Please be advised that this is an ADULT post
What prompted you to write your books?
AR: Well, in the second half of 2014 I found a thread on a
writing forum that I frequent. One that posed a challenge. The original poster
said that short erotica was totally in and we should write and publish one in 7
days. As well as that we shouldn’t advertise the short in any way. This
intrigued me.
The challenge was a way for us to find out if we could
not only write erotica but if it would sell—on its own. I decided to do it and
immediately failed. It took me way longer than 7 days to even write the first
draft. Biker Babe took me two months to complete. What was even more
embarrassing was when I looked over my time tracking, I found it only took me 7
actual hours to write the first draft. But I didn’t give up. I knew I was an
inconsistent writer but I could get the work done. So I wrote Grim Reaper
next. This time I did it in 8 days (7.5 hours for the first draft)! Even better
than that was releasing two books in one series in the same month!
In November of 2014 I decided to finish what would
become One Skid Mark. My tracking is a bit weird for this book but it
looks like I started it at the end of June 2014 and finished around
mid-November and it took only about 6 hours in total to write. This is weird, I
really thought I started it after the first two Lady Godiva books.
Anyway, that meant I had three books out on the April Ryder name. I hadn’t met
the time requirement for the challenge but I found I quite liked writing
serials.
Then real life took over for an insanely long time. It
wasn’t until the end of 2015 that I was able to get back into the swing of
things. Since I started the challenge back in 2014, I have completed four
episodes of the Skid Marks series and novelised those parts into SkidMarks and the Selby Slammers and also written a Christmas-themed Skid
Marks short story. There are also three Lady Godiva books available,
which have been novelised as Lady Godiva 1. I’m currently working on a
fourth book in the Lady Godiva series as well as another Skid Marks
Christmas short.
I also didn’t think I was writing erotica. It seems no
matter what genre I write I always somehow stray into romance. In my eyes the
books are steamy romance. So it wasn’t until someone in a review said that they
didn’t read erotic romance but my books changed their minds that I realised I
had managed to include some erotica. So yeah, apparently I write erotic romance
:)
You said earlier that you had three books out ‘under the
April Ryder name’ what does that mean?
AR: April isn’t my real name. Part of the challenge was to
put everything out under a new name so we could see unpolluted sales results.
Ryder was easy to come up with. My first book was a motorcycle romance. Rider /
Ryder / Ride her. I have no idea how I came up with April, but the name April
Ryder didn’t seem to be in use on Amazon so I took it. Having a unique name is
important as an author. It helps you build your brand and means you won’t get
confused with the April Ryder who writes children’s books. Don’t worry there isn’t,
I checked. That’d just be weird o.O
What other pen names do you have?
AR: Just one other at the moment. I write science fiction
romances under Erica Conroy. A reviewer said they’re like Star Trek and Firefly
got together and had a horny baby. They aren’t that steamy though. The story is
more focused on the sci fi and romance aspects with perhaps one sex scene. But
otherwise I was totally aiming for Star Trek and Firefly—just
without the horniness!
What’s with the BBW?
AR: Big Beautiful Women. Since I am one and they say to
write what you know, I decided to go with it. I keep it vague as to how big
they are so that any woman who might consider themselves a little curvier than
average can relate.
Isn’t writing sex scenes hard? Aren’t you afraid of what
people will think?
AR: Yes and no. I think writing sex is just as hard /
difficult as writing a fight scene. I don’t write many fight scenes so take
from that what you will. If it’s part of the story and is meant to be there to
move the plot along, show more about a character or develop a relationship then
you just have to write it.
As for the second part of that question, I’m not afraid
of what people think about my sex scenes. It’s one reason to write under a pen
name. For some people it gives them confidence because you don’t have to tell
your friends and family that you write about young women who spontaneously have
sex in bathrooms or 40 yo women who leave their husbands and get rather intimate
with two younger men :P
How do you come up with your sex scenes? Isn’t it all
just slot A goes in the hole B?
AR: Well holes are involved!
Seriously though, I spend a lot of time sitting in the
shower and just thinking. Usually a snippet of a scene will appear out of
nowhere, for example Hayley and Rick fornicating on the basins in the men’s
changing room. I knew I wanted Rick to be completely naked when she walked in
and I wanted to use the basins in some way. Then I think about what Hayley is
wearing and how that can be ripped off or pushed aside. The skates were great
touch here! Many sex scenes that I’ve read mention the woman digging her heels
into his backside, so why not use the skates she’s still wearing?
I think about the scene in bits and pieces and have a
rough idea of what order they’ll happen in, but I won’t know for certain until
it gets written down.
Reactions and thoughts aren’t fully formed until it’s
time to write and the character herself dictates those. I want to get the
logistics as realistic as I can and then add in the character’s personality to
add to it.
In saying all of that though, Hayley and Jake’s sex
scene in the Irish pub bathroom was a surprise. One moment I’m writing about
them being seated for dinner at the pub, the next they’re running upstairs for
some intimate alone time in the pub’s bathroom! Luckily I had an unwritten sex
scene I had fleshed out enough that I could use here.
Basically I think up fantasies and if the fantasy works
for me then I hope others might find it hot :)
A question on word choice: why do you call genitals by
their real names and not use a euphemism?
AR: Because a lot of euphemisms for body parts really annoy
me and pull me out of the story I’m reading. “He put his sex in her sex” is
pretty boring. Or they go into flowery prose and he plants his seed in her lady
garden. Makes me want to throw the book across the room—but I can’t because I
read ebooks and don’t want to break another Kindle >.<
Why are your books so short?
AR: Remember that challenge I mentioned earlier? It’s in
part due to that and because I’ve never completed a novel. The stories
themselves just seem to come out in bite-sized chunks.
Those chunks are getting longer with each story I write.
