Ask the Author: L.E. Chamberlin
Answered Questions (8)
L.E. Chamberlin
Eek! I am working hard on Back to Life and hope you'll love Renée's story just as much. At the moment my target is Valentine's Day (ish).
L.E. Chamberlin
I will definitely write other genres, although I am fascinated by relationships and the dynamics of couples are especially interesting. There's a lot of room to explore that within romance and erotica because, well, that's at the core of the story! But those relationships are everywhere, in a multitude of genres. Even most of Stephen King's novels have a sex scene or two slipped in. Couples are fascinating to me, so their interplay is always going to feature somewhere in what I write.
L.E. Chamberlin
Oh, dear God. My WIP folders are a hot mess. I know I can't be alone in this, so I'll tell you how I write:
I get an idea - a snatch of dialogue, inspiration for a character, a "what if?" scenario - and I tuck it away (usually on my iphone by way of memo). Then I take turns adding on - world-building, character development, etc at random until a project takes shape. Once something starts to take shape, I buckle down and really work with it.
All this is to say, my big project on deck is a NA trilogy (full-length novels, not serials) that deals with three interrelated couples - all from male POVs. The first one won't be done till early 2015. But I've also been working on this BDSM novella, and it's a bit of a dark horse. It demands my submission (ha ha) at the strangest times. So that is also on its way.
And then there's all the other stuff in folders. A paralegal/roller derby girl who's sworn off love but can't stop screwing lawyers. An American girl who flies to England early to surprise her boyfriend early (oops...) and winds up having a night she can't put behind her with a Welsh rugby player. An erotic novella about a fishbowl party (yes, that kind of fishbowl party). Luckily I'm about to take one year off to write, so hopefully I will be able to tick some of these off the list!
I get an idea - a snatch of dialogue, inspiration for a character, a "what if?" scenario - and I tuck it away (usually on my iphone by way of memo). Then I take turns adding on - world-building, character development, etc at random until a project takes shape. Once something starts to take shape, I buckle down and really work with it.
All this is to say, my big project on deck is a NA trilogy (full-length novels, not serials) that deals with three interrelated couples - all from male POVs. The first one won't be done till early 2015. But I've also been working on this BDSM novella, and it's a bit of a dark horse. It demands my submission (ha ha) at the strangest times. So that is also on its way.
And then there's all the other stuff in folders. A paralegal/roller derby girl who's sworn off love but can't stop screwing lawyers. An American girl who flies to England early to surprise her boyfriend early (oops...) and winds up having a night she can't put behind her with a Welsh rugby player. An erotic novella about a fishbowl party (yes, that kind of fishbowl party). Luckily I'm about to take one year off to write, so hopefully I will be able to tick some of these off the list!
L.E. Chamberlin
My second book, A Whole New Level, was inspired by reading a lot of erotica where couple either swap partners or invite a third party into their bedroom. It's great fodder for the imagination, but there's a reason we're not all picking up hot girls or guys and bringing them home to join in our sexytimes.
For that book, I imagined a couple who had the very best intentions and thought they knew what they were getting themselves into but didn't. Those are my favorite stories - the ones about unintended consequences, making mistakes and muddling through them. I love it when couples can make it back from the edge. People read those stories and their faith in love is renewed, and that makes me happy.
For that book, I imagined a couple who had the very best intentions and thought they knew what they were getting themselves into but didn't. Those are my favorite stories - the ones about unintended consequences, making mistakes and muddling through them. I love it when couples can make it back from the edge. People read those stories and their faith in love is renewed, and that makes me happy.
L.E. Chamberlin
I've had a bit of a late start, and there was part of me that wanted to throw myself a pity party for the lost time. I majored in English Literature in college, and the Canon is full of these amazing works that were written when their authors were babies. I mean, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was
nineteen
. That's pretty intimidating. And don't even get me started on Sylvia Plath.
Even now, when there are so many writers turning out so much incredible work, there are young authors who blaze onto the scene. Look at Christopher Paolini or even Curtis Sittenfeld. I read stuff written by college students that is so brilliant it makes my teeth hurt.
