Today I am speaking with December Quinn.

Hi December! And welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! It is great to have you with us. Thank you for taking time to answer some questions. The readers would love to hear something about December Quinn.

I would like to tell you I love the color shade on your website, it has an alluring way of drawing in the person.

Thank you! I thought for a long time about that color scheme, and worried it might be too dark. But then I thought, a lot of my work is fairly dark—even when I’m writing humor I tend to deal with people who are damaged in some way. Anyway, I wanted something reflective of me and my work, and my lovely web designer, Leah from Web-Threads, took care of everything (www.web-threads.com).

December, I must tell you that your two latest, The Black Dragon and Prince of Death, really reach out and grab the reader. As I started reading Prince of Death, it was as if I couldn’t take my eyes off the story. The names you choose for your characters are unique and the storyline seems to pull the reader into the story. In The Black Dragon, I could almost feel Isabelle’s emotions.

Why not tell the readers a little about each book?

Well, they’re two very different books, but I think they both touch on the themes I mentioned above. The Black Dragon is set in 13th-century Wales. Gruffydd (pronounced “Griffith”) ap Hywel, my hero, has made a blood oath never to marry or fall in love, but to devote his life to the causes of freedom and safety. His mother and sister were killed when he was a child, and he has some serious issues about that—he saw the whole thing happen and could do nothing. It taught him that love is pain, basically, and he’s determined to keep other people from feeling that loss. So now he spends his nights spying on his Prince’s enemies and keeping the area safe for the people of his lands. He doesn’t expect anything from life but pain and battle, and he’s convinced himself that’s the way he likes it.

But when Prince Llewelyn ab Iorwerth (later known as Llewelyn Fawr, “Llewelyn the Great”) forces him to marry Isabelle de Harvington, he wonders if he can keep his oath—and he has to battle against himself, to see if he can keep his promise or give in to what he feels for her.
I love Isabelle in this book, too—she’s smart and tough, but very vulnerable as well. I don’t write “kick ass” heroines who can win every fight, but I do try to write smart, feisty women who don’t allow themselves to be stepped on and are willing to sacrifice whatever they have to in order to do what’s right.

In Prince of Death, which is an erotic romance (very erotic!), my hero Cynwrig is damaged in a different way. My readers will remember Cynwrig is the brother of Lleandda, the heroine in my short story for Whiskey Creek Press-Torrid’s Spring Flings anthology. Basically, Cynwrig and his family live in an elven underworld. Cynwrig’s sister is the soul-mate, or enaidcha, of Iago the Springbringer. Because of this, Lleandda was sent to live in the human world as an infant. It was hard enough for her to adjust to coming back to her true home, but Cynwrig had to grow up in the shadow of his missing sister, who his people saw as their savior against the evil Winter Queen. Cynwrig has also been told he does not have an enaidcha, which means he will never have a soul-mate to share power with—in essence, he will never be as magically powerful as his parents hoped he would be. So he becomes a warrior, one so fearless his enemies call him the Prince of Death, because truthfully he doesn’t care if he lives or dies.

But when he finds Ayani Suntwister, an injured enemy woman, one night and brings her home…sparks fly, and he lets her seduce him, not expecting to feel such an intense sexual pull. He can’t trust her, but he can’t keep his hands off her, either. When he learns he might just have an enaidcha, after all, and it may be Ayani…he’s got some very difficult decisions to make.

Ayani is probably the closest I’ve ever come to a “kick-ass” heroine—she is a warrior, and a good one. But the book is more concerned with her vulnerabilities, and the way being with Cynwrig turns her world upside down, changing everything she thought was true.

I do have another January release, as well—Whiskey Creek Press-Torrid is doing a “Best of Torrid Teasers” compilation, and one of my stories from my first Teaser is included, which I’m very excited about. There have been almost forty Teaser stories, so being picked is a big honor.

Are there any other upcoming projects that you are working on?

A few things, yes. I love vampires, and I’m waiting to hear back on an erotic vampire romance set in South Florida that I wrote at the beginning of the year. I’m also working on another “erovamp” story, and an urban fantasy involving demons that I’m very excited about. I’m also planning another couple of medievals, one set just after the Battle of Bosworth Field and one back in medieval Wales again.

Also, my critique/writing partner and great friend, Anna J. Evans (www.laughoutloadsexy.com) and I wrote a book together earlier this year for Ellora’s Cave’s upcoming Tarot series, so we’ll be starting edits on that fairly soon.

Do you get along with your editors?

I certainly hope they like me! I do try to be as flexible and cooperative as possible. They have the best interests of my book at heart, so it only makes sense to listen when there are issues about the writing. There are some things we writers just don’t see, and they do.

What do you think about Internet publishing and E-Books?

I love the freedom and immediacy of ebooks. I think ebook publishers are a lot more adventurous than mainstream. Certainly, it seems the NY publishers are taking note of the popularity of erotic romance, for example, and learning that their readers are a lot more willing to read something daring and outside the box than they used to be, which is great. Plus, especially living in England where bookstores (along with every other store) close at 5:30 pm, I love that I can download a new book in a few minutes and start reading. No lines, no waiting.

Has there been a particular character that you hated releasing once your book was completed?

Oh, yes. It’s hard to let all of them go, but Gruffydd from The Black Dragon is hands-down my favorite romance hero ever. I just love him so much. And there was so much more to him that I didn’t get to explore in the book, simply because it wasn’t really relevant and there wasn’t room, so he still haunts me.
Most of my characters come back to say hello once in a while, but Gruffydd really made a place for himself and Isabelle in my head.

