INTERVIEW with Susan Lyons

We'd like to welcome Susan Lyons, amazing author of Sex Drive to The Raving Readers! Thank you for joining us!

The Raving Readers: Susan, we understand Sex Drive is the first book in the series Wild Ride to Love. What an apt series title! How did your idea for the series come about?

Susan Lyons: In casual chat one day, an idea came out of the blue that it would be fun to write a "planes, trains, and automobiles" series of romances. I think different modes of transportation are sexy in their own way. Also, travel is a journey, a transition time, and so is the development of a romance--that wild ride to love!--so together I could see them making for intriguing stories.

That idea fermented in my mind for at least a couple of years, as I wrote my Awesome Foursome series starring four 20-something best friends. I loved writing about female relationships (in addition, of course, to the romance and the heroine's and hero's growth arcs) and I loved writing a linked series. But, rather than doing friends again, I was intrigued by sisters--in part because I'm an only child and have always been the outsider looking in. Well, a writer gets to go anywhere she wants, so I decided to step into the world of sisters.

All those ideas wove together into the concept of the Wild Ride to Love series. Four sisters, four modes of transportation (yes, a cruise ship got thrown in there!), four very sexy and romantic wild rides to love.

TRR: How exciting! So that's how series are made. Now, let's talk about Sex Drive, the first book in the Wild Ride to Love series. The hero, Damien Black, is so sexy and charming and too good to be true! How did he come into being? Where did you get the idea for his character? Like, is he modeled after someone--or many someone's--that you know or did he spring purely from your imagination?

SL: Thanks. I love Damien too. Another joy of being a writer is that we get to create and spend time with the sexiest men in the world. Even if only in our imaginations! (No, sigh, he's not based on a real someone in my life…)

Because I was writing about sisters, I envisioned the heroine first. Professor Theresa Fallon is a studious type who's been unlucky in love, who believes herself unattractive to men, who figures her sex drive has pretty much shrivelled up and died. So, what kind of hero would most challenge and attract Theresa? Of course she thinks it's the professorial type, so I gave her the opposite. Damien is a celebrity author who writes paranormal thrillers--books that an intellectual like her considers to be superficial and a waste of time. Not only is he a hottie, he's been voted one of Australia's 10 sexiest bachelors and he could have pretty much any woman he wants.

And he chooses her.

TRR: We should all be so lucky! *sighs with envy* Still about Damien, in your opinion, how is he different from the other sexy and gorgeous heroes we read about in books? In other words, what makes him unique?

SL: One thing I love about Damien is that he's a writer. Not a wimpy, intellectual one, but a guy who writes paranormal thrillers. He loves his job and he knows the industry, and that's fun for a writer to write about. He's also a man who sees beyond the obvious--like the flight attendant with fake boobs and too much makeup--to the more subtly beautiful Theresa. And he sees her as a real, multi-faceted person: he flirts with her, he gives her sensual and sexual pleasure, and he challenges her intellectually. He also has strong enough self-esteem that he doesn't always have to be right, and he can learn from her. (Plus, did I mention, he really is sexy and gorgeous. LOL.)

TRR: No doubt about it, Damien is such a sexy guy and I don't just mean the physical. What makes him perfect for the heroine, Dr. Theresa Fallon?

SL: He genuinely finds her feminine and sexy, while most men don't see beyond her rather buttoned-up image. He brings out that side of her until she actually believes she's feminine and sexy. He's spontaneous and fun, whereas she tends to operate by rules and lists, and he helps her lighten up and learn how to have fun. They're both intelligent and they challenge each other to grow and become better people--and they have fun sparring while they're doing it.

TRR: Lucky Tezzie, that's all I can say. Would that I could be a heroine in your novel... So, what do you like about Theresa Fallon?

SL: Personally, as an only child, I relate to the pressures put on a bright oldest child. I like her responsibility and reliability. I like that she's found a career she's passionate about and that she wants to make the world a better place (she's a sociology prof, specializing in indigenous peoples, and she wants to improve their situation). I like how, even though she's a pretty structured person, she can move past that to see things in new ways, whether it's coming to realize her own sexuality, or to decide she can do more good if she comes out of the ivory tower and talks to the non-academic world. She's a good but flawed human being, as we all are, and she learns about herself and is willing to do the hard work of becoming a better person.

