Interview with Author Erastes:
Hi Erastes. Thank you for doing this interview. I would like to welcome you to the Romance at Heart Interview and Author Grilling session. *bg* We are interested to find out as much about you as we possibly can, so lets get started...
- Please tell us about your latest book.
Frost Fair is a gay historical romance based in 1814, during the Regency. It's about Gideon Frost, a talented artist, but a terrible businessman, who is struggling to keep his printer's shop from going under. Sometimes he's forced to do a spot of prostitution to help pay the bills but he hates to do it. He's in love with a man, which is bad enough, but a man who's separated from him by more than just law or scandal – he's in a class above Gideon. That's about all I can say, but if anyone's read anything of mine you'll know that I put them both through hell.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
I'm happy to stay writing gay historical fiction, and can't see me changing that any time soon. I have been lucky enough to have been taken on by a mainstream New York publisher (Perseus) and my next novel will be coming out with them in the Spring. That's called "Transgressions" and is based in the English Civil War.
- How do we find out about you and your books?
I have a website stuffed full of excerpts and snippets and even a full story or two!
- How may readers contact you?
I love getting emails, and while I can attempt to answer them all, I've made good online friends from people who have written to say how much they enjoyed the books. My email address is erastes@erastes.com
- How many readers/fans contact you?
I have an active LiveJournal Blog so most people interact with me there for my daily ramblings – as to emails, I get a few a week, which always makes me happy. If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd be getting "fanmail" then I'd have laughed.
- Do your fans' comments and letters influence you in any way?
I'm always pleased to get them, but I'm not influenced by them – many people clamour for a sequel to Standish, but they won't get one – not about the main characters at least. I'd always planned to revisit one of the characters, just not Rafe or Ambrose.
- Why did you decide to write romance novels?
I got into writing gay fiction through fanfiction and realised quickly that I wanted to publish a proper book rather than staying in fanfiction. I looked around at the gay fiction market and knew that I could never write contemporary books as I simply would have made too many mistakes – I have no conception what the real gay lifestyle is like, sequestered as I am in Norfolk, UK! I love historical fiction, read and re-read it a lot, so I had a look at the gay historical fiction/romance available out there, and was staggered to find that there was almost none. This was five years ago, and there were a handful of books on sale "Gaywyck" "The Price of Temptation" – and not a lot else. I had this feeling that gay men MUST want more romance to be available – all the gay men I know are hugely romantic souls, looking, like we all do for Mr Right – so I set out to write a romance in the classic "Regency" style – and Standish was born.
Since then I've been thrilled to be proven right – gay men email me often to say thanks for writing something they didn't know existed.
- Generally, how long does it take you to write a book?
I depends how well it's flowing. – Standish took a matter of weeks, but Transgressions took 3 years to get finished. I just put it down at one point and couldn't continue with it. When I'm working as well as I like to be working I do at least 1000 words a day, which means, theoretically I can manage a 100,000 word book in 3 months. But it rarely is that quick. I'd like to be able to produce one full novel a year, perhaps two novellas and some short stories.
- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
I'm trying to establish one, now I'm at home full-time. I sit down at 9 and work till midday- then do promo in the afternoon. The trickiest part for me, as an author is trying to juggle projects. I need to be writing the book I'm writing, editing the book that's up for publication, promoting the book that's just come out, and keep the older books in the public eye. (that's not to mention the various Blogs I belong to, and reviews I need to be doing!) I wish I were six people sometimes!
- Where do your ideas come from?
From all over the place. Standish came from a chance word (Standish, meaning inkwell) and I then thought "what if it was the name of a house, the name of the family that lived there…). My mother came up with the idea for Transgressions (What if two young men ended up on opposite sides of the English Civil War) – but I'm inspired by anything – a painting, an overheard conversation, the sight of a lighthouse on the horizon. With gay historical romance you have to think of ways to get men together in plausible ways, so the army, navy, lighthouses – all these are good situations.
- What kind of research do you do?
As a historical novelist, I have to do research every single day. Some novelists I know spend a year in research before they'll begin writing a word, but I'm too impatient for that, so I tend to just start, and research as I go. For example, I thought I knew the basics of the English Civil War but it wasn't until I started to write it that I found out I knew very little. (In fact, the whole thing is so confusing and complex, I wonder if I know much, even now!) The facts available about that time period (the book covers from the first battle in 1642 to the King's execution in 1649) are many – but I soon found out that, whilst I could find out everything about the war itself—battles, uniforms, munitions, names of generals, blah blah blah—the minutiae of everyday life was very hard to find out. What did they eat? What did their houses look like? How much did a blacksmith earn? I found myself forsaking my beloved internet and (gasp!) hitting the libraries.
I've learned since then to get my facts from as many sources as I can. The internet, books, other writers, historical groups, re-enactment societies, groups with a special interest on yahoo (such as model trains!), museums, the list goes on and on. I try hard to get it as right as I can, and it is hard, at times.
- Please tell us about yourself (family, hobbies, education, etc.)
I live in a lovely part of Norfolk, UK in a little end terraced house in a tiny (blink and you'll miss it) village. It's near the Norfolk Broads and beautifully quiet. I live alone, except for 3 cats and that suits me fine! My family are very important to me- my mother –whilst being old fashioned and not "approving" of gays—was my greatest supporter and, helped me plot my books, beta-read everything (except the sex scenes) and came up with ideas for new books. She died 2 years ago and I miss her terribly in many other ways too.
