Long before I discovered epubs, I was reading Black Lace novels. Now celebrating their 15th anniversary, this U.K. publisher is known for its intelligent erotic stories for women such as the brilliant Black Lace classics Menage by Emma Holly (now a Virgin Cheek title), Continuum by Portia Da Costa, and one of my favorite books of all time, A Gentleman’s Wager by Madelynne Ellis.
With the recent re-release of A Gentleman’s Wager (read my review) and the upcoming U.S. release of its much anticipated sequel, Phantasmagoria on April 29 (reviewed here), I asked Madelynne to stop by and answer a few questions. And even though I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a slightly obsessed fangirl, she actually agreed!
Welcome to the Pond, Madelynne!
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Every author gets asked this question or some variation of it. So, here at TGTBTU, we’ve made it easy for authors to answer by providing you with a multiple choice listing of the three most popular answers to “Where do your ideas come from?”… A. The Muse – you know, the creative force that inspires you to write… or Sharon Stone. B. The Voices in Your Head – or as we refer to them here at TGTBTU, ‘The Sybil.’ C. The Profession – it’s a job, sit your ass in the chair and type, and try not to make authors look flaky(ier) than we are, damn it. |
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B. Yeah, definitely The Sybil. |
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Do you listen to music when you write? What’s typically playing? Are there old favorites you fall back on when the writing is giving you fits? |
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 I don’t so much listen to music while I’m writing as take musical interludes. This is where I crank up the volume and stomp up and down, using the music to conjure specific moods. When it comes to the actual writing, I often find that the music is too distracting. For a while I combated this problem by listening to lots of Gackt. He’s Japanese so I didn’t have the problem of me singing along causing me to lose focus. Now, I sing along in bad Japanese.As for what I listen to… It varies wildly, for example the current section in my CD player: Gackt (Jpop), Cradle of Filth (goth/metal), Donovan (trippy 70’s folk), Juan Martin (Flamenco guitar), & Suede (Britpop). |
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What is guaranteed to distract you from sitting down and working? |
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Children. |
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A Gentleman’s Wager was first published in the UK in May 2003 but you started writing it in 1994 and didn’t finish until 2001. Let’s go back in time. You have a degree in Biology and Chemistry. Subsequently, you begin research in Parasitology and Malaria, then a friend sees you reading a Black Lace book and urges you to “give it a go”. Why did your friend think that your logical, scientific mind could write an erotic fiction story (and do such a phenomenal job of it)? Has your creative side always found an outlet through writing? Was AGW the very first thing you submitted? Honestly, it just fascinates me that both types of thought processes could be so strong in one person. |
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 Erm, a) because said friend is a perv… and b) because he’s been on the receiving end of my role-playing scenarios.My creative side has many outlets. I enjoy costume making and theatrical make-up and painting (badly). Although I’ve always created elaborate imaginary worlds, prior to A Gentleman’s Wager, I’d never made any serious attempts to write them down. AGW was the first novel I submitted. I think I’d subbed one short story prior to that point which went missing somewhere in e-space. [Ed.(Bev): at right is the original cover for AGW] |
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Now, here we are a few years later and AGW’s long awaited sequel, Phantasmagoria, is being released AND it’s been chosen to kick off the Virgin Black Lace 15th Anniversary Celebration! [Huge Congrats!] Was this a story that had been simmering on the back burner for awhile? What finally started the story flowing onto paper? |
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 I can categorically say there was no simmering involved. At the close of AGW, I genuinely had no intention of ever writing a sequel, despite numerous requests from people to do so, and loving those characters. As far as I was concerned the story was done.As for what changed that… a chance visit to Vaughan’s home.While researching a location for a short story that I never finished, we happened to drive through the village of Pennerley, from which Vaughan’s title is derived. We then went on to Stokesay Castle. To say I fell in love with the place would be an understatement. I was struck by the realization as we approached, that this was Vaughan’s home. In each room, I could see him laughing, prowling and brooding. It was still several weeks before a story emerged though. I actually went in search of a dictionary, and instead sat down and wrote the outline for Phantasmagoria. It literally came out of nowhere, and left me feeling both shocked and excited. Believe me, novels out of nowhere is not the norm for me. I’m used to the blood, sweat and tears approach to outlining. |