TRR: Yes, I like that about herself too, that she's willing to change and accept another person's criticism/suggestion. In fact, both Damien and Theresa were part of the reason Sex Drive was a fast, easy read for me. They were so compelling I just couldn't help but turn the page, or in my case, scroll down (ebook ARC). Was that how it was for you when you wrote it? Did you ever find yourself arguing with your characters, like when they decided the story has to go in the opposite direction for what you've planned? How do you handle such an event?

SL: Most books go by fits and starts, for me. I rarely plot ahead of time, except to know that the story's a romance so it's going to have a happy ending. How the characters get there . . . well, that's something I discover along the way. (I have my own wild ride, too. LOL.)

TRR:  Ooooh... sounds exciting! Oops, sorry, please go on.

SL: Sometimes I stall, then I have to go walk around, puzzle things out, wait for inspiration. Often the characters do kind of take over the keyboard, and it's always fun when that happens. Because I don't really do much plotting, I'm pretty open to where the characters want to go. Once, when I was writing She's on Top, the final book in the Awesome Foursome series, the hero decided how the story was going to end, and it took me by surprise and I had a mental argument with him. He won, and he was right!

TRR: The way you put it, writing sounds so exciting. How long does it usually take you to write a book from conceptualization to research to the finished draft? Let's take, for example, Sex Drive.

SL: I usually allow four months to write a book, but often some of the brainstorming happens ahead of time. The idea's in my mind, germinating, before I actually get started. Recently, I've been lucky enough to have back-to-back contracts, so I haven't had spare time to play with ideas. I finish one book, and it's time to start the next, and I'm on a relatively tight time line. With series books, the first one is very interesting – e.g., with Sex Drive, I wasn't just learning about Theresa and Damien, I needed to get a fairly clear idea of Theresa's three younger sisters. Whatever I said about them in Sex Drive, I'd have to live with in three more books. Then, when I get to the next books (the second, Love Unexpectedly, comes out in April and I'll be starting to write the third in two or three weeks), I at least have a fair idea about the heroine's personality and issues, which makes it a little easier. Unless of course I have some brilliant inspiration and want to change things, and get frustrated if I can't!

TRR: You have another series, I believe, this one about four friends. Please tell us a little bit about this series and how different is it from the Wild Love to Ride series.

SL: Yes, that's the Awesome Foursome series. Champagne Rules, the first book in that series, was the first book I sold. I wasn't planning a series, but when I developed my heroine, I gave her three girlfriends. I have several 4-women groups in my life, and I've loved Sex And The City and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. There's a certain magic about 4-girlfriend groups.

TRR: Sorry, I couldn't help but comment. Maybe I should get one more person to complete my own magical 4-girlfriend group!

SL: You certainly should! Anyway, by the time I'd written Champagne Rules, of course I'd gotten to love the heroine's three friends, and of course they all deserved their own sexy heroes and their own love stories. So, it became a series. Each book follows one couple's romance, and they go in chronological order. Each book has all four of the women in it, and the reader gets to follow what's happening in each of their lives. Also, each heroine has an issue that resonates for contemporary women: e.g., balancing career and personal life, respecting your parents but making your own way in life, having body image issues. I've had lots of great feedback on those books.

TRR: Sound like my kind of books. I've often heard that writers are readers, too. Your own books aside, what books have you read that you wouldn't hesitate recommending, because you believe other people will love it as you do?

SL: I'm definitely a reader. I'm addicted to reading. I read when I'm brushing my teeth. Seriously. But I do know we all have distinct tastes, so I'm reluctant to make recommendations. Also, I have so many writer friends now, I don't want to recommend one writer over another!

TRR: Speaking of writers, Damien mentioned that he has a beach cottage where he goes to write. What is your special place?

SL: I have a bright, ergonomically set up home office in downtown Vancouver that looks out on a garden courtyard. I love nature, love plants, have orchid plants on my desk. I do a lot of writing there, but sometimes the desk starts to get associated with the business aspects of the writing life rather than the creative ones, so then I take my laptop and go work in a chair in the living room. We also have a fixer-upper country home in Victoria, with a gorgeous ocean view, and I often work there as well. Or on the ferry, going back and forth.

