Talk About My Favorite Authors: Ashlynn Monroe

It's been a while since I've had a guest blogger but I am happy to have paranormal and urban fantasy romance author Ashlynn Monroe who I've met online through the wonderful online publisher Wild Horse Press. She contacted me about reviewing a few of her recently published eBooks as well as interviewing her on my review blog, and then J.M. at Wild Horse Press contacted me about reviewing Ashlynn's debut novel, Hidden Magic. And don't forget that on Thursday, July 29th I will be chatting live with Linda on my live podcast show TAMFA—Phoebe Jordan about her paranormal and urban fantasy novels. She also has a written interview that I posted on Tuesday, July 27th if you want to learn more about Ashlynn. Now onto Ashlynn's guest blog about her 2 currently released novels:

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How I wrote Passion's Escape:

I love science fiction. My very first terrible novel that I wrote as a teen was science fiction and I’ve never lost my love of writing the genre. I love the freedom of creating worlds completely out of my own imagination. I also identify with the battle that women have been fighting since time began, to find happiness in a man’s world. I wanted Passion to be just as her name described her, a woman with heart who was not afraid to use that heart. She is the strength of every woman, that’s why I dedicated the book to women everywhere. She’s the kind of woman who can take on a life or death battle of impossible odds and still be desirable and unafraid to enjoy pleasure. She’s one of my all time favorite characters to write. This is one of the stories that I wrote this year. I started it at the end of March and I had it finished by mid-April. This story was so much fun I wrote every spare moment of the day.

My first idea came to me about a woman who had to escape her planet using skills that are not typically ones a woman has, there aren’t too many female mechanics today and in the future, I’m doubtful that this will change. I wanted Passion to be smart and brave and I wanted the men in her life to arrive during her greatest conflict. They present her a better option and she takes it. I love that about her, she’s not afraid to take a gamble. I also wanted to write a book where the girl has two simultaneous lovers, I’ve never written anything like that before and I felt that Passion was just the character to try it out on.

It's been a while since I've done a written interview but I happy to have paranormal and urban fantasy romance author Ashlynn Monroe who I've met online through the wonderful online publisher Wild Horse Press. She contacted me about reviewing a few of her recently published eBooks as well as interviewing her on my review blog, and then J.M. at Wild Horse Press contacted me about reviewing Ashlynn's debut novel, Hidden Magic. And don't forget that on Thursday, July 29th I will be chatting live with Linda on my live podcast show TAMFA—Phoebe Jordan about her paranormal and urban fantasy novels and also she will be guest blogging about her current release here on the review blog. Now onto my interview with Ashlynn:

Phoebe Jordan: When did you know that writing romance was going to be the thing that you would do with your life? Which author inspired you to start writing romance?

Ashlynn Monroe: I started writing when I was thirteen. My cousins encouraged me (even if that first novel was awful) and I kept writing. I’ve written stories as a hobby since that time. When I turned thirty, I made a promise to myself actually to submit some of the stories for publication. Wild Horse Press was the first publisher that contacted me. Since February of this year, I’ve been writing like crazy and I’m currently contacted with six publishers and one magazine. My paternal grandmother gave me garbage bags full of romance novels in the summer and that was the root of my love for romance. I was reading them long before I should’ve.

Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose the one that you felt was for you?

Ashlynn: I am not genre bias…I write everything! I have contracts out there for urban fantasy, dark romance, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, and contemporary romance. I even have a steam punk romance that is currently looking for a home.

Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote? And do you still have it with you?

Ashlynn: I sadly did not keep my first novel it was titled Arianna’s Circle and sadly, I can describe it as the blue lagoon meets star wars. My cousin drew me a cover for it for my fourteenth birthday, and I still have her lovely framed art, but I actually threw out all my teenage work about five years ago during some frantic spring-cleaning when I was pregnant with my youngest child.

Phoebe: How much research do you have to do for your novels and does it take you a long time to gather that research?

Ashlynn: It depends on the novel. I research places, if I’m writing about states or cities that I’ve never been to. I did a lot of research for my Templar vampire series, contracted by Keith Publications. I have a steam punk romance that is looking for a home. My steam punk romance as it takes place during the civil war. I also researched into the workings of steam engines and double-checked my historical facts about the civil war.