I recently read and reviewed Enchanted Again. Author Nancy Madore, has kindly taken time out of her busy schedule to grant me a blog interview!!
Bookworm:
Welcome Nancy, and thank you for taking the time to do a blog interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Nancy: Hi, Naida. Thank you for inviting me to onto your blog. I've been writing women's erotic romance for about six or seven years. My objective when I began was to write erotica that is "female friendly," meaning without female stereotypes, and particularly, to write it so that every woman can enjoy the stories and fantasies while imagining herself in the starring role. I'm not sure if you noticed it or not, but in Enchanted Again there aren't any physical descriptions of the female characters to distract women readers. Most people don't even realize that its missing until I mention it. I focus heavily on the erotic behaviors, not on what the female characters look like. Too, I try to write about their behaviors, even the destructive ones, without judgment. I'm trying to dissuade the thinking that erotica and romance are more believable for "perfect" women. I think every woman is lovable.
When I'm not writing, I'm selling women's shoes, so I'm pretty lucky, because I'm almost always doing something that I love.
Bookworm: Enchanted Again is your second book featuring erotic fairy tales. Where did you get the idea to write fairy tales with an erotic twist? Will you be writing a third book?
Nancy: Actually, Enchanted Again is my third book, and we're already in the editing stage of my fourth. I began with the first Enchanted, which is a collection of fairy tales re-written with an erotic twist. That book features stories like Goldilocks and the Three Barons, and Beauty and the Beast. I basically re-wrote the fairy tales with a sexual fantasy in each story. My research into women's fantasies inspired my second book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, where I re-wrote that classic fairy tale with each princess suffering from a secret sexual dysfunction. In Enchanted Again, the book you read, I wrote more modern day stories that were simply inspired by the classic nursery rhymes. I've always loved fairy tales, folk tales, nursery rhymes and fables, ever since I was a little girl. I was reading the fairy tale, East of the Wind and West of the Moon to a child when it occurred to me how "grown up" some of the themes in fairy tales were. Once I got the idea to re-write them it was amazingly easy. The most popular sexual fantasies seemed to fit perfectly with the most popular fairy tales. Coincidence?
Bookworm: Sorry for the mix up, I had no idea about 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'.
Bookworm: The covers of both Enchanted and Enchanted again are gorgeous. Who chooses your book covers?
Nancy: I wish I could take credit for those covers! Aren't they magnificent? Harlequin has a design team and they really try to capture the mood of the book through the cover. Wait until you see the one coming out in November. It is the most beautiful one yet!
Bookworm: Where does your inspiration come from?
Nancy: Mostly, it comes from research. I'll be researching one thing and stumble onto all kinds of other things. It happens all the time. I've always felt that truth is stranger than fiction, so I try to glean my "fantasy" stories from real life events. For example, my fourth book, Enchanted Dreams, features stories of the supernatural. There are vampires and aliens and even ghosts. There's so much of this kind of thing out there right now that I could have done just about anything, but I found that the most fascinating stories, to me anyway, were the true life ones, where women really believed they had undergone some kind of paranormal experience. Their stories had me captivated. I also got ideas from reading about the origins of some of the legends and folklore of the paranormal.
Bookworm: Which of your own books is your favorite?
Nancy:My favorite is Enchanted Dreams, because the stories are longer and have more character development. The fairy tales were fun, but in re-writing them, you're kind of stuck with the existing story line to a degree. With Enchanted Again and Enchanted Dreams I had a chance to really let my imagination wander and see where it would take me.
Bookworm:How long does it usually take you to write a book?
Nancy:It takes about a year, the better part of which is research. I do a lot of prep work too, as I have to plan out every detail before I begin writing. After all that, the words go down pretty quickly.
Bookworm:Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Nancy: Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King and Oscar Wilde are definitely in the top ten. I enjoy writers who stimulate the imagination. I've read everything I could put my hands on by Poe, even his essays. There's just something about the way he used words...it's truly humbling. I would give anything to be able to write like him!
Bookworm: What would you like to say to your readers?
Nancy: Thank you.
Bookworm: Last but not least, if you were stranded on a deserted island, and were allowed to bring three items with you, what would they be?
Nancy: My fiance, my books, and a still (as in for making alcohol).
Bookworm: Thank you again for stopping by my blog for an interview, best of luck!
Nancy: Thanks again for having me, and for reviewing my book.
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If you haven't read Enchanted Again, and are a fan of erotic fiction, I highly recommend it!
Visit Nancy's website here: Nancy Madore