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Writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes? Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Honestly, as long as you don’t ask “What did you say?” I think you’re still on this side of sane. |
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I don’t generally argue with my characters, I may growl at them occasionally when they insist on rewriting the lovely plot twist I’ve thought up. I work from fairly skeletal outlines, and focus heavily on characterization and character interactions, so I’m rarely surprised by what my characters do or say, but conversations do run away from me sometimes, and suddenly veer off at tangents.I’d say the main problem I have with my characters is that I frequently get very clear images of events unfolding, but I don’t understand how they connect, and then I spend ages trying to figure it all out. For example, in Phantasmagoria, I had a clear image of Vaughan carrying Bella through the castle asleep in his arms, but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why it was necessary for him to carry her anywhere. Why hadn’t he just left her in her bed and had his wicked way? Eventually, everything fell into place and it made perfect sense, but not before it had given me two-month headache. |
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You took one helluva risk with Phantasmagoria. The characters from A Gentleman’s Wager are so beloved, yet you did NOT give them the expected happy ending in Phantasmagoria. In fact, it’s an emotionally painful look at what happens when their relationship falls apart. Did you have any idea how dark Phantasmagoria was going to be? Or maybe the question should be- WHY did you write such an emotionally dark story? While you were writing it, were you able to walk away from all those emotions, or did you feel like you couldn’t quite shake off all that darkness when you left your desk? |
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I knew from the start that Phantasmagoria was going to be the dark heart of their story and that it was going to be a rough journey. It’s not the end of the story though (although I still need to convince an editor of that.) As for why I chose to write something quite so emotionally tortuous, I suppose the reasons are two-fold. Firstly, I strive for emotional complexity and I think it’s only through tragedy that you really see what makes people tick. A story about Vaughan, Bella and Lucerne all getting along wouldn’t have made for a very gripping read, regardless of how much hot sex they were enjoying. The second reason is rather more personal. Just prior to embarking upon writing Phantasmagoria I received some devastating and life-altering news. I’m not prepared to divulge any more information about it than that. However, that period was an extremely difficult time emotionally, and I’m sure that my feelings tipped over into my writing. I certainly cried buckets over certain events. You might say that I was using my characters as a sort of therapy. Though their problems have no resemblance to my own. |
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Then you decided to do something even more surprising- instead of finishing the story immediately with a follow-up book, you are doing a spin-off series before returning to the original characters and finishing their story. Do you already have all these subsequent books mapped-out/outlined or are you a “seat-of-your-pants” writer and start with a basic idea but then let things happen as your muse/characters/secret-voices direct at the time? |
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I’m definitely more of a “seat-of-the-pants” writer than a plotter. What I have for these subsequent books are key points and general themes I want to explore. The first spin-off book is more or less complete. As for why I decided to do the spin-off stories first… it’s to do with the timeline of events, as key characters from AGW and Phantasmagoria crop up in these stories. The other reason I didn’t immediately launch into completing Vaughan, Bella & Lucerne’s story is because I needed a break from Vaughan. He’s a bit intense, you know. And very demanding! Also, I wanted time to let the ideas percolate. |
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In both A Gentleman’s Wager and Phantasmagoria, you treat us to very visual physical descriptions of the characters… except Bella, the female lead in both books. We really know very few details about her looks. Was that a conscious decision on your part? When you are writing, do you view the story through the eyes of one of the lead characters (in this case, Bella’s), and consequently lead the reader to do the same? |
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I can’t honestly say that it’s a conscious decision. Actually, I’m surprised. I thought she was described. If the details of her appearance are less exact than those of the men, I suspect that can be put down to the fact that while I love my female characters, I’m not in love with them. I’m always hopelessly infatuated with my male characters. I work on the principle that if I love them, there’s a fair chance that someone else will feel the same way. |
