Today we have my second author interview. This time there is a slight twist on the interview, as it is an interview of another naughty author! Making the questions 100% more naughty!
Jenycka Wolfe is the author of The Wildlanders Series, which I will admit are pretty sexy, even if they include girl bits! 😀
CB: What was the naughty spark for you? What made you decide to start writing sexy novels?
I always knew I wanted to write. I used to tell my sisters stories at night before we went to sleep. I acted out plays with my Barbie dolls. I scrawled out angst-ridden teenage poetry during high school math class (barely passed). I went to school for literature and then creative writing. Since university ended, I’ve done a lot of different stuff, trying to make a living, and in my spare time I experimented with different genres, waiting for what would click and move things forward. Then I realized that I was ignoring the most basic advice of all: write what you read. Yeah, I have two degrees, but the fact is, I like reading about sex. Who doesn’t? So I started to write about it. And it clicked. Ava’s story (Wildlander’s Woman) fell together incredibly quickly.
CB: What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
I want to move too quickly sometimes. I wrote Wildlander’s Womanin less than three months. I regret that now, and I wish I’d have taken longer and worked out more details of the world-building ahead of time. I get so absorbed in the story I want to pound it out without thinking too much about details. I’m forcing myself to take a LOT more time with the next one in the Wildlands series, Arcadian’s Balm. I’m not giving a release date until I’m in the very final edits.
CB: How about the easiest? What part of writing do you just take like a pro?
Writing the sex. Just kidding. Well, maybe that is the easiest. Sex is fun to write. Day-to-day interactions between the characters are fun to write. I usually write a lot more scenes than end up in the finished novel.
CB: What feelings do you have deep down upon seeing your project published?
The first one was a lot of fear. Am I really doing this? I grew up in a very conservative part of the country, a very conservative family, and I’m doing something that would shock the hell out of most of the people who know me (hence the pseudonym… yeah, my mom didn’t name me Jenycka). But I was proud, too. I’m doing what I love to do. Taking a step into the world I’ve always wanted to be a part of. And we’ll see where it takes me.
CB: Tell us a little about Ava. What makes her unique?
Ava’s the woman who doesn’t quite belong in the world she grew up in. She’s too big, not pretty enough, too opinionated, and doesn’t feel or think the right things. So when she has a chance encounter with the Wildlander warrior Blaise, who is the polar opposite of the conservative, by-the-book, prim-and-proper types in her world, she’s incredibly drawn to him. He represents her longing for something that she doesn’t really understand. It’s freedom from the constraints of her society. But her society is all she knows, so it hurts like hell when she’s banished. The fact that she gets to go to Blaise is certainly a balm to her wounds, though her happiness is short-lived when she realizes exactly how different the Wildlands are from her own Arcadian society. Blaise won’t be her only husband. She’ll have four. And, as we can understand, she doesn’t always react well. She gets angry. She gets frustrated. She gets frightened. She turns to substance abuse to try and deal with her emotional turmoil. She makes some really stupid decisions. But in the end, she comes to embrace this new life, and she realizes that she really does belong here. In Arcadian’s Balm, we’ll see a lot more of Ava, and we’ll find out that she has an incredibly important role to play in the future of the Wildlands.
CB: So I understand that there is not only girls kissing boys in your novels, but also boys kissing boys. Care to explain yourself? (In detail if possible.)
So here we get to the good stuff, huh? I wanted to portray a world where sexual binaries aren’t set in stone. Sexuality is a fluid thing (Kinsey scale), and even though our own society is coming to embrace this at least a little more, we still have a long ways to go. And we always have to label it. You’re ‘straight’. Or ‘gay’. Or ‘bisexual’. Or ‘pansexual’. Have I missed any? I wanted to show a world where people (consenting adults) love one another, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be labelled. It’s not a free-for-all. Since this is a world where not enough female babies are born, there is a strict system of family groups (Clans) of usually 2-5 people (usually one female, the rest males), and once you’ve joined one, that’s it. You keep your naughty activities to those folks only. So it’s smart to join a Clan where you love the people in it. But gender is not important when it comes to sex within the Clan. And I’ve read menage stories before where a bunch of dudes are all doing the same woman, sometimes at the same time, and they’re all ok with their balls pretty much touching but somehow they’re not at all attracted to each other? Yeah, no. Let’s just be honest here.
