Pollygraph (interviews with erotica authors): Annabel Bastione
Why erotica?
It's just one of those genres I find very fun and entertaining to write. You don't have to spend a lot of time thinking and planning out the plot or character development when you're coming up with a five thousand word short story. And I find that churning out sexy scenes improves my writing skills in terms of painting vivid imagery or metaphor creation. Plus readers love reading it so I'll keep on writing!
What kinds of erotica do you write?
I've dabbled in many kinds and come up with stories so convoluted I have no idea how exactly to classify them. But right now I've been writing a lot of paranormal (vampires/werewolves) that sort of stuff and am thinking of moving on to ghosts and demons too :X
Tell us about your experiences as an erotica author. What have the big challenges and successes been?
It's been a short but pretty awesome ride so far. Many ups, you'll get this feeling of joy bursting from your chest watching more people pick up and (hopefully) enjoy your work.
A memorable challenge for me would be finding more distribution sites and reworking my stories so that they don't get pulled by censors. I think everyone has heard of the PayPal censorship debacle. I did write about 5 or 6 PI (pseudo-incest) titles so it was pretty troublesome reworking the PI out of them which ended up all for naught I think because Bookstrand closed my account and ARe deactivated majority of my catalog including the PI ones. I'm reminded here about how volatile things can be when a distribution site can shut you down at the click of a button. But one has to be dynamic and I think eventually, the authors will still survive.
The basic big 'successes' I've seen so far are pretty average, hitting different numerical milestones, but the one I'm proudest of was hitting 30 titles in less than one month. I worked like hell then and I'm still trying to keep up my once terrifying pace so yea, I guess I'm pretty proud of that. :D
Do you write in other genres, too?
I have some other literary creations in the works. Tossing around an idea of a techno thriller or two, but nothing written down yet. I guess I'll get to it when I'm finally bored of writing erotica, but I don't see it happening any time soon! Ironically I've also some baby books in the works as well. :X I'm partnering up with a friend who can do simplistic graphic illustrations that should hopefully attract kids for them.
Of course, they'll be out under separate pen names and publisher accounts, far far away from each other. I wonder what the parents will say if they find out that their baby's favorite author also writes mummy and daddy's favorite erotica. :|
It probably won't be a nice scene.
Do the people around you know what you write? How have they reacted, or how would they react?
My significant other is the only one who knows, and constantly sighs about the stories I have out. So I haven't tried telling anyone else. Other people who know that I write stuff think I write 'romances' and 'various fiction' so there ya have it.
Tell us about your most recent titles.
Awesome! I have this 9 part gay werewolf series under a different pen name. It's the 'Howling Moon' series by Brandy Corvin. I released it in threes and made 3 bundles of 3 for the whole series. It's the most popular bunch of stories I've had so far (even made it onto the ARe vampire/werewolf bestsellers list) so I'm pretty happy about that. Other than that, because I put out a new title every 2-3 days my 'most' recent title will soon become just my recent title in a day or two so there's not much to say about that.
Do you have a favourite, or favourites, among your stories?
Apart from the paranormal gay werewolf series mentioned above, my favorite short that I've written would be Tossing Caesar's Salad. It's also my first bestseller, the one that rose above the rest of my titles. It's a pretty messed up mishmash of stuff, it parodies the Shakespearean play of Julius Caesar where a bunch of conspirators stab him to death. Only this time, they do it with their, ahem, 'pricks'. Basically it's an epic MMMMMMM/m historical gay gangbang parody. How mixed up is that? Also, 7000 words of straight up gay sex seems to be popular with my readers. ;)
How do you normally go about writing an erotic story? Is there much, ahem, research involved...?
I'm sad to say not really haha. I just sit down at my laptop in my bedroom with a cup of green tea (exotic, I know!) and type.
Do you have any favourite erotica authors?
Too many to count. I don't know why but all the indie erotica authors I know are all so friendly, helpful and accessible. Makes me feel just at home being among them. :)
But my current favorite author is 'Frieda Wright' though (fellow authors should know what I mean). ;)
And finally, what can we expect to see from you soon?
A lot more paranormal stories under Brandy Corvin, some bundles coming out under Annabel Bastione, and maybe some erotic romances under another pen name soon!
