FAQ
Where
do you get your ideas?
What are you currently writing?
How did you choose your pseudonym?
Do you ever get tired of writing sex scenes?
What does your husband think of the steamy scenes
you write?
How can I find out when you have a new book
published?
How do you handle criticism?
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Who are your favorite authors?
What do you do in your free time?
Do you have any pets?
How can I contact you?
Where
do you get your ideas?
Everywhere! Usually I hear a random bit that sparks my imagination—some
odd character trait, or a snippet of a real-life story. My 2004
release, A Valentine's Bride, came from a piece of my family
history. My great-grandmother's sister was a mail order bride from
Italy. When the married sister died, her parents didn't want to
"refund" her widowed husband's money, so they forced my
great-grandmother to take her dead sister's place. Unfortunately,
the real-life story didn't end happily. I've always wanted to give
my great-grandparents a happy ending, and now I have. To read an
excerpt from A Valentine's Bride, visit
my Yahoo! Group.
What are you currently writing?
I just finished a full-length historical romance called In the
Face of Scandal. It's set in the late Regency period in London.
The heroine, Rose, has been writing erotica to replenish the family
fortunes. When one of her stories is believed to be a description
of a romantic encounter with Nicholas Baker, an art dealer, the
two are forced to marry. This is a new historical period for me
to write, and I had fun learning the details of how Londoners lived
in 1830.
Currently, I'm working on a story called King of Pain. It's
a medieval fantasy version of The Taming of the Shrew—with
a lot of kink to it. For updates, check out What's
Up.
How did you choose your pseudonym?
My real first name is Doreen, and DeSalvo is an old family name. I
put the two together and decided that it sounded like a good name
for a writer.
Do
you ever get tired of writing sex scenes?
No, but sometimes it's difficult to make the sex scenes relevant
to the story. I'll only write a sex scene if it furthers the plot,
or reveals something new about the characters. But it can be a challenge
to describe the sex act in a new way. The trick is to get into the
heads of the characters, and let them describe their feelings and
actions in their own language. Sometimes I take a break and write
a "no-sex" story just for fun. I may post one of my "for
fun" stories in the future. Check out the Files section of
my Yahoo!
Group.
What
does your husband think of the steamy scenes you write?
You'll have to ask him! I'd never presume to put words in his mouth. That's the
big secret to marital harmony, in case you were wondering.
How
can I find out when you have a new book published?
The best way is to join
my Yahoo! Group, which I use to send announcements about my
new releases. I promise not to send more than one e-mail per month—believe
me, I don't have time to send more than that. You can also keep
checking my home page for new books.
How
do you handle criticism?
Badly! Well, that's not really true. I try not to take either criticism or
praise too seriously. Writing and reading are subjective, solitary pursuits; I
figure that criticism just means that the reader would have preferred to read
a completely different type of story, and that's really no reflection on my abilities.
It's probably not always true, but it gets me through the night.
The same holds
true for praise. I love hearing that someone enjoyed one of my stories,
but I try not to let it de-rail me from the book I'm currently writing.
I'm always tempted to revel in the praise for a completed book and
quit struggling with the new one. Yes, writing is always a bit of
a struggle. A fun, rewarding struggle, but a struggle nonetheless.
The times when I'm "in the zone," and words are pouring
out of me like manna from heaven, are few and far, far between.
If you're inclined to send
me either criticism or praise, feel free to e-mail
me: doreen at doreendesalvo dot com.
Any
advice for aspiring writers?
Don't ever give up! That's the best piece of advice I can give you. Talent is
important, but persistence is even more important. Even after you've been published,
you'll still have to deal with revisions, rejections, and bad reviews. But despite
all the headaches and ego bruising, I wouldn't give up writing for anything.
Study the craft. My favorite
book on the craft of writing fiction is Techniques of the Selling Writer
by Dwight Swain. Another great craft book is How to Write a Damn Good Novel
by James Frey.
Stay sane. Nothing
puts your ego, self-esteem, and self-confidence on the line quite
like writing...especially if you write in a genre like romance,
which has been openly ridiculed throughout recorded history. Find
a way to handle the insecurity and rejection without self-medicating
or going crazy. A book that's helped me weather the slings and arrows
is Writing from the Inside Out by Dennis Palumbo. It's not
a book on craft; it's a book about how to keep your sanity and self-esteem
when you're a sensitive, creative type at heart.
Who
are your favorite authors?
Gosh, there are way too many to list! I like classic literature as well as genre
fiction. Here's a random list of the authors who are in my consciousness at the
moment:
Laura Kinsale
— My all-time favorite romance author. I love her prose, her
characters, her descriptions.... I'm in awe of her ability to give
us two people who are absolutely wrong for each other at the beginning
of the story and bind them together so completely, by the end of
the book you're convinced they're soul mates. I'll stop gushing
now. All of her books are keepers, but a personal favorite is Flowers
from the Storm.
Loretta Chase — Her historical romances are witty, tender,
and full of real, human characters. My favorite is Miss Wonderful.
D.H. Lawrence — One of the first male authors to describe love and
sex from a female perspective. Even if I didn't love his style (purple prose and
all) I'd admire him for writing the most widely banned book of all time, Lady
Chatterly's Lover.
Charles Dickens — I'm a big fan of A Christmas Carol,
one of the first books written using modern scene structure. I love
how he writes about downtrodden people and makes them human instead
of just pathetic.
Diane DiPrima — A beat poet; one of the most under-rated ones, in
my opinion. She also wrote one of my favorite semi-fictional autobiographies,
Memoirs of a Beatnik.
For more about
what I'm reading, check out What's Up.
What
do you do in your free time?
Well, of course I read a lot of fiction. I also enjoy poetry, art,
geology, and physics. Yes, physics. And just to balance that, I'm
an obsessive fan of cartoons, especially The Simpsons, South Park,
and old Warner Brothers shorts.
I'm also a huge music fan, particularly of classical music. Lately I've been
listening to the music of violinist Joshua
Bell, cellist Steven
Isserlis, and the violinist formerly known as Nigel Kennedy
(now simply known as Kennedy,
at least until he comes up with a symbol to use). I'm such a psycho
fan (er, scratch that)...I'm such a dedicated fan that I've been
known to travel to hear my favorite musicians perform. I also listen
to a lot of Bob Dylan, old
Motown, and the punk music I loved as an angst-ridden teenager.
I walk the streets
of San Francisco for at least an hour every day, just musing; hang
out in coffee shops (musing, writing, or chatting with friends);
and spend an awful lot of time surfing E-bay looking for affordable
Mikimoto pearl jewelry.
Do
you have any pets?
I love tropical fish. Right now I have a couple of tanks full of cardinal tetras,
a dwarf gourami, and a few cherry barbs. I love all animals, large and small,
even the creepy crawly ones, but I seem to be allergic to most furry animals.
How
can I contact you?
I love to hear from readers; my e-mail address is: doreen at doreendesalvo
dot com. And if you'd like to know when my new releases are scheduled,
you can get newsletters by joining my Yahoo! Group via
e-mail or the
web.
|
