Author S.J. Frost interview and give-away

My blog guest today has written a couple of my favorite series ever and has been very inspirational to me in the rockstar genre, as well as being one of the key factors in my road to my first publication. S.J. Frost has written 5 books in the Conquest series (❤), 2 in the Instincts series and a variety of other stories. She has a holiday release coming out on Christmas Day with MLR Press – Beautiful Harmony – that I’m really excited about but I’ll let her tell you why. J

Welcome, S.J.! I’m very happy to have you here. Are you ready to be grilled? 

J

Hey, K-lee! Thank you so much for having me here! I’m totally ready to chat and have a good time!

1.     How did you get started
writing m/m romance? Did you always want to be a writer?

It’s funny, because I actually wrote a gay romance before realizing I’d written one. Very confusing, I know. But you see, when I wrote my first novel, Conquest, all I thought was that I’d written a romance novel about two people in love. It just so happened those two people were both gay men. It wasn’t until after I started shopping around for a publisher and realized “traditional” romance publishers weren’t very friendly to gay content that I began to learn more about the m/m genre as a whole. I felt like I’d found where I was always meant to be as a writer.

And yep, I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. Storytelling, even before I knew how to write, was always part of my life. When I was little, I would make up stories for myself, and as I got older, I began putting them to paper, which made it even more fun. Now there’s nothing better than to be able to share my stories with my readers.

2.     What were your early influences either in this genre or any other?

My early influences actually came from the fantasy genre, since originally, I thought I’d want to be a fantasy author. And there’s still a desire in me to break into that genre someday. But the fantasy genre has been more open to homosexuality in books that probably any other, and it was there that I read my first book ever with a gay character, Mercedes Lackey’s The Last Herald Mage Trilogy (Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, Magic’s Price). I felt true sympathy and care for the main character, Vanyel Ashkevron, and to this day, he has a special place in my heart.

   3.     What is the hardest part about writing for you? The benefits?

Finding the time to do it. That’s really the hardest part for me. My life is packed pretty full, but because I love writing so much, I really try to set time aside to do it. I prefer to run short on sleep than on words.

When it comes to the actual writing process, probably one of the hardest things for me is never knowing what I’m going to get by the time The End rolls around. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of author. But it’s exciting too, because I’m learning the story as I go.

The greatest benefit of being an author is all the people I get to meet. Readers, other authors, people in the industry. I appreciate everyone, especially my readers. Nothing makes my day like getting an email from someone saying they’ve enjoyed one of my books. It’s more special than words can ever describe to know someone took time out of their day to read my work and share their thoughts with me.

4.     Tell us a little about your Christmas story.

“Beautiful Harmony” is a short story, about 10k words, that will feature a couple characters readers of my previous work may recognize, Kyler Christenson and Robbie Russo from the novel, Black Heart Down. It takes place a few months after the end of that book and shows 
everyone where Ky and Robbie are in their relationship as they share their first Christmas in their home. 
It’s a steamy little story, but also sweet. A very special gift is given, 
but I have to plead evil author privilege and not say what that is ;-)

5.     Do you have any writing quirks? (ie computer has to be facing a certain way, cup  of coffee on the left, certain music playing, etc)

I don’t have any particular quirks for actually writing. I do prefer total silence, but I can work around it. I used to always eat peanut M&M’s while writing, but I don’t do that anymore. But I guess I do have a quirk for after I finish a story. I’ll obsessively read it over, re-work it and tweak it until my editor forces me to turn it in. Then I’ll usually cling for another day or two before I can let it go. Oh, and I’ll continue to obsessively tweak it all the way up through the final galley. Yeah, it’s mental. Fortunately, my editor is very patient with me.

   6.     Do you have any writing or reading squicks? Things you don’t like to read and can’t see yourself ever writing?

It really depends on the book. I’m a pretty easy reader and tend to give authors a lot of creative license. There are some things I don’t like; abuse of children or animals, cheating and abusive relationships. But it also depends on what the author is trying to get across. Are they trying to do good and spread awareness? Are they treating these subjects with the weight and seriousness they deserve? Or are they just throwing things in for shock value. It’s all variable on how the author handles the issue. I can’t really say if there’s anything I would never write about. If I did, chances are I’d get a story idea about it!

7.     Are there any types of characters (shifters, cowboys, construction workers, aliens, etc.) that you haven’t written yet but       are just screaming for you to get to their story?

I have some samurai who have been very patiently waiting for my attention for a very, very long time. I’ve wanted to write a historical gay romance with them ever since finishing Conquest. My rock stars and vampires having been taking all my attention, but my samurai continue to wait, knowing their time is coming. 

Hopefully 2012 will see me being able to work with them.

8.     What’s next on your plate? What are you working on?

Right now, I’m wrapping up the third book in my Instincts series and I’m polishing another musician themed novel that will be loosely tied to the Conquest series. Those two are my main focuses for the first quarter of 2012. After that, I’m going to try to work on the story for another character from the Conquest series, Brad Delfini.

   9.     What’s your favorite part of Christmas?

I love doing holiday things with my little guy. He’s three years-old this year, so the season is still full of magic for him. We’ve been reading Christmas books, watching all the classic Christmas shows together, decorating, shopping, doing local activities, and we’ll be going to see Santa soon. I just love sharing this time of year with him.

10.  Finally – a few quick choices:

a.     Coffee or tea – coffee, but only café mocha.

b.     Dog or cat – Both!

c.     Beach or mountains – Mountains.

d.     Pecs or abs – Abs.

e.     Smile or eyes – Eyes.

f.      Cowboys or rockstars – Rock stars!

g.     Who would win in a fight – vampires or werewolves? And why.

Vampires! Um, but I have no idea why. Probably just because I’ve written vampires, but not werewolves, and my vamps are pretty tough, so when I think vampires, I think of my guys and I can’t see them losing a fight. Guess I need to write some werewolves to really make an informed decision!

S.J. has graciously offered up an IOU copy of her holiday story, Beautiful Harmony, to one lucky commenter on my blog. PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT.

CONTEST WILL BE OPEN UNTIL WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21.

If you don’t win, you can pick it up December 25 at MLR Press Beautiful Harmony and be sure to check out S.J.’s other books on her website S.J. Frost