Hi Tanith! So happy to welcome you here today. Not only is Tanith a fellow Brit, she is also a member of one of the best writing associations in the world! The Romantic Novelists Association is the UK's equivalent to Romance Writers of America and is hugely supportive of all aspiring and established romantic writers. Read on to find out why next week's Summer Party could make Tanith a very happy lady...
1)
What is your writing routine?
I have to get
dressed before I can write, which means no sitting around in a dressing gown on
the weekend. I usually do an hour most evenings and two to three hours on
Saturdays and Sundays, depending on my schedule and the individual needs of my
husband and cat, one of whom likes to use the computer and the other to sit on
it and get in the way.
2)
Which author/s inspire you to
write?
Philippa Gregory
and Lauren Oliver are two of my favourite authors – they never fail to grip me
with their writing.
3)
Which is your favorite romance
subgenre to read? To write?
To read, I have a
weakness for anything m/m, especially if it involves cowboys. To write,
probably either campus stories or paranormals. There’s something about hot frat
boys, cute sorority girls and seductive ghosts.
4)
How do you deal with
criticism/rejection?
I pout for a
while, have a glass of wine, and then try to put it aside. It’s inevitable that
not everyone will like what I write, but it never does an author good to
respond negatively to a bad review or a rejection letter, even if it’s obvious
they didn’t read the story!
5)
What do you expect from an
editor?
Accuracy!
Fortunately I’ve never had any major errors but I have nightmares about tender
scenes being turned into farce because someone left an R out of “shirt”.
6)
Tell me about your latest
release
"The Hand He
Dealt" was written through the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers'
Scheme and is currently up for the Joan Hessayon Award, which will be awarded
later this month. My heroine, Astra, is a sorority girl who goes on a journey
of personal discovery when her boyfriend admits he might be gay.
7)
Tease us with a blurb or short
excerpt
Two hours later, and Astra stood in front of
her bedroom mirror, holding in one hand the toy she had bought from Amy’s
Delights.
Rubber underwear was laced through her fingers,
a small plastic remote control dangling below on the end of a long cord. And
attached to the front—
Well.
It was a strap-on.
It was a strap-on dildo.
And it was purple.
A purple length of shiny plastic. A perfect
simulacrum of a veined, circumcised penis, five inches long and of a thickness
Astra considered average, just the right width to wrap a hand around.
She stared at her reflection for a long time,
contemplating the dildo, before slowly drawing it back towards her body,
holding it against her stomach.
No.
One foot through the straps, two feet…rubber
caught against denim-clad legs, but after a moment’s struggle the strap-on
dildo was in place, and Astra’s image stood in front of her, the purple dick
jutting out in front like the hilt of a sword.
Slowly she rotated her hips, watching the dildo
glide from side to side, before stopping abruptly with a giggle.
Shit. It looks like a fucking light sabre.
Watching herself in the mirror, she closed one
hand around its length, giving it a tentative stroke.
Nothing. Unsurprisingly.
She tried it again, this time holding the
remote control and flicking the switch. A sudden buzzing, accompanied by a
muted vibration through her jeans, made her jolt sharply.
Interesting.
Flipping the switch again, she rocked her hips
slowly, her eyes glazing. In her mind formed a picture of Harry’s smooth back
and bare buttocks, thighs parting to receive her, Harry’s voice gasping,
begging for more, more, please, more…
Oh.
The switch snapped off.
Astra eyed herself coolly, squaring her shoulders,
her legs automatically widening into a masculine stance.
Buy:
8)
Which is your favorite
character in the book? Why?
Ash, my hero, was
a great character to write. I’ve always had a soft spot for athletes. He was
also quite a challenge because, while not the stereotypical dumb jock, he
wasn’t the type for emotional outbursts and so I had to focus on what he didn’t say to the heroine.
9)
What are you working on right
now?
I’m working on
three shorts, two for upcoming anthologies and one for Total-e-Bound. I’m
trying to broaden my range as far as possible – I have a couple of unusual
kinks and what I hope is a new take on vampire stories.
I’ve also just had
accepted a paranormal romance, “I Heard Your Voice”, about a paranormal
investigator and a matchmaking ghost, and also a campus-based short called
“Assume the Position”.
10) Your biggest
piece of advice to aspiring novelists?
Finish the book! I’ve been told by a lot of people that they’d love
to write a novel, but they just don’t have the time. It took me three years to
write my first novel and there were times when I thought I would never get it
published, but the guidance I received from the Romantic Novelists’ Association
was invaluable.
11) Where can
readers find you?
At my blog,
tanithdavenport.blogspot.com, on Facebook or on Twitter. I also blog at Erotic
Diaries and Hitting the Hot Spot.
HUGE good luck with the Joan Hessayon award at the RNA party next week, Tanith! So good to see erotic romance going through the scheme and coming out so successfully the other end. Make sure you come back to tell us all how you got on!
Okay, Tanith is waiting for your questions and comments... :)
