Monday 23 December 2013

An Interview With Jennifer Denys...







Hi There,

Today I’ve got my first ever guest to my blog, a lady who is not only a lovely friend but also a brilliant writer, Jennifer Denys.

It’s lovely to have you with me, Jennifer, please can 
you tell my readers a little more about yourself?

Thank you for having me, Bella. An Englishwoman 
through and through, I live in a beautiful historical city 
in England. I have been writing just over two years and 
have twelve books published with two publishers, 
mostly novellas.
I post to my blog three times a week to keep readers 
up-to-date on forthcoming books and writing in general. Do email me as I would love to hear from fans. http://jenniferdenys.blogspot.com/



I love your latest book, ‘Retraining the Dom’, and would highly recommend it. For those who haven’t read it yet can you tell us a bit about it?


‘Retraining the Dom’ is the second in the retraining series. I 
Retraining the Domcame up with the titles of ‘Retraining the Sub’ and ‘Retraining 
the Dom’ and thought they would make good books. Most of 
my other BDSM stories are about beginners getting involved in 
the lifestyle so it makes a nice change to have people 
experienced having to be retrained. 

In RTD Trey must go on the retraining program for Doms, at 
Club Allure. However, he is much too strong a Dom to let
anyone else order him around. The owner of the club comes up 
with the idea of asking an older and extremely experienced 
Domme to retrain Trey, and try to understand his hidden past. 
Unlike the Dom, Olivia sticks to the rules, and is also very 
imposing physically. What no-one knows is that Olivia is a sub 
at heart, but through circumstances became a Domme. She 
has to try to stop Trey topping her, but he is everything she ever wanted in a Dom and a 
man, except too many years have passed. Meanwhile, Trey finds himself having fun with a 
woman for the first time ever and gradually recognizes the sub in Olivia. But when Dom 
challenges Domme, who will win?


It is available to buy now from:







What are you working on at the moment?


I am writing ‘Captured in Space’. In one of my romantic comedies (Friendly Seduction) the 
heroine helps the hero write an erotic sci-fi and I always thought I should write the story 
they plotted for real – and this is it! The heroine, Felissa, is running away from the man she 
is contracted to as slave and he pays two bounty hunters to get her back. However, on the 
return journey the heroes fall in love with her. Do they give her back? Read it and see….

I love the comedy in your books!

What made you choose this genre for your writing?


I chose this genre because I had read many of them and one day thought ‘Oh I can write 

one of these…..’ 

It is a great genre to write because you can have erotic romances in a variety of sub-
genre. So far I have written BDSM/Romantic Comedies/Paranormal/and Sci-fi and I have a 
pure fantasy one coming up soon after I have finished ‘Captured in Space’.

Wow – can’t wait to see what that one involves!

What do your family and friends think of your writing?


Haha! I have very little family left, just two nieces who are not much younger than me and 

I have always regarded them as the same generation as me. However, when I told them 

about my writing their comment was, “You’re my auntie. My mother’s sister. I don’t want to 

think about you having sex……”

Non-writing friends are mixed from, “When are you going to write a real book?” to, “You 

dark horse, I never thought it off you.”

You work for publishers in the US and Canada, does that lead to any problems with editing?


Oh yes! I have to set my manuscript to US English so that it picks up all the Americanized 

spelling without me having to think about it, eg, color without a U, realize with a Z instead 

of an S. However, I do get caught out with idioms. For instance, one editor picked me up 

on the use of the word ‘scarpered’ as in ‘she fled, ran away’. They argued that scarpered 

is not commonly known outside of British English. But it is a VERY descriptive word! I 

used ‘fled’ but it didn’t have the same sense of urgency!!

How frustrating!

Do you write about real places or is it all fictitious?


Most times I try not to set my stories in any named place so that readers wherever they 

are around the world can imagine the hero/heroine in their own country. However, I do 

throw in my own experiences. There is a hot tub scene in RTD……

Say no more… LOL!

Do you prefer to write a series or stand-alone books? Why?


Stand-alone books are easier to write, but series sell better! If a reader likes a book in a 
series they eagerly wait for the next one or, if they have picked up a later book, they will go 
back and buy an earlier one. BUT, writing later books in a series can be hard if you haven’t 
already planned a series from the start. You might have millions of ideas but none of them 
fit the framework of that series. 

