Z is for Zoology

We’ve now reached the final day of the A-Z Blog Hop! It’s been a great month, and I’m finishing off with a topic that fascinates me – cryptozoology.

Yes, that’s technically a C, but it’s the best I could do with a Z.

Though I’ve never actually seen anything monstrous or out of place, I’ve been intrigued by cryptozoology ever since I visited Loch Ness. I love the idea of a displaced plesiosaur in the loch, or spotting the Beast of Bodmin Moor. I’ve always wished we were back in the days of mysterious sea monsters like the Kraken (or even belief in the Maelstrom). And I’ve seen many Bigfoot or yeti videoes, sadly most of which being debunked by Destination Truth or Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.

So I couldn’t finish without a nod to one of my favourite blogs, which directed me to this blog hop in the first place. Please pop over to Jolie du Pre’s Precious Monsters.

And thanks for reading!

Y is for Youth

I don’t generally specify the age of my characters, unless it’s necessary (such as a college character needing to be of drinking age). But so far, they’ve all been at the younger end of the range.

I’m not entirely sure why I do that. Part of it has been because they were campus stories, but otherwise it’s just how I see them in my head. I’ve heard from other writers that older heroines, in particular, are outlawed by a lot of publishers – that young heroes and heroines are more attractive, in the romance field at least. Maybe they are. I admit I tend to associate older heroines more with dramas, sagas and historicals than with romance, erotic or otherwise.

Or maybe it’s because there are expectations attached to certain stages of life. Marriage. Children. Divorces. If you don’t want to tackle them in a romance, it’s easier to just put the character in their mid-twenties, when they could reasonably still be living free with all that to come.

I think at some point I will tackle an older heroine. How much older, I don’t know. But since I’m now in my thirties, I don’t think I can make any more excuses.

And they do say women reach their sexual peak in their thirties, don’t they? Roll on the erotica!

X is for Xu

One of the first things I researched for my debut novel was the Greek system.

Being British, I knew very little of sororities and fraternities – we simply don’t have them over here, although they sounded like a great idea for university students to have a tailor-made social life. That said, we had plenty of societies at the one I attended, so maybe we don’t need them. Nevertheless, they provide good fodder for erotica.

It’s all those frat parties and images of girls floating around in baby doll nighties. However unrealistic they might be, it’s very easy to take a cliché and build on it – threesomes at a kegger, hot girl-on-girl sex between roommates, sneaking frat boys into your bedroom or having some maybe-we’ll-be-caught sex in the garden. My debut novel involved some menage sex in a sorority house and almost included a scene where they got caught in the lounge, except it was ultimately excised when the plot took over.

I also stuck with it for the Campus Sexploits 3 anthology, where I had two drunken roomies having sex in various yoga positions. Well, all that ashtanga I did had to be good for something, right?

I’ll always love the idea of the Greek system and college-based erotica. And I’m not the only one – Louisa Bacio’s “Sex University” was released around the same time as my debut.

Maybe I should have gone and studied in the US – experienced it first-hand!

W is for Writing and Wine

It’s almost a cliché that writing and wine go together. I hear many writers talk about how they sit in front of their PC, glass of wine in hand; I feel very chick-lit when I do it myself. But you know, it does actually work. For me, anyway.

Admittedly wine isn’t always my drink of choice. You’ll often find me with a can of cider or a homemade Mojito. But yes, I find wine a great aid to writing. Specifically, it aids the flow. We all wrestle with our inner censor (no good if you’re an erotica writer) or inner editor; we all have the temptation to sit and fiddle with a sentence rather than just get on with it.

And wine helps.

I’m not a connoisseur, but I know what I like. I love a good Sauvignon Blanc, Torrontes or Vinho Verde. Occasionally I’ll be in the mood for a light red or a Pinot Grigio blush. And let’s not forget the plum wine I get from my local Chinese supermarket.

To the writers out there, what do you like to drink to get you into the flow?

And to the non-writers, what do you like to drink? 

V is for Vehicles

I have always had a love of classic American cars.

My favourite is the pink Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. There’s something I love about retro-Americana that the pink Cadillac feeds into nicely, and I could probably even afford to buy one – classic cars over here are surprisingly inexpensive to buy and insure. Unfortunately they also guzzle gas like there’s no tomorrow, and I have no idea where I would park it – unless money was no object, in which case it would go in my hypothetical car garage along with my Thunderbird and classic Chevy.

I also love Alfa Romeos. At one point in my life my dream car was a silver Alfa 147; a fairly attainable dream, since I ultimately bought one. I took great pleasure in watching people walk past, stop and come back to stare at the front end, with its huge badge and sideways licence plate. Sadly, Alfas cost a fortune to insure, so I had to downgrade to a Seat Leon, which was equally pretty but not quite so in-your-face.

My husband is the one who knows cars in our house. He knows that when I buy a new car I have to love the look. (Reliability is vital, of course, but a lot of cars are reliable. I want reliable and funky-looking.) My current car is a Kia Soul Burner, black with silver dragon decals down the sides, and is rare enough that when I pass another one on the motorway we wave to each other. It also has almost caused several accidents when people gawp at it, including one bloke who nearly ran his car into a petrol pump and promptly got clobbered by his girlfriend in the passenger seat.

And I’m now in the market for a new car, which will probably be a dark red Nissan Juke. Unless someone pops up in the interim with an idea for a cooler car?

U is for USA

Whenever I'm asked to provide an author bio, I always include the line "would like to take a driving tour of America in a pink Cadillac Eldorado."

The Cadillac is optional, although I've always wanted to own one. However, the driving tour is something I've always longed to do. If money and time were no object, I'd fly out there right now, buy a decent car and be on my way.

Of course, I've been told many times that fly-drives or flying tours might be a better bet, since it would allow me to see the parts that really interest me while skipping the long periods along identical straight roads in the larger states. There's a fly-drive I've seen advertised that begins and ends in Las Vegas, taking in the Grand Canyon along the way - that would be incredible. And I'd love to see Niagara Falls, which would be quite a hike from the coast.

On the other hand, I think the journey would be good for getting a real feel for a state. And I'd love to follow in Billy Connolly's footsteps - or wheels - and drive Route 66.

Any US readers have other recommendations of places to see?

T is for Travel

I'm not a good flier, but I love to travel. I never left the country growing up, so now that I can, I like to go to as many places as possible.

On my honeymoon, we went to Portugal.

Our hotel was on the marina in Vilamoura. We sailed with dolphins, we tried peri-peri chicken, and I discovered a heartfelt love for vinho verde.

Another year we went to Italy.

We stayed in Amalfi and spent the week visiting Pompeii, Paestum, Capri and Vesuvius while indulging ourselves on lemon tiramisu and buffalo mozzarella.

As mentioned in a previous blog, we also visited New York one year after I got tired of staying within Europe. My next plan is to push for either the Great Wall of China or a fly-drive from Las Vegas. I have always wanted to do a driving tour of the US.

Now I just have to learn to fly properly. Although there is one advantage of the queasiness and headaches I get from planes. By the time I reach the checking desk after landing, I'm so ill I look exactly like my passport photo.