Adriana
Kraft for Literary Nymphs
Thanks so much for having me here today.
Hubs and I are so excited – our newest release,
The Reunion, is *FREE* all day today at Amazon!
Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Reunion-ebook/dp/B00F30CTLK.
It’s already received several five star reviews at Amazon, and a Top Pick at Night Owl Reviews.
Hubs and I are so excited – our newest release,
The Reunion, is *FREE* all day today at Amazon!
Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Reunion-ebook/dp/B00F30CTLK.
It’s already received several five star reviews at Amazon, and a Top Pick at Night Owl Reviews.
Tell us about Adriana Kraft.
Adriana Kraft is the
pen name under which my husband and I write Erotic
Romance for Two, Three or More. We love crafting stories and scenes to
knock your socks off with their sizzling heat. First published seven years ago,
we now have over thirty novels and novellas available at http://adrianakraft.com/books. Romantic pairings include straight m/f, lesbian, bisexual,
ménage and polyamory, in both contemporary and paranormal settings. We work and
travel full time in our motorhome and are currently based in Las Vegas
Where and/or how do you find the greatest inspiration?
Anything in our lives can spark inspiration for our books – though of
course we never recreate any personal event exactly, just elements. We love to
visit places where we may want to set a story – for example, we spent a week
poking around the South Dakota prairie visiting historic sites, museums, and
just getting a feel for the land, with the idea that we'd set some books with
characters who have prairie backgrounds. We use the internet a lot to research
specific places, occupations, and even weather. In The Diary our hero and heroine dine at a restaurant in Stratford upon Avon —when
they do so, they select from the actual menu that’s available on line. We've
'been' at the top of the Eiffel
Tower Paris
Which appears first when
contemplating a new project: A character, the plot and/or the title?
Usually
a kernel of a plot idea is first, although sometimes a character pops out at us
and demands a story. Once we were driving through a small Lake
Superior town and saw a house painter getting out of the truck to
start a job – when we got closer, we could tell it was a woman. Believe me;
she’s got her own story. Another time an interaction we noticed at an interstate
rest area begged for explanation and we had the plot sketched out before we
were another hundred miles down the road. But always as soon as we have the
broad plot arc, we pour a lot of time into getting to know the characters: what
they love and hate, what they fear, what drives them, what they hope for, where
they’ve come from, what matters to them. Lots of this stuff never actually gets
on the pages of the story, but it’s what makes them coherent and drives their
responses to the obstacles we throw at them. Titles? Sometimes those are the
hardest challenge. Recently we didn’t come up with the true title of a novella
until it was in final edits!
What’s the hardest part of a novel
for you to write: Beginning, middle and/or end? Why?
I’m
not sure any one part is harder than any other. We do so much character
analysis and back-story development that the story is practically ready to
write itself by the time we start putting it on the page. Sometimes, though,
after the beginning is drafted we realize we haven’t dropped the reader into
the best spot to set the hook, so we have to rearrange things a bit. Once we’re
over that hurdle it feels like the characters take over and keeps the story
rolling – truly sometimes we think they do have an existence outside of normal
reality, and they’re just waiting for us to get it right.
Do you suspect there will be a
change as far as trends goes, with what will be all the rage in a week’s,
month’s, or year’s time?
I
have to confess I’m often baffled by trends and we don’t pay a whole lot of
attention to them. We pretty much write to a niche market – erotic romance,
ménage, LGBT, and hot sex at any legal age. Not all our characters are baby
boomers, but many are, and we especially write for that audience, to celebrate
staying sexually active and satisfied across the life span. What could be
better, really?
Along
those lines, we’ve been really happy to see a trend of increasing acceptance
for LGBT romance. M/M was certainly the leader and broke down barriers early
on, but increasingly there’s acceptance for all varieties of sexual identity
and orientation. Since we write a lot of lesbian and bisexual heroines, we’re
very encouraged by this trend.
Writing sex/romantic scenes can be a
challenge for some authors. Do you find it difficult? If yes, how do you
compensate? If no, where do you draw your inspiration?
