AD: Welcome to "Boundless as the Sea"! How long have you been writing? Writing romance?
CR: I'm glad to be here. I've been writing since I could print! When I was little my mother would take in typing to do at home for extra money. Sometimes she'd let me borrow her typewriter, and even though I didn't know how to type I'd hunt and peck out my stories, mostly about animals. I was the geek in high school school who carried around a notebook filled with hand-written stories. I'd never show them to anyone, but I'd sit in class and write when I got bored, which was pretty often. :)
I've been writing romance for about 12 years, but only got serious about it the past two.
AD: What first inspired you to write your Seduced by a Demon series?
CR: The Last Soul grew out of a challenge thread on Litopia, put there by my editor Emma Shortt. Emma is also a moderator on Litopia. TLS started out as a 1,000 word erotic horror. Emma liked it, and wanted me to expand it for possible publication with a different publisher. In the meantime, I accepted an offer to publish my sexy romantic suspense, Haunted Heart, with this same publisher, but under a different editor. I still wanted to work with Emma, so I approached her about turning TLS into a romance so I could submit it to Evernight. She loved the idea, and The Last Soul was born.
While writing TLS, Jahi's character popped off the page and I knew she had to have her own book. Her story is Hunted. And of course while writing Hunted, I knew from Teresa's first line she would have her own story as well, and that became Playing For Keeps.
AD: How long did it take you from the first draft of the first book until the last one was completed?
CR: I started work on TLS in February of 2011 and submitted Playing For Keeps in August. WHEW!
AD: Which of the three stories was the easiest for you to write? The most difficult?
CR: The Last Soul was the easiest. I'd never written anything so raw and sexy, and I just let loose and enjoyed writing Faina. I had fun with her, and the story just flowed. Playing For Keeps was a close second, although I was bogged down at first in trying too hard to wrap up the threads for all three books. Hunted was the story I struggled with, but I think it turned out all right in the end. :)
AD: Did any of your heroes or heroines give you particular trouble? Of what kind was it?
CR: Jahi gave me a lot of trouble. I had to dig deep to find her motivation.
AD: Which is your favorite of the three stories? Why?
CR: I love Playing For Keeps. And the only reason I love it so much is because Emma helped me make it shine. I think it's the best of the three.
AD: Which of the three couples is your favorite? Do you have a favorite individual hero/heroine? Is this favorite character part of your favorite couple?
CR: It's a toss up between Jace and Faina, and Damien and Teresa. Both couples were written so that their love story grew over time, and out of shared likes and experiences. My favorite heroine is Teresa. She's fun and flirty, but when she needed to put on her big girl panties and own up to the bad things she did, she didn't disappoint.
AD: Did you have all three stories in mind when you began?
CR: Not at all! Hunted grew out of Jahi's character, who was written as Faina's friend in TLS. And Playing For Keeps grew out of Hunted, where Teresa is the demon who betrays Jahi.
AD: Do you have any plans to return to your Seduced by a Demon world for a longer visit? Will we see a novel set there? If not, how can we convince you that you need to do this? Is ice-cream a sufficient bribe?
CR: LOL! Chocolate maybe...I have no immediate plans to return to that world, but since I love writing paranormal more than any other sub-genre, I certainly hope my readers will stick with me if I write a few more of them.
AD: What projects are you currently working on?
CR: I'm working on a naughty fairy tale for one of Evernight's new lines, a story about a man losing his virginity for their current anthology call, and I'm still trying to finish up my full length romantic fantasy, which takes place in an alternate universe. This manuscript has been with me for nineteen years. I'm not kidding.
AD: What is your usual "writing routine"? Please describe a typical writing session for us.
CR: Whenever, wherever. I work a full time job outside the home and writing during the day is out of the question. I try to sneak some in during the mornings, but most of it is done in the evenings after work and on weekends. I usually have my iPod going for background noise, and to block out the dogs next door who bark 24/7, and who unfortunately are in outdoor pens right outside my writing room windows.
AD: What is the most surprising thing about you?
CR: I'm just a normal wife and mom. Honest. :)
AD: I hear you there! Thanks for dropping by, Carolyn!
In addition to her website and publishing presence, you can find Carolyn on Facebook and Twitter.
