Author Interview: Jane Leopold Quinn

Author Name: Jane Leopold Quinn
Year started writing for LI: 2007
Titles: Home to Stay, Ancient Ties
Web Page: www.janeleopoldquinn.com

What genre do you write in, and why? :
m/f contemporary, time travel, suspense, Western – all erotic. I have written an m/f/m ménage though.

How much time do you spend writing every week? :
I’m one of the lucky ones who made the decision to quit the day job and write full time. So I write every day 9 am to 2 or 3 pm. Some, maybe too much of that time is spent on e-mails, some time on promotion, but it’s all writing related.

What was the first story you ever wrote about? (not nec. first published story) :
I wrote a Western. Then I wrote another Western. They were teaching experiences. Ancient Ties, my time travel to Roman Britain, was the third thing I wrote and the first published. Maybe it’s true that the first ms is Sophomore year, the second is Junior year, and the third is Senior year and Graduation.

How do you judge the effectiveness of the sensual scenes in your stories?
If they turn me on so much that I have to leave the room , then I know I’ve done my job well. Or I become so lost in the scene that I’m writing that I sometimes “wake up” and don’t realize how much time has passed.
Do you ever try out the sexual positions you write to make sure of accuracy? :
Sure, between past and present relationships, they’ve been tested.

Ever been told, Um...sweetie, that's not how it works? :
No.

What one word best describes your toy collection? :
Sparse.

Favourite candy while writing? :
None, really. I don’t snack, but I also don’t have anything in the house except hard, fruit flavored candies.

Where did your most unusual plot idea come from? :
I just wrote a short story that is an m/f/m ménage. The title came from an e-mail from someone on the LI Community loop. She asked for some ménage titles. Me, being me, thought she was actually looking for a title, so I provided the title “His, Hers & His.” She was looking for books to read. Okay, not my first embarrassment and certainly not my last. But, now I had a title for myself. The plot came from a “Dr. Phil” show where a woman met men on an internet site called sugardaddy.com. There you go.

What inspires you to write? :
An idea sparks in my mind, then I build characters around that, then the plot unfolds. It all starts with the spark. All it needs to be is a few words I hear on TV or a sight I see on the street or just a fantasy.

What music inspires your writing? :
The popular tenors, sometimes music from “my day” -- the 60s.

Plotter or a Pantser? :
Both. Sometimes I pants it for a couple of chapters, then if I feel I have something viable, I plot it out in a grid. A shorter ms may be pantsed, but a longer novel length will always be plotted.

Does your cat insist on sitting on your keyboard like mine does? :
No pets.

What is your most embarrassing moment as an erotic romance author? :
Probably the first few times I told people that I write erotic romance. I was kind of sheepish about it. You can’t be that way. People will say, “Oh, you write dirty books.” You have to project confidence. I started to calmly respond, “No, I write love stores.” That usually proves that I’m serious about what I write and cuts off their water.

Most challenging place you've ever written a spicy scene? :
You mean your writing location or the scene’s location? If it’s the writing location, probably trying to write erotic romance at my desk at work as a legal secretary is pretty challenging. It’s a no-go. If it’s the scene’s location, that would probably be either a shower or a stopped elevator.


When you get stuck, how do you find your way back to the writing? :
Except for vacations out of town, I write almost every day. Sometimes I do get stuck, but I recover in a day or two. Sometimes you just have to walk away to let your mind relax.


The Personal stuff:


Any outrageous liaisons in your past?
Oh, yeah!!

Where's the most unusual place you ever managed to have sex? :
Unusual to me, maybe not to another person -- a sailboat in the Bahamas.

What was the most romantic meal you've eaten? :
Since the last two questions don’t relate to my hubby, I’ll say in this answer, that the most romantic meal was our first date. It wasn’t the food, it was the conversation. Neither one of us wanted it to end.

What kind of books do you read for fun? :
Mostly other romance books. Sometimes mysteries.

Is your real life anything like your stories? What about your fantasies? :
Nooooo.

If you were to make a bumper sticker for your car that had to relate to erotic romance, what would it say? :
“It’s all really about love.”

Soulmates? Do you believe? :
Yes. And actually I believe in more than one soulmate in a lifetime.

Sex with anyone famous? :
Noooo. But ask my husband. He’s had sex with me.

Cake or Pie? Coke or Pepsi? Tea or Coffee? :
Cake and pie. Pepsi, but I wouldn’t turn down Coke. Hot coffee, iced tea.