Meet Multi Published Author Berengaria Brown

 

Today my interviewee is multi published author Berengaria Brown whose latest release is her first f/f romance titled  Loving Lydia. Here she tells us how she finds the time to write so many books and gives some insider tips on penning scorching hot erotic romances.  http://http://berengariabrownslovinglydia.blogspot.com/

 Susan Palmquist (SP)-Wow, I just checked out your Web site and it seems you’ve written lot of stories? Is writing your full time job?

Berengaria Brown (BB)-No, sadly, like most other authors, my writing has to be fitted around the dreaded day job.

SP-How long have you been writing? And was there any particular moment when you said I want to be an author?

BB-I have been writing with the aim of being published, for a little less than two years. I have always been a reader, and I read a lot. Several books per week. But one day, I had nothing to read. None of my favorite authors had new books out, and I was tired of re-reading my favorites. And nothing appealed to me to read, so I decided to write a book. When it was finished, and polished, I sent it off to a publishing house, and I still had nothing new to read. So I wrote another book, and another book. And the rest, as they say, is history.

SP-What was the biggest challenge to getting published?

BB-I took the whole process very seriously, and did a lot of research about the various publishing houses, and the type of books they publish. I only submitted my stories to houses that published books similar to mine. I also did my very best to format my book and my request exactly how they asked for it in their submissions guidelines. Likely the challenge was to slow down, and do my homework, instead of sending my precious baby off to the top ten houses!

SP-As the prolific writer that you are, I know all us writers would love to find more time to pen all the stories roaming in our minds. What’s your secret to finding time to write?

BB-The characters are chatting away in my head and I let them stay there until they know what they want. Then I sit down and write and usually it flows fairly well, because I am clear in my mind about what is happening. But someone said to me before I was published that the only way to get published was to sit your butt in the chair, place your fingers on the keyboard, and write. And that is good advice. Even if you only have half an hour, that is a few paragraphs more of your book you have written than if you’d said that half an hour wasn’t worth sitting at the laptop for.

SP-You’re published with a variety of publishers, is that a conscience decision by you to pick certain publishers for specific stories or did it just happen by chance?

BB-It was a deliberate decision. Many houses don’t like simultaneous submissions, so I sent my first book, which was a ménage, to a publisher that publishes ménages. When I wrote MM I sent it to a house that published MM. The same with FF. But each book went to a different house. That meant that I got several contracts in quick succession. In fact, I got two on the same day! That was awesome! I read in many different genres so it seemed logical to write in several different genres too. And I love writing for several different publishers. 

SP-You write erotic romances. They are hot right now, especially in e-books? Why do you think it’s taken so long for them to become popular with readers? Do you think e-publishing has helped the genre?

BB-I think erotic romance is very suited to e-publishing. Women love to curl up with a book in the evening and there are so many different e-reading devices now there’s lots of choice. Also e-books are ideal to read on your phone when you are waiting somewhere. And it’s so much easier to have a couple of books on your phone than to carry around heavy hardbacks or trade paperbacks just in case you’ll have some spare time to read.

SP-You pen scorching hot stories, any tips for would be erotic romance writers?

BB-Erotic romance writers need to do just as much research as writers of any other genre. All the plot and background has to be accurate. And all my innovative or more unusual sex scenes are role-played to make sure they work. The sex needs to be right for the characters. It has to either advance the plot or show new things about the characters.

SP-Do you think anything’s been overdone with erotic romances?

BB-The plot is very old. Boy meets girl. Something comes between them. They solve the problem. But that could be said for thrillers and mysteries and many other genres too. What makes a book interesting is not whether they have sex in a bed or against a wall, but rather how their relationship develops. What they think and feel, how they grow to understand and care about the other person. And relationships are always interesting.

SP-What are you working on right now?

BB-I have written several MMF stories in the same world, contemporary set but with paranormal elements. I have been enjoying them and I am starting to think there may be other people in that world, minor characters in those books, who want their stories told too. I was quite surprised when a minor character from the first two books told me he was a vampire! I hadn’t known that! But now I am wondering if there are other characters with a secret life too.

SP-Anything you’d like to try in the future?

BB-I actually have a couple of Regency-set historical, erotic lesbian romances, coming out soon. I will be excited to see whether readers like them.

 Buy link:

http://www.breathlesspress.com/erotic/loving-lydia.html

Breathless press book trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC91VdS-5R4