Interview: Lydia Nyx

The first author to be interviewed on the site is [intlink id=”272″ type=”post”]Lydia Nyx[/intlink]. Take it away Lydia…

• How did you start writing erotica?

I started writing at a young age, around fourteen. At the time romantic elements always seemed to creep in, even though I liked to write mostly dark/paranormal stuff. Probably in my mid-twenties is when I realized I liked writing sex and I was good at it. I don’t appreciate people who look down on erotica writers and think we’re nothing more than ‘porn peddlers.’ Writing sex scenes (and getting a plot in there too) takes a great amount of skill and it’s always going to be in fashion—most people like sex and like reading about it!  Erotica writers will withstand the changing trends because we write about something almost everybody is interested in.

• What’s your favourite published work of yours and why?

I have a few more publications coming out this year, but so far it’s Fire in the Desert. It’s a story I actually wrote many years ago and has gone through a series of changes. I’m strongly considering expanding it into a full-length novel.  I really love writing about the desert and those romantic, Sheiks-and-Pharaohs type settings.

• Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I mostly write male/male so I would have to say—beautiful men? I like writing paranormal and darker themes too, so I’m often immersed in those subjects, be it books, movies, or television.  I usually get a spark from something I’ve seen or read and attempt to fan it into flame.

• Do you have any unusual writing rituals?

Not writing per-se, but back in the day when we used to send everything hard copy to publishers I would always kiss the manuscript and say a prayer it found the right hands before I sent it off. Now in the digital age, yes, I kiss my computer screen before I send something off in an email.

• Where’s your favourite place to write?

I almost always sit in bed with my laptop. I’m the sort of person when I’m writing or editing I can’t have a lot of distractions around me, so I couldn’t see myself sitting outside or at a coffee shop trying to work on something.

• Who is your favourite character from one of your stories and why?

My favorite character is from a novel I don’t have published yet, but a publisher is currently looking at the manuscript. His name is Jude Coffin and he’s a sarcastic, chain-smoking, heavily-tattooed, paranormally endowed gay guy from Sacramento enduring madness and hardship in Chicago. I can’t wait for the world to meet him. He feels like a crazy aspect of my personality magnified.

• Do your nearest and dearest know what you do, and if so, what was their reaction when they found out?

Some of my friends do, but my family doesn’t, and even a few of my closer friends don’t. I’ve been struggling for a long time with how to tell them, because it’s such an important part of my life and I’m so proud of it. I’ve got a double dilemma, because not only do I write erotica, I write gay erotica—and unfortunately, there’s still so many people in the world who would not be comfortable with that. Those who do know have been nothing but happy for me and completely supportive.

• How do you get yourself in the mood to write?

I remind myself I could be a waitress for the rest of my life if I don’t do this!

• What’s the best writing tip you’ve ever been given?

Don’t try to fix your first draft as you write it. You have to get it all out, THEN go back and fix it up. The more time you spend trying to fix a story as you go, the more time you will waste not writing—and you might not finish out of frustration. Besides, you don’t know what’s really important and what isn’t until you finish the story.

• What’s your favourite genre within erotica and why?

Paranormal or urban fantasy. I’ve always been a dark and twisted horror-lover. I think urban fantasy is the most awesome thing to spring from the horror genre in the past decade.

• What are you working on at the moment?

I have two novels being considered by publishers at the moment, one called Black Shore of the White City (the one with Jude) and the other called From Morocco to Paris. I’m also trying to edge my way into some contests and anthologies.

• What’s your biggest writing achievement? Why?

Getting published—it’s the main goal of every serious writer, I think. I’m just starting out in the ‘published author’ world, so I may have a completely different answer in a year.

[intlink id=”491″ type=”page”]Find out how to submit your own interview here[/intlink].