I’ve gone from 9,000 words for my first April Ryder book to 16,000 words.
At the moment writing short is easier and it means I finish writing them. Each chunk though
is going to be novelised like Skid Marks and the Selby Slammers has
been. That’s one way to finish a novel. I am, however, working my way up to a
longer story.
I’m also not a very descriptive writer—unless you count
Hayley’s inner thoughts on pancakes—and prefer to let the reader fill in the
blanks. It’s why hair and eye colour aren’t mentioned often or at all in my
books. That way it’s easier for the reader to insert themselves into the main
character’s sensibly-heeled shoes or roller skates. Or they can imagine their
Jake / Rick / Reaper to look like whatever they think a Jake / Rick / Reaper
should look like :)
That and I’m lazy :P
Seriously though, as a reader I don’t like reading so
much description that it either distracts from the story or I’m forced to skim
or skip it. So I write the way I do because it’s what I’d like to read.
Do you hire an editor to edit your work?
AR: Yeah. For awhile there I didn’t as it was part of the
above-mentioned challenge but when reviews call you out for mistakes and stuff
you have to listen and get your shit sorted. I got my shit sorted and now use
the same editor for both series. She’s great and I like it when she leaves a
comment in track changes that is just: LOL. Not only does she fix my mistakes
but she’ll question things if something is confusing or unclear.
For
Lady Godiva she Americanizes the story for me as the series is set in an
unspecified location in America—well it’s implied that it is. But for Skid
Marks she leaves the New Zealand English as is because it’s set in a
fictional suburb of New Zealand’s largest city. She seems to enjoy looking up
New Zealand words that she doesn’t know. I think I make her a little envious of
some things we have though, like Hayley’s income, Planned Parenthood or even
Hobbits!
******************************
Skid Marks and the Selby Slammers: BBW Roller Derby Romance
by April Ryder
Release date: 27 March 2016
Blurb:
A Fun BBW Roller Derby Romance
After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend for a blonde stick insect and a job in Wellington, Hayley is tricked into trying out for the local roller derby team—the Selby Slammers. At the tryouts, hilarity ensues when she leaves her mark on not only the rink, but some of the hunky men from the inline hockey team who practice on the next rink over.Meanwhile, Hayley attempts to pick up what's left of her (love) life but is thwarted at every turn by three men: 1) the surprise return of her ex, 2) Jake, the hunky hockey player, and 3) continually running into Rick the 'Dick' who may or may not have a crazy underwear fetish!
All three seem to be conspiring against her, taking turns causing unexpected problems in her new and very hectic (love) life.
“Adam, I'm gonna kill you. Right after I've finished eating these
pancakes—ooh maple-flavoured syrup and berry compote. But after that
I'll kill you! And then, I'll find a time machine and kick my own butt,
cause damn, am I stupid or what? Nobody answer that!”
— Hayley
— Hayley
Note: This story is set in New Zealand and is therefore written in New Zealand English.
Skid Marks and the Selby Slammers is the full length novelised version of the first four installments in the Skid Marks serial.
Skid Marks and the Selby Slammers is the full length novelised version of the first four installments in the Skid Marks serial.
Excerpt:
I
opened the door, grabbed my towel and was in the process of wrapping it around
me when I realised I wasn’t alone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Jake who stood
guiltily by my clothes with my panties clenched tightly in hand.
“You’re
not Jake.”
“No,”
he said. The guilty look on his face disappeared, quickly replaced with the
angry one I was used to. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
We
glared at each other. He was better at it though, seeing as he was clothed and
seemed to have more practice.
“Wh-what
are you doing?” I asked, hoping for some sane, logical response as to why the
man who liked to yell at me had my panties. “This is the women’s
changing room.”
“I
know.”
I
blinked. After the swear-filled tirade he had given me earlier, that’s all he
had to say? I snapped. I know, completely out of character for me, but he
deserved it.
I
marched up to him, placed my fisted hands on my hips and got all up in his
face, just like he had with me in the rink. “That giant tent in your hand?
That’s mine.”
I
couldn’t believe what he did next. He dropped them. On the floor. Right in a
puddle of water.
“Oh
my god,” I breathed as we both stared at my sodden plus-sized panties.
“Sorry,”
he said and bent to retrieve them.
“Well,
so you should be,” I admonished.
When
he didn’t get back up, I knew something was wrong. I looked down at the top of
his head and frowned. This had gone beyond the Outer Limits.
“What’s
wrong?” I asked.
“You
should put a towel on,” he murmured, speaking to the ground and not up at me.
“A
towel?” I asked, confused. That’s when I remembered I was naked under my
towel—except my towel was missing. I slapped one hand over my still tingling
lady bits and an arm across my breasts, smacking him in the side of the head in
the process.
He
grunted and tilted slightly before righting himself while still crouched on the
floor.
For
a man who just had his hands on my panties, he sure was going to great extremes
to avert his eyes. Why would a man do that? Why would he only be interested in
panties and not the woman who wore them?
“God
you don’t wear them, do you?” I asked without thinking.
“No!”
That
answer was too quick.
“I
was just—never mind.”
On
the one hand, I was curious about what he actually wanted them for but on the
other, I was still naked and he wasn't. Not that I wanted him to join me in
being naked!
“Oh
god,” I groaned again.
I
spied my towel on the floor behind me and retrieved it. I made sure it was
wrapped around me extra tight before I made him leave.
He
of course, tried to apologise again before shutting the door. “I’m sorry. It’s
not what you—“
“Just
get out. We’re even okay. We’re so totally even that you might owe me!” I
froze, suddenly aware that I had possibly suggested that I wanted to see the
other half of him—the half I hadn’t yet seen—naked. “Get out!”
Links:
Great interview. Happy Easter---Rae
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Rae!
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