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AGW and Phantasmagoria are historical stories (Georgian), but you also write contemporaries, including yaoi inspired and paranormal. Are any of these sub-genres easier/harder than the others for you? Is it hard to transition back and forth between them, or does the contrast actually make it easier to keep them separate in your mind? |
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  Each book is different. I don’t think it’s the sub-genre that governs whether something is easier/harder to write. I enjoy writing historical novels because the period fascinates me. Paranormals allow me to let my imagination run wild. Contemporaries… Unless something specific inspires me, eg Egyptian archaeology (Passion of Isis) or yaoi manga/gothic fashion (Dark Designs), I tend to avoid them. I actually find the humdrum realism of them frustrating. Also, because my contemporaries focus on niche settings, they tend to involve vast amounts of research, even more than the historical set books. |
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So, what releases are coming up for you? What are you working on right now? |
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 No scheduled releases at the moment after Phantasmagoria. Currently I’m working on the second draft of the first AGW spin-off story, and outlining a sequel to my recent paranormal novella Broken Angel [from the anthology, Possession]. |
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I just have to ask you about the live role playing (LRP) events that you and your partner run. Please tell us more- Are there specific historical periods that you portray? Are they mysteries, comedies, dramas? Are your children involved or are these adults-only events? Are they outdoor only events or do you hold them at different venues year round? You also put together props, come up with plots, make period costumes, do the make-up; basically keep everything running. Is this a hobby gone mad or has it now become a business in the “find what you love to do, then find a way to get paid for it” sense? |
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 LRP – lets see, indoors, outdoors, generally either turn of the century horror or pseudo-medieval fantasy, lots of different venues across the UK ranging from campsites to castles. I’m actually feeling quite out of touch with it, other things have cut into the time we have to spend on these events. [Ed.(Bev): that’s Madelynne in one of her period costumes] |
10 Quick Quacks about Madelynne Ellis
| 1. Milk, dark, or white chocolate? |
| Milk. Dark chocolate gives me a headache and white chocolate is just yuck. |
| 2. If you could spend one month anywhere in the world, where would you go? |
 Somewhere where there wasn’t anyone else. Possibly Fort Clonque. It’s a tiny island off the coast of Alderney, Channel Islands, which houses a fort and nothing else. [pictured at right] |
| 3. Burn, tan, or SPF=cardboard? |
| Eh? I don’t do sun. |
| 4. Gym, sports, or “I love my ass”? |
| I swim when the UK weather doesn’t mean I come out with icicles in my hair. |
| 5. What author haven’t you read that you keep meaning to? |
| Glancing at the TBR pile. Sherrilyn Kenyon. I appear to have a large pile of her books that I’ve not looked at, and Sebastian Faulks. |
| 6. Heels or flats? |
| Flats, mostly. |
| 7. Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, George Clooney, Gerard Butler, or Sean Connery? |
| Johnny Depp but only by default. Really none of the above. |
| 8. Coffee or Tea? |
| Black Coffee |
| 9. Favorite dessert? |
| I’m not a dessert person. [Bev: HAH! See? She’s NOT perfect!] |
| 10. Peanut butter, jelly, or Vegemite |
| In what context? [Bev: When you read Phantasmagoria, you’ll understand why she couldn’t give a decisive answer. hee] |
Thank you so much for coming out to play with us, Madelynne!
Madelynne’s novels and novellas:
Madelynne’s short stories can be found in these anthologies:
Virgin Black Lace books can be ordered from Amazon, or through Borders, and Barnes & Noble. Many new Black Lace releases can also be found on the shelves of the latter two stores.
Quick bio notes and what Madelynne will be up to: 
Madelynne, who lives in the U.K. with “Mr. Madelynne” and their two children, is a frequent contributor to the Virgin Black Lace group author blog, Lust Bites. Last July, Madelynne partnered up with Portia Da Costa to host a Not Going to Nationals Cyber-Workshop on writing erotic scenes over at the Romance Divas forum (their members-only thread can be found here). This year Madelynne, travelling with authors Portia Da Costa/Wendy Wooton and Saskia Walker, is going to make her FIRST visit to this side of the pond to attend RWA Nationals in San Francisco! So if you’re also going, make sure to hunt her down. And for duckies sake— will you please take them under your wing and make sure they get to see more of the U.S. than the inside of the hotel?!
CONTEST: Madelynne will be sending some Lucky Duckie a SIGNED copy of A Gentleman’s Wager AND Phantasmagoria! Winner will be chosen from comments on this post or on my review of Phantasmagoria over here. Keep in mind that these are erotic historical romances containing m/m, m/f/m, m/m/f, and m/f scenes. Each book also contains a brief f/f scene. So, if that doesn’t float your boat, or you are under 18, feel free to leave a comment or question for Madelynne, but please indicate you don’t want to be entered in the drawing.
