Australian romantic DF author, Erica Hayes talks to the Specusphere about SHADOWFAE.

Welcome to a secret world veiled in fairy glamour and brimming with unearthly delights. A city swarming with half-mad fairies, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerize you with their song, and big green trolls bust heads at nightclubs and sadistic vampire Mafiosi rule the streets. And once you’re in, there’s no escape…

Enslaved by a demon lord, Jade is forced to spend her nights seducing vampire gangsters and shapeshifting thugs. After two hundred years as a succubus, she burns for freedom and longs to escape her brutal life as a trophy girl for hell’s minions. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus who touches her heart and intoxicates her senses. Rajah shares the same bleak fate as she, and yearns just as desperately for freedom. But the only way for Jade to break her bonds is to betray Rajah—and doom the only man she’s ever loved to a lifetime in hell.

AC: Many authors tend to cruise various careers before writing. Erica is no exception. She lives in Newcastle, but went to Uni in Hobart where she completed a science/law degree. She spent a couple of years in the air force, went back to Uni to study music and had a couple of jobs in editing and admin., before giving it all away in late 2007 to concentrate on writing. Welcome to The Specusphere, Erica!

AC: The back cover blurb of the book gives readers a hint of what’s in store for them, but if you think Shadowfae is just another DUF/romance, think again. It’s sexy, (I mean, capital S E X Y!) dark, in places violent with hints of humour. But what sets it apart for me is the writer’s style—it’s evocative, at times lyrical, but fast-paced and occasionally shocking (especially gruesome are the scenes were the heroine (Jade) is forced to drink the blood of Dante, which is a way he enslaves his victims). This book is not for the faint-hearted, who like their hero-vampires romantic gentlemen. Would you like to share with the readers just how this book originated?

EH: Despite aiming at the US market, I wanted to set it in Melbourne because it’s a place I know and can feel in my mind, rather than an American setting where I’d just be copying what I’d seen on TV. And in the end, I managed to make it come alive vividly enough that the editor didn’t ask me to move it to the US, as I’d feared they would — I think publishers mean it when they say they’re looking for something a little different. The story’s about a succubus — a woman who’s sold her soul to hell for a thousand years — but the background setting is gangland Melbourne. I remember reading about all the gang murders in Melbourne a few years ago, and watching the channel 9 TV show Underbelly and thinking ‘what’s wrong with these people?’ So I decided that the whole city must be secretly controlled by warring demons :) and it went from there.

AC: Did you start with the idea and the setting, or were the characters the first inkling of the story to come?

EH: The succubus came first. I had this image of Jade climbing in the window to claim her next victim... and finding him already dead. Hmm. Who killed him, and why? Why was he her target? Then, once I figured out the demon angle, the story sort of told itself, and the world developed to accommodate it.

AC: You told me that Shadowfae was your fourth finished novel manuscript. What else have you written? What else have you had published?

EH: I wrote a couple of bad fantasy novels first. They're still on my computer and that's where they'll stay! I published a few fantasy shorts on the net, but this novel was my first professional publishing credit.

The second Shadowfae book is called Shadowglass. It's a magic mirror story, and it comes out in March 2010. I was expecting to write another story about Jade, but the editor was really keen on my fairies. So Shadowglass has a fairy heroine. My fairies are kind of an under-underclass, if you like, a subculture within the gang subculture that no one else takes seriously. My heroine, Ice, is a petty thief who dreams of making the big time, and of course gets more than she bargained for when she steals a malicious magic mirror.

I've also written the third book, Shadowsong, which has a kick-ass banshee heroine and a shapeshifting gangster for a hero. All these stories are romances, but they're urban fantasy first, and that means I've got a lot of latitude. In romance, there may not be formulae, like many people imagine, but there are certain moral standards the good guys are expected to adhere to. Luckily, in UF I don't have that problem! Line-crossing, my speciality.

AC: Would you tell readers how you got a US agent and the process of selling to St Martin’s? Shadowfae also won the Valeria Parv Award from Romance Writers of Australia—which meant you had a year’s mentoring with internationally acclaimed, best-selling romance author Valerie Parv. How did you find the process of mentorship?

