Jennifer Denys

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Jennifer is English and lives in a lovely historical city in the UK. Other than writing, her interests include reading (Naturally! She always has at least one book on the go, if not one by her bed, one by the bath, and one in the lounge.), all things historical including genealogy, which she has done for many, many years, watching films (particularly sci-fi), gardening, jigsaw puzzles, and walking. She lives with her pet rabbit who is thoroughly spoilt. Jennifer says she wants to come back as her own rabbit in the next life—unfortunately that would mean she still needs to be alive herself. Maybe there is a time travel story there…

Jennifer would love to hear from her readers. Email her at [email protected] or visit her blog: http://jennifer-denys.blogspot.com/. She can also be reached on Facebook: www.facebook.com/JenniferDenys or Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenniferDenys.

Q: What is the most exciting moment of your life? 

A: Getting my book accepted by Siren. It was not only the first story I had ever completed but the first one I had ever submitted so I was astounded that they accepted it and have been bouncing off the walls with excitement ever since. Every time I get an email from the publishers whether it be about edits, author’s profile, contract, etc, etc, I annoy my coworkers (in the day job!) by jumping up and down for joy like a 5 year old instead of a 50 year old! If I never write another book (or get another one accepted) I will die happy from the excitement I’ve already had. 

 

Q: What’s your favourite place in the world? 

A: Despite being English and having tons of fabulous historical places to visit around my country, my favourite place is actually Niagara Falls. I love the sheer dominance and force of it. 

 

Q: Are your characters based on people? 

A: My heroines are all versions of me using different aspects of my personality at different times of my life. I’m going to have to utilise my skills and come up with something different soon, as I’m running out of different parts of me! My heroes are all versions of my ideal man—if he was based on a real man I wouldn’t still be single! 

 

Q: Do you write every day? 

A: No— as I have a day job to pay the bills I like to write for fun and try not to make it a chore as it might become if I wrote every day, so I write when I am in the mood. 

 

Q: Why erotic romances? 

A: It came about because I had read loads of them and thought, "I can write one of these!" A friend recently told me that I declared twenty-five years ago that I was going to write a sexy novel, but at that time we didn't really have the genre of erotic romance like we do today.

 

Q: What’s the most shocking thing you have ever done? 

A: Apart from admitting to people I have written an erotic romance!? It was when I had some special professional photos done for my 50th birthday when I was photographed in sexy lingerie and some nude—the idea was to prove to myself I could still be desirable despite middle-aged body issues. They were very tasteful and look fabulous even if I say so myself. 

 

Q: Tell us something no one else knows about you. 

A: Actually I am such an open person that all my best friends know everything about me and pretty much all my work colleagues as well. I am probably too open for my own good. 

 

Q: Do you have any advice for new writers? 

A: As a new writer myself I am still learning. In fact it has been a huge learning curve. For instance, before I wrote my first book I couldn’t possibly have told you if the punctuation at the end of someone speaking goes inside or outside the speech marks as this was never taught in any creative writing class I have attended. So my first advice would be to check out how dialogue is written either from books you have read or check it out on the internet. And I seem to have made the usual new author mistakes like head hopping—changing from one character’s point of view to another before the scene changes. My advice would be to change it before you submit it as it is really hard to do that once you’ve written it. So decide at the beginning of your chapter which character is going to have the point of view for that scene—maybe even write this at the top to remind you. Also, don’t include semi-colons or brackets and start your chapter with dialogue or action to draw your readers in—you’re not supposed to have backstory, long narrative or reflection—which makes sense, but it did require some difficult changes. 

 

Q: Who is your favourite author? 

A: J R R Tolkien— Lord of the Rings is my all time favourite book. As for my favourite erotic romance writers, I have a number of favourites and my first book Just Good Friends is my homage to them. They include Joey W. Hill, Janine Ashbless, Rena Marks, Tymber Dalton, Mari Carr, Debra Glass, Evangeline Anderson (amongst others). 

 

Q: How do you get your inspiration? 

A: From the people mentioned above! I will read a story and go off on a tangent thinking what happens if they did x, y or z instead, or what happens if the heroine goes off with a or b instead of c and that might lead me into a different story altogether from the one I am reading. My other inspiration is things I have done—I want to write one story where the heroine had her first book accepted so I can include all the emotions I have experienced. 

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