Do you ever suffer writer’s block?

Hmmm. I don’t know that I’ve ever suffered writer’s block per se, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have periods where it’s very difficult—like now, funnily enough. Ha. Ha. Ha.

No, I can always get at least some words down. My problem is about halfway through a project I become convinced it’s terrible, it’s dull, nobody would ever want to read this garbage, I’m an awful writer, etc. And the only thing to do for that is keep plowing through, because once the book is done either it all works just fine, or I can go back and rewrite without the pressure.

If you could go back in time, where would you go and when? What is one thing you would want to take with you?

Oh, wow. Picking one time is very, very difficult. As much as I’d love to say medieval Wales, because I so love it, my Welsh is simply nowhere near good enough. I can understand the road signs there (the Welsh language is still alive in Wales) and I know a few words, but I’m far from fluent. So being a Ricardian (I think Richard III was innocent and a good king, for those unfamiliar with the term or how fanatical we can be), I’d say I’d love to go back to the later medieval period, when everyone spoke English and one of my favorite kings was on the throne.

It would be awfully hard to take only one thing…probably antibiotics, really. But if there’s room I’d throw in some nice, soft toilet paper too.

While writing, how does the story develop for you? Do you go from start to finish or create scenes as they come to you?

I go from start to finish, basically. A story idea comes to me, or maybe a character. I think about it for a few days and let it build itself in my head—it’s easier when the characters come first. Then I make some notes, and wait some more. This can take a month or so. Once I start, I keep going, although if I’m stuck one evening on what happens next I go back and do some editing.
I do make notes for later scenes, though. Lots of times bits of dialogue come through to me, and I jot them down to keep for when I’m ready for them. My husband is always finding things like receipts on the kitchen counter with “If we were both available, it wouldn’t be as much fun” or something like that scribbled on the back! Poor man.

December, what would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I don’t know, how easily surprised are they?

I actually think I’m pretty much an open book. I blog fairly often—usually at least 3 or 4 times a week—and I’ll blog about anything except politics. (I hate when writers bring their political opinions into their blogs. I don’t have any. Whatever you think about today’s issues, so do I. I agree with you 100%.)

So I could say they’d be surprised by how impatient I am, or what a seething mass of insecurities and neuroses I am, but if they’ve read my blog, they know that already.

Maybe it would surprise them to know I’m actually a really good cook? And I like to cook, too.

Do you have a habit that you know you will never change?

I have some nervous habits. I fidget. I bite my cuticles. I mess with my hair and tap my fingers, that sort of thing.

Do you have any pet peeves that you would like to share?

I hate when people put trash in ashtrays. I think because I used to be a cocktail waitress and then I was a bartender for a while. People would take the garnish out of their drinks and put them in the ashtrays, then smoke and get ashes all over the fruit. Then they’d put shredded napkins or something in there and it would smolder. It was just disgusting and very hard to clean. I’m a light smoker, and I can’t abide anyone putting anything that isn’t ashes or cigarette butts in ashtrays. Even matches are a gray area for me!

Do you have anything else you would like to share with your readers?

Actually, I’d love them to share with me more! More blog comments, more members of my forum! Don’t be shy!

I’m also planning a contest for December and another one for January, so come by and enter!

For Fun: Hot showers or soothing bubble baths?

I like baths, but I’m usually too busy and impatient to actually take one. So it’s showers for me—but only warm, not hot. I have dry skin, and I’m very sensitive to heat, so unless I want to feel dizzy I need to keep it warm.

As I mentioned, I love your website. Do you have a website other than www.decemberquinn.com that you would like to share with your readers? Any loops or groups that you belong to?

Oh, boy. Now you’ve done it. Yes.
I have another blog that I’m planning to get connected to my website. The posts there are the same as the website blog, but I’ve found more people respond on Blogger and it’s easier to load pictures. That’s http://www.decemberquinn.blogspot.com

I’m a member of the Indulge Authors group, with some fantastic writers—Anna J. Evans, my beloved crit/writing partner; Sherrill Quinn; Jenna Howard; Kate Lang; Kelly Maher; and Marianne LaCroix. We have a website at http://www.indulgeauthors.com, and a Yahoo group, which is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indulge_authors/?yguid=254097907.
In addition to that, I have a MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/decemberquinn, and The Black Dragon has its own MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/theblackdragonbook. I wanted to set up a page for Prince of Death, too, but I need to set up another email address for that and I haven’t done it yet!

In January, I’ll be posting the Prologue for The Black Dragon on my website and the MySpace page—it’s not in the book itself, since I decided it wasn’t necessary, but hopefully readers will find it interesting anyway. A deleted scene!

Of course, I post on Triskelion Publishing’s readers loop, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TriskelionBooks/messages?o=1&yguid=254097907, Whiskey Creek Press-Torrid’s at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WCPtorridreaders/messages?o=1&yguid=189322909, and soon I’ll start posting over at Ellora’s Cave as well, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ellorascavechat/?yguid=189322909.

I’m also in the process of setting up a Google Group.

I read that you are looking forward to attending a Christmas Party at your hubby’s new job. I hope you have a great time.

Thank you! A whole night out without the children (we have two little girls, 5 and 2) is a pretty rare treat, so I’m sure we’ll have a great time!

Thank you so much for spending time with us, December. Anyone interested in reading more about December and her exceptional books, please visit her website to read more about her terrific works. It has been a pleasure December, and I wish you the best with your writing.

Thanks, Linda! It’s been a pleasure for me, too! And thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read this!

Interviewed by: Linda L