Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Interview with RomanceNovelTips.com



Interview with Morgan Hawke

RomanceNovelTips.com


1. What made you decide to write Erotica?

Well, I like sex, I had several years experience in the Adult Industry so I had plenty of experience to write from, and I love writing. 

S+Exp+W = Author

However, the main push toward writing Erotica, and Erotic Romance in particular, was that there was so little respect or care for any book labeled 'Erotic.' Back when I first started posting stories; years before Erotic Romance had been invented, Erotica was known for having the absolute worst writing out there. Poor plots, poor characterization, poor description, poor everything – and this stuff was Published!

I wanted to fix that. I wanted to prove that Erotica could be written with as much care, research, and respect as a sci-fi or a mystery novel. Truthfully, this very motive is what propelled me into writing Erotic Romance.

2. Would you ever write for Harlequin/Mills & Boon?

Hell No! They have the absolute worse reputation for screwing their authors in the publishing industry.

Would I write that type of novel?

 If the publishing house was NOT Harlequin/Mills & Boon, or Dorchester, and they offered me the right kind of money to do it?

Absolutely. I'm a mercenary author; I write what pays the bills. At the moment, Erotic Romance is the most lucrative and fastest paying genre out there.

3. What is the one piece of advice you would give aspiring Erotica / Romantica Erotic Romance writers?

Before you consider plot, character, or setting, learn to write in Chronological Order, the order in which things actually happen --> Action THEN Reaction.

The fastest way to do this is by dropping the word "as" from your vocabulary. If you see the word "As" in your sentence, nine times out of ten, you've written the line Backwards. The events are written in the Reverse of what actually happened.

Example:
The vampire drank his fill AS he crouched over his victim. < -- WRONG!
Which really happened first?
The vampire drank his fill.
OR?
The vampire crouched over his victim.
Obviously, the vampire had to crouch before he could drink his fill, therefore...
The vampire crouched over his victim AND drank his fill. < -- RIGHT!
If you want a full explanation, go here:
Read that.

4. Do you think that Sci-Fi elements in erotica enhances sales or would the books sell just as well if set in a present day earth?

I follow Azimov's rule of Science-Fiction:
"If you can remove the Science from the Fiction and still have a viable story in another genre, you did it WRONG."
However, doing it Wrong doesn’t mean it won’t get published. It just means you missed the point of the genre. Just for the record, I’m firmly of the opinion that if you’re going to do something, do it RIGHT. Why? Because if you do it Wrong, and someone else does it Right, guess who’s gonna grab all the readers?

5. What is your favorite book you have written and why?

Truthfully, I don't have a favorite, not yet anyway. Sooner or later, I'll write a world I want to keep coming back to, but that hasn't happened just yet.

6. Who is your favorite character you have created?

I don't have a favorite, not yet anyway. Each character; hero, heroine, villain, ally... was created to make that particular story happen. Unlike many writers, I come up with the plot first then craft my characters to make that story happen

7. What are the top three characteristics every Heroine should have?

First of all, when you're writing a Romance or an Erotic Romance, you should never forget that the Main Character is an Avatar for the Reader. Because of this, one should always make the Main Character someone the reader would like to be. With this in mind, I craft my characters to have these three characteristics:
  • An Emotional Flaw
  • A Physical Limitation
  • A professional-level skill
The first two are the literal, "two strikes against them," and the last is the hidden key to their success in the story.

8. Do you believe in avoiding Mary-Sue's in writing romantica Erotic Romance?

Yes and No. I believe that the author should avoid creating OBVIOUS Mary-Sues; they look, act, and talk like the author only Better! Or worse, a character that is Too Good To Be True.

Give the character some major personality flaws and it won't matter if it is a Sue or not. American readers in particular adore underdog characters, the one who keeps trying in spite of the fact that they can't seem to win. Perfect people, on the other hand, are their favorite targets to bash out of sheer Envy.

9. Where do you find inspiration for your stories ?

EVERYWHERE. Everything I see, everything I do, everything I experience becomes food for thought in my stories.

10. If you could write one book in the mainstream fiction sector, what would it be about?

LOL! It depends on the publisher, literally. I never write a book without knowing exactly who I plan to send it to. I believe in reading a publisher's Submission Guidelines FIRST then crafting the story to be exactly what that publisher is looking for. It's the fastest -- and easiest -- way to guarantee that a publisher will take a manuscript.