My dad now gets the full brunt of my creative passion – he listens patiently to me rambling on about plots and gay lifestyles in years gone by and, although he has mild Alzheimer's, he's very like Mr Dick from David Copperfield, as he comes up with brilliant ideas from time to time.
I don't have much in the way of qualifications – no history degree, no degree at all, in fact. Just 8 O levels. As for hobbies – I read as soon as I'm not on the PC – and I'm a gamer, computer games that is. I've had a games console since they were invented (actually my mother got me into games, she bought "Pong" when it first came out, and she had a Playstation before I did. I find it very therapeutic playing games, and ideas can often come to me while my mind is off fighting monsters and solving crimes.
- Who are some of your other favorite authors to read?
I'll read anything, even the side of a cereal packet, if I have nothing else. My tastes run all the way from Classic to Fantasy and everything inbetween. My all-time keepers are Austen, Robert Heinlein, George R R Martin, Jim Butcher, and Dickens.I'm also a huge fan of really good children's fiction such as C S Lewis, Noel Streatfield, Edith Nesbit, Frances Hodgson Burnett, P L Travers, Mary Norton….my shelves are packed with all the wonderful books from my childhood.
- Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing?
I'd have to say it was JK Rowling. This sounds odd, because I don't actually consider her to be a good writer at all (even though I bought all the books and watched all the films.) But she inspired me to write fanfiction, which then in turn led to Standish and everything since. She influences the manner in which I write inasmuch as I always write the last scene of my books pretty early on, to give me a direction and an ending point. Fanfiction is a great nursery slope for a budding writer, and I'm very grateful for that experience – if it hadn't have been for JKR, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today.
- Are you a member of any author groups - RWA, critique groups, etc.?
Not any of the big ones. I may have to join RWA at some point if Perseus say I should, but I have been vocal on their exclusion of gay romance from their awards, so I'd rather not if I can help it, that is until they encompass all genres. I don't see what good an author organisation would do me, or I could do it, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. Some groups such as EPIC seem to offer nothing more than an award ceremony, really, or that's how it seems to me, YMMV.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
I hope to still be with Perseus Books and have at least another three novels published with them. I would like their new m/m Romance line to be successful—not just for my benefit (although that would be nice, obviously!) but for the genre in general. Up to now it's been only really available on the internet and only published by the e-book publishers and small print publishers. I'm hoping that once Transgressions comes out (And Alex Beecroft's novel, "False Colours" which is coming out at the same time) and if they do well, other publishers will realise that there IS a viable market for m/m romance, something we've all known for a long time.
My long-term goal was to be "the Danielle Steel" of Gay Historical Romance, although I'd need to be more productive to achieve THAT goal!!
- How many books have you written, how many have been published?
I've been hugely lucky as literally everything I written has been published. This is probably because that m/m romance is a small genre, and m/m historical romance is even smaller! One novel (Standish) three novellas (Hard and Fast, Frost Fair, and Chiaroscuro) and over 20 short stories. My second novel will be coming out in April – that's the English Civil War one, Transgressions. It's a major publisher so I'm hoping that it will do well, but all I can do is hope!
- After you've written your book and it's been published, do you ever buy it and/or read it?
No. Isn't that cowardly of me? I have my author copies on a shelf but I can't read them. I think it's partly because I would want to change them, re-work them. I hope that I improve as I get older, and after they are published it's too late to put anything right.
- Which comes first, the story, the characters or the setting?
It's generally the characters – once I had the word "Standish" and thought that it might be a great house, I imagined the young man who – for some reason – doesn't actually live in it. After that I had to work out WHY he didn't live in it? Where does he live? Who does he live with? After I started answering those questions the book started to write itself, and I started to write about Ambrose Standish, sitting in his library in a little house on the edge of a great estate which used to be owned by his grandfather.
The way I write is that I learn everything about my characters, not just appearance, but personality, character traits, such as silly things that may never find its way into the book – are they left handed or right handed? What art do they like? What's their politics? What would they answer to this or that question? If I have all this information then I can throw things in their path and generally know how they will react.
- Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?
Ah yes, that's leading on from the last question. In GENERAL I am in control – perhaps not of the characters all the time, but at least the plot. There are always times (and I love it when that happens) when matters get out of hand! For example, there's a character in Standish who was supposed to appear for about three chapters and then get killed off. However, he absolutely refused to die, took over, and became the main focus for the second half of the book! That was NOT supposed to happen.
I do tend to get obsessed, and I find myself living in my character's head for the time I'm writing it. This was difficult when I was writing two things at once – one character was a 1960's stockbroker, married and a closeted gay, in love with the teenager next door, and the other character was a taciturn, (but very wordy in his own head) Regency gentleman. It was difficult to keep the voices apart and not have my 1960's man start spouting run on sentences and thinking about the latest fashions in cravats!
- If you weren't writing, what would you be doing?
Working in a lawyer's office! They sacked me a few months ago and I've never been so happy that they did. It means I can do what I want to – write full time and try and make this a proper job rather than a hobby.
Thank you very much for taking the time with us and answering our questions. I really appreciate this interruption to your busy schedule. Good Luck, and we will be looking forward to the next delightful creation from your talented imagination!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Erastes' Website Email Facebook Page MySpace Page Erastes Yahoo Group LiveJournal Blog The Macaronis Blog, and their Speak its Name Chat Group Speak Its Name Blog Unusual Historicals Blog
RaH Links: Review
Buy Erastes' Books At Amazon
Buy Author's Books at Linden Bay Romance
Buy Author's Books at Perseus Books
Buy Night Moves Books at Aspen Mountain Press
Buy Standish at PD Publishing