But then I give myself a break. The fact is, starting when you're middle-aged is not a tragedy. And we can't all be prodigies, but we can tell our truths and hone our craft as long as our brains still work. (We don't even need our bodies. A friend of my mother's with MS wrote a book with a laser pointer strapped to her head.)
J.K. Rowling was in her thirties when she started the Harry Potter series. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird when she was in her forties. Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her sixties when she began writing the Little House books, and lest you think I'm being sexist by speaking only of women, the Marquis de Sade was in his late forties before his works were published, and his work inspired a sexual pathology in his name. (It doesn't get more influential than that.)
This is all a very long-winded explanation for a simple answer. Being a writer is an art and a science. It is a job you always carry with you, but it wakes you up at 3 a.m. for the best possible reasons. It takes, but it also gives. And other writers are the coolest peer group ever.
Even now, when there are so many writers turning out so much incredible work, there are young authors who blaze onto the scene. Look at Christopher Paolini or even Curtis Sittenfeld. I read stuff written by college students that is so brilliant it makes my teeth hurt.
But then I give myself a break. The fact is, starting when you're middle-aged is not a tragedy. And we can't all be prodigies, but we can tell our truths and hone our craft as long as our brains still work. (We don't even need our bodies. A friend of my mother's with MS wrote a book with a laser pointer strapped to her head.)
J.K. Rowling was in her thirties when she started the Harry Potter series. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird when she was in her forties. Laura Ingalls Wilder was in her sixties when she began writing the Little House books, and lest you think I'm being sexist by speaking only of women, the Marquis de Sade was in his late forties before his works were published, and his work inspired a sexual pathology in his name. (It doesn't get more influential than that.)
This is all a very long-winded explanation for a simple answer. Being a writer is an art and a science. It is a job you always carry with you, but it wakes you up at 3 a.m. for the best possible reasons. It takes, but it also gives. And other writers are the coolest peer group ever.
L.E. Chamberlin
Writers know they're writers. I've been scribbling on anything that passed for a writing surface since I could form letters. Before that I was probably making up stories in my head. Being an
author
- well, that's different. I always told myself I wouldn't call myself an author until I finished something, but that when I did finally claim that title I would really work at it. Writing for yourself is fun. Writing for an audience is exhilarating and intimidating all at the same time. The Angry Self-Sabotage Demons (yes, ASS Demons) have a field day with your head. I waited until my late thirties to try to publish, mostly because I was too busy earning a living and raising a child to buckle down and finish anything, but in a way I'm glad for it. Those ASS demons would have taken me down in my twenties. Now they have to work really hard to get to me.
L.E. Chamberlin
My inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere: overhearing a stranger's conversation, stories my friends tell me, my own life (Yes. A
lot
!), things I read or watch. Usually it's a fragment of a concept vs a strict retelling.
I'll give you an example: The first line of Just This Once was inspired by a comment a friend's husband made in a completely different context. They weren't having marital troubles. The comment stuck with me, though, so when I started thinking about Sara and Jason and a statement made from a husband to a wife that could really feel like a kick in the face, it came back to me. (My friend & her husband are amused that I used it the way I did, but I thanked them, because it was great inspiration!)
I'll give you an example: The first line of Just This Once was inspired by a comment a friend's husband made in a completely different context. They weren't having marital troubles. The comment stuck with me, though, so when I started thinking about Sara and Jason and a statement made from a husband to a wife that could really feel like a kick in the face, it came back to me. (My friend & her husband are amused that I used it the way I did, but I thanked them, because it was great inspiration!)
L.E. Chamberlin
My problem tends to be writer's ADD. I never run out of ideas - scenes, characters, premises, etc. run through my head all the time - but I sometimes have difficulty sticking to a project. I'm anxious to meet all of my characters and that makes me incredibly impatient and distracts me from the WIP du jour. But I try not to beat myself up about that - I'll bargain with myself. For example, I'll allow myself to knock off working on one story a little early to spend time on another. That way, I keep the creative juices flowing but don't sabotage myself by being completely inefficient.
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