Morgan Hawke
March 22, 2011

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Interview at Debbie's Den!


Morgan, I’d like to welcome you to Debbie’s Den today! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us!

MH – Thank you so much! I’m honored to be invited here!

Who is Morgan Hawke? What can you tell us about her?

MH – Um… Morgan Hawke is that odd girl with Crayola-red hair that lives alone with her cat in the downstairs corner apartment. Pungent smoke drifts out of her winds from all the clove cigarettes she smokes, the soundtrack music never stops and the computer is on all day and all night. The monitor dims in the living room very early in the morning when she finally passes out.

Rumor has it, she writes spooky action-adventure stories, with Sex. Oh wait, they call that, Erotic Romance. And that’s ALL she does – write. She’s seen once or twice every 3 to four weeks when she goes grocery shopping.

Congratulations on House of Shadows being a Winner in the RIO (Reviewers International Organization) Award of Excellence for Debut Romance Novel. Tell us how you felt when you heard the news!

MH – My first reaction was: “Why is the title of my book there…?” I had to go visit the website before I believed it. Then I jumped up and down for about twenty minutes screaming my fool head off.

What made you decide to write for a living?

MH – The fact that I had lost my job. Although I had a small nest-egg put aside for a vacation trip, the following months’ rent was a big worry. I also had the completed manuscript for “Victorious Star” in my hands. A paperback erotica publishing house was already looking at VS, but anyone who knows anything about shopping a book in NY will tell you, even with the book already in their hands, you still have sometimes, up to a YEAR to wait on an answer. I really didn’t have much of a choice. I needed cash fast, so I sold the electronic rights to Loose Id.

I do not regret sending that story to Loose Id rather than to NY. My bills have been covered ever since. I won’t say cash wasn’t tight – it was, and occasionally, still is. In order to KEEP paying the bills I have to write constantly, putting something new out roughly once, every other month.

If you could change one thing about your publishing career, what would it be? Why?

MH - I would change how long it took me to Start writing. I should have started earlier – a LOT earlier. Writing is TIME CONSUMING, especially when you first start out. I have so many books in my head, I hope I live long enough to get them all written.

What is your favorite part of writing a book?

MH – The first glow of inspiration and the plotting process that follows, when the story could go in a million directions at once. I view the whole story from a hundred different angles and decide which path works the best for that protagonist. This sometimes yields more than one story!

What is your least favorite part?

MH - Finishing it. I get so deeply involved in a book, I don’t want to stop writing about those characters and the world they live in. I hate putting the world I’m in, away.

How did you feel when you signed that very first contract and realized that someone was going to publish your book?

MH - I was first published at 17. When they told me my story was going to show up in a magazine, I refused to believe that it was going to happen – until I actually held it in my hands, and stared at the printed page. I cried for over an hour.

At 17, life was not a happy place for me. I was a poor student, a severe introvert and constantly in trouble for my acerbic personality. That one short story getting published was the ONLY achievement I had ever accomplished. And that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. It was the only thing I could do well.

Can you give us any hints about your current works in progress?

MH - Goodness – I have MANY projects in progress, but the one I am focusing on is a Hentai tale – “Hungry Spirits”. It’s still in the planning stages so I don’t even have an excerpt up on my website, but I will SOON.

You have one of the most fascinating imaginations of anyone I’ve read. Where do you get the ideas for your books?

MH - The first thing any writer hears is: “Write what you know.” At 17, I didn’t KNOW anything, so I devoted the rest of my life to learning the Craft of writing, and stuffing my life with as many experiences as I could – so I would have something to put on the page. And reading. Reading, and reading, and reading, so I would know why that story was published and how they did it.

I have so much stuff in my head that it’s just a matter of mixing a hint of an idea, tossing it into my imagination then shaking hard to see what sticks to it.

Once you get the idea, what happens next? Can you give us an abbreviated step-by-step process of what you do when considering an idea for a book?
  1. I start by outlining each of the main characters; (Antagonist, Protagonist Ally) and find a common ISSUE they all share. 
  2. Then I outline the Events that need to happen in that story to showcase each of their strengths, weaknesses and Issues. 
  3. It’s then a simple case of “tossing yet another alligator into the boat” until all the characters have been explored.
  4. The rest of the story is spent Solving those issue. 
I follow the writing rule for Mysteries: “If a gun appears in chapter one – it better go off by chapter Three.” I never put in anything I don’t actively use SOMEWHERE in the story, and then I try to make sure it’s never the Obvious use. I try to avoid predictability in everything I write.

