Interview with Jennifer Ashley
Jennifer, welcome to Deb’s. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Your background, family, etc.
Oh my, let’s see. I grew up moving all over the place because my father was a chaplain in the military. I lived in mostly in the southwest (Texas, Nevada, Arizona) but went to high school in Japan. Growing up everywhere gave me an interesting perspective of the world, and made me kind of a misfit at the same time. I married another misfit, the son of an Army officer. He joined the Army right before we married, and I went to Germany with him. Now the two of us have settled down in the southwest looking after a succession of cats. We are both book lovers (which is how we met), and we got married so we could purge the duplicates out of our massive book collections.For our readers unfamiliar with your work, please tell us what kind of books you write.
The question is what kind of books don’t I write? *g* I started out not really knowing what I wanted to write (because I like many genres), so I tried a bit of everything. I was shopping a dark historical mystery and a light romantic adventure at the same time—and they both sold. I was very surprised!
Now I write romances as Jennifer Ashley (historical and paranormal), romances as Allyson James (erotic and paranormal), and mysteries as Ashley Gardner. I throw in a mainstream historical novel now and again. I have a couple of fantasy short stories published, and I’d like to explore more in the fantasy genre.
Many authors use a pen name for their books and often a variation of that pen name for other genres of books. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with privacy and security. Do you use a pen name and if so why? How many books do you have out under each name?
Privacy and security never occurred to me at first! Jennifer Ashley is my real name (it’s on my driver’s license, which, no, I’m not showing anyone). I sold my first book (the light romantic adventure) as Jennifer Ashley, and I intended to write everything as Jennifer Ashley.
Well, we can’t always get what we want. I sold a mystery series to Berkley right after I’d sold the romance, and the publishers didn’t want my name cross-competing. So I had to take a pseudonym (Ashley Gardner), which was probably good, because the mysteries were dark, gritty historical noir, while the romances were light-hearted high-seas adventures. Very different!
A few years later, I decided to try erotic romance, because I’d always enjoyed writing hot, and I wanted to see what I could do. I took another name—Allyson James—and submitted a book to Ellora’s Cave. I took the pseudonym for two reasons: 1. to avoid any contract problems, and 2. I feared I’d fail. If Allyson James tanked, she wouldn’t mess with the readership I’d already built as Jennifer Ashley.
To my surprise, Allyson James did pretty darn good! My first book sold well above the average sales for EC, and got fantastic reviews including a Gold Star award from Just Erotic Romance Reviews. So Allyson James stayed. Now she’s writing hot paranormals for Berkley as well as more erotic romance for both Berkley and Ellora’s Cave.
How did you get started in your writing career? Are you a full time writer or do you work an outside job too? Was becoming an author something you have always wanted to do or did it evolve over time?
I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old and realized that novels were make-believe written down. I wanted to do that! I wrote stories to entertain myself (I was no child prodigy—they were putrid). I wish I would have pursued a writing career earlier, but I had it in my head that I had to get a “real” job and let writing just be a dream or a hobby.
One day I realized that if I didn’t try to be a writer the dream would never come true. I worked full time until 2001, when I at last walked away from a well-paying day job and announced that I would stay at home and write full time (by then I’d won a few contests and published a few short stories, though nothing that paid more than a handful of dollars.) My husband, bless his heart, said “it’s about time!” and worked with me to make sure we could eat and pay our rent while I did this. We ate a lot of Raman noodles and mac and cheese for a while.
I had the feeling that once I focused on writing alone, I’d get somewhere, and I was right. Once I made writing my job, it became my job. I wrote every day, researched the market every day, worked on finding an agent and a publisher every day. It was hard, hard, hard, but eventually the work paid off. Nine months after I quit my full-time job, I found an agent and made my first sale.
Selling a first novel doesn’t necessarily mean you make a million dollars and get to move to Hawaii. It was still lean the first couple of years, but I stayed home and worked on my career every day, and heck, I still do that. It’s a good thing I like to write, because I sure do a lot of it!
What was your first published work and when did it come out?
My first romance novel was Perils of the Heart, which was published by Dorchester in November 2002, under the name Jennifer Ashley. It’s still in print! My first mystery novel was The Hanover Square Affair, by Ashley Gardner (no longer in print), which I sold at about the same time.
How long did it take you to be published and if you could do it over again, would you change anything in your journey to publication?
I started seriously trying for publication in 1999, after I took a seminar at my local Y by the author of The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit. I’d dabbled with writing and submitting previously, but her talk motivated me to get off my butt and really work at it. As I said, I quit my job in 2001 and finally published in 2002. So about three years from concept to publication.
