Chinese Menu Interview with Christina Thacher
Kate Hill is awesome. She grooms guest bloggers like we’re show ponies—that’s a compliment, believe me. She makes us look sleek and handsome, rather than the shaggy, unkempt natural state of a writer. I think I can feel the satin ribbon in my mane, uh, my hair.
Kate sends out—I counted—47 potential interview questions, split into three categories: My Writing, My Books, My Self. If I answered all 47 questions, a few things would happen. First, I’d be a dried out husk, incapable of telling anything to anyone for several days, maybe even weeks, while I recovered and built up new experiences to share. Second, I’d have killed you all of boredom (arguably a felony on my part). And third, Kate’s other guest bloggers would roll their eyes in disgust. “You were supposed to PICK from the questions,” they’d cry over my prone husk. “Not answer them ALL.”
I deduce, therefore, that it’s a Chinese Menu of sorts. I’m to pick two from Column A, two from Column B and one from Column C.
Here goes.
Column A. Oh, wow, this is hard. This is clearly the “good” Chinese restaurant, the one where you want to eat everything on the menu. Hmm. As a BDSM author, I ought to answer, “Who’s more in control, you or your characters?” I guess I am, although knowing what’s in the Doms’ collections of impact and bondage gear, I begin to worry. Oh, or how about this one? “Is it easy to write the sex scenes or do you have to be ‘in the mood’?” My answer to that would be boringly short—it’s easy—but the question itself is so sexy!
Here’s one that’s timely: “Do you find it harder to write novels or short stories?” Before I can answer that, I need to answer this one first: “What do you like best about writing erotic romance?”
Sex. That’s the best part about writing erotic romance. Other romance stories have sex, but the label “erotic” means the characters’ relationship—their expectations, feelings, thoughts, conflicts, and attitudes with each other—will be played out as much in sex scenes as any other interactions. Sex can be really basic “Tab A in Slot B” stuff, but I write about BDSM, which I find psychologically fascinating. Even if one person has her own selfish desires, BDSM requires a meeting of the minds…and someone with the power to compel that. (And sometimes it’s the sub with that power to compel!)
I find the novella format—between 30,000 and 45,000 words—is just the right length for two people to meet, explore their feelings through a series of smoking hot sex scenes that evolve from attraction to frustration to connection to misunderstanding to the Black Moment and then finally the Happy Ending.
The question is timely because my publisher has asked me if I might like to write in a longer format, maybe short novel lengths (50,000-75,000 words). This, for some reason, has me trembling in fear (hmm, maybe my Dom characters are more in control than I realized—?) because what would I add to make my streamlined novellas still vibrant even at the longer length? Basically, I’d have to add some other genre elements—suspense, perhaps, or urban fantasy, or something. And then the focus of the story isn’t squarely on the sex. I like the focus being on the BDSM sex, I really do.
So I have to say novels are harder to write. Next question!
Column B. I have a clear favorite here; the Moo Shu Pork, if you will, of questions about my books. It’s this one: “If the main characters in your latest release were invited to a masquerade party, what costumes would they wear?” And to answer that, I need to pick the “pancakes & Hoisin sauce” question as well: “What’s your latest release about?”
The Negotiation starts in a completely fictitious BDSM club in Washington, D.C., when new member Isabelle Peters picks Sebastian D’Alessandro, a notorious Dom. In fact, he’s called the “Asshole Dom” because while he’s technically brilliant at Bondage and Discipline, he’s cold and unfeeling toward the regular subs. Isabelle doesn’t care. She prides herself on being an excellent sub. Sebastian can’t possibly find fault with her. And he’s the one she wants.
Pride in a sub? That doesn’t sound right. And Isabelle is a fiery-hot redhead, to boot. She meets Sebastian’s stare straight on and doesn’t look down. But when they’ve negotiated a deal, she kneels before him in a graceful show of submission. Afterwards, Sebastian leaves aroused and frustrated.
“When he got to his house—a simple brick townhouse less than a mile from The Club—he fixed himself a drink and went to sit in the walled garden. His cock ached, still hard despite the walk home. It was that image of Isabelle on her knees that did it. He recognized it as a coup de théâtre, a dramatic effect that might have nothing to do with a real willingness to submit. Nonetheless, he’d had to restrain a powerful urge to make her suck him off on the spot.”
So their costumes for the masquerade party? Isabelle would dress as Scheherazade, the skillful storyteller who manages to keep herself alive through intellect and creativity. Sebastian would dress as a Barbary Pirate—bold, lawless and impossible to catch. (I totally want to go to this party…)
Column C. “Name three fictional characters (not your own) that you find hot. They can be from books, movies, or TV.”
I love omniscient characters. Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch, come on down!), Dr. Gregory House (truly an asshole, but still, that brain!), and Tony Stark, the motormouth inside the Iron Man suits. Men who can outthink me. Men who withhold their hearts because the brain is so much more important to them. And then…they fall in love. (And no, I don’t mean Pepper Potts. Perish the thought!) They turn to mush. I love that dynamic: the strong, powerful, brilliant man laid low by love.
Mind you, would I really want to be in a relationship with a man precisely like this? No. I like them as fictional characters. But the fantasy of being the woman capable of making a brainiac’s heart take precedence as the organ needing attention—? Oh, yeah, that does it for me every time.
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