When do you determine if the idea will work in a book or not?

MH - Once I have the whole story, plot – premise – character, outlined, I pretty can much tell. Either it all comes together – or it doesn’t.

What’s next, on your publishing schedule?

MH – Next to be released is FALLEN STAR from Loose Id Books (www.loose-id.com). Fair Warning to those who have read “Victorious Star”: this tale from the Imperial Stars is darker and more emotional, but it still has a Happy Ending!

FALLEN STAR is due out somewhere around the 21st of May.

Do you have a mentor or someone who guided you in becoming an author?

MH – Actually I did. A friend of mine was a ghostwriter for some of the biggest names in Romance for over 10 years. She gave me my first lessons on story outlining – which revolutionized the way I wrote, and increased my writing speed astronomically.

But most importantly, she was the one who taught me the real secrets on how the print publishing industry works – the contracts, the agents, the pressure that a professional writer must live with to keep producing, and keep producing, and keep producing.

Unfortunately, she also taught me by example, what NY can do to shatter a writer’s confidence – and career.

Shy by nature, she wrote so many stories for others – under names that she can never admit to, and watched so many brilliant authors fall to desperation-driven greed, petty jealousy and cut-throat contracts, that she now lives in utter terror of the industry.

She is not whole in mind and spirit. She writes constantly – then suffers an attack of doubt and tears apart her stories until they are unrecognizable, then and tosses the once brilliant idea in favor of another, only to tear this one apart too, and then another and another. Nothing is ever good enough.

As brilliant and wise as she is, I fear that she may never complete a story of her own, because her own fear will not let her.

What do you do for relaxation?

MH - Read and watch movies just like anyone else! LOL!

I’d like to thank you again for chatting with us today!! It’s been fun!

MH – Thank you! It was my pleasure!

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Reviewers International Organization - Interview


Award of Excellence
2004
Morgan Hawke
is the 1st Place Winner in
Debut Novel
for
House of Shadows

A very special Thank you to MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE
Listening to their album VAMPYRE made writing this particular novel a total scream! 
Reviewers International Organization http://www.rio-reviewers.com/

PARANORMAL AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
MORGAN HAWKE


By DeborahAnne MacGillivrary

Morgan Hawke was recommended to me by Roberta Brown, writer/agent, who got the recommendation from Angela Knight author of Master of the Night and Jane’s Warlord. I had thought Angela Knight was one of the sharpest writers since I first read her Roarke’s Prisoner, a Sci-Fi/Futuristic tale for Red Sage’s Secrets. Since then, she had never failed to impress me. So for a writer to impress her, I had to take notice!

Morgan’s House of Shadow:  Enchantment in Crimson earned her a 4 1/2 Stars rating from Romantic Times, and justly so. It has been selling in a secondary market on Amazon.france for nearly $100 a copy!

She’s may be a new name to readers, but won’t stay that way for long. She is a prolific writer with a long backlist of e-books available such as Uber-Gothic, Victorious Star, The Pirate’s Pixie, Passion’s Vintage, Snow Moon, Night Waitress, Teachers Pet, Queen of the Dragons and more.

Her writings are not for Gran or Auntie Bess, but if you want a walk on the wild side, you cannot do better than this hot new writer.

So let’s find out what in on the mind of the talented writer who impresses Angela Knight…


Tell us about what motivates you to write your stories.  Where does your inspiration come from?  What pushed you to write erotica?

Out of sheer desperation for something to read, I started writing my own little stories of erotic adventure. I submitted my little shorts to a small erotic story site, and to my complete surprise, the readers not only liked them, they started hounding me for more!

18 short stories later, I went to Extasy Books with my first full novel near completion – HOUSE OF SHADOWS.

House of Shadows, the first book of the Enchantment in Crimson really blew me away.  You are a sassy writer, with a wicked sense of humor.  When can we expect the next installment of this series?



I’m going to take Michelangelo’s view when approached by the pope on when he would finish the Sistine Chapel: “When it’s finished”.


Victorious Star shows you really pushing the limits.  It was a fine line between erotica and rape in the early part of the tale, but you pulled it off.  How do you go to that edge and still keep the balance? 