More about Annabel Bastione:
Annabel Bastione at TwitterAnnabel Bastione at SmashwordsAnnabel Bastione at amazon.comBrandy Corvin at amazon.com
It's just one of those genres I find very fun and entertaining to write. You don't have to spend a lot of time thinking and planning out the plot or character development when you're coming up with a five thousand word short story. And I find that churning out sexy scenes improves my writing skills in terms of painting vivid imagery or metaphor creation. Plus readers love reading it so I'll keep on writing!What kinds of erotica do you write?
I've dabbled in many kinds and come up with stories so convoluted I have no idea how exactly to classify them. But right now I've been writing a lot of paranormal (vampires/werewolves) that sort of stuff and am thinking of moving on to ghosts and demons too :X
Tell us about your experiences as an erotica author. What have the big challenges and successes been?
It's been a short but pretty awesome ride so far. Many ups, you'll get this feeling of joy bursting from your chest watching more people pick up and (hopefully) enjoy your work.
A memorable challenge for me would be finding more distribution sites and reworking my stories so that they don't get pulled by censors. I think everyone has heard of the PayPal censorship debacle. I did write about 5 or 6 PI (pseudo-incest) titles so it was pretty troublesome reworking the PI out of them which ended up all for naught I think because Bookstrand closed my account and ARe deactivated majority of my catalog including the PI ones. I'm reminded here about how volatile things can be when a distribution site can shut you down at the click of a button. But one has to be dynamic and I think eventually, the authors will still survive.
The basic big 'successes' I've seen so far are pretty average, hitting different numerical milestones, but the one I'm proudest of was hitting 30 titles in less than one month. I worked like hell then and I'm still trying to keep up my once terrifying pace so yea, I guess I'm pretty proud of that. :D
Do you write in other genres, too?
I have some other literary creations in the works. Tossing around an idea of a techno thriller or two, but nothing written down yet. I guess I'll get to it when I'm finally bored of writing erotica, but I don't see it happening any time soon! Ironically I've also some baby books in the works as well. :X I'm partnering up with a friend who can do simplistic graphic illustrations that should hopefully attract kids for them.
Of course, they'll be out under separate pen names and publisher accounts, far far away from each other. I wonder what the parents will say if they find out that their baby's favorite author also writes mummy and daddy's favorite erotica. :|
It probably won't be a nice scene.
Do the people around you know what you write? How have they reacted, or how would they react?
My significant other is the only one who knows, and constantly sighs about the stories I have out. So I haven't tried telling anyone else. Other people who know that I write stuff think I write 'romances' and 'various fiction' so there ya have it.
Tell us about your most recent titles.
Awesome! I have this 9 part gay werewolf series under a different pen name. It's the 'Howling Moon' series by Brandy Corvin. I released it in threes and made 3 bundles of 3 for the whole series. It's the most popular bunch of stories I've had so far (even made it onto the ARe vampire/werewolf bestsellers list) so I'm pretty happy about that. Other than that, because I put out a new title every 2-3 days my 'most' recent title will soon become just my recent title in a day or two so there's not much to say about that.
Do you have a favourite, or favourites, among your stories?
Apart from the paranormal gay werewolf series mentioned above, my favorite short that I've written would be Tossing Caesar's Salad. It's also my first bestseller, the one that rose above the rest of my titles. It's a pretty messed up mishmash of stuff, it parodies the Shakespearean play of Julius Caesar where a bunch of conspirators stab him to death. Only this time, they do it with their, ahem, 'pricks'. Basically it's an epic MMMMMMM/m historical gay gangbang parody. How mixed up is that? Also, 7000 words of straight up gay sex seems to be popular with my readers. ;)How do you normally go about writing an erotic story? Is there much, ahem, research involved...?
I'm sad to say not really haha. I just sit down at my laptop in my bedroom with a cup of green tea (exotic, I know!) and type.
Do you have any favourite erotica authors?
Too many to count. I don't know why but all the indie erotica authors I know are all so friendly, helpful and accessible. Makes me feel just at home being among them. :)
But my current favorite author is 'Frieda Wright' though (fellow authors should know what I mean). ;)
And finally, what can we expect to see from you soon?
A lot more paranormal stories under Brandy Corvin, some bundles coming out under Annabel Bastione, and maybe some erotic romances under another pen name soon!
More about Annabel Bastione:
Annabel Bastione at TwitterAnnabel Bastione at SmashwordsAnnabel Bastione at amazon.comBrandy Corvin at amazon.com
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