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Putting the Heat On: interview with erotica
author Leda Swann
by Keziah Hill
The popularity of erotic romance has seen a proliferation of
erotic romance epublishers. Now the major print publishers are
opening erotic romance lines such Avon Red and Kensington’s
Aphrodisia.
Keziah Hill spoke to
Leda Swann
(writing duo Cathy and Brent), one of the Avon Red debut
authors. Parlor Games is a collection of three novellas by Jess
Michaels, Leda Swann and Julia Templeton.
Keziah: Cathy, you wrote a range of historical novels under
the name Kate Silver and contemporaries as Kate Adair. What made
you change to erotic romance?
Cathy: I started off writing contemporary novels and had some
success in contests - I was a finalist in the Golden Heart in
1998 with a short contemporary category. I could never quite
manage to make my voice fit in a category line, though. In the
meantime, I had also started writing historicals, and made my
first sale to Kensington with an historical. After that, I
pretty much focused on the historicals. I looooove reading
history books, so writing historical novels suits me very well.
I first got into erotic romance just to see if I could do it.
Probably like a lot of romance novelists, I found my very first
love scene excruciatingly painful to write, so it was almost a
form of self-torture to see if I could write a no-holds barred
super sexy historical erotica. That first novel was School For
Virgins, which Ellora's Cave published, and it was also the
novel that had Avon knocking on our door wanting to publish us.
?
Leda Swann is actually a writing duo. Has that always been
the case? What are the advantages and disadvantages in writing
as a duo? Do you get on each others’ nerves? Who does what?
Cathy: Leda Swann has not always officially been a writing duo -
it sort of grew that way by accident. When I was writing my
historicals, I would ask Brent to help me when I got stuck on a
knotty problem and he would help me through it. And then he
offered to write a love scene in the first erotic romance I
started writing. It all snowballed from there. Much as my
over-sized writer's ego hates to admit it, he adds a tremendous
amount to the partnership, and our Leda Swann novels are far
better because of his input. He does good action and
description, and I add the emotional depth.
We never set out to write together (he usually writes dive and
travel articles) but it grew that way because it just worked.
No, we don't get on each other's nerves. Or at least he never
gets on my nerves - he is far too sweet-natured and nice. I
probably get on his once in a while <winks>. I still write the
bulk of the novels, but he does a number of critical scenes -
and is great at love scenes.
Brent: We certainly don’t get on each other’s nerves; at least
Cathy doesn’t get on mine. Our writing is a reflection of our
relationship in that we are very compatible - our differences
dovetail rather than clash.
Your erotic writing is thankfully free from a lot of purple
prose and is quite direct. For this reader that’s a blessed
relief. Do you think that has something to do with one of you
being a man? Or am I being unforgivably stereotypical?
Cathy: Purple prose doesn't really do it for either of us. No
purple pulsating pillars of passion for us!
Brent: Our style is to be direct. I don’t believe it is simply
my male influence, although I believe my perspective adds
balance to the sex we write. We write the romance into the
characters, allowing us to make the sex gritty and visceral. I
don’t like to read books where the sex is written in an indirect
prose, as if trying to hide what’s going on behind flowery
words, and I hope our readers don’t either.
You are an Ellora’s Cave author as well as one of the debut
authors for Avon Red. What do you think the future is for
e-publishing?
Cathy: E-publishing seems to be pretty exciting at the moment.
Parlor Games was released as an e-book at the same time the
print version came out, and more and more big names are being
released in e-book format. Not to mention the success of
e-publishers like Ellora's Cave - which is doing fabulously
well. Personally, I love e-books as I can read them on my PDA on
the train to work (about an hour each way), so I’m very excited
that I can read my favorite authors in e-book format.
Brent: I also think there is a great future for e-books, and
love the idea of carrying around a small half kilogram device
with 50 books on it. Having said that I also like browsing our
library for something to read and sitting up in bed with an
actual book, so I don’t expect a complete move away from
physical books anytime soon. In any case, as an author it’s a
tangible thrill to actually hold one of our books for the first
time.
Is it a different experience working with print and
e-publishers? In what ways?
Cathy: A good publisher is a good publisher, whether they are
e-book or print publishers. I just love working both with my EC
editor and my Avon editor. Each of them makes me feel loved and
wanted, and both houses are equally professional. The very best
thing about EC is that we get a cheque from them regularly every
month! I really love that.
Why do you think erotic romance has taken off in such a big
way over the last few years?
Cathy: I really don't know how to explain why erotic romance has
taken off recently. Maybe because sex is becoming acceptable.
Mainstream, even. Maybe it's just one of those cycles that see
different fashions come and go.
Brent: We’re hoping the trend for erotic romance continues for a
bit, if for the only reason that they are so much fun to write.
Do you have any plans to write non-erotic romance (make that
less erotic)?
Cathy: Non-erotic romance? Sure, we'll write more of those one
day. But at the moment I'm having waaay too much fun writing
super kinky love scenes and hot, hot, hot romance to want to
change.
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