What would I do differently? Have a plan!! I didn’t know what I wanted to write. Romance? Mystery? Fantasy? Why not all three? The world of publishing, however, isn’t set up to accommodate jacks of all trades, unless you’re brilliant. Publishers like you to be focused, because authors sell better when they write one subgenre, and even one series in that subgenre. I am anything but focused! I get a story in my head, I want to tell it, and I don’t care what slot it fits into.
But… if I find myself in the position of starting all over again, I’ll go in with a more definite plan of what I want to write, who I want to publish it, and how I want to build my career. I’m not unhappy with the way my career has turned out, but I realize now a lot of it had to do with sheer luck.
Has anything been different than what you expected as a published author? The promo, signings, deadlines, etc?
I was an editor at a medium-sized nonfiction publishing house for about five years, so I was aware of the revision/editing process and what to expect from my editor and so forth. A few things are different in fiction, but the basics are the same. I even didn’t mind the deadlines because it’s hard for me to finish something without the whip of a deadline.
However, the marketing side took me by surprise. I thought all I had to do was write my books and turn them in. I soon realized I had to market the books and go to conferences and “network” which means—gasp—talking to people! I’m painfully shy, and walking up to a person and saying “I have a book out, do you want a bookmark?” is like the ninth level of hell for me. I’ve gotten more comfortable with it as I’ve gained confidence in my work and also because I’ve made many friends at the conferences. It’s not as painful now. But I still wish I could just write my books and turn them in! I’ve battled shyness all my life, and I’m still battling it.
I just finished your wonderful book Highlander Ever After, an April 2008 release. Please tell us about this book. Is it connected to any of your other books and if so, please tell us which ones. Will there be more in this series? I sure hope so!
Thank you! This is the third book in the loosely connected “Nvengaria” series, which started with Penelope & Prince Charming. The series is historical romance with paranormal elements, based on characters from the made-up land of Nvengaria. The Nvengarians are dark-haired and blue-eyed, very passionate people—they are intense lovers and violent fighters.
The hero of Highlander Ever After is Egan McDonald, who is the Scottish friend of the Nvengarian heroes of books 1 and 2 (Prince Damien and Grand Duke Alexander). Egan spent some time in Nvengaria, where he was rescued by a 12-year-old girl named Zarabeth. That young lady is now twenty-three and needs to be kept safe from assassins from her volatile country. She travels to Egan’s very remote Scottish castle and is swept up by his rough-and-tumble family and Egan’s own life. It’s one of the sweeter love stories I’ve written (although it’s pretty sexy, don’t worry!).
I don’t know right now if the series will continue. I’m starting a new historical series (without paranormal elements or pirates), and I’m going to see how that goes. But I never say never. I have a couple more stories I can tell in the Nvengaria world.
You have an upcoming release, September 2008, Immortals: the Redeeming. I believe this is the fifth in the Immortals series. Please tell us a bit about this book and series.
Immortals: The Redeeming is the story of Tain, the tortured Immortal who caused everyone so much trouble in books 1 though 4. I have to say Tain is my favorite Immortal, and I love his chemistry with the heroine, Samantha.
Samantha is half-demon and a detective in the paranormal division of the LAPD. She’s minding her own business a year after the close of the big battle of book 4, when Tain pops up to interrupt a sting operation she’s worked a long time to set up. Tain has come to Samantha for help, and she’s floored by her feelings for him. He’s still trying to get over being tortured for 700 years, and he’s not sure his insanity is completely gone.
The whole series (Immortals), is a continuity series written by three different authors about Immortal warriors created by goddesses at the dawn of civilization. They were created to fight against the growing “death magic” creatures, strong beings called Old Ones, who were vampire and demon. Throughout time, the Immortals are “Called” by a spell to assist when things are dire. However, as the centuries rolled by, the Immortals were forgotten, and so was the spell to summon them.
The series begins in present day Seattle, when a witch who is looking for her sister’s killer encounters an Immortal warrior who is searching for his brother, Tain. Thus begins the desperate quest of the four Immortal brothers to find each other, find Tain, and stop the demon who’s trying to drain life magic from the world. That’s books 1-4.
Books 5-8 don’t have a continuous arc, but are about characters readers met in the previous books. I think this next set of books is even better, because we weren’t restricted by the story arc—we just went for it!
One of things I find unusual about this series is the fact that it is written by several different authors, yet it blends wonderfully! Tell us about this series and how did it come about. How many books have you written in this series and will there be more?
