Chiseled Author E.C. Stacy is Interviewed!

We’ve been asked, so today we’re offering answers to questions such as: Chiseled Staff? Are they really that chiseled? Are they completely off their Rockers? And what do they do behind closed doors?!

Over the next month you’ll see interviews with our own Chiseled Staff, and today we’re talking to E.C. Stacy.

E.C. loves swimming, traveling, and is a horror movie aficionado. Cougars are a common theme in E.C.’s erotic romance titles such as New Cougar in Town and Lust Bites. The Quench series (with Quenched co-authored by Ainsley) is about a vampire dating service in which the mortals pay with blood, and Devil Music, co-authored with Thia Myles Vincent, is a twist on the Faustian mythos. With several publication contracts pending that we can’t yet discuss, E.C. also reminded us that Charlaine Harris wrote the foreword to E.C.’s short story Sweets! Sweet!

CIR: How do you describe yourself (the top three things that come to mind)?

E.C.: Quiet in person, but a loud mouth on paper. A little sneaky, but charitable and fun. Yeah, I think that just about does it. Otherwise, I’m completely boring…except when the hubby and I go streaking on Halloween.

CIR: Being that you dabble in drawing, (the blog cartoons and your Erotic Coloring and Activity Pad) did you take art classes?

E.C.: Nothing other than classes in public school. My humble aptitude for art must have come from my love for checking out beautiful bodies.

CIR: Please describe the path of your writing career.

E.C.: Well, anything but a career. The royalties are unreliable right now. Maybe someday that’ll change. Per below, I have a day job.

CIR: What are your current writing goals and challenges? (What are you working on?)

E.C. Total E Bound will be publishing—I should note that the following is a working title—Comic Con Lust – Part I of the Fan Convention Escapades series by this summer. I have some other pans on the stove, but this manuscript is nailed shut.

CIR: What are the two toughest things about writing?

E.C.: Assuming the question means all the things related to the practice—because come on, sitting down and poking keys isn’t that tough—rejections and keeping up with all the sub-genres that seem to multiply like rabbits. Agents and editors will tell you to ‘stay on top’ of the market trends, but I think that’s simply impossible.

CIR: Do you prefer igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary?

E.C.: Let’s see…I’m ignominious for igneous, metaphoric for metamorphic, and sentimental for sedimentary. How’s that?

CIR: How has RMFW helped you advance your career?

E.C.: Again, what’s this career stuff you speak of? I discovered the erotic romance genre at an RMFW Gold Conference.

CIR: As we know, RMFW is an all-volunteer organization. Have you or do you volunteer elsewhere in the organization?

E.C.: Inside two years of learning about the erotic romance genre at said conference, I presented a workshop there.

CIR: What writers inspire you?

E.C.: Jennifer Crusie and my bud, J.A. Kazimer. There are a whole lot more, but these were my first impulses. And I’m very impulsive. Just ask my hubby. Think I’ll go smack him on the tush right now.

CIR: What genres do you read?

E.C.: It’s quicker to explain what I don’t read. Historical romance—no offence to the authors of it or fans—and any book regardless of genre that fails to demonstrate the basic craft of storytelling within the first few pages (i.e. setting a scene, description, problem, what’s about to change).

CIR: Do you ever get writer’s rock, er… block? If so how do you break through?

E.C.: Particularly, I have problems writing a male character who can sweep a woman off her feet. What is it like to be that silver tongued devil who can dazzle the woman into his bed? I don’t know. Can’t imagine being like that, but I enjoy trying to write them.

CIR: What do you feel your stories are born of?

E.C.: What I want to see out there in the book selections. It has happened where I think, man, I’d like for there to be a title about yada yada, and then I snoop around the internet and find that a yada yada already exists, and I stop right there because I’m glad someone did it. Typically, I’ll buy said title. But If I don’t see anything like my idea, I tack it on to my to-do list.

CIR: What one piece of advice would you offer to new writers?

E.C.: For the most part, there are two types of writers…seriously…those who love the written word, and those who love themselves. There are some who qualify for a get-out-of-jail-free card on those classifications, but all one has to do is look around at the scribes around them and notice the fairly typical dichotomy of attitudes.

If you can be the writer who hungers to set words on paper no matter what genre and rejoice when an agent or editor is willing to work with you to make that story the most marketable publication, you’ll make it one way or another. You also need to be able to produce copy. Just look at Nora Roberts.

That’s advice for the author who wants to get published and sell books. If you just enjoy stroking the keyboard as a hobby, you don’t need advice.

But if you write because you think you’re God’s gift to the language, you’re not going to listen to me anyway. No more explanation needed.

I’m not saying that you can’t be proud of your work. Just remember that the reader comes first. Speaking of, that’s why I like interviewing book buyers in the ongoing series on the Rock entitled Meet the Reader. I damn well want to know what readers are looking for to make my pages better.

CIR: What’s your favorite rock and roll song?

E.C.: Love Train by the Ojays. Hey…no snickering.

CIR: When did you first consider yourself a writer?

E.C.: When I realized that I even freakin’ loved writing office memos and business letters.

CIR: Do you also have a “day” job? Other interests or hobbies?

E.C.: It’s a government job and because they could really get all up in arms about my moonlighting, I write under a pseudonym. I also crochet. Yes, my pseudonym is a play of words with ecstasy. But Stacy is an Irish last name, and I just so happen to have some of the ol’ emerald lineage breathing in me.

CIR: Do you like rocking chairs?

E.C.: I like racing them. Crashed one last week.

CIR: If you could time travel, when and where would you go?

E.C.: Got ya! I can time travel. With age defying make-up, I’m now only 23 years old.

CIR: What do you predict for the future of the publishing industry and where you fit into that?

E.C.: It will surely be stopped by the Mayan prophecy. But if that happens, I guess lack of publishing will be the least of our problems.

CIR: And lastly, what did you dream of doing when you were twelve years old?

E.C.: Meeting the Bay City Rollers.

You can friend E.C. on Facebook! And thanks again for stopping by!

by Janet Fogg