Um,
not difficult. We keep our sex scenes fresh the same way couples keep the sex
fresh in their relationship! Seriously – there’s a limit to how many appendages
can go into how many openings, but there’s no end to the nuances of each
specific sexual encounter in anyone’s life. Sexual experience is so deeply
influenced by context – mood, stage of the relationship, events that just took
place or are anticipated – so many variables that make each encounter unique.
In addition, in fiction, the sex scene only goes on the page if it also serves
to drive the relationship/story arc forward. Thank goodness we don’t require
that criterion for every personal sex scene!!
Do you have a method you use to
write the sensual parts? Do you prefer the sex to be open and bold? Or left to
the imagination?
We
do try to keep a balance, since variety is part of what keeps erotic interest
alive. Sexual activity between (or among, since we write ménage) our characters
is never hidden and often very bold. But there’s a lot to be said for letting
the reader’s imagination heighten the tension. We don’t always put the entire
sexual encounter on the page. We might drop the reader in after the characters
have gotten started, for example, or allude to an encounter through having a
character remember snippets of it. Whatever turns us on! Which, btw, is the
major criterion: we read all our scenes out loud, and if they don’t get the
proverbial juices flowing, it’s back to the drawing board for serious edits.
Tell us about your latest release – and of course, we’d love
an excerpt.
We’d love to! The
Reunion is a polyamory story about two women and one man. It was a
challenge to write, keeping a balance across the three characters and tracing
the evolution of each pair of relationships. We hope readers will agree that
these three deserve not only each other, but their happy ending. The excerpt
below offers a peek into Sarah’s skill at playing Adam, even when he thinks
he’s in charge.
BLURB – THE REUNION
Dark and brooding,
Adam Granger was always the bad boy out of reach – but now he’s in Sarah Atkinson’s bed, the morning after their
twentieth high school reunion. When Adam beats a retreat to his Pacific
Palisades estate, former good girl Sarah throws caution to the wind and pursues
him.
Petite copper-skinned
Maria Ramirez greets Sarah at Adam’s front door. The former exotic dancer
doesn’t challenge Sarah’s assumption she’s the maid – how long will it take the dark-haired beauty to figure out
Maria is Adam’s live-in lover? Better yet, how long before Maria can entice her
into their bed?
Determined not to rock
his hard-won lifestyle, Adam resolves to push Sarah past her sexual limits so
she’ll leave. When she stays, he watches helplessly as the two women fall in
love with each other. Will they shut him out? And, if they let him in, what
must he sacrifice?
BUY LINK *FREE* through midnight tonight, 9/19/13
TOP PICK at Night Owl Reviews
"The Reunion "
by Adriana Kraft is a polyamory novel with real edgy characters with inclusive
sexuality. I will just say this is not a read for the faint of heart. … I found
"The Reunion " a very easy flowing
smooth read. All the characters are well developed and so colorful. Once you
start to reading you will be hard put to stop until you are at the end. … Very
well written! ArlenaDean
http://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Reviews/Arlenadean-reviews-The-Reunion-by-Adriana-Kraft
EXCERPT
Adam groaned and
brought his mouth to Sarah’s. She met his kiss with her own. It was a bruising
kiss. Her hands continued stroking him until he had to back away. “You’ve
become one hungry, sexy lady. Haven’t you?”
Her eyelashes lowered
and then lifted. “Maybe I always was, and you failed to notice.”
She parted her lips
and her tongue darted out like that of a snake. “Think of what you could have
been having since you were sixteen.”
Roughly, Adam grabbed
his temptress by the hand and half dragged her to the desk where, without
urging, she bent over and braced herself on the wooden surface. He flipped the
long dress over her back, baring her ass. He clutched a creamy butt cheek in
each hand trying to stay focused.
She widened her
stance. “If you’re going to spank me again, could you be a little more
vigorous? The last time I hardly got warm.”
He growled something
unintelligible. “I should spank you until you cry for mercy.”
“But you won’t,” she
responded sweetly. “If I spend much more time bent over your desk waiting for
you to decide what to do next, I’ll need to bring my own reading material.
Reading contracts upside down is not my cup of tea.”
Adriana Kraft on the web:
Website: http://www.adrianakraft.com/
Twitter http://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft
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