This series came about in an email conversation between myself and my editor. Dorchester had done a previous continuity series that I’d wanted to write for, but my schedule didn’t allow it. I asked my editor if they planned to do another series, and if so, could I participate? My editor replied that they had no more series planned, but if I had an idea, I could pitch it.
I wrote back a one-paragraph email with an idea I’d been kicking around about a series based on Immortal warriors who came to help out when people needed them and a little bit about the overall plot. I sent it and figured it would be filed and forgotten.
To my surprise, my editor called me the next day saying it had generated a lot of interest and could I write a more in-depth proposal? After I closed my gaping mouth, I sat down and pounded out my ideas for the characters, the series arc, and plots for four books. (I can work fast when I’m motivated!)
Dorchester accepted the idea and then chose the other two authors (I sent them a “wish list” and then they contacted who they thought would be best). It was very exciting.
Joy, Robin, and I got together via email and took my original idea and brainstormed, brainstormed, brainstormed. They had terrific ideas and fleshed the series out far better than I ever could have on my own.
The first four books came out in 2007. Books 5-7 (The Redeeming, by Jennifer Ashley; The Crossing by Joy Nash; and The Haunting by Robin T. Popp) will be out September, October, and November 2008. Book 8 will be an anthology called The Reckoning and it will be out in March 2009.
You have written historicals, paranormals, mysteries and more! Do you have a favorite genre or setting for your books?
You probably have the idea by now that I like everything! I love paranormals because the possibilities are endless (I grew up reading fantasy, and I’ve have a couple of short fantasy pieces publishing in anthologies). I plan to do many more paranormals.
I adore mysteries—in fact, it’s my favorite genre to read for pleasure. I bet I own the DVD sets of every British mystery series out there (Midsomer Murders is a particular favorite). I plan to continue writing mysteries at some point.
And then there’s historical romance. Sigh… I love writing about the past and seeing it through the eyes of an ordinary person. I enjoy the Regency, and I’m currently writing in the Victorian period. But the other day, I got a hankering for the eighteenth century. And then I have a medieval series swimming around in my head . . .
Is there any other genre of book you would like to write and if so, what would it be?
I’d love to do some romantic suspense someday. I love mysteries and I love romance—RS puts them together. Urban fantasy is another thing I want to write. It combines mystery, suspense, and paranormal, and you can throw a little romance in too. What’s not to love?
What are you working on now and can you give us a sneak peek? Do you have a publication date yet?
What I’m working on now….are you ready?
August 2008: I’ll be in an anthology (as Allyson James) called Private Places with the great, wonderful Robin Schone. That’s published by Berkley, out in August. I’ve posted an excerpt at http://www.allysonjames.com/
Immortals: The Redeeming is out in September 2008 by Jennifer Ashley (Immortals series book 5). An excerpt is at http://www.jennifersromances.com/
I just turned in The Dragon Master, the third in my Dragon series as Allyson James. That will be out in November, 2008. You can see the gorgeous cover at http://www.allysonjames.com/. I don’t have an excerpt yet, because the book is currently being edited, but I’ll post one on my site as soon as it’s ready.
Allyson James has an erotic romance coming out from Ellora’s Cave on July 2, Catch a Falling Star, a blend of futuristic and fantasy. The world-building was fun on that one.
And then: Allyson James again has an erotic paranormal series with Berkley starting in March 2009. Mortal Temptations features a black-winged demigod under a curse, his best friend (a were-snow leopard), and an antiques dealer who is baffled to find a half-naked winged man on the floor of her antiques store. She decides to help him and his friend break the curse. This is a hot, hot, hot read.
As Jennifer Ashley, I’m working on a new historical series (not paranormal), set in Scotland and England. Readers will meet the decadent, scandalous, über-wealthy family of four brothers who each desperately need the love of a good lady. Ian, Cam, Mac, and Hart will make their debuts starting in April 2009.
Also in 2009 will come another new paranormal series from Jennifer Ashley, which is in the preliminary stages so I don’t have much info yet.
I update my websites at least once a month with any new info, covers, blurbs, excerpts, and the like, and I try to update my blogs a couple times a month so readers will know what’s coming when.
What is your favorite part of being a writer? What’s the worst part?
Favorite part: Setting my own hours!! I work when I want to work. I sleep when I’m tired. I don’t have to dress up and go to a cubicle and do what someone else thinks is priority. Also I love being friends with other writers. I am still a voracious reader, and I love being able to scream “I love your book!” and hug an author without them calling security (well, most of the time).
Worst part: There is sometimes so much work to do that I go nonstop. Sometimes I have to forgo friends and family and my personal life and just hope everyone understands. I hate that. I try to make it up to them later, but sometimes you can’t.
