Interview--LILLI FEISTY

Biography:
Author Lilli Feisty was a make-up artist, perpetual student, secretary, and owned an art gallery before beginning her writing career. She claims to have worked only long enough to pay for her trips to Europe. Besides writing, she enjoys tattoos, reality television, and beaches. Other titles include: Taken, Sting of Desire, Dance of the Plain Jane, and I Love Lacy. She resides in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

Thanks for being here, Lilli. It’s a pleasure.

Thank you for having me, Kelly! I love your reviews and your blog!

#1- Tell us a little about yourself outside of your writing career…

Well, I have a four-year old son who I’m teaching the finer things in life, like how to appreciate The Beatles and rock music.  I’m also recently divorced, so I’m adjusting to life as a single person. It’s been an interesting experience, to say the least! Other than that I listen to music, cook, and try to spend as much time with my friends as possible.

#2- Criticism amongst the erotic romance genre steeple such comments as it’s porn in book form and not real writing. What is your response to this?

I suppose it depends on your opinion of porn. Ahem. Having seen my fair share of porn (research, you know), I think there is a huge difference. Porn, per se, doesn’t generally have a strong emotional story-line. There isn’t really any romance between the pizza delivery boy and the gal who just happens to be wearing a school-girl costume. I know, for me, no romance novel is going to be satisfying is there is no emotional romance between the characters. In a porn, you don’t care what the hero’s flaws are. Except, perhaps, if he is a bit lacking in certain areas, if you know what I mean. In a romance, you get to know the characters strengths and weaknesses. The little things count. The sex is a product of the character’s relationship. That’s why every erotic romance has different sexual elements. In Bound to Please, Ruby and Mark get really into the power exchange aspect of sex. In my next book, Dare to Surrender, it was more about my heroine, Joy, letting go enough to allow my hero, Ash Hunter, to bind her during sex. And in doing so, she found a beauty in her femininity she hadn’t been aware of.

#3- As you know, I reviewed your title BOUND TO PLEASE for Bookpleasures and loved it. But how do you handle the negative reviews and critiques you receive?

What? What negative reviews?  But seriously, I try never to read reviews unless someone sends them to me, and people don’t tend to forward my bad reviews. My first bad review was devastating, but, as a writer, you need to just move forward and keep writing. Especially in this genre, that has a smaller audience, you have to know your stories just aren’t going to appeal to everyone. This is a pretty tough business on many levels, and reviews are just another aspect of that.

#4- Erotic romance writers are also faced with writing a back story of strong romance while not getting repetitive with love scenes. How do you feel you were able to succeed in doing this with your books?

Well, hopefully I did.  To me, the romance has to come first. And if you look at any relationship, weather it be fiction or real life, things change and flow as time moves on. How in real life do you keep things fresh? I know I don’t like the missionary position every single time! And, through the book’s journey, the tension builds as the story progresses. So the sex tends to become more risky, more vulnerable, because there is more tension. The characters are fighting their emotions, or each other, for whatever reasons, and that pressure can really liven sex scenes. I also think having some sort of theme in the book helps. In Bound to Please, there was long-distance aspect that kept things interesting. In Dare to Surrender, my hero is a bondage artist and my heroine is uncomfortable with her curvy figure. So you have some risks involved in becoming vulnerable. Sex can be the epitome of vulnerability, especially when you add some kinky elements. It’s the act of giving up inhibitions that create vulnerability, and that in itself takes time to nurture. It rarely happens during the first occurrence of sex. That’s why when Ruby really let’s herself go the first night she spends with Mark, she basically freaks out afterward. Each sexual encounter opens up a person emotionally, and there’s no guarantee of the outcome in the short-term or long-run. This happens in real life, too. So it’s fun to up the stakes, and make each scenario a little hotter, a little more risky, than the last one.


#5- You owned an art gallery and worked as a make-up artist before your writing career. Can you tell us a bit about that and if it inspired any books?

Well, Joy works for an art gallery and Ash Hunter is a photographer she wants to exhibit. So I definitely took some experience from that when I wrote Dare to Surrender. I’ve always loved art, and generally it’s a taboo kind of occupation for a hero, so I was glad my publisher let me write it. Well, Ash is also an ex-Navy SEAL... ;) As for being a make-up artist, that hasn’t inspired me as of yet. But who knows? I have a lot of books left to write! And I can imagine having some fun with make-up brushes...

#6- Are there any upcoming releases we would like to know about, and could you give us your web site so readers can check it out?

I just released a futuristic paranormal called Sting of Desire for Samhain. That book is hot! I also have the follow-up book to Bound to Please, Dare to Surrender, coming out in February. You can find all the latest information at www.lillifeisty.com

#7- This about concludes it. Thank you again for joining us. Is there anything else you would like to share?

Thank you for having me! And thanks for reviewing my book, I really appreciate it. Happy reading!

XXOO
Lilli