I’m delighted to be interviewing Harper Jewel of Horny Devil Publishing today with her latest release Trent & Trey from the Inked Heat Series 🙂
Welcome Harper! 🙂Â
How did you get started writing?
I actually started when I was little. Before I could even write, I was making up stories in my head. Once I had learned to write, I started putting them on paper. In fact, my mom still has some of the stories I wrote and illustrated with my stick figures. An artist I am not. lol
What made you choose paranormal erotica?
I actually have two series going right now. Both are erotica, one is paranormal and the other is contemporary. I’ve been an avid reader of everything erotic since my college days and my vivid imagination had no problems coming up with ideas to write.
What was the best piece of writing advice you received?
The best advice I’ve received so far came from my favorite author who happens to be a friend of more than two years now. It was Kate Douglas who steered me away from my original pen name, Dee Licious. She advised that I choose a more marketable, less “classifying” name. That’s when Harper Jewel was born.
What do you think makes good erotica?
In addition to hot, steamy, melt-your-panties sex scenes, there needs to be a plot. Without a good background story, sex, no matter how sweltering it is, does nothing for me.
Where do you get your ideas and your characters from?
My vivid imagination. Before I even begin writing, I type up a basic outline and search for pictures of models that represent what I imagine my characters look like. Of course there are times when my characters take me in a totally different direction than I’ve outlined, but the central elements are still there.
Following on from that, where did you get the idea for Virgin Prey?
I wanted to write a shifter story, but wanted it to be slightly different from the norm. I’ve read plenty of wolf, panther, bear, lion, leopard and so on books, but very few with bird shifters, specifically birds of prey or raptors. I am an enthusiastic birder. I’ve been a “bird watcher” since grade school. I’ve actually participated in a Falcon Hunt with a real Falcon Master that my husband and I met at a Renaissance Festival near our home. The story just came to me while showering one day. I find the shower is a VERY good place to plot and plan!
What do you think makes a good sex scene?
Variation in the scenes as well as the prose describing the scene. I try to vary the location, the position, the words used for each scene. If the scene makes the reader squirm in their seat then I’ve done my job properly!
Do you have a writing routine? Do you need absolute quiet to write or background music/noise?
I am not the type that can write when music is playing. I really do need peace and quiet. My mind is always moving faster than my fingers, and music tends to interfere with my thought process. I have my own “workroom” in my home, and I always have either a glass of iced tea or a cup of hot Earl Grey with honey by my side as well as my box of After Eight mints.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s block and if so, how do you get over it?
Unfortunately, yes. It’s a combination of my family life being too hectic to even find the time to sit down and write or the fact that once I do, I just sit there and stare at the screen. When my characters stop talking to me, that’s my cue to take a break. I read whatever is next on my TBR pile, play a few computer games, or even take my daughter shopping (not a pleasant task I assure you).
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Definitely a plotter. I am a closet control freak. I’m very set in my ways and really don’t like to deviate. When things don’t go the way I expected, I tend to get agitated. Writing is something that I find relaxing, and it is why I’m not one that puts aside so many hours a day to write. Doing that can only lead to frustration when my family throws a monkey wrench at me.
What do you like most about being a writer?
The ability to let my imagination soar. I can truly write about anything and anyone I want. It is very liberating for me. I just love it when my characters don’t shut up. Time flies by when I’m writing.
Out of all your books, do you think you could pick a favourite and why?
That’s a tough choice. I really love my bird of prey shifters, Aviana, Andor and Bertrand, but I also found Trent & Trey from the second installment of my Inked Heat series fun to write. The two Buchanan brothers were VERY vocal in how they wanted their story to end. In fact, after I thought I had finished the manuscript, my two hot Texans told me otherwise. They insisted I add on the final three part Epilogue and so I did, satisfying all three of us.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
Until recently, I did have a part-time job. But that doesn’t mean I have free time to write, unfortunately. I’m still a wife, mother, cook, chauffer, launderer and all around go-to person. My family loves to take trips to the beach during the summer, and we absolutely love Walt Disney World. We try to go there at least once every other year. If I’m not doing any of the previously mentioned things, then I’m reading or writing.
What’s next for you?
I’ve just completed my second installment of a Seekers Story entitled Unbound Prey. Once I’ve submitted it, my fellow HDP author, Dan Cocker, and I have begun plans on a collaboration effort. Our working title is Domme Exposed, and I can already tell it’s going to be a hot one!
