Author in the Spotlight - Selah March

Hi Selah and thank you for agreeing to this interview.

I always like the authors to tell the fans and other readers something about themselves, so could you tell us a little bit about Selah the writer and the person?

Well, first, Selah the person isn't called "Selah." I use a pseudonym because I live in a village populated by fewer than 2,000 souls in the northeastern part of the United States, my kids attend a public middle school, and my husband has a fairly large medical practice. I suspect if I used my real name to write romantic erotica - sometimes featuring ghosts and demons and often featuring men loving men - my life and the lives of my family would get really complicated really quickly. Sad, but true. Otherwise, I'm a fairly ordinary stay-at-home-mom with a degree in English Lit and some teaching and journalism experience. I'm often disorganized and lazy. I'm rarely punctual. I eat and drink things that are bad for me, and I swear like a sailor on shore leave after ten months at sea. The only thing I love more than the written word is my family.

Selah the writer, on the other hand, is a perfectionist. She tends to get cranky over grammar and spelling - even though her own is sometimes imperfect - and she can't sleep if every word in the last scene she wrote isn't exactly where it should be on the page. She also has punctuality and pottymouth issues, but she's working on them.

How long have you been writing? Was it difficult to get published at first?

I've been writing forever, but until the turn of the last century, I specialized in nonfiction - book reviews, articles on parenting and family life for local media, and entertainment journalism. Then I discovered online fanfiction (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, specifically) and began writing fiction for the first time outside of a creative writing class. Not to be overly dramatic, but it changed my life. I credit the fanfiction writing community - and later, when I began dabbling in original, non-fanfiction work, the online genre fiction community - with helping me overcome my lifelong struggle with clinical depression. Wow, downer, huh? I'll try to keep it light and bubbly from here on out.

As to getting published, all I can say is that I've been very, very lucky. A lot of it is being in the right place at the right time with the right story.

You write both M/M and M/F books and have a number of titles in both sub genres. Which do you find most challenging to write? Why?

For me, the challenge is less about M/M versus M/F and more about the individual characters and their stories. For example, the easiest story I've ever written is the short M/F freebie, Dark of the Day, that I offer on my website. It just sort of fell out of my head and onto the screen:) I don't even remember writing large parts of it. But the second "easiest" story would have to be the contemporary Western M/M novella, Seven Year Ache. I enjoyed living in the world of those boys and their love story so much that I wrote a sequel and plan to round it out to a trilogy.

The most challenging story is always whatever one I'm working on now.

When I was on your website I saw your comment that you're working on a number of new projects. Would you like to tell us about some/any of them?

At the moment, I've got two projects in the works. The one open on my desktop is a menage novella for an upcoming multi-author series at Red Sage. It's almost finished, but hasn't been contracted yet so I'm a little superstitious about discussing it. The other work on deck is my very first full-length novel release with Amber Allure. (Its working title is NIGHTSHADE, but that may change.) It's a dark futuristic fantasy with fairly heavy BDSM overtones. Here's a rough blurb:

A civilization thrown into hell by war and pestilence cries out for salvation, and a band of Champions emerges from the shadows of chaos - reincarnations of the old daemons and deities from times forgotten. A young soldier maimed in an accident and no longer fit for the battlefield answers the call to serve. Daniel Willoughby is ready - if not particularly eager - to fulfill his duties as Squire to Lord Thanatos, the Champion codenamed "Nightshade." Daniel is prepared to sacrifice his body, his heart and his soul. He's about to discover Nightshade wants all of that...and so much more.

What's the best perk for you about being a writer? What's the worst?

I love solitude, so being a writer means I get to be alone for many long hours at a time. That's the best part, but it's also the worst. Sometimes I get so deep inside my own head, I can't find my way out. If it weren't for my husband and children, I think I might get lost inside my own thoughts to an unhealthy degree.

What surprises you most when you hear from your fans?

What surprises me most is how attached they get to the characters I write. I mean, I get incredibly attached to them, too, but that's to be expected because I created them. It always thrills me when somebody else makes that connection.

Tell us something about Selah that you have never revealed before? :)

It took me five full days to fill in the answers to these interview questions because I kept second-guessing myself and thinking I sounded like a tool and a bitch, and everybody would hate every word of it. Because I'm just that pathetically insecure.

If you were asked to describe your writing style what would be your response?

Laborious. My process doesn't include the concept of "rough drafts," so I work on every paragraph, every sentence, every word till it's the best it can be before moving on. This means I'm tragically slow and not as prolific as I'd like to be. The upside is that once a story is finished, it rarely needs more than a quick proofread/polish to be ready for an editor's eyes. I don't get sick of my stories before I send them out because I've only written them once. Still, I'd love to be able to write a quick-and-dirty first draft. My OCD tendencies won't let me. It's something of a handicap in an industry that rewards fast, prolific writers, but I'm not complaining because I do it to myself.

I ask this question sometimes of new M/M writers and now I'll ask it of someone who has been doing this for awhile. What do you like best about writing M/M romances? What aspect of writing M/M do you find the most difficult to articulate? What part of the business would you rather do without?