Which of your heroines is most like yourself?


I had to laugh at this one as I put a little bit of myself in all my heroines. It is easier to write 
about the heroine’s feelings, emotions, experiences, etc, if they have happened to you. It 
is more difficult to have a character that is the opposite to you as it is hard to know what 
motivates them in that instance. In the case of Olivia in RTD she is nearly the same age as 
me. This is the oldest character I have ever written and I particularly wanted to show that 
middle-aged women can enjoy BDSM as well as youngsters.

I absolutely agree – so refreshing to see a slightly older character as the heroine!

Here’s a short excerpt from the brilliant ‘Retraining the Dom’ 

The sound of a voice penetrated his daydream. It was Olivia repeating her question. “Sorry.” 

Sean explained further at her questioning look. “Didn’t you hear about the incident the other night?” 

Olivia shook her head. “Trey totally lost it. He was punishing his sub and went hell for leather 

at her, swearing, calling her all sorts of names. We had to pull him off before he did permanent 

physical damage.”

“Ker-rist!” Olivia was clearly shocked. 

“Respect works both ways. Yes, a sub has to respect her Dom, but he has to return it. That’s 

the problem with Trey. He doesn’t care about his subs, neither their physical well-being nor their 

emotional.”

“Good luck telling him this.” Olivia’s misgiving was obvious.

Sean harrumphed and shifted in his seat trying to ease the tension in his shoulders. 

Olivia frowned. “What are the options if he doesn’t go through with the Program?” She 

answered her own question. “I guess he has to leave, and that will affect his reputation in the 

community, so no-one will want to sub with him again, if another club will let him in, that is.”

 “That’s the crux of it. He could advertise for a sub, but chances are any reputable sites 

won’t take his advert. Of course, there are the less-than-desirable sites. I worry that he’ll take a sub 

on privately and get carried away with no-one around to stop him. At least here we can keep an eye 

on him.”

Leaning back against the counter of the bar, Olivia replaced a clip to restrain a wayward 

curl. She always kept her long, dark hair tied back neatly giving her a severe look. “How about a 

warning to see if that will curb his excesses?”

“Done that.”

“Hmm.” She made a face. “Well, I know the air would turn blue if you tried putting a 

Master in charge of Trey’s retraining, if not murder committed on the premises.” She laughed at the 

image she had conjured up.

“Yup. Try telling me something new. Or even better come up with a solution.” Sean could 

hear the desperation in his own voice. 

Olivia was silent for a few moments as she seemed to think through the dilemma. “Okay, 

how about teaming him with someone physically strong enough that he will think twice, like 

Mike?” A wrestler by profession, Mike was built like a brick wall.

“I asked. He won’t do it. And I agree. They’d just kill each other.”

A few more seconds went by, and then she said, “Here’s another idea. How about a 

using female, one of the Mistresses, but a resilient one? One he can’t dominate even if she is a 

Dominatrix. It’s more subtle than using a Dom.”

Sean stared at Olivia in astonishment. She wasn’t looking at him, but he knew that was 

exactly what he needed. “That is absolutely brilliant! And I’ve got just the person in mind.”

She swiveled her head around to look at him. “Who?”

He grinned at her. “So what are you doing at this moment?”


Thank you so much, Jennifer, for being my guest today, it’s been lovely having you here.


I'd like to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy New Year!~



          

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me, Bella. Good luck with your own writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great interview, Jennifer and Bella,

    You are such a 'Dark Horse', Jen ;-) That phrase always makes me giggle. Why do people use it? Are we so different from them?

    Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jan. I believe it has something to do with horse racing and the 'dark' horse being the one people knew little about and therefore couldn't predict the outcome of the race.

      You have a good holiday too.

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  3. Merry Christmas, Jennifer and Bella! It was a lovely interview, Jen. Congrats on your latest release. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really enjoyed the interview. I learned more about Jen and how she writes her books. I thought it was interesting how she sets her manuscript to US English. I didn't realize that authors had to do that. Really interesting interview.

    Thank you Bella for having Jennifer here!!

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Angie. Despite setting my manuscript to US English there are still American idioms that I get wrong that my editor has to point out like using takeaway instead of takeout in one book!

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    2. Thanks you so much ladies. It was great to have Jen with me. Will aim to do more interviews next year. Best wishes to you all. x

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