FAR interview

Here's my interview with one of the impish angles at Fallen Angel Reviews:

Valerie Herme' Interview

Today I have the pleasure of speaking with author Valerie Herme'. Thanks for being here today Valerie, welcome to FAR!

It's a pleasure to be talking with you.

To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Early morning is my writing time. For the rest of the day, I wear this hour like sexy underwear. I've got a loving family and an engrossing day job, but underneath it all I'm naughty Valerie the erotic writer.

Please tell readers a little bit about your contemporary erotic romance Clytie.

Clytie is my second title published by eXtasy Books, a thriving Canadian independent press. Here's what the publisher's copy editor had to say about the story after she finished helping me polish the final draft: Absolutely amazing, extremely well crafted story. First person present tense is hard to do and this is magnificently done.

What inspired you to write Clytie?

The Minoans, a lost civilization, left behind works of art showing men and women grabbing a charging bull by the horns and vaulting over the bull's back. I thought the bull leapers would make great erotic fiction characters, especially if I placed them in a contemporary setting. The story takes place on a secret resort island. The bull leapers, Clytie and Paris, are idolized as heroic athletes, but they're also consorts, constrained to answer the sexual demands of their super-wealthy mistresses and masters.

Is there a message in your story that you want readers to grasp?

There's an undercurrent of social justice in the story. The mistresses and masters, even the nice ones, are oppressors. But mostly it's a story of a woman who demands the right to live with a free heart.

What would you like to accomplish with your writing career?

I want the world to see my secret lingerie.

What is the best advice that anyone ever gave you?

The best teacher I've ever had, a writer whose splendid workshop I was privileged to attend one night a week for two years, said Write about what you are writing about. That advice guides me every morning, and carries over into my daylight life. I think it means stick to the point. In writing erotic romances, I try to make every page, and every paragraph, romantic and erotic.

While writing, how does the story develop for you? Do you go from start to finish or create scenes as they come to you?

I have a general notion of a setting or a character, and I dive in. Sometimes I have to circle back and add a scene to make sense of it all.

Can you tell us a little about your other upcoming works?

My first release from eXtasy Books was the novel Mandi, published last year. It revolves around an ambitious woman's involvement with a secret sex pill. Right now, I'm in the middle of a six-story series called The Fair Warrior Chronicles. College students on a holiday in Crete find a hidden cave, where they are granted strange powers and hyperactive sex drive. The first two books of the series, Minotaur and The Huntress, have been published. eXtasy Books has given me publication dates once a month for the next four months to complete the series. Now I have to finish the stories on time!

Where do you hope to take your writing in the future?

Erotic ebooks seem like a new frontier. Readers are more comfortable having erotic literature around, since they can keep it discreetly on their ebook devices. I'm riding this wave of liberation.

Since everybody needs a break, even when doing something they love, how do you like to spend your time away from writing?

My lover and I enjoy simple stuff-a walk down the gravel road to our rented farmhouse, or cuddling up with Netflix. And I love to read, of course. I bounce from light to heavy fiction. I just finished Fifty Shades of Grey and started Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

We all have one, so tell us yours. What is your favorite comfort food?

This is disgusting, but from childhood, whenever I feel as if my moorings are about to come loose, I resort to a glass of milk and a sandwich of white bread, peanut butter, and mayonnaise.

Describe yourself in 5 words.

Hopelessly in love with writing.

Do you have a website or blog where readers can learn more about you and your works?

Free first chapters of my stories are available at valerieherme.com, and I share my writing life at Valerie Herme's Erotic Writing Blog. I'm also on Facebook.

Is there anything else you would like to add today?

Fallen Angels Reviews is a great site. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Valerie.


Interviewed by: Tammy