GUEST BLOG: Rebecca Goings

Today's guest blogger is Rebecca Goings.

She's one of the cool kids because she's a Carnal Passions author, and her book, The Viper Prince, just came out.
That is a mighty fine specimen of mantitty, wouldn't you agree? NOM.

Anyway, since her book just came out, I thought I'd ask her a bunch of random, probing questions. If it wasn't obvious by the cover, the publisher, and her association with me, there is ADULT CONTENT AHEAD.

Her answers are hyuh:

Tell us five random things about you that we didn't know we wanted to know.

1.) I love cats. If I wasn't married, I'd be the Crazy Cat Lady in my neighborhood. But sadly, DH has said ours is a two-cat-only household.

2.) I absolutely and without a doubt HATE to sneeze and I get pissed when I have to.

3.) Always hated coffee -- until about 3 years ago. Now, LOVE the stuff. (Only with Coffeemate Creme Brulee) And my fave coffee house is Dutch Bros. and my fave drink is an Iced Kicker.

4.) I used to write inspirational romance. I know, right?!

5.) I love pasta! But DH hates pasta! I've been known to make him steak and potatoes then ravioli for me and the kids.

Your book is the latest in a series. Can you tell us what prompted you to write a series? Do you think you'll ever write a standalone?

I have wanted to write about a sheikh for years. But the sheikhs in romance were all western thinkers, with private jets, palaces, and button-up shirts. I wanted the grit, the turbans, the tents the dunes, where were the duuuunes??? lol

In order to do that, I'd probably have to write historical sheikhs. But then I didn't want "history" to bog me down with these things called "details". I wanted to do things my own way. I didn't want to have to deal with burkas and religion. So I began making my own world, a mixture of Persia meets Arabia meets India kind of thing. Through the magic of worldbuilding, my brain told me there were six princes in this desert world. Well great. Now the readers are going to bitch and moan for THEIR books. SIGH. lol Twisted my own arm to write the series.

I have LOTS of standalone books. I will definitely write more erotic singletons. Probably westerns. Or more fantasies. Or paranormals. Heheheh

What's the most difficult thing about writing a series vs a standalone? The easiest?

For a series, you gotta remember every dang detail or sift through your books to find the details. Or be one of "those" people who write details down on cute little 3X5 cards. I hate those people. LOL That would be the hardest thing for me. Oh, and peppering in the details from the previous book. I would prefer to just write the story and if the reader is lost, get the book before it! But alas, editors like everything tied together with a neat little bow, so you've got to put some backstory in there for the readers who *didn't* pick up the first book.

The easiest thing about writing a series... well, your secondary characters are already fleshed out, and sometimes, so are your hero and heroine, because they were secondaries in the previous book(s). So the easiest thing would be already knowing your characters, and the most fun is being able to revisit other characters you've written about previously.

Do the fleshpeoples [family, friends, etc] know you write filth? What do they have to say about it?

You know it's funny. Back in the day, my sis used to read romance. It's from her romance novels left behind when she went to college that I found my niche as an author. My mother has always been kind of a prude, never really talking to me about the birds and the bees, etc. However, my mother couldn't be prouder that I'm an author, and my sister is aghast.

Perhaps it's the knowledge that her "little" sis knows what sex and GASP! what a penis is! (or around these parts, we say cock, right ladies?)

Now, that said, sis has probably read maybe two of my books, and my mom, four, I believe. My friends are happy for me and frequently ask about my writing. But none of them have read my books. Well, okay, to be fair, two of my friends have each read one of my books. Different ones, thankfully.

It's kind of odd, being well-liked and successful online, and then in real life, none of my friends/family are avid fans like my other author friends. :'(

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, give us a sample of what's on your iPod.

Oh yes, big time music-while-I-write author here. I'm a music-while-I-everything kind of person. Housework? Stereo's on. Driving? Stereo's on. Writing? Stereo's on. In fact, if you put me in a car with talk radio, I kind of die a little inside. LOL I like podcasts and talk radio. But when I'm driving, I like to rawk out! And I do sing along.

