Here’s an author interview with Harley Easton. Take it away, Harley…
- How did you start writing erotica?
I started writing I was in college but never considered writing erotica. I’d taken almost a decade break from actively writing anything when a friend of mine was having a rough day. She posted online that someone should pen something sexy to cheer her up. Challenges are amazing for me. They get my brain percolating. 5600 words later I had a happy friend and a small obsession with erotica.
- What erotic authors do you enjoy reading?
Kallypso Masters. I tore through her Masters at Arms series and am eagerly awaiting the next installment. I don’t usually enjoy stories with strong military elements, but Masters makes it an integral part of the characters backgrounds without making the story completely about war and tragedy. Her characters are flawed yet relatable, her plotlines far from predictable, and her BDSM scenes some of the most arousing I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.
- Where do you draw your inspiration from?
A lot of times a simple question or comment made in passing from a friend or coworker gets my brain spinning. Once a thought takes root I’ll start typing and see where it takes me.
- Do your nearest and dearest know what you do, and if so, what was their reaction when they found out?
My husband and some of my close friends know. My husband jokes that I need to become a bestselling author of smut so we can live the high life like the authors on sitcoms. My friends just ask if they can read whatever I’m working on. Everybody has been pretty open and accepting about this endeavor, though I haven’t told my parents yet.
- What was your ideal career when you were a child?
I always thought I’d be a teacher. Student teaching proved to me I was meant for other things. I have great appreciation for people who can teach for a living because they do not get enough credit for the work they put in.
- What’s the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?
Neil Gaiman and Stephen King aren’t erotica authors, but they know what they are doing. I’m paraphrasing here, but both have basically said the secret to writing is to sit down and write. It is one-hundred percent true. Sometimes you want to jump through the screen and make love to your words, and sometimes you feel like a trained monkey could written something sexier with a banana pen. Either way, you’ll never be an author if you don’t plant your butt in the chair and put those thoughts on paper.
- If you get writer’s block when you’re writing, how do you get around it?
I’m a fan of simply trying to push through. If that doesn’t work, switching to a different story can unblock my flow of thoughts. Editing also works wonders for me when I can’t get past a certain point. If all else fails, I read. You can’t create in a vacuum. A good story or unusual magazine article will almost always get me inspired again.
- Which author, erotic or otherwise would you love to meet and why?
I’ve actually met Neil Gaiman and he’s a terribly interesting person. In our extremely brief interaction I found him to be sweet, educated, well-traveled, and quite humble for a best-selling author of fantastically twisted tales. I want several hours to take him to tea and pick his brain.
- What’s your favourite genre within erotica and why?
No surprise, I write paranormal erotica because I enjoy reading it. I’ve been fascinated with werewolves, fey, witches, vampires, ghosts, and anything remotely resembling the supernatural since I started reading. There’s something sensual about the innate darkness of the unknown. It pulls at a collective sense of taboo and lets me as an author play with different shades of humanity. Erotica is very much about indulging in fantasy and, for me, supernatural elements assist in that indulgence.
- What are you working on at the moment?
Joseph was a minor character in Turn to Me, but he has a story that needs told so I’m working on that. I’ve also got a witch/fae erotica that is just starting to take form. A couple of short stories are in the works for anthology submissions as well. I like to keep busy.