I keep looking for these books (well, A.G.W. until tomorrow) everywhere and can’t find them! They sound absolutely fabulous and I am looking forward to reading them if I can get my hands on copies.
xoxoxo
Becky, Borders (and probably B&N) should have Phantasmagoria in stock tomorrow (April 29th)– unless your Borders is like mine, then they’ll get it later this week. GRRR! Get someone at their help desk to, you know… help.
Otherwise, you can order A Gentleman’s Wager, Phantasmagoria, and other Black Lace titles from Amazon, or through Borders/Waldens and Barnes and Noble.
In fact, thanks for reminding me. I just added that info after Madelynne’s book list above.
Hi Madelynne!
Thanks for visiting! I only recently discovered Black Lace, and am slowly trying to find it’s books. [My brain is all melty today.] Loved the interview – and Gackt! I don’t know if I’ve heard many of his songs, but a few friends totally dragged me into loving him – he’s great eye candy. [And so out there!]
I don’t THINK you’re a slightly obsessed fangirl. I KNOW IT!
Seriously, though. Thanks for inviting me over. I feel all honoured. I can’t believe that you linked to all those youtube vids though.
Hey limecello,
I’ve wasted many many hours of my life drooling over Gackt. I love his sense of humour as well as his music.
Loved reading the interview. Interesting to see that Maddelyne Ellis has a science dgree. Smart and creative…
uh… I had to watch them anyway, cuz other than Donovan, I had NO CLUE who they were. Now that I’ve seen and heard them all, I’ve got to say that you’ve got one of the most diverse music collections I’ve ever come across. And that Cradle of Filth scared me. *meep*
Hee, do ya think it’s obvious that I may be a wee bit too emotionally involved with Bella, Lucerne, and Vaughan? Seriously, Vaughan actually makes this non-writer come close to understanding what all you writers mean when you refer to characters taking over a story, or arguing with you, etc. I can sooo see how he could do it!
Now let’s see if he will give you that break from him, because you KNOW that if you let him show up in any of the spin-off books, he’s going to try and make it all about HIM! LOL
And Bev should have 4 copies of each to give away… Phantasmagoria is on the way. AGW is coming a few days later… so once they are in my hot lil hands she can make you guys do something for them.
Or pick from comments here, or something… up to TEH BEV. And I am not sure if she is going to give them away as sets or what.
Oh how you tempt me you evil generous duckies! *looking at list of pending reviews*
*sobbing*
*shaking fist*
:sigh:
Sybil is being teh party pooper. er…I mean… YEAH, SYB! for being a private ducktective and finding the peeps who can supply teh swag, but I wanted to surprise you guys with the extra copies! ::does her spoiled brat imitation::
Well, the SIGNED copies from Madelynne will still be the Grand Prize, but I’m gonna think on how I’m gonna award the other 4 copies. But I will say this— they WILL be awarded in sets of two– one each of A Gentleman’s Wager and Phantasmagoria!
uh.. I think…
Now I’m even more intrigued – was that even possible?! [And… I still haven’t begun studying. Dear God.]
Madelynne, on my desktop, I had a file folder full of Gackt photos. I had to pare down, but … yeah. I might be able to match you on the hours. 😛
Just a quick reminder that Madelynne is in the U.K. which is 6 hours ahead of TGTBTU time. So at some point she may disappear to get some shut-eye and will probably drop by again tomorrow.
What I find scary about Cradle of Filth is that they are so incredibly normal if you see them being interviewed. I still like this track by them the best http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89W2ZJwNYIo , which is not scary at all, but very much in tune with how I see things as I write.
What I find scary about Cradle of Filth is that they are so utterly normal when you see them in interviews! I still love this song by them best http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89W2ZJwNYIo , which is not at all scary, but is exactly how I visualise the pieces of my plots as I put them together.
Limecello, HOW did you manage to pare them down? My collection just keeps growing, and I’ve recently corrupted another writer with them too.
Oooh! There’s a sequel to Gentleman’s Wager??? I found that book a few weeks ago while looking for new books with m/m in it and it immediately grabbed my attention. Unfortunately it’s part on an Amazon order I had to postpone for many reasons(including the fact I really need to make a dent in that 100+ TBR pile I already have at home before I order anything else!!) But thanks for the interview! I’m not going to read the review for Phantasmagoria (love that title) just in case it gives anyway away about the ending of AGW. I skipped a few lines of this interview too for the same reason :).
I like limecello, am a fan of Gackt. It always makes me more eager to try an author when I know they have good taste. (Though while I love Gackt, I’m really more of a Miyavi fan.)