EH: I found my agent the ordinary way, by emailing a query letter. Australian markets weren't really a possibility for this genre – someone may prove me wrong, but I don't believe dark erotic specfic is our Aussie publishers' preference, especially in novel-length – so I aimed at the US.

I didn't have any industry contacts or contest wins at that stage, so I just did my research, made my list of possible agents from the internet and started sending. I think 14 or 15 agents had rejected the query before my current agent asked to see the manuscript. I queried her because she likes romance and fantasy, and already represented some quirky fiction that I liked. Agent M (like James Bond's M, only cooler) makes her decisions fast – she's very experienced, and when she sees something she thinks she can sell, she jumps on it. I had representation within the week. So it definitely pays to have your materials ready to go when you query!

Then it was a case of submit and wait. Agents can make simultaneous submissions, so we sent to a number of houses, both romance and fantasy seeing as the book's both. It took a couple of months to clinch a deal.

The Valerie Parv Award was a surprise. I'd only just joined RWA and didn't really know what I was doing with romance writing, but I already had a good grasp of story and luckily my entry tickled the judges' fancy. Valerie is a wonderful lady who knows everything there is to know about romance writing and publishing. We didn't do a lot of critiquing – mainly because by then I was already on a deadline and didn't have time to do an involved to-and-fro.

(That's one thing I've learned about finally landing that elusive book contract: all that time you used to have, to edit and revise and swap with your crit partners? You don't have it any more. You have to learn to revise your own work without leaving it in the drawer for weeks first. That means trusting your instincts, whether they're telling you something's not working, or telling you it is. My crit partner still does a quick-and-dirty read of my completed manuscripts for any obvious errors, but that's all.) But I did a lot of brain-picking with Valerie about the industry, contracts, agents, motivation and the like. It was fantastic. I'd encourage anyone to enter the VPA.

AC: I couldn’t agree more, Erica! I write and edit on my own which is due mainly to being isolated in the country. Learning to trust one’s writing instinct is one of the hardest things to do, but I know when something isn’t working because if I try to persevere I get blocked and can’t write, or sometimes my characters rebel and refuse to do a damn thing until I get back on track. I actually get a physical response when I try to wrangle against the instinct – my stomach knots and will only unravel when I go back to my instinct and not try to write what I think readers will want, or the market expects. You said Shadowfae started out as a borderline erotic paranormal, but did you make it sexier or darker as the story evolved, or as the characters evolved?

EH: I think the tone grew darker as I became more confident. From the start, I knew I wanted to write edgy, sexy, dark fiction. I wanted raw sensation, honest emotion, monsters who actually hurt people instead of sparkling vegan vampires or whatever. It sounds strange, but I wanted my UF to be realistic! Jade is a supernatural assassin. It's not a nice job, and the things she has to do aren't pleasant. I wanted to show the reality of her life, the dark and dirty as well as the sweet. So I just let the characters do and say whatever they wanted within the bounds of the story, and when I got to the villain's part, I really let it rip. A few times I caught myself thinking, 'you can't write that', or 'you can't use that word', or 'no one will sympathise with a heroine who does that'. I had to train myself out of that mindset. It's the writer's job to make the reader a believer, and once I'd shed those inhibitions, the writing was better for it. In the end, the editor had me tone down a couple of sadistic passages in the villain's point of view, but everything else stayed. I think if I hadn't let the characters be as honest, the darker parts wouldn't have been as convincing.

AC: When you’re not writing, you like to play your oboe – you’re in a concert band and you love music theatre? I’m always minded of the image of Sherlock Holmes playing his violin while pondering the intricacies of the case in which he is involved. Do you play your oboe and let your ‘right side of the brain’ work on story lines and characters? When do story/character ideas come to you?

EH: Sherlock is cleverer by far than I. I wish I could do that! But my brain only wants to concentrate on one complex task at a time. Playing an instrument is a craft, like writing, and there's so much going on that I can't let my mind wander.

I'm not much of a dreamer when it comes to writing. I plan everything out, and sort through ideas methodically. My books all have a defined structure. I begin with characters, but once I've figured out the conflicts that are at play, the structure takes over and dictates what the story should be. Story possibilities might be infinite, but there's only a tiny subset that can ever stretch the characters to their limits. For me, a good story is a series of unpredictable inevitabilities. When I can't see how anything else could possibly have happened at that point, I know I've got it right.

