Interview with Paige Tyler

Hi everyone, I’m so pleased to welcome the amazingly prolific and multi-talented author Paige Tyler to Paranormal Romantics.  Welcome!!

Let me start out by saying, that I first became acquainted with Paige through Liquid Silver Books.  Her book Protective Custody, available now from Liquid Silver books is a great read.  The heroine is strong and interesting and her hero is memorable and easy to fall in love with. 

Here is the blurb that actually made me buy the book: 

“Paisley McCoy is a sexy reporter who writes about the San Francisco club scene for a local magazine. Having a dad on the police force has led to one hard and fast rule--she doesn’t date cops. She likes her men sensitive and intellectual, two qualities in short supply in any cop she’s ever met. However, when her safety is threatened and her life in danger, she gets stuck with a standard-issue cop for a bodyguard--aggressive, opinionated, and certain he’s always right. In short, the complete opposite of the kind of man she usually goes for.

Gray Beckham is a no-nonsense cop who’s peeved about being taken off a major burglary investigation to babysit the captain’s bratty daughter. Just because she’s gorgeous doesn’t change the situation. His career is important and she acts as if the whole situation is a joke and insists she doesn’t need his protection. While she might be sexy as hell, there’s no way he’s going anywhere near her, not if he can help it.

Despite their differences, though, Paisley and Gray can’t deny the chemistry between them. As that connection turns into a romance neither can avoid, they find out that the stalker is a far greater threat than they originally thought. They’re dealing with a crazed lunatic who has decided that if he can’t have her, no one will.”

Tell me how you came up with your idea for this book.

 

Well, first let me say thank you for the compliments!  I'm so flattered!  And so glad you enjoyed reading Protective Custody! 

 

Now, onto your question!  I love writing about alpha males and I think everyone would agree that guys in law enforcement are about as alpha as you can get! LOL!  When you read my books you'll definitely notice that cops are the heroes in quite a few of them.  For Protective Custody, I started out with this seed of an idea involving a girl who needed police protection.  At the beginning I didn't know why, I just wanted to base my story on that.  I also didn't know she was going to be the daughter of a police chief or that she'd have a crazed stalker, just that she was going to fall for the hunky cop protecting her!  I just started with my basic premise and tried to be logical from there.  How could a girl get some private one-on-one police protection?  That led me to the whole "her dad's a chief in the police department" angle.  From there I just had to come up with a bad guy who was menacing and shadowy - i.e the stalker.  Once I had those basic facts in place and started working on the outline, the story just started to write itself!

One of the things I was so impressed about when I went to your website was the sheer volume of work you have completed.  I know how hard it is to write even one book and yet you have written a whole collection of varied work.  How do you do it and how many works have you completed now? 

Well, for one thing, I spend a lot of time writing.  I think my hubby would probably say I'm a little obsessed.  But I just love the act of sitting in front of a keyboard creating and I'm very fortunate in the amount of time that I get to spend doing it.  But one thing I discovered about writing is that you have to be organized.  I use to just start writing a story and tried to create a coherent storyline on the fly.  That didn't work out too well for me.  I would write for months and end up with a long, rambling pile of stuff with no direction.  Now I keep a notebook just for my story seeds - just a line or two about anything that pops into my head.  As I get a chance, I add details to the seeds until they grow into outlines.  I don't usually really start "writing" a story until I have a complete outline to guide me.  That keeps me from getting stuck on a scene and spinning my wheels.  With this way of writing, I already have another outline ready to go when I finish a book.  As far as numbers, in the past five years since I've been doing this, I've