Writer Interview Saturday: Sharing our support for authors, and the books we love
This was a very diffult week, but we made it! I thought I wouldn’t be able to post this, but here it is. Ghiselle St. James is a jamaican fiction author with a few books on her wake. Meet her, and her babies!
Q: Which among your book characters are your favorites, and why?
A: My favorite character is South from my debut novel, South Row: A Comedic Romance. She is funny, fiery, sweet, resilient….Aaaannd, she can work the pole! Lol! She has been through so much, yet still manages to fight and, subsequently, rise above her adversities. I
wanna be like her when I grow up. ^_^
Q: Erotica is sometimes underrated. What is your position about this?
A: I didn’t know it was, the lay man probably couldn’t have guessed this was so either. Erotica and erotic romance has become so popular nowadays, especially with the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, that you find more & more people buying into the notion of having hardcore sex with their romance. You also find that more and more people are writing this kind of romance, getting more descriptive & uncensored with their sex. Sex sells, & there are so many facets to the erotica genre that there is no room for it being underrated. Erotica is just as entertaining as a self-help book, but has helped more people find themselves sexually, than any “If you believe it, you can achieve it” books. Anyone throwing “shade” on this genre must be the prudes.
Q: I have to admit it’s not my thing, but I was really curious 😮 What challenges does it pose writing these kind of stories?
A: The major challenge I find is trying not to sound like another book. While this has never happened to me, I have read books that are basically regurgitated twists of popular books.
View Spoiler »
Q: The second book in the Tainted Love series is coming out soon. You’ve already got some books out there. Tell us a little about your self-publishing experience.
A: I can truly say that I am blessed. A few months ago, I was deathly afraid of publishing & equally afraid of not publishing (yes, I’m crazy, I know). Succeeding in this Indie Author game takes patience, commitment & lots & LOTS of pimping! I never thought I’d be a pimp or become a ho, letting others pimp me.
I advise no one trying to become a self-published author to do it alone. Have at least 1 person in your corner, rooting you on, and spreading your name as much as possible. In this business, word of mouth goes a long way. The more people talk about you, the more you get heard. All you have to do as the author is write amazing books that keep people talking. *Cue the song, Let’s Give ’em Somethin’ to Talk About* Lol!
Q: Which are your favorite books?
A: I’m assuming you’re not asking about my own books, however, they ARE amongst my favorites: South Row, Tainted Love, Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan, the Too Far series by Abbi Glines, the Chocolate Lovers series by Tara Sivec, the Perspectives series by Julie Jaret, Dare to Kiss by S.B. Alexander, the Devil’s Eyes series by Jennifer Loren, the
Beautiful series by Christina Lauren, the Neighbor from Hell series by R.L. Mathewson, Fifty Shades of Grey series, Crossfire series (books 1 & 2, maybe 3), the Collide series by Gail McHugh….and, oh Lawd, too many to list further! Lol!!! What an evil question!
Q: Sorry! What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
A: My free time is spent catching up on sleep, reading, writing, watching tv and/or talking with fans and friends I’ve met during my writing journey. This was an easy question, thank baby Jesus! Lol!
Q: Yay! What are your aspirations regarding your writing career?
A: I just want to be able to reach people with my writing. This started out as just me needing an outlet for everything going on in my head, but then people actually liked my stuff, and the more I talked with others, the joy I realized I brought them….and for the most part, it isn’t even from my writing. I don’t even see this as a career. This is a journey for me and I don’t know where it will take me. Just being able to reach others with my writing has been so rewarding thus far. If this journey takes me into best-seller categories, I will praise God for it, no doubt. But if I die tomorrow, I will have died accomplishing a lifelong dream of mine of becoming a published author….twice over at that. How frickin’ cool is that?!
Yeah, I feel the same. I think my goal with my writing, is two-fold. Feeling quite accomplished, and reaching people and help them.
Q: What makes a female character strong in your opinion?
A: Also, do we have stereotypes or are hypocritical when we read sometimes and we don’t know it? Wanna know if you do? Look at the way
we treat a male character who sleeps around. We swoon & root for him, hoping the female’s love will rescue him from the depths of man-whoredom….but when it’s shown from a woman’s viewpoint, when we are confronted with a woman who sleeps around, we get upset with her choices, hate on her and say in our reviews that she ruined the story
for us…..
I say this to say: We need to remove the blinders from our eyes when we read. It will illuminate the stories in such profound ways if we simply….open our minds to the possibilities. 🙂
Feel free to stalk me. Feel free to ask me questions. I’m approachable
like that….like a prostitute on the Red Light District. Lol!!!
And as a Bonus! Ghiselle is leaving us a teaser book trailer of Tainted Love!
It was great talking to you Ghiselle!
You can find her at
Amazon | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
Oh WOW! Thank u sooo much for this! I LOVED these questions, believe me. Such thought-provoking questions and, uh…….sorry I cussed. Lol!
Thanks! And don’t worry! Just thought I should be cautious with that. That’s all 🙂 It was awesome to have you!