Interview with @amymaclane – RGR Pride Celebration #LGBT

An Interview Marc had with Amy Lane

 Hi, Marc– thanks so much for interviewing me– and I’m always open to more questions.  (Just maybe, you know, space them out a little!)

 

Johnnies Series:

1) A lot in the sequels to ‘Chase in Shadow’ showed events that happened in previous books from the perspective of a new main character. Will this trend continue or will we move more into the future?

Oh no– Black John moves us into the future.  It starts when John goes to rehab, and ends the July of that year, and much of it happens away from the Johnnies gang.  I think you’ll see the answer to a lot of questions, and a glimpse of the characters in the next book.

2) Do you believe that it is important for porn stars to end their job, before they can find their HEA or do you think some could compartmentalize it as work and be in a happy and devoted relationship as home and the characters you have written about in the series are just not the types to share, once they have found love?

I think in real life they can probably compartmentalize it as work and be in a happy and devoted relationship–and I may write that yet.  I know that in my urban fantasy, I have characters who will never be monogamous, and who are happy that way, and I have the same philosophy for my porn stars.  But I admit to being a little bit trope locked with this issue.  When I’m writing characters and putting a little bit of myself into them, every romance-writer instinct I have screams “monogamy” at the end.  If I can overcome that, then we’ll see a different ending.

3) Black John is next: Will much of the story happen in the Rehab facility and if yes, will we still get to see the guys we have grown to know and love?

LOL– well, answered before you asked!  Much of John will happen after rehab, and away in Florida.  In Chase we saw that John had property out at Cypress Point, and since John has to take a trip to the past, well, the reader has to go to Orlando and Daytona.  John gets back right before the end of Dex (which is also the end of Ethan) and we venture another couple of months into the future before his story ends.

 

A Solid Core of Alpha:

1) Will there ever be a sequel to this story or have you thought about another Science-Fiction story you might write?

I had an idea for another story from this universe– but I think it’s way back in the queue.

2) What was the most difficult aspect of the story to write?

*thinks back*  All of it.  Seriously– the hardest thing was the balancing.  We saw Anderson’s family die twice– part of me wanted to show him in therapy, but then I knew we would have to see them die a third time, and I didn’t think that was fair to the reader.  I know I caught crap for that, but oi!  I think we all desperately needed some hope by the end.

3) How did you get the idea to write about a genius boy lost in space, all alone… but for his brilliant mind and imagination?

Many, many years of Star Trek.  Damn, that holodeck could do anything, couldn’t it?

 

Clear Water:

1) How much research did you do for this book and did you find anything that shocked you and made you want to become more active in environmental issues?

I did a lot of research into the environment–but I have to admit, I saw the news thing on the two-headed frogs first, and when I realized it was an environmental thing, I was outraged.  I mean, we’re fucking up the environment so badly our frogs have two heads, and nobody is losing their shit? That needs to change!

2) Do you think that Attention Deficit Disorder is still much misunderstood by the general public?

Yes.  I remember when I was a teacher, the general consensus was “These kids just have to deal with their shit and try harder.”  Thereal irony was, most of the teachers I knew were riddled with it–but none of us had been diagnosed.  There is nothing more self-negating than being told that there is nothing wrong with you and all you have to do is try a little harder when the fact is, you’re trying your hardest and your brain is screwing you over.  I see so much of my behavior has been shaped by dealing with ADHD, and a lot of it is good, but some of it is really, really hard to quit when it’s self-destructive.

3) Is ‘Chicken Shit” the most awesome title ever? a.k.a. a roundabout way of getting you to tell us if the sequel will happen 😛

I swear, I’ve been planning it since day one.  The addition of the guys from Bolt Hole will be a fun one– it’s on the queue.  It will happen.

 

Promises Series:

1) Who is your favorite character in this series?

Mikhail.  Not consciously, but the obnoxious little diva kept taking over scenes.  Hell, he took over the entire fourth book.  Fucker.

2) Was it hard to find a way to give so many different characters a happy ending in ‘Forever Promised’?

Yes. Although the happy ending that didn’t happen almost killed me, I almost didn’t give Jeff and Collin theirs, and, oh God, I was a paragraph away from a still birth.  (I am not kidding.  Mary Calmes threatened to KILL ME, with FIRE AND PAIN.)  I know it probably seemed a little over the top, but in the end, I realized most of the people we know do have happy endings.  When you hit your middle age, most of the folks you know have settled down and have made peace with what they have.  That’s the sort of life I wanted to imply for our guys.  That’s why it was the goodbye book.

3) Do you ever listen to the audio versions of your own books?

ON accident.  I’m not sure how, but two of my books ended up on my iTunes account– and I don’t know how to get them off or the other two on.  So while I’ve listened to the samples of ALL of them, I am really only able to listen to two of them as I drive.  (I am barely technoliterate, no lie.)  Oh– another thing?  I can’t find the books on my menu, so every now and then, in the middle of an eclectic music mix, I’ll get one of the sex scenes from the Talker books or Keeping Promise Rock and I’m like, “Abort! Abort! Abort!  Kids in the car! Abort!”

 

General Questions:

1) Which upcoming projects have you most excited and why?

Beneath the Stain and Bells of Times Square, hands down.

Stain is a monsterpiece.  It’s hugely long, and the first release is in serial form.  I love this story– it unspooled in front of my eyes from beginning to end, and the main character was just born.  Wasn’t created, he was fully functional in all his neuroses and flaws. And I love Mackey– he’s not a saint, hell, he’s not close, but he is so deserving of love.  I’m proud of this book– I put a lot of my blood into this one.  I hope it shows.

And The Bells of Times Square is a WWII piece, and it’s dedicated to my late grandparents, both of whom served in the OSS.  It doesn’t have a traditionally happy ending, but it does have an ending full of hope–I worked very very hard to make this story authentic, and I wanted so badly for us to love Nate and Walter, and to live that time with them.  I hope people love it as much as I do.

2) Which of your books affected you most emotionally, while writing them?

Wow.  I’d have to say Chase in Shadow and Beneath the Stain were probably the ones that wrecked me the hardest.

3) How long does it take for you to write a book and does it change with different genres/ characters/ moods?

It definitely changes.  A novel can take anywhere from six weeks to four months– Beneath the Stain took four months– it was nearly 200K when all was said and done.  Sequels take longer, because I have to research my own writing to keep them contiguous, and historicals take longer because I have to research everything.  Some books just pick you up and sweep you along, and those are fun, but some are a labor of craft, and those take longer by necessity.  The sad ones take longer because it’s hard to write in that headspace every day–and seriously, I just spent seven months in that headspace, so I should know!

But it depends.  Every work is different, and I like to make them as different as possible, so that always presents a challenge 😉