Kinky Chats with Lise Horton

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Lise Horton has been attending BDSM Writers Con since  2013. She’s been nominated two in a row, once last year in the Anthology, Slave Girls and this year for her book, Hold Tight

Check out what she had to say…

 

Why did you begin writing BDSM novels?
Almost a decade ago, I began seriously writing romances, after a number of years learning my craft, and the ropes of this ever-evolving industry. Though at that time I was unfamiliar with the specifics of the BDSM lifestyle, I invariably found my stories populated with classically Alpha Doms and feisty submissive heroines. But no matter how hot my novels were, I still felt as if there was something missing. An element that took my work that extra step; that made my stories powerful and electric. One day I stumbled upon a collection kinky erotica and the lightbulb went off. When I discovered my first BDSM erotic romances, I was beyond ecstatic to know I, too, could let my characters indulge in all the fetishes they craved. I’m fortunate to have happened upon the genre when I did, because it has been embraced so vigorously by the romance reading community, and the digital opportunities abound for an author who enjoys pushing the sex envelope. Even my novels that do not take place within a serious BDSM scenario, still have those hot touches of kink, and my heroines can embrace their independent submissive sides, and allow my heroes to indulge their own dominance. All on the road to finding their kinky happy ever after!

What does being nominated for the Golden Flogger Award mean to you?
It is an immense honor to be nominated by members of this generous and supportive community who, through Dr. Charley Ferrer’s BDSM Writers Conference (and the previous workshop incarnation) have been so open with information, guidance and friendship. And I am particularly thrilled as it means that my nominated BDSM novel, Hold Tight, struck the right chord. This is a community of like-minded authors and readers, many of whom are established participants in the real life BDSM lifestyle, and I cannot imagine a more potent validation that my characters and stories resonate with the folk who live it. Because I am determined to portray the lifestyle and these amazing members, honestly and genuinely to ensure that readers unfamiliar with the lifestyle see an honest portrayal. I only hope to live up to their expectations with every kinky story I pen!

What is the hardest part of writing your novel?
I actually love every stage of the creative process, from the research, to character creation, writing the story and then editing it until it takes my breath away. Each part of creating a novel presents its own challenges, but when I am writing a BDSM novel, I focus a laser-sharp eye on the details of the kinky action, and on the psychology of my characters. The first to make certain I am conveying the details of BDSM activities accurately—in particular the safe, sane and consensual/risk aware consensual kink philosophy. I want my readers to understand the pleasures and satisfaction to be found in this lifestyle, to see the respect participants have for one another, and what they do, but also make sure those readers are aware it can, indeed, be dangerous: If participants are not aware, educated, and safety-conscious. I want those uninformed about BDSM to see that the players do make safe play their top priority.

I hope that, in this way, I can do my part to dispel the misconceptions and prejudice that the community must deal with. As to the latter, as a reader of these erotic romances, I find them far more enjoyable when I can delve into a character’s psyche, understand characters’ motivations. When I can see the root of their desires and how they deal with them, both internally but also within the context of a vanilla society. I want to see how they embrace their relationship with a partner in kink, and how they grow as they experience that relationship, and how love and kinky lust go hand in hand. Without a psychological, emotional and intellectual underpinning, a character, in my opinion, is not nearly as complex, interesting, or immediate. Or human!

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing works.
I’ve always been creatively inclined, and I knuckled down and got serious about my writing nearly a decade ago after a challenge from my mother to “finish a book!”. To meet that challenge I pBDSM Writers Con, Lise Horton, bondage, Charley Ferrer resented her with a completed urban fantasy (pitched as kinky urban fantasy). Typing those two magic words, “The End”, was like finding a key to the secret of the ages. It gave me the permission to forge ahead, and forge I did! My first published works were short stories filled with kink of every variety. When my story “My Master’s Mark” (under my erotica pseudonym, Lydia Hill) was accepted by editor DL King for her Cleis Press anthology, Slave Girls: Erotic Stories of Submission, I was over the moon. And then I had the amazing experience of meeting her – at the 2013 BDSM Writers Workshop where she was a speaker! I was thrilled at her enthusiasm for my story and in addition I made a friend I greatly respect for her own writing and editing in this genre. I’m published in a number of anthologies, by Cleis Press and other houses, including my short in the Riverdale Avenue Books’ 2014 BDSM Writers Con Anthology, “Dirty Girls Have All the Fun”. My first novel was Words of Lust, published by Carina Press, and it was a huge milestone for me to have my BDSM romance, Hold Tight, accepted and published in 2015 by Loose Id, whose editor in chief, Treva Harte has been immensely supportive of me, as well as being a popular speaker at the BDSM Writers Conference. With the upcoming 2016 Conference, and my Golden Flogger Nomination for Hold Tight, coupled with my growing connection to the community, I grow ever more confident in my writing of kinky romances, and of course am fantastically excited to keep ‘em coming! (Pun intended!)

A final fun fact about my writing “process”? I write each first draft in long-hand, on lined 3-hole punch notebook paper. When I input that first draft onto the computer, it then becomes a second draft as I begin to tweak it. I love the organic feel of that method. Besides, I’m probably not alone when I admit that I have a Staples fetish.

When I’m not writing, I’ve got my shoulder to the day job wheel at a prominent NYC Lise Horton, BDSM Writers Con, bondage, Charley Ferrer entertainment law firm (always helpful when it comes to parsing those pesky publisher contracts!). I live in a suburb of NYC and, in addition to my writing, I am a bibliomaniac, home cook, gardener and animal rescue adopter. My past creative life, as an actress and cabaret performer in Manhattan, has proven to be a great foundation for telling stories on the page, instead of the stage. Hence my self-description as a “method writer”.

Most of all, I want to continue to craft, and share, the fascinating and kinky stories which are inspired by the people, the energies, and diversity of this amazing City. There’s no sexier place in the world for me!