TRR: I've heard that a change of scenery does wonders for the creative juices. Looks like that works for you! So, what do you have upcoming for your fans?

SL: In January, I have Sex on the Beach, from Berkley Heat. It has three intertwined romances set around a destination wedding in Belize. In January, February, and March, I have three Harlequin Spice Briefs, the Erotique series, about three "average" women who find erotic, romantic adventures at a private sex club. In March, I have a novella in a Kensington Aphrodisia anthology called Some Like It Rough. My story's about a buttoned-up admin assistant who goes undercover as an exotic dancer and discovers her wild side – and her female power over the sexy PI who's "keeping an eye on her." In April, there's the second Wild Ride to Love book, Love, Unexpectedly. This one is in the Kensington Brava line, under the pen name Susan Fox. It's about the second sister, and explores what it takes for best friends to turn into passionate lovers.

TRR: Now that you mention it, it's interesting that Sex Drive is published under the name Susan Lyons, and Love, Unexpectedly plus the 3rd and 4th books in the series are under the name Susan Fox. Why would different books in the same series be published under different pen names when both Susan Lyons and Susan Fox are you?

SL: Well, it wasn't my decision and I wasn't a fly on the wall at Kensington's editorial meeting, so I can't answer that one. After Sex Drive was in the works, Kensington asked me if I'd like to move from the Aphrodisia line to the Brava line. Aphrodisia is explicitly erotic; Brava is very spicy but doesn't go quite as far. I'd always thought my writing was better suited to Brava, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to write for them. It was weird timing, being in the middle of a series, but that's just how it worked out. I think the publisher's general idea is to have somewhat different branding for the two lines and my two names. I could certainly understand that if I was, for example, writing both erotic romance and sweet romance. But in fact, my writing is pretty much the same. My focus is always on the romance rather than the sex, and the sex is one woman and one man (no ménage, shapeshifters, or vampires!) and not incredibly kinky (no BDSM), and the books under both names are very spicy. Oh, and just to confuse matters further, I also write very sweet short romances for The Wild Rose Press under the Susan Lyons name (they're collected in an anthology called Calendar of Love).

All I can say is, I hope this works out for the best! I hope readers who find me under one name will be savvy enough to track me down under the other name as well. I have to figure the publisher knows what they're doing. In this business, we all have our expertise and role. Mine is to write the books.

TRR: True enough. With the Internet, I think it's safe to say we're all getting savvier every day. Any last words for us?

SL: Just that I love, love, love hearing from fans. They can contact me via my website.

TRR: Not only that, but Susan's website is stuffed full of goodies for the readers. I know I had a fun time browsing the site.

SL: Thanks, Shana. Yes, I have excerpts, trailers, behind-the-scenes notes, discussion guides, recipes, review quotes, a monthly contest, and an e-newsletter. Thanks so much for having me here. It's been a blast, and I'm looking forward to chatting with readers. Ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer.

TRR: Thank you so much for this interview! It's great having you here with us.

Interested to read Sex Drive?

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

Interested to read Sex On The Beach?

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble 
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook


Enter for the chance to win an autographed copy of Sex On The Beach!

How to Enter:  You can do any or all of the following:

1. Comment on any of the posts on January 13 and 14.

2. Ask questions. Susan will be dropping by the blog from time to time and will answer any questions you might have.

3. Answer this question: ("stolen" from Susan's book discussion questions in Sex Drive. More discussion questions can be found on Susan's website.)

Birth order. Theresa is the oldest of four sisters. How has that fact, and family history, shaped her personality? What's been the influence of birth order on her younger sisters? And how about you? What's your order in your family, and do you think that's affected you?

Who Can Enter: Anybody on this planet.

Contest Deadline:  11:59pm EST on January 14, 2010

Winner Announcement:  The name of the winner will be posted on the blog on January 15, 2010. Instructions will be given then on how to claim the prize.

* Check out our review of Sex Drive and a Sneak Peek of Sex On The Beach!