, adventure and romance, and contains explicit sensual scenes. The plot revolves around a highly unconventional love story.

Sharyn:Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming novels?

Alexandra: Given that I underwent major surgery last February, I have not been writing with my usual intensity for the past couple of months. I have one unpublished work that I am still revising and polishing. That book, however, is more of a straight romance than a work of erotica. I may decide to submit it to a publisher of romance novels, instead of offering it from my Web site.

Sharyn:Your characters are so alive, do you sometimes forget they're actually fictional people?

Alexandra: When I am engrossed in expressing in words a story that has dominated my mind for some time, the characters seem to take on a life of their own. At times, they actually change the plot, as if they held their destinies in their own hands. Readers who have never written stories sometimes find that hard to believe, but it happens.

Sharyn:How do you find the time to do all that you do to keep track with what's coming out, what's being released, and the editing needed?

Alexandra:Writing takes a wealth of time-more for the proofreading and revising, than for the white heat of creation. I am lucky that I have as much time to devote to it as I do. Even so, I sometimes feel that there are not enough hours in the day!

Sharyn:What is the hardest part of being in the writing business for you?

Alexandra: It's difficult for a self-published author to expand her following of readers. It's also challenging and rewarding.

Sharyn:Do you see yourself ever not writing?

Alexandra: Absolutely not. Storytelling I find direly addictive.

Sharyn:What are the highs and lows of being self-published?

Alexandra: Quite often, I receive an e-mail out of the blue, from a reader who writes to tell me he or she loves my books, and goes on to say why. Those are super high points. Another sort occurred when Bookspan's Venus Book Club acquired the book club rights to two of my erotic novels, and paid me a good-sized royalty on each occasion. Low points occur during months when I spend more money on maintaining my Web site than I earn from sales.

Sharyn:Before we get to the really tough questions, how about a few easy ones? What genres do you read? Who are some of your favorite authors?

Alexandra: I read a wide variety of genres: erotica, science fiction, mainstream, literary (classical and contemporary), and many others. Some of my favorite authors are Mary Renault, Ursula K. Le Guin, C. J. Cherryh, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Anne Rice, Ayn Rand, J. D. Salinger, Rafael Sabatini-to name a very few!

Sharyn:Do you have a superstitious thing you do when you write? You know-do you have a favorite mug, or shirt you have to have when you write certain parts of your book?

Alexandra: No. Superstition plays almost no part in my thinking.

Sharyn:What piece of advice did someone give you that made a difference for you?

Alexandra: Both my father and my husband told me (at different times in my life) that if I want something badly enough, to reach for it, and never to let the difficulties standing in the road daunt me. Good advice, I found it.

Sharyn:Here come the tough ones, I hope you're ready. *g* What do you feel makes your books unique or stand out from others in your genre?

Alexandra: I have been told that I possess a highly distinctive writing style. Some readers take the time to write solely to tell me that. A few complain that I use a great many words they don't understand. It never ceases to amaze me that the enthusiasts who praise my style are usually housewives or women holding down jobs they don't especially love, while the complainers are most often college students!

Sharyn:Why erotica? Granted there is a wonderful romance in In Honor Bound, but it still contains a lot of erotica.

Alexandra: I truly do believe that the sexual act is a fascinating aspect of romance, and deserves minute attention to the details. That act can vary so greatly from one couple to the next, and even from one time to the next for the same pair of lovers, that it cries out for more explicit treatment than a good many writers of romances give it. Our culture sports a built-in Puritanical streak, and so many people expect that explicitness must of necessity equate with coarseness or obscenity. I have spent years trying to expose the fallacy inherent in that assumption!

Sharyn:Alexandra, thanks again for chatting with us. You've certainly opened my eyes to some of the highs and lows of writing; I never realized how labor intensive it can be.

To learn more about Alexandra and her novels, please visit www.sexynovels.com.

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