Today we’re honored to speak with Feirce Dolan, author of Traveler Through Darkness, Gigolo Seduction,and Journal of a Lycanthrophile.

Ellen Dominick: Who are your favorite authors?

Fierce Dolan: My favorite authors range all over the place.  I keep a running list of them on my website, though to name a few, Storm Constantine, Lucy Felthouse, Neil Gaiman, Kim Hornsby, Ann Mayburn. And to keep it classic, I really enjoy Anaïs Nin.

ED: Describe your style of erotica.

FD: My ideal style is edgy , pansexual, genderfluid, with an element of magick thrown in.  I write stories that come to me and worry me until I write them down.  Some contain all of those elements, and some contain only a few. My erotica seems to attract readers who want to be psychologically engaged with the characters, not just aroused by them, and I find that’s the erotica I enjoy reading most.  I’m not out to just write about sex, I want to engage readers in their lust for reading about it. I want the words to be the sex in my erotica.

ED: You have self published before, but your next work is published by Decadent Publishing. How are the two processes different? Why did you choose both of these paths?

FD: Indeed, they are very different publishing paths.  I went both routes because my last release was the first in “The Scattered Dark Series,” intensely hardcore fetish paranormal, which few publishers thrill in.  A publisher was interested in the first installment, Journal of a Lycanthrophile, and is who suggested expanding it into a series.  As we went deeper into talks about it, I realized I wanted to develop it a different way and never proceeded to contract. As an indie release, it’s taken some time for “Journal” to trickle to its readers, but it’s gotten good support, and not surprisingly, a few raised eyebrows.

I’ve published with Decadent a few times, and they are wonderful. They’re great to work with, their editorial support is outstanding, and the relationship they form with their authors is unlike others. I intended to write for their premier line, “1Night Stand” from the beginning of my work with them last year, though The Fangirl’s Dream, coming out later this year, is my first attempt in that line.  I’ve written a stand-alone book with them, as well as one in their “The Edge” series.

Indie publishing is different from traditional publishing in that the final word (pun) comes down to me. I go the full range of engaging others to prep the final draft, hiring editors to go through a three-revision process, and finding promotion for indie books.  I treat them with as much care as a publisher would, and if I couldn’t do that I wouldn’t publish indie.  The difference with a trad publisher is that they have the final word, which fortunately has worked out well. It’s a good feeling to know that so many eyes are on board to make the manuscript its best. There is less pressure, financially and time-wise in trad publishing.

ED: Do you have any guilty pleasures?

FD: You won’t tell, will you? I know you won’t.  I like watching Revenge, because I love the interior design on the sets!  I also recently got sucked into Downton Abbey.  What masochistic lives people in that era lived!   I also have been known to sing to Ke$ha in the car.  I know, but you said you wouldn’t tell.

ED: What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?

FD: Write when you feel like it.  Rubbish, absolute and total shite. If you really want to grow as a writer, you have to be willing to push your own boundaries.  Most of us are self-employed, in terms of incentive,discipline, management, motivation, morale.  You can’t wait until you’re in the mood to write. It’s like a well that you have to keep primed.  The more you write, the better you become at it. We can’t wait for inspiration any more than we can wait for a paycheck. Write and the inspiration will come.

ED: How do you know when a scene is working?

FD: When I’m excited to write a scene, I know it’s working. It can be challenging to sustain that enthusiasm through an entire manuscript in one pass (or eight), though on a scene-to-scene basis, I get that clarity. Likewise, I’m pretty clear when a scene isn’t working. I may not like to cut it, and there will likely be tears and gnashing of teeth, but I know.

ED: Why do you write homoflexible and gender neutral characters? Can you explain what that means?

FD: I guess at the base of it all, I don’t like assumptions.  Culturally, I think we’ve seen what assuming gender can do, along with prescribing orientation.  I want to write outside those boundaries.  I relate to the world as more than my biogender, and I’m interested in writing characters who accomplish that.  I like characters whose sexuality is unclear, and who are confident in creating new relationship structures.  I like poly relationship dynamics, unconventional gender roles, expressions of sexuality that transcend mere sex.  I hope as I become more established in the genre that I will gain more freedom and experience in writing with that flexibility. I also hope that publishers will become more open to characters beyond trope.

ED: What are you working on next?

FD: A few of things are coming up.  The Fangirl’s Dream, from Decadent Publishing will be out this year.  It’s a fun installment in the 1Night Stand line, definitely the lightest erotica I’ve ever written, yet still tackling some deeper personal truths, along with a few pop culture trends.  Also, this year Book Two of The Scattered Dark Series will come out.  Its working title is Alpha, and it’s a little more emotionally involved than Book One, perhaps a little less kinky, yet just as dark as the first. I’m wrapping up writing Book Three, now, though I don’t expect its release this year. I’ve also got a short fetish piece called Message in a Bottle, that should be out in late 2013, and a novella based on a heartbroken intersexed romantic.

ED: Pick 6 words that describe your last release.

FD: Dark, gritty, sad, raw, unique, intense

ED: Your latest release involves werewolves. What inspired you to take up that topic? Is writing a paranormal story very different from writing a more realistic one?

FD: I was inspired to write a shifter story that’s not pretty, and this one definitely isn’t.  I’m really interested in shadow subjects, and I’m always amazed by how every decade or so, we re-invent shapeshifters as more romantic abusers.  I wanted to write ones that were more animal, and humans that were less humane. I do think that if you have a good feel for the rules of your universe, paranormal (and fantasy) writing is more forgiving. I actually feel more constrained writing contemporary erotica. I don’t feel as free to fall back on instinct and intuition as is possible in magickal stories.

Blurb: Jesse Holloman has a fetish for justice and a kink for werewolves. Together, his passions spiral into a world of pain, shadow desires, and an even more sinister, secretive sort of shapeshifter—the kind that changes without shifting.