CB: What made you decide to write about a woman’s journey through a sea of man muscles?
Um… I’m female and I like man muscles. Fantasy fulfillment. I chose those four particular characters as Ava’s four mates because each of them represents something to her that she needs. Blaise is her leader, and he leads/pushes her into the places she needed, but was afraid, to go. Jodah makes her feel safe, and he’s the first one to make her really believe she’s loved. Daven brings laughter and levity to her life. He teaches her to relax and just enjoy. And Killian brings gentleness and compassion. Through the novel, and through the subsequent novels, we do and will see what they bring to one another as well. These aren’t just stories about one woman and her hunky men. There’s also strong elements of those hunky men with one another, because, well, YUMMY!
CB: Is there a message you would like to convey with this story?
I have a pretty strong anti-capitalist bent going in there. But that’s not really the message I’m concerned about. I want readers to understand that there’s a greater good in their lives beyond themselves, and fight for that. Like, there’s a point where Ava realizes that Blaise won’t give up everything for her, because he loves his people and his community and he has a duty to them as well. And that’s the moment that she finds her place and knows she’s home.
CB: Seriously, there are boys kissing in this, so can you tell us who is the best kisser?
Yes, there are boys kissing. And fucking, because I know that’s what you’re looking for. I don’t know who the best kisser is. Daven was probably the biggest slut back in the day, if that helps. I make a point of showing individual relationships within the Clans themselves. For instance, in Ava’s Clan, the two youngest members, Daven and Killian, were lovers for years before they joined the Clan. Even after Ava, they have a bond between the two of them that nobody else can touch. In Arcadian’s Balm, I delve even further into the relationships between male members of the Clan. There will be more sex just between guys, because it’s awesome and hot. Guys are lucky… they have more stuff to play with. So there’s more variety in writing gay sex. And the lucky bastards always get off. In Arcadian’s Balm, Ava’s sister Lorien shows up in the Wildlands, and she joins a Clan that is newly formed. Tomis and Gevaril were lovers once, until Gevaril’s selfishness drove them apart. Now circumstances have forced them to Clan, and they have to sort out their differences for the sake of Lorien, as well as their other mate, Cale. So the focus of Arcadian’s Balm is as much on the relationship between Tomis and Gevaril as it is on that of Lorien with the men. Tomis is bitterly angry. Gevaril is very contrite, but getting damned sick of Tomis’s recriminations, and knows that there’s still enough love there for them to get past things and be really happy if Tomis would just accept his apologies and work to move on. Lorien, devastated by her own losses, is desperate for everyone to get along so they can try to heal together. Cale sees a chance for Gevaril and Tomis to become better men, if they can learn from their mistakes, but knows that they’re both incredibly stubborn. So there’s a lot of hurt there, and a lot of complicated relationship dynamics at play. Add in a few terrifying Dark creatures, a journey through the mountains, and some seriously hot sex in the woods, and we have ourselves a pretty good time.
CB: What advice would you give aspiring authors? (It can be advice about kissing boys if you wish.)
Write what you like to read. Write the book you want to read. If something turns you on, it’s likely that there’s someone else who also likes it. Also, don’t be afraid of new directions. I never expected to develop a gay fan base. But I have. And I love it! So yeah, I’m tooling my work a bit to appeal more to those who enjoy reading about boys kissing one another. And yeah, I know that it’s not just boys who like to read about boys kissing. Girls like to read that too. I love to read about boys kissing. And watch boys kissing. (Oh, if only there were a place where I could find pictures of boys kissing….) And write about boys kissing. And kiss boys myself.
Thanks for reading and a special thanks to Jenycka. You can read all about her fantastic novels or contact her here. – Be sure and check out her site (just in general) and in a few days to read my naughty interview answers!
http://jenyckawolfe.blogspot.com
Annals Of Gentalia 