Meet Leya Wolfgang who’s joining us from Canada. Below are a few questions we had for her. Please feel free to ask her a few of your own.
What’s with the crazy profile pic?
What can I say? I’m an animal, a beast. Okay, so I’m really a pussy cat. The truth is that I have a pretty conservative job, and, until book royalties start flooding in, I want to keep a low profile. Leya Wolfgang is my mask, a pseudonym that grants me the liberty to explore secret desires and dark visions and to share them with you openly.
Oh, and the other reason is because I also have a spiritual self-help book published under my own name. While I don’t have any difficulty reconciling the two different markets, I like to keep my written works separate for those who might not see the connection. I believe our sexuality and spirituality are closely linked, and our comfort with each aspect enhances the other. I challenge you, “Admit it. Haven’t you ever yelled, ‘Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!’ when you’re having an orgasm? In that moment of letting go, haven’t you ever felt at one with a reality larger than the confines of your body?”
Tell us a bit more about yourself and why you write.
Writing was one of my joys as a kid, but it seemed such an indulgence to “waste” time on flights of fantasy when there was the serious business of getting on with a real life. In 2011, I took the NaNoWriMo challenge and discovered how screwed up that thinking was. I finished National Novel Writing Month with 50,000 words, a very good start to a novel, and a renewed love of telling stories. Life is fun again, and I think that writing is one of the most important things I do now.
What have you written to date?
That book from NaNo is still perking away, along with a couple of other half-finished novels, because Erin Piper and Jerry Vaughn grabbed me at the beginning of 2013 and wouldn’t let me go until Velvet Purrs In Paradise was published. Of course, their story is not really over. There is much more to tell about their new life together, and the other members of Devil You Know Kink Club™ (DYKKC) are clamoring to have their stories told; tales of dark desires and consuming cravings, freaky fetishes and carnal lust, demanding Doms and obedient submissives, corruption of innocence and indulgence of perversion, and pleasure wrapped in pain. Oh, and lots of hot, juicy, steamy romance!
What inspires you to write erotic fiction?
I simply have no choice. I woke up one morning with Erin and Jerry dancing in my dreams and having a very hot and heavy scene together. Everything seemed so real, like I was a voyeur lurking in the corner of Erin’s bedroom instead of my own. I hurried to get the scene written down before I forgot the rawness of their interaction. However, forgetting has not turned out to be a problem; because that scene is burned into my brain, and the characters never leave my head. All I have to do is ask the players questions, and they are more than happy to fill me in on the details of their lives.
Is there one area of BDSM that you tend to write about more? Why do you think that area creeps into your writing more than some others?
For me, it’s all about the relationship, the Dominant and submissive dynamic, the depth of connection between two souls, the journey of becoming who we really are, no matter what road we take to get there. Sex without context just doesn’t do it for me. My first heroine, Velvet, isn’t into pain, but she puts up with a bit of it for the Doms who capture her attention. She is really excited when she finds a Master of her own who thinks she’s precious and should be worshiped instead of battered and bruised. She falls fast, and hard, and deep. Honestly, who wouldn’t want to be someone’s precious?
Tell us about how you write.
Of course, my goal is to be able to write full-time, all day, every day. The sad reality is that with only one novel published so far, I still rely on my corporate day job to pay the bills. With my schedule, this means that I write in fits and starts. Sometimes the characters really push me, or pull me, and the words gush and my fingers fly over the keyboard trying to keep up. This usually happens when I really should be sleeping and resting up for work. Instead, I light a candle or two, pour a glass of sherry, and don a pair of headphones to listen to internet radio. I don’t use any fancy software, just open up a Word doc and get it down.
Are you an outliner or a seat of the pants writer? Do you create character sketches before or during your writing?
My stories are exclusively character driven. That means that I’m a panster. As I said, for Velvet Purrs In Paradise, the first book in the DYKKC BDSM Erotica Romance series, I began with a single scene. I hadn’t intended to write a novel, but my characters just keep whispering in my ear and flashing me. Once the characters have introduced themselves to me, I do sit down and open up another Word doc that is my master reference. I get to know them intimately and write a profile for them so I can understand their backstory and motivation. Then I can help gently guide them along their journey. I have my own secret recipe for how I do this, and I think it helps me reveal very complex characters. My role in writing, as I see it, is deciding how much to reveal and when so that the reader has a juicy and satisfying experience.
Have you ever heard that a fan might have tried something from one of your stories and liked it?
I haven’t gotten that feedback yet, but it would be wicked cool to hear. Or even to hear that someone had a really hot self-pleasuring session while reading my book. I have, however, heard many times how much my characters are adored. I certainly love them all but have to admit to a fiction-crush on one of the Dominants at DYKKC. But I’m not saying which one.
What’s next on your publishing schedule?
The Saint, Dillon St. Laurent, has been breathing down my neck, threatening to punish me if I don’t tell His story of redemption next. The Saint is going to have me on my knees and at His mercy because Jerry muscled His way into the lineup with a few things to say about the challenges He faces bringing his Velvet into the BDSM lifestyle full time and what He’s going to do to keep her when she learns about His past life as Master Snapper. Regis Rules the Lion’s Den, DYKKC Book 1.1 (a novella), will be available in May 2014, if Snapper cracks His whip just right for me. Grrr!
Oh no! Mistress Raidne, bossy Domme that She is, wasn’t happy to hear that I had interrupted my writing of Dillon’s story to give more time and attention to Her old pal, Snapper. Mistress thinks that if anyone deserves “Top” priority, it’s Her. She strutted up to me and commanded me to start from the beginning to tell a bit of Her story and how DYKKC came to be. I didn’t like the way She was twitching the Cat ’o Nine Tails in Her hand, so I got on board with Her plan. Devil You Know Kink Club will be available April 2014.
For more information, visit Leya Wolfgang’s home page. Here are a few Direct Download of Free Chapters of Velvet Purrs In Paradise