The trick to NOT stepping over the line is to clue the reader in through body language and dialogue cues. They may be saying one thing but actions really do speak louder than words.



Context is the Key. If someone is saying something terribly mean, but pressing a tender kiss to your brow at the same time, it changes the entire meaning of what is being said.

In Victorious Star, the two males struck me as resembling Aragron and Legolas, or was that my imagination?


LOL! – I had two completely different actors in mind, but if that’s what made you tingle in all the right ways, by all means imagine them!


There are a lot of vampire writers out there at the moment.  How are your vampire tales different?  What makes them unique?


This is a Very complicated answer. It starts with the fact that I have studied magic for over 23 years and ends with something relatively simple – my vampires feed on the soul. Stoker said it in his novel: “The blood is the life.” I see blood as a vehicle for tapping into the body to get to the soul. The more creative a person is, the more “soul” they have – and the more tempting they are to a vampire.

You writing of witches, warlocks, vampires and pixies shows you adore the magickal side of writing.  What draws you to this?


I grew up in New England; New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The whole area is positively bursting with old ghost stories and tales of magic. I guess you could say it was inevitable that I would write about what I had known all my growing up years.

Which of your books of those books you have written is your favourite?  Which is the one do you like the least and why?



My least favorite book is Demoness. It was written to be textbook Erotica, designed specifically to excite the reader – and no more. It’s a complete success in the male-dominated sex-story genre of pure erotica, but a complete failure in the Erotic Romance market. The characters had no depth what so ever. It is utterly emotionless and plot-driven. People Do things, but they don’t Feel anything about what they are doing. The true pity is that Demoness Could Have had depth, but that was not what that particular market called for.

My newer stories are all character-driven. The characters affect each other’s decisions – feelings and emotions count.

I will say this though, Character-driven stories are MUCH harder to write. I get caught up in the character’s worries and problems to the point that it’s not unusual for me to finish chapters in tears. Victorious Star was so harrowing on my emotions that I actually had to take two whole weeks off from writing (and I write every single day – without fail,) just to recover from what I had wrung out of myself to get it onto the page.

As to a favorite story, I don’t have one just yet…

Which come first?  The plot or the characters?  Which drives the story for you?


Believe it or not PLOT comes first. Once I know what I want to happen, I design characters to work against that plot.

Every once in a while I come up with a very interesting character. When this happens, I immediately try to design a plot that will test them to the limits (mental, physical and emotional) of their being. If a character changes to the point that they no longer work with the established plot, I pull them from the story, and file them away for a story of their own.

For me – The STORY always comes first.

Do you plot it yourself or do the characters come alive and take “control”?  Do you write in pieces or straight through?


I design a loose plot then outline the characters, their drives, their motivations and their fears as thoroughly as possible, and then I outline my plot in detail. This does not mean I know exactly how the characters will accomplish that particular event, I only know that they must, to get to the next event.



I normally write straight through. I know what needs to happen so it’s a simple matter of going from A to B, but every now and again I get a whole scene that I know needs to go in the story, but I don’t know where. I write the scene and save it in its own document, then go back to where I left off and wait for that scene’s place to appear.



House of Shadows was done in bits and pieces, one unrelated scene appearing out of nowhere after another, but then House of Shadows was my first novel too. I had yet to learn the fine art of BLOCKING, making a thorough outline of major events. These days I don’t write without a detailed plot outline set up. If a scene pops up, it’s a simple matter of looking at the outline to see where that scene would work best and jotting a notation into the appropriate block.



Once in a while this great scene blooms into being – and doesn’t go. Those scenes usually end up becoming an entire story all by themselves. 

Was there a book or books that made you say, I have to write Romance or a writer who really influenced your chose in what you wanted to write.


Absolutely! I started writing erotica because I loved reading it. Unfortunately the only author producing stories I actually enjoyed back in ’98, was Angela Knight. Ms. Angela Knight’s “Blood & Kisses” in the Red Sage “Secrets” Book #4, was my first introduction to what I felt erotica should be. Shortly after reading that one story, (1998) I started writing. I have since met her and I have yet to meet a more gracious and generous author! She did the cover art for House of Shadows!

What made you chose erotica?


I made the same mistake most beginning writers make; I chose to write Erotica, because I thought it was easy. Boy, was I ever WRONG. 