I listen to Pandora a lot, the Internet streaming radio, and I listen to Within Temptation, Nightwish, Skillet, Linkin Park, David Cook, Adam Lambert (hawt!), tobyMac, & Newsboys. I like the fantasy rock too, so a lot of Sonata Arctica, Apocalyptica, & Epica.

In fact, SAHARA by Nightwish directly contributed to the creation of my Desert Princes of Jikkar. So thank you, Tuomas, Marco, Emmpu, Anette, and Julius! Seriously, go download that song or look it up on YouTube.

If one of your characters could come to life and...well...you know...who would it be?

If I could pick one of my desert princes, I'd pick either the Scarab or the Spider. And I'm not going to choose between them. So, I suppose I'd have a menage on my hands. M/F/M. Yummy!

You're published with Carnal Passions, which means you're one of the cool kids like me, but it also means you're obviously not shy about writing those scenes (tm). What made you decide to become a purveyor of filth?

That's a great question. Curiosity really. I've written the gamut, quite literally. I've come out up top and spilled that I used to write Inspies. Most my "hard core" fans know this already. I always thought I'd never write the harder erotic romance. (Oh, pun waaay intended.)

Then I read a few. And I liked a few more. Then I thought hmm I wonder.... One of my friends suggested I check out an open call for a new series with Cobblestone Press. It was about vampires - but the series was erotic. I thought what the heck and sent in a proposal. This was right when Cobblestone stopped publishing sensual romance. Lo and behold, they bought the idea on the first chapter alone. (TOMB in the Vampire Oracle Series) So, I wrote it. Jargon and all. Compared to other erotic romances, my stuff might be considered "tame", but it's so very fun to push the boundaries. Not just with the sex, but with what you can get away with. More harsh cussing, usually, and more adult situations "on camera", which could be the sex scene, or some kind of erotic seduction by the villain. It's fulfilling as an author to explore those things.

What would you say is the kinkiest thing you've ever written? (i.e., the craziest/kinkiest thing your characters have ever done)

In the third book of my Desert Princes, THE FALCON PRINCE, (coming in December '10 to Carnal Passions) they have fun with the desert's version of a cucumber. Doesn't seem that kinky, but for me it was, because I haven't written sex with food before, AND I was able to be a bit more naughty about it than I might have been in a sensual romance. Also, same book, they are exploring what they do and do not like. She goes down and swallows, but does not like it. I didn't like the fact that women in erotics just lap it up and love it. Some women just don't like to swallow! And I wanted to put some of that realism into the book. Is it kinky? I don't know. But just like magazines make women feel inadequate, I didn't want erotic romances to do the same for women who don't like the taste. If you know what I mean.

When reading erotic romance and similar genres, what are your pet peeves when it comes to those scenes (tm)? What kinds of things make you melt in your chair or necessitate hunting down your significant other?

Pet Peeve - automatically loving the surprise buttsecks. You can't just spring that on someone and not have them be "Whoa Nelly!" Maybe a little asking if they would like it is in order, or a "Do you trust me? Close your eyes." kind of a thing. That I don't mind. But the "Hey are you ready?" up the bungee scenes are annoying to me. lol

What Makes Me Melt - Domination. But I'm not talking about tying up and being submissive, though. I love domination on both sides of the coin. I love a little force in the love scene, if both parties are into it. I love when the woman dominates a powerful man and he lets her. But again, not always with the kink, more in a setting of the tone, this is how it's going to be kind of attitude.

What piece of advice would you offer to an aspiring looking to get his/her feet wet in this genre?

Read A LOT of erotica and erotic romance. Get a feel for it. Heck, I've been around the block, but I'm still a noob when it comes to erotic romance. So even I'm reading for the sake of "research". Ahem. Erotic romance is much more than throwing the jargon into a normal sex scene. It's going deeper into the lust, exploring frank talk, and just being all around sexier as a whole. And yes, all of that just now was big-time pun intended.
Thanks, Rebecca!

To learn more about the Desert Princes of Jikkar series, visit Rebecca's blog. She also has a website, and can be found on Twitter and Facebook.