AC: What else influences your writing? Interestingly, you mentioned that you enjoy watching Dexter. Many speculative readers like this show. Is it the character that fascinates you? (I have to admit that I have had dealings with serial criminals (one was a killer) while I worked at the Courts, so I can’t understand the attraction of anything to do with criminals and legal stuff – I was going to study to be a lawyer at one stage, too, but the realities of legal life soon put me off!) Can you remember the first speculative film/tv show that attracted you?

EH: I read a lot of fantasy books as a kid, but on television it was science fiction. I watched Doctor Who after school, the old ones with Tom Baker and Peter Davidson. I graduated to Star Trek: TNG at university. Now it's everything from Torchwood to Farscape to True Blood to Supernatural, where I'm a confirmed Sam girl J Sam is another character who struggles with his own weaknesses, and sometimes the darker side wins through.

Regarding Dexter and criminals: I'm as guilty as anyone of rationalising a life of crime for fictional purposes! My books are set in gangland and the addition of paranormal and romance elements means that I've got a lot of scope to make both villains and heroes larger-than-life. I do vampire gangsters, fairy drug dealers, murderers with hearts of gold. Jade is an assassin. Ice from book 2 is a thief. Mina from book 3 is a knife-throwing gang bodyguard.

Of course real gangsters are not nice people. Criminals can be brutal, confused and violent, and it's true that in fiction we romanticise that – we give them unrealistically solid and sympathetic motivations, so we can explore the attraction of living on the edge, whether it's the edge of society or of the character's own sanity and moral landscape.

But what I really enjoy about Dexter is that he epitomises the misfit in us all. Dexter is terrified that if those he loves find out what he's really like, they'll abandon him, and he tries to fit in with his idea of 'normal' by mimicking others and showing people what he thinks they want to see. I think we're all like that to some extent.

AC: The interaction between Jade and Seth (Rajah) is sexy and a lot of fun. If you were to cast actors to these roles, who would you choose, and why?

EH: That's a tricky one. The images in my head don't really click with anyone that I know of. In attitude, Jade is a bit like Ruby from Supernatural (the brunette, not the blonde). Rajah… well, I don't think there are any real human beings who look like Rajah J

AC: How has Shadowfae been received by readers and/or reviewers? I notice that it received a 4 star rating from Romantic Times Reviews. Erica supplied some links to review sites and the one below is chosen at random, but sums up my own thoughts on Shadowfae.
http://www.scifiguy.ca/2009/10/review-shadowfae-by-erica-hayes.html

How did you react to your first reader comment/review?

EH: On the whole I think readers like it. It's too gritty or erotic for some, but in general the response I've seen has been positive.

My first ever review was positive, which was nice. I got one really scathing industry review, but the things it scorned were all the things I love about my story. So it didn't upset me too much – not everything's for everyone.

These days, I try not to read reviews. I suppose it's silly, but it bothers me when a reader didn't enjoy my book. I guess I feel like I've wasted their time. So I prefer not to read reviews, and concentrate instead on making the next book as rich and intriguing and sexy as I can.

AC: Erica, what are you working on at the moment?

EH: The second book in the series, Shadowglass, is due out in March 2010, and book #3 later in the year. I’m currently working on book #4. You can find the books at the indie romance/UF stores as well as some mainstream bookstores. More details are up at the website http://www.shadowfae.net
I don't have time for much else except this series at the moment, but I've got plans for an apocalyptic science fantasy story at some stage.

AC: Have you one piece of advice for new writers?

EH: Trying to predict the market is useless. So write what lights you up. Write the book you want to read, and others will want to read it too.

AC: This is excellent advice, Erica. Too often writers get hung up on market expectations and stifle their own voice and style to conform, or guessing what the next big thing will be and try to hit the market with it – I’ve seen writers self destruct because of it. Thanks so much for taking the time to give insights into your writing process, career choices and tips. Good luck with the series, Erica and best wishes for your future books (and sales!)