What I like about writing M/M romance is the same thing many authors like - the chance to explore a new "flavor" of relationship, and to create not just one hot hero, but two. I like men. I find them interesting because they think differently and react differently to various situations than the average woman does. I enjoy exploring those thoughts, actions and reactions. Which isn't to say I don't enjoy writing about women - I do. But when writing about a female character, it's sometimes too easy to ask, "What would I do in this situation?" and write from that place. When writing about men, you have to really dig deep into the questions, "What would this character do in this situation?" and "How can I make his behavior authentically 'male''?"

In terms of what I'd rather do without, I'll start by saying I've been writing M/M since I discovered fanfiction. I started with the Angelus/Spike pairing from BTVS and got a fairly positive response to my stories. The general rule in fandom is that if you don't like 'slash' pairings, don't read them, so I was never exposed to a great deal of negativity or bigotry, and it was very freeing.

Imagine my surprise when I began writing M/M romance for publication and discovered that the "live and let live" attitude didn't exist outside of fandom. I know I lost readers when I began writing M/M, and I know it puzzles other readers that I continue to write both M/M and M/F - as if I should have to choose a side in a battle, or something - and that saddens me.

Your books are very popular - Year of the Cat and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot have both been reviewed on the blog and rated highly, and I know that your other books have been favourably reviewed on other blogs as well. I also expect that you have many fans and I was wondering if you could talk to them about your favourite M/M book.

I don't know about "very popular," but I've been very, very lucky with reviews so far. One of these days I fully expect to be hit right between the eyes with a one-star, "I'll never read anything by this author again and neither should you," review that makes me want to take to my bed with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of Cuervo. It's just a matter of time. As to my favorite M/M book, I have several. Katrina Strauss's Blue Ruin series and Josh Lanyon's Adrien English mysteries top the list. I also love the Lanyon/Baumbach co-written Mexican Heat. And anything by M.L. Rhodes is always a favorite.

What words of advice would you offer to new writers?

Don't take shortcuts. Don't assume spelling and grammar aren't important. Don't mistake sex scenes for plot - or sexual orientation for character - or sex for love.

SELAH UNPLUGGED

This is a section of the interview where I get to ask free ranging questions and you may answer (or not)*g*

You write about all these hot men. Which of your heroes would you want to go to bed with and have hot, sweaty sex with them? Of course this is all a fantasy so there is no infidelity.:)

I think I'd have to go with Rafe McCaffrey from Seven Year Ache and Wild Horses. In addition to being burning-hot, he's a sweet, considerate guy who's a real "giver" in bed, and he plays guitar and sings like an angel - the complete package. Plus, he's a cowboy and I LOVE me some cowboys.

Have you ever thought (or maybe you did this) of pouring chocolate on a hot man and licking it off? Of course I don't know anything about this - I read about it in a book by an M/M author where one protag used a dessert called chocolate orgasm for this purpose. :)

Once upon a time, when my husband and I were young, reckless and madly infatuated (as opposed to who we are now: Borderline-middle-aged, too tired to be reckless and madly in love) we stayed at a very expensive hotel in downtown Philadelphia and ordered room service every night. After a particularly interesting experience with a hot fudge sundae that came with bonus hot fudge, we had to leave extra tip money for the maids. Let me tell you, if you're at all energetic, that stuff gets EVERYWHERE. Still, it was worth it.

So I guess the answer to your question is, "Been there, done that, can highly recommend it if you can afford to pay someone else to get the chocolate out of the sheets...the carpet...the drapes..."

When you go to the grocery store do you feel up the zucchini and other vegetables and think about M/M plots?:DDD

Zucchinis aren't smooth enough, and they'd probably absorb lube like a sponge. Plus, they have those rough little crowns at the top. Ouch. I like cucumbers, myself. I mean, just the word...cuCUMber...

Does writing the sex scenes make you hot? :)

When I'm writing them, not so much - mostly because I'm concentrating on getting the action down on the page as I see it in my head. When I read my own sex scenes later, THEN I get hot, because I've got the luxury to get lost in the moment.

Why is your website called Dubious Virtue?

I saw a character in an historical novel described as "a woman of dubious virtue" - in other words, a bit of a slut. I thought about the kinds of stories I write - romance of dubious virtue - slutty romance. It seemed like a good idea at the time?

This one is clean - tell us something fun and sexy about Selah.

I asked my husband to answer this one, fully expecting him to site my size triple-D bra-size. He surprised me by mentioning my sense of humor first, and THEN my bust-line. So there you have it: A laugh a minute and tits for days. What's not to love? ;)

I would like to thank Selah March for graciously agreeing to this interview and giving such great and fun answers to my questions. Did she say triple-D?? I think she's lying to make all the women jealous and the men panting for her address.:DDD. Regardless, it was a pleasure interviewing her and I look forward to reading her new M/M releases.

And that's a wrap.

Selah March's contact information


selahmarch@mac.com

http://wwwselahmarch.com

http://dubious-virtue.livejournal.com