Is there some period or genre that you have not explored that calls to your Muse?


I have been very, VERY lucky. Erotica allows exploration into any genre you could possibly imagine – contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, gothic, sci-fi… I have an erotic title published in every single sub-genre, and I am comfortable writing them all.

However, this ability of mine to write in any genre has become something of a worry. I have heard over and over and over, that once you start writing for the New York publishing houses you have to stick to ONE genre – even in erotica. I am having the hardest time choosing WHICH genre to present to them, because which ever one they accept, that’s what I am going to be stuck writing for a long, long time.

How do you write?  Daytime, nighttime?  Do you set the mood with music or need silence for concentration?


I write all day long and into the night. I am a full time writer. My butt is in that chair every waking moment I possess. I have no family, so I have no distractions what so ever. I even eat at my desk.

I use movie soundtracks for atmosphere. This is how I maintain consistency in the flavor of my books even though they take months and sometimes years to write.  

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?  How long have you been writing?


Stories have always crowded into my head. I write them down to get some peace. I have been writing stories since I started drawing pictures on every scrap of paper I could find as a small child.

I was 14 when I began writing as a way to deal with problems at home. I decided that writing stories was what I wanted to do professionally after winning a regional short story contest when I was in the tenth grade back in 1980. I spent the entire rest of my life, since that time, gathering experiences and information on every subject that interested me so I could put it down on paper.

For me, writing is a full blown obsession. I couldn’t stop if I tried.

How long was it before you sold your first book?


In 2000, Amatory Ink asked for one of my stories for their: Mythic Fantasy Anthology. That was the first piece I actually got money for. Amoret bought and published a small flasher that I wrote on a whim. In 2002, Suspect Thoughts Magazine published a short of mine that ended up in the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica Vol. 3. I got the check from BNE3 on publication, a full year after the editor asked for it.

In 2003, I offered Extasy Books a small novella that was getting critical acclaim on a free site and they snatched it up. It sold very well. A collection of 12 of my shorts followed that. Then I submitted my first real novel. The novel "House of Shadows" scooped up 5 and 4.5 star rating with the reviewers. It was a complete success and was one of the first books Extasy sent to print. My largest novel, an SM Sci-Fi, "Victorious Star" broke every record for sales I ever had, but "Uber-Gothic" is gaining on VS for sheer volume of sales very quickly.

I have only ever had one rejection: from Tor books. The book Tor rejected was "House of Shadows" - which is making me a tidy sum at Extasy. It wasn't what Tor was looking for, but it was exactly what Extasy wanted.

How long did it take me to get published? That's hard to say. Everything I've ever submitted has been published. Writing has been very, very good for me. I've been living on my royalties - as my only income - since August of this year. It's not a whole lot - but it's enough for me.

Do you have advice to writers struggling to break into Erotica?


Yes. Do your RESEARCH! If you plan to write about vampires, understand that the readers have very likely already read every other vampire book in print and are Very well informed on their subject. The readers of any given genre will always know if you know your subject  - and will judge you accordingly. 

For more detailed advice, and the occasional rant, visit my Writing Blog (web-log): www.darkerotica.blogspot.com 

I presume you want to break into Mainstream Publishing?  Is that a goal?  Will you still write for e-books if this comes about?

Seeing my name on the bookshelf of a major book-chain has always been a dream, but unfortunately, mainstream writing does not pay as well – or as regularly – as writing for the ebook markets.



A $10,000 advance on a book that takes 6 months to write, and over a year to see print does not go very far once you realize that you only get one third of it on signing the contract, another third once you deliver the completed manuscript – after they tear it to shreds and you have to rewrite, and rewrite it, and rewrite it…to their specifications, which may or may not be related to the book you actually wrote – and the last third when it finally appears on the bookshelf. A single novel can take anywhere from one year to three to appear on the bookshelf. That’s a Long time between paychecks.



Should I ever make it to mainstream publishing I will not stop writing ebooks, simply because I could not afford the pay-cut. 

Where do you hope your writing career will be ten years from now?


Lucrative. I hope my career will prove lucrative. LOL! I have my doubts though. Very few authors actually make enough to live on their writing. At this point in time, I actually AM living on my royalties, but then my bills are teeny-tiny. A one-bedroom apartment is far easier to support than a family!

My dream is to be able to afford a cottage on the coast. (sigh…)

March 1st 1995