Author in the Spotlight - Joely Skye

Hi Joely, I appreciate you agreeing to be interviewed on the blog.

When I asked Joely to send me a profile here's what she had to say -

Joely Skye is an introvert, a Spooks (MI5) fan, a wife and a mother. One of her favorite books ever is Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint. She writes male/male romance. Men fascinate her, as does romance, so gay romance is the perfect fit.

She also writes as Jorrie Spencer (www.jorriespencer.com).


Why don't we start by you telling us something about Joely that no one knows?

I had to think hard to find something even mildly interesting. But, I'll admit I've become a bit obsessed with Britain's Got Talent, ever since Susan Boyle hit youtube. Before that, I'd never heard of the show.

What do you find challenging about writing? What's the best part?

First drafts are the most challenging part of writing for me, and I wish I wrote them faster. After that, I do get to my reward, which is revising. Once the story is down, or mostly down, that's when the fun begins. I revise multiple times, especially the beginning.

Fans today seem to want to know a lot more about their favourite authors than in the past, especially with the advent of the Internet. How do you feel about this trend?

Well, I like to keep it mostly about the writing. But I understand the interest because I'm a reader too. Thing is, I have quite a dull life, so there isn't too much to see here!

A reader, Kassa, asked the following questions:

Your books tend to have several common themes woven throughout, how do you keep them different and fresh each time?

Mostly I try to bring something different to each book. For example, Feral which came out May 5, has a cougar shifter and that was something new to me. It's actually the first time I've written a romance with two shifters as heroes (the other is a werewolf). Usually, for whatever reason, I've matched up a shifter and a non-shifter.

You often include polarizing characters such as Gabriel from Marked. Do you worry this might turn readers off?

Well, no one is going to like Gabriel, this is true. It's possible readers will be turned off, of course, but not every book is for every reader. I realize some of my characters can be quite dark. I did want to explore, to some degree, the dark side of being a werewolf.

Your stories range heavily on paranormal and science fiction, what is it about those themes that attract you?

What I like about paranormal is it can be contemporary, but you still need to do some world-building and make some changes to our world, and play with that. Science fiction needs more, in terms of world-building, but it does give you an opportunity to mix some present-day aspects of society with, say, something from the past.

(I actually love to read fantasy and historical romance and historical fiction. I'd love to write it too but, to date, I've found it too daunting. Perhaps in the future when I have more writing experience under my belt. Getting the intricate world-building and voice right in those genres is just so important. You have to balance a lot of things at one time.)

You have written several books. Which one is your favourite? Why?

My favorite, and this is usual I admit, is my latest release, Feral. I guess I think--I hope--my writing is getting stronger with each book. I also really liked the epilogue in this one (though I don't know if that's a good reason to love one's book since an epilogue can't really carry the entire book).

Another reader, Kris, asked the following questions -

The contrast between the feudal, quasi-medieval world and the use of technology created an interesting setting for Poison. What made you decide to build this kind of world for a 'first contact' style story?

For a number of years, I read a lot of science fiction and I just loved first-contact stories. Poison's world had a lot of influences, from Iain M. Banks to Lois McMaster Bujold to Star Trek: TNG. I also love the mix of old and new that you can create in science fictional worlds.

In Marked you put your characters, in particular the main character Alec, through some difficult situations and the gamut of emotions. Some would say that you are just plain mean to them. :) Are these sorts of themes something that you like to explore as an author? Do you plot out this kind of conflict beforehand or do the characters tend to write themselves as is sometimes the case for authors?

I don't plot things out, no. I don't even like to be mean to them to be honest. Marked was supposed to be a much more quiet book than it turned out to be. I would actually like to write a quieter, lighter book. Maybe next time.

Children characters are not frequently seen in m/m stories yet you created two, Ira and Claire, in Marked. What made you choose to write about them and in such a, well, violent culture as that of werewolves?

I also write m/f books as Jorrie Spencer and I often have children in them too. For whatever reason, Liam's character came to me with a younger brother, but I didn't know why Liam was Ira's guardian. So I had to figure out why Liam was Ira's guardian and it just grew from there.

What do you think is your most important achievement as a writer to date?

I have no idea! I guess that isn't a very useful answer, but I honestly don't know how to answer it. Certainly I'm very proud to be published with Samhain.

Your newest book Feral was released on May 5. What can you tell us about Feral?

Feral is cat shifter/werewolf romance. Among other things, I wanted to explore the differences between two types of shifters, one a pack creature and one a much more solitary creature.

What do you have coming up in the next 3 - 6 months?
Feral's it for now. I'm afraid I'm a very slow writer so I probably won't have anything new out until late next year or early next year, if I'm lucky.


JOELY UNPLUGGED

I have a section that I like to call Unplugged where I ask fun questions so I hope you'll play along

How do you come up with your plots? Do you watch strangers and imagine what they would be like in bed?

No :) My characters pretty much come out of my head, for better or worse. I know there are some writers who use actors as inspiration for their heroes, which is cool. But I can't even do that.

Since you write about sex, what one scene do you find most difficult to write? Why?

Generally I find the last sex scene in a book the most difficult to write. Usually the first coming together of the romantic couple runs pretty smoothly, writing-wise, but later in the book, I have to think very hard about what the scene is supposed to be about. Besides sex!

Can you tell us something fun about Joely that has nothing to do with books or writing?

I'm not a visual person at all, unlike a lot of writers who seem quite gifted when it comes to the visual arts. However, I do like to play the piano and I've kept it up over the years. I don't know if that's really fun for you to learn about, but it is fun for me to play the piano :)

Thank you Joely. The author would like to donate a copy of her newest ebook, Feral, to one lucky fan who leaves a comment on her interview.

Thank you for asking me such interesting questions. Your time is much appreciated.

Contact Information for Joely Skye

joely.skye@gmail.com
www.joelyskye.com
http://joelyskye.livejournal.com/