And ooh, threesome.
I enjoyed Gentlemen’s Wager.
Pleasantly suprised to find out about the sequel.
Ha, who knew there were so many Gackt fans hiding out here.
Gackt was part inspiration for the character of Takeshi in Dark Designs. Please ignore the totally hideous book cover, which has nothing to do with the wonderful threesome within 🙂
Well now, I’ll have to hurry and read “A Gentleman’s Agreement,” which I totally bought based on QB’s lurve for it, el pronto then, won’t I? Just so I can get at “Phantasmagoria.”
Ooohh, I must say Madelynne, that I really like the idea of a darker book where there is much angst going on. “Phantasmagoria” sounds really interesting.
Leah
Crap, I wrote “A Gentleman’s Agreement” instead of “A Gentleman’s Wager” So sorry!!!!! I think I need a nap. LOL
There’s certainly plenty of angst, MB. I did a fair amount of angsting myself while writing it, as I was totally convinced that all the people who’d loved AGW would hate me forever…
Oh, and Bev, regarding your earlier point… Vaughan is still proving troublesome and demanding. I’m already having problems with him trying to steal the limelight from Darleston. I may have to cut his part down to a teeny tiny guest appearance, which unfortunately means all their lovely conversations will never see the the light of day… Hmm, we’ll see…
BWAHAHAHAHA- MB, believe it or not, I spent years… YEARS… trying to catch myself because I said “Agreement” every single time. It wasn’t until I noticed that Madelynne referred to it as AGW that I starting getting it right– but only if I paused and thought “W = Wager”. I’m soooooo glad I’m not the only one!
HAH! I KNEW he’d demand to be front and center! But, CUT HIS PART DOWN?! CUT OUT HIS CONVERSATION?!*GASP* You KNOW he’ll find a way to get back at you if you do that! Be afraid… be very afraid.
I’m quaking already!
Okay, that might be the lack of sleep. Time for me to call it a night. I’ll stop by again tomorrow.
BTW: I’m posting a teaser excerpt from Phantasmagoria over at Lust Bites tomorrow. I’d love it if you all stopped by and said hello.
Goodnight, Madelynne!
Oh, and it seems I owe all you non-IE7 duckies an apology. Evidently, what looked perfectly aligned in IE7 was a mess in the other browsers. I only have IE7 so I couldn’t test it in anything else. Sorry. Gwen has fixed it for the other browsers but now I have to apologize to my fellow IE7 duckies too because we are just going to have to put up with the “stand back and toss it” look.
*sigh* Maybe someday WordPress and IE7 will learn to play nice together. Wonder if it will be during my lifetime.
I will have to look 4 the new title 2morrow, hopefully I will be able to find it! Thanks a bunch Bev.
xoxoxo
No it was only the Feed (as in RSS feed) that had to be fixed. ACK at least I hope… is I have firefox, IE7 and gwen is working out of IE6 I am pretty sure all is well else where.
Do shout if not.
Loved the interview! I always enjoy finding out where authors get thier inspiration and HOW they do it. I can guarantee I won’t find them at my B&N because the one they have in my one horse town sucks (they only have one shelf with romance/erotic romance). I’ll be checking it out on Amazon though (although….a SIGNED copy wouldn’t be a BAD thing)!
Ack, late to this party, due to checking page proofs [shudder]!
Fantastic interview, Madelynne and BevQB. Really enjoyed it, and AGW and Phantasmagoria are fabulous books, some of the best erotic writing I’ve ever read. I’m dying to read further instalments. 🙂
And I’m really looking forward to our trip to RWA.
@ Madelynne: That comment actually totally reassures me about Dark Designs. That cover had me shying away from it.
Liviania: You would not believe how much I LOATHE that book cover. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it.
Excellent interview, and I love the cover!!
Sorry folks, I realise my last comment was probably confusing. I love the cover for PHANTASMAGORIA. The one I loathe is for DARK DESIGNS.
I recently started reading a few erotic books and was surprised at how good the stories were. I’ve shied away from them in the past and now am willing to give more a shot. Though I haven’t read this author, I would like to. 🙂
Madelynne has been nice enough to send us excerpts we plan to post this weekend :).
I haven’t gotten the extra prizes yet. But I will see if Madelynne would like to award her contest now and we will give away more books this weekend (using this thread and the excerpt threads of course).