Q & A with the Talented Gemma Snow

Please welcome author Gemma Snow to my blog today, please make yourself at home.

Can you summarise your latest work in just a few words?

Thank you so much for having me on! Yes! So Leather and Gold is a class-clashing erotic novella set in Regency England, starring a widowed duchess and a devilish sea captain!

Regency England! I love it already! So, what was the inspiration for this book?

I love the built-in tension of historical romance! Everything has to be nuanced and unspoken and between the lines, and that makes for a really great set-up. Sexuality and desire are not new ideas, and so I wanted to play around with these universal wants in an era when they would have been even more misunderstood and secret. The character of Alexandre, my sea captain, was loosely inspired by the Three Musketeers, though, of course, the story takes place much later. I do love me a bad boy sea captain though.

Bad boys do have their appeal, don’t they ; – )

How do you decide on the names for your characters?

Well, apparently I liked the original names so much that I was halfway through the book when I realized I’d used both of them in Captain’s Quarters, one of my first short stories! I’ve written several Regency-era romances and there is a definite dearth of sexy names, so I made Alexandre French and moved outside of the nobility for Emmeline. It was a little embarrassing to realize that I’d forgotten my own characters!

That’s so funny, I’ve done something similar. I have a thing for “S” and “G” names and it’s often only half way through a WIP I realise everyone has almost identical names and then I have to go and change them all as it’s just so confusing to keep track of who is who! 

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Two things! One, you’ve probably heard a thousand times. Write – write all the time. Keep notebooks and phone notes and napkins and never stop telling stories. It’s easy to get caught up in the madness of the hustle, but if you keep your eye on the story, you’ll make it to the finish line.
And two, at the risk of completely negating that first one, you have to treat writing like a business. Get up, get dressed, make to-do lists, set deadlines, keep the books. When you treat writing like a business you’re more productive and the rejections and setbacks are far easier to manage.

This is so true! Aferall you can’t edit a blank page can you?

Tell us a little more about yourself. When you’re not inside your creative cave writing and plotting away, what do you like doing?

My dad and I have a startup company, so my days are almost all hustle and bustle. I run the social media and news department for a website for classic car enthusiasts, so I get to enjoy a lot of different hobbies and interests every day. I love baking, traveling, yoga, reading, art history, anything and everything that opens my mind and gives me new things to learn and explore.

From what I can gather, you write contemporary romance but also erotica, I have a great admiration for storytellers in this genre, what it the funniest / weirdest comment you’ve heard when you’ve told someone you write erotica?

Great question! So I’ve written in a lot of genres, contemporary, historical, erotic (erotic historical,) etc. I have to say, I get asked about Fifty Shades of Grey all the time! I have a lot of issues with the series, but I also find it funny because my work is much more graphic and explicit. If you go in expecting FS, you’ll probably be pretty surprised! The cool thing is though, erotic romance is a great platform to explore feminism, consent, sexual agency, and creativity. I think one of the most feminist things I do in my life is write about women exploring their sexual desires in safe, consensual environments, where they’re fostered and properly understood. This isn’t necessarily something I can explain to everyone I talk to though, but it’s a large element in why I love this genre so much.

This is a very interesting and important concept, thank you for sharing!

What can we expect from you in the future?

Stuff and things! I just signed the third book in the Triple Diamond series, which is a four-book menage series set on the Triple Diamond Ranch in Wolf Creek, Montana. That series has been such a fantastic fun series to write, because each book explores different elements and types of menage relationships. I also learned a lot about Montana — I’m a coast girl, so that was unique! Seduction en Pointe and Leather and Gold are both the first books in their series, so I’ll be working on the rest of those soon — and I have a contemporary royals erotic romance in the works too! I just wish there was more time for everything!

Congratulations on signing your next book. It sounds like you’ll be busy with all your up-coming writing projects.

As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?

Always a writer! Also a scientist, movie director, perfume-maker, and chocolatier. Obviously, I always had an imagination! I still haven’t given up on becoming a ballerina or a marine biologist. (My lack of background in either would disagree!)

I look foward to seeing you dance then…

Do you have any strange habits before, or whilst in the writing process?

I mostly keep a lot of notes — though they’re not always organized! I have tons of notebooks, two bulletin boards and a Google Drive worth of disapparate notes! Seduction en Pointe went through some major plot overhauls, and I actually did a storyboard of the whole book on this 12-foot whiteboard and may have left it in the foyer for like three months. My mom was really patient, but I think she had enough of her friends asking about the exhibitionism sex scenes in the dining room and she finally told me to take it down.

Oh my gosh! That’s hysterical! 

How many books have you written? Do you have any unpublished work?
Under Gemma Snow, I have four short stories, a novella and a novel currently published, with two more novels in the publishing queue and the series to complete. Under my other pen name, I have four novellas and a full-length novel out. I’m currently working to place my Special Forces series, so there are a couple completed manuscripts in the pipeline.

That’s quite a lot! You have a busy mind.

How long did it take you to get from the idea’s stage to your publication day?

Leather and Gold was a wild experience! I had submitted a very short version of this book, less than half, to anthology open submission, right around when I submitted The Lovin’ Is Easy to an anthology open submission. My grandma and I share a birthday and it’s always a big, rousing week of fun and family, and during this week my amazing editor gets in touch with me and says “we love both books, but can you double both of them by the end of the month.” I was literally editing the hardcopy of the manuscript in the backseat of the car on the way to my own birthday party! But I love how this book turned out and both manuscripts were far better for being longer.

That’s a real sweet story. It’s funny how things sometimes turn out and the bizarre things we often do to achieve our dreams.

What was your hardest scene to write?

There’s a scene where Alexandre and Emmeline break character during a very intimate moment, and that one was a bit rough. Alexandre is a hardened sea captain, very masculine, very controlled, and having his emotions displayed so rawly was tough to write, but so worth it in the end.

What did you do once you had written the final word in your book?

Haha, I don’t remember if I finished The Lovin’ Is Easy or Leather and Gold first, but it was such a whirlwind that I didn’t stop writing for a bunch of weeks — I think I then started on a different deadline. No rest for the weary and all that!

Yes, I think writing is difinately 24/7 , just as well we love it so much.

What movie could you watch over and over again?

Pirates of the Caribbean featured heavily in my life for a long time — I write about a lot of devilish sea captains and pirates! I’m also a huge fan of rom-com Shakespeare reimaginings, so She’s the Man, 10 Things I Hate About You, also Indiana Jones and any Harry Potter movie.

What would be the top song on your playlist?

I’m really more of an audiobook person than a music person (I know, it’s not cool to admit that!) But Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” or “Hell on Heels” by the Pistol Annies, give me a lot of angry feminist juice.

If you won millions, what would be your first purchase?

I’d pay off the student debt. It’s not sexy, but my boyfriend and I both owe a lot in school loans and it’s really tough to start a real life for ourselves with that albatross around our ankles. Then I’d fund my startup company in full. After that, there are some castles for sale in Europe…

I’m sure they’d make a great setting to one of your next novels too!

A talking cat walks into your room wearing sunglasses, and a cocktail glass in hand, what’s the first thing that he says to you?

“Sugar pie, ain’t no one teach you to play the piano?”

Thanks so much coming along today, and for these really fun answers. I wish you the very best and look forward to reading more about you and your work.

You can find out more about this talented author here:

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Or at https://www.gemmasnow.com

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