Blurb:
Running from a dark past, Cassie St. Cloud wonders if it’s even possible to escape her worst nightmares.  Regardless, the fiery redhead refuses to be a victim and does just that.  While secrecy is key to her survival, Cassie inadvertently finds herself squashed inside a triangle of lust, threatening to expose her darkest desires.
Sexy brothers, Trent and Trey Buchanan, own the hottest Tattoo Parlor and Ranch in town. Kings of their own castles, both are pleasantly shocked when a tiny female brings them to their knees.
A silent enemy looms in the background, waiting for the right moment to strike.  When things take an unexpected turn for the worse, dark secrets and an unforgiving past send Trent, Trey, and Cassie running for their lives…
Buying Links:
Excerpt:
Rounding the corner from the beauty salon, she couldn’t help but glance at her reflection in the windows of the shops she passed to admire her newest hair color and up-to-date style. Her now burnished red locks fell in mussed perfection around her small face, framing her amber eyes, petite nose, and accentuating her curved chin. The Double B Tattoo Parlor was just down the street. The shop had been written up in several local papers and even a few national magazines specializing in the art, touting the Double B as one of the premier tattoo parlors in the southern states and the two brothers that owned and operated it as extremely talented artists.
Surprisingly, she’d never met the brothers but had heard rumors about the men that owned the Double B. What she hadn’t garnered already, Marcy, the town gossip, had gleefully and willingly shared. She had given Cassie fair warning about the brotherly duo. The Buchanan brothers, Trent and Trey, serious eye candy by Marcy’s judgment, were a tag-team known by many women in town.
According to Marcy, those women lucky enough to attract and entice the brothers were treated very specially. The duo shared their women, leaving many heartbroken in their wake. Marcy’s voice had gone low as she explained that Trent and Trey were never with any one particular woman more than five times before they moved on to their next conquest. Cassie had heard from others that the brothers also owned a small fifteen-acre ranch on the opposite side of town from where she lived.
She could do with some eye candy. It had been too long since she’d even entertained the idea of sex. Self-induced climaxes at her own hand were all she’d had since that horrid night with Vince. She really didn’t want that memory to be the only one she’d ever have of sex besides that one night with Jeffrey. Maybe she could entice the Buchanan Brothers in her direction.
Taking a deep breath before she entered the shop, jingling bells greeted her when she gave the door a shove. The place looked like neat and tidy with binders on some shelves that covered a portion of one wall, a comfortable leather couch, and three leather armchairs placed around a polished oak table that looked handmade. Her courage began to falter a bit when she spotted no one about. Too timid to call out, she turned on her heels ready to leave when a deep masculine voice stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Can I help you, Little Filly? Please tell me you weren’t planning on leaving so soon?
Cassie had to clench her jaw to prevent it from hitting the floor when she spun back around to find a six-foot-five-inch, mouthwatering piece of yummy goodness standing in the opening to what must be the workroom or a storeroom. Ice blue eyes peered at her from underneath a white Stetson. From what she could tell, he had a blond buzz cut underneath the hat. A white leather vest barely covered a well-defined muscular chest. His left arm had a brown, black and tan snake winding around it from his wrist up to his shoulder. Through the wide gap in the front of the vest, she could just make out the head of the fanged creature covering his left pectoral, its jaws open about to swallow a red apple dangling from a branch. What looked like a snorting black bull being ridden by a cowboy dressed all in black was placed on his right pec, the bull’s back legs raised off the dusty ground finishing on his right shoulder. The hunky male’s right bicep held a tat of a western desperado with a long flowing leather duster open to show a string of extra ammunition for the long barreled rifle he held in his grip.
Harper’s Bio:
An avid reader of paranormal and erotic romances since my college days, I have always dreamed of becoming an author. After accepting advice from a few friends, I sat and took the time to write my first short story and was thoroughly ecstatic when it was accepted, and I received my first contract from Horny Devil Publishing.
My reading interests include works by Kate Douglas, Shayla Black, Lauren Dane, Sylvia Day, Elizabeth Amber, J.R. Ward, and Christine Feehan, to name a few.
My TBR pile is quite large so when I’m not being a wife, mother, housekeeper, cook, launderer or chauffeur, you’ll find me either writing or reading!
A published author under the name Dee Licious, I have decided to change my pen name to Harper Jewel from here on out. I’m thrilled to be a part of Horny Devil Publishing’s stable of talented authors.
Find Harper on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, The Romance Reviews, her blog and her website.