How do you keep track of all your pertinent character and setting information? Since you write in so many genres, I would think it would be terribly confusing to try and keep up with all the small details. Do you use a spreadsheet or notebook to keep the details straight?
Spreadsheet? Notebook? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That would be organized! I do make some notes when I’m brainstorming, but that’s about it. I must be good at compartmentalizing because it’s not confusing to me at all to write many series and many books. When I open the computer file and start reading and working on that story, I’m focused on that story and no others. I write like I read—I just get into it and shut out the rest of the world. When I write the next book in a series, I go back and re-read the others, not only to remember the details, but to remember the feel of the characters and that world.
What kind of writer are you? Do you plot and outline or do you have more of a relaxed style of writing?
I don’t plot or outline before I start writing. I brainstorm and make notes, but my notes are a jumble that no one but me can understand. I rarely write a synopsis before I start. What I find works best is to simply sit down with all the mess that’s in my head and let the story develop as it will. As I write the first draft I continue to brainstorm and make notes about what will happen next. Sometimes I follow the notes, but if I have a better idea in the meantime, I’ll ignore the notes. I try to let the story progress naturally, one thing leading to the next. Once I have my first draft (which is very, very rough), I go back and intensively revise. I usually do three drafts altogether—1. the rough, rough draft, 2. the second draft where I combine scenes, rewrite scenes, write out characters who don’t work, etc., and 3. the third draft to revise for prose style and to intensify what’s already there. After that I do one proofread and send it off to my editor.
It's a good question. Every writer has a different approach, and it’s fascinating to see how we call get from word one to polished novel.
Tell us what you do for fun. Do you have a hobby or collection you would like to share with our readers?
For fun, I build dollhouse miniatures. I started when I was ten with cardboard boxes and progressed from there. I’ve progressed to “real” houses and room boxes and collecting the work of other artisans (although I still find cardboard useful :-)). I post my scenes and houses as I finish them at http://www.jennifersromances.com/Miniatures/miniatures.html I just finished a quarter-inch scale Dutch house, which I think looks very cool.
Why do I do this hobby? Who knows? It’s a creative exercise that releases tension from my brain.
I also play guitar and write songs, though I haven’t done as much of that lately as I’d like to.. I did participate in a CD called Stardust County, the details of which are on my website (http://www.jennifersromances.com/) on the right-hand menu.
Do you find time to read with your busy writing schedule? Please share some of your favorite authors or books with us.
I still love to read—my all time favorite entertainment. I try to read at least one book a week, though I wish I could read more.
I love urban fantasy: Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris are two of my favorites (although you can you say the Sookie series is “urban?”). In romance I adore Nina Bangs. Her humor is terrific, and I wish I could think up the things she does! In romantic suspense, the books of up-and-coming RS author Colleen Thompson are wonderful. I hope more and more people discover her, because she is a very talented writer with just the right balance of mystery and romance. I also love fantasy/sf, with two of my favorites being Lois McMaster Bujold and Terry Pratchett.
What was the best piece of advice you have received pertaining to your writing career?
The best piece of advice came from a book whose title I can’t remember (I feel so guilty about that). But what the author said stuck with me—he said that it really isn’t “who you know” that gets you published, it’s your writing. Who you know, he says, can “grease the wheels”—an author friend’s agent might read your novel without it sitting in the slush pile for six months. BUT, that agent can still reject you. She might read you faster, but she’s still looking for a fantastic book that will sell in gobs. Publishers publish books to make money, and if they don’t think your book will make them money, they don’t care whose friend you are.
This statement comforted me, because current wisdom had it that you can’t get published if you’re nobody (and I am nobody). Well, this book said I could get published even if I didn’t know anyone in the business (and I didn’t), I just had to work hard to make my book good! I like having that control in my hands, and it made me work doubly hard. And I’ve learned through experience that he was right. It really is the writing, the ideas, and the characters, etc. that sells the book.
If you could give one bit of advice to a new writer, what would it be?
Keep trying. Persistence pays off. I have watched talented authors, both published and unpublished fall by the wayside because they got tired of trying. It’s hard to be an author, probably one of the hardest jobs out there, but if you keep writing and writing and writing and submitting, submitting, submitting—one day you will get through. It takes some people six months. It takes some people sixteen years. Don’t think you have to follow someone else’s road to success. We each have our own path, and what works for others might not work for you. And again—keep trying!
Jennifer thanks so much for joining us. We wish you continued success and hope that you come back to visit us often!
Thanks so much!!
Be sure and check out all of Jennifer Ashley's books! They are definitely winners!
