Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Marie A. Roy. Thanks for being here today Marie!

What’s one thing you would like your readers to know about you?

I want readers to know I truly love writing romance stories. I’ve been working at the craft of writing for a number of years. My first published short story titled Purple Dream I expanded into a full length novel and titled it Man In My Dream. I started uploading chapters of that story on to a new website I created specifically for members in my Erotic Romance Workshop at Yahoo. Here we discuss more about the writing process as it relates specifically to writing erotic romances. It’s a kind of hands on experience.

I do work hard at creating my stories and I try to make them not only compelling but revolve around three-dimensional characters that become so real inside a reader’s mind they become almost unforgettable.

Can you tell us about your current release No More Secrets, No More Lies?

No More Secrets, No More Lies is a contemporary romance that centers on the theme of reunited love as well incorporating within the plot the “secret” baby plot. I’ve received excellent reviews on this book and the links can be found at my website.

I think again because I do try to create characters that as one reviewer puts it “ring true” consequently they do come alive on the page. My heroine Sydney Morgan, a single mom with a corporate career does the best she can for herself and her physically challenged son. But she is not perfect and she does make mistakes. And my hero, Grant Sinclair, corporate CEO of his company who represents a man in charge of his destiny realizes he has also made mistakes and is not about to let Sydney out of his life so easily this time. Communication is the key here throughout this story, and with no easy resolution. As one reviewer stated, the unpredictable ending made it a must read!

Is there any one book out there that you read that you could say I want to write like that some day? Or, did you just know that someday you wanted to write books.

I’ve always wrote stories since the first grade when I wrote my first poem, then went on to write stories about horses and dogs. Then back in the 80’s when I began to read the Silhouette’s and the Harlequins romances I found myself daydreaming up plots of my own. Eventually I tried my hand at writing these romances and realized that I needed to start at ground zero. I joined RWA and attended local chapter meetings, and conferences. Writing a romance requires a type of writing that produces a tightly woven plot. This I think helps me create better plots especially now that I am into mystery and tales of erotica.

If you could meet one of your characters, who would it be?

Heck, I wouldn’t mind meeting someone like Jonathan Wetherall III, my hero in Hot Sex with a Stranger with Forbidden Publications. Now there’s a man who is intelligent, well-to-do, and willing to learn ‘new’ things. Then there’s my hero in A Soldier’s Fortune with Treble Heart Books, Sean McIntyre a Vietnam veteran and someone closer to my age group. Despite past demons he creates a successful life for himself. And of course I wouldn’t mind clicking on to Grant Sinclair’s profile if he were on one of those online dating sites—a strong and powerful man who pretty much masters his own destiny.

What is the one thing you've always wanted to do but never had the courage / opportunity to try?

So far that would be riding in a Hot Air Balloon and I probably haven’t done it for both reasons, not yet enough courage and haven’t had the opportunity. But I think with each passing birthday, I’m going to finally say, Let’s Do It!” There is a hot air balloon scene in Hot Sex With A Stranger at Forbidden Publication. While doing some telephone research I talked to an owner of a Hot Air Balloon company and he told me this is the “second best thing anyone can do.” As a writer of erotica I did not need to ask him the first.

What would you like to accomplish with your writing career?

I would certainly like to see my career continue on a steady path. For a while the work stopped while I concentrated on working through a grieving process and had to begin a new life after the sudden and untimely passing of my husband.

I’m hoping that readers will start to recognize my work either in contemporary romance, romantic mystery suspense, and erotic romance. Besides two contemporary (No More Secrets, No More Lies and A Soldier’s Fortune) I’ve written two erotic romances that are with Forbidden Publications (Hot Sex with A Stranger) and Silks Vault (Games People Play.) I’m half way through the sequel for Games People Play, and will be starting the sequel for Hot Sex. Also, I continue to work on my Canterville Books, which I hope will result in an ongoing endeavor. The first book contracted with Loose-ID is scheduled for release early 2007 or sometime after April.

In your opinion, what are the three most essential ingredients of an excellent novel?

Well developed three dimensional characters. Without characters that readers care about, the story can fall flat.

A plot that meets a reader’s expectation and is filled with enough twists and turns and surprises that keeps them turning each and every page.

Vivid images so that readers get a strong sense of truly becoming immerse into the story. They can be images that are quite sensual, or images that might cause a myriad of emotions to surface. It’s that kinesthetic sense of experiencing each scene through a character’s mental or visual process which I think is key to producing unforgettable stories.

Can you tell us about your upcoming release Canterville I: The Dead Speak?

Canterville I: The Dead Speak started out as one story that takes place in a quiet small New England town. Suddenly as I finished book one and got into writing book two and then three, what I had essentially had was a community of characters, some who would get their own story to tell. So I’m seeing this as an ongoing project. The first story is about a serial killer who enters the town and pretty much wreaks havoc within the community when the dead bodies of women begin to show up around Lake Crandall.

Where did you get the idea for the Canterville series?

Since the first airing of CSI, I developed a strong interest in forensic science. I took courses at a local community college. I read books on the subject of how a crime scene is processed. I wrote a term paper on the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Received an A plus for that project from an instructor (a former Treasury Agent) who said it was the first A plus he has ever given out in his course.

All that learning helped me incorporate what I needed to know in this project. While writing the story I wanted readers to become as immersed into the plot as I was in writing it. I want them to experience through the minds of my characters what can take place while solving these murders. There were times when the story called for certain scenes to be written that were not easily written because of the content. For instance performing an autopsy, or going behind certain doors in a funeral home marked Hazardous and forbids outsiders to enter. And then killing off a character(s), which believe it or not when you become close to your characters, you feel as if you need to grieve the act after it has been committed, I mean written.

Again, the whole thing was a process within a process, and as I developed the first story knew that with the words “The End” the ending was not at hand because secondary characters that I had created needed to tell their own story in subsequent books.

Do you know how you want the series to play out or is it open ended?

At this point, it needs to be open ended because as I continue to get know my characters, and add new characters my mind keeps turning out new plots, new scenarios, and frankly a variety of ways that murders are committed. And what better way to tell these tales than to simply produce more Canterville Books?

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes, although I’m not a web person by any means I did recently put up a website that I try to make interactive.
Interactive Website

This website is in addition to my workshop – Erotic Romance Workshop at Yahoo Groups. At the website members can read chapters of a book I wrote and give feedback either through the Guestbook page (comments) or post them at the Yahoo Group itself.
Erotic Romance Workshop

I think this is a great way for members to get involved in the creative process and see exactly what is needed to produce a piece of erotic fiction that is marketable. Because as we all know “marketability” is one important component to becoming a ‘successful’ published writer. And I think I can say for most of us, we all continue to work on that ‘component.’

Thanks so much for having me here!

To learn more about me and my books –

My Website

Thank you for taking time to speak with me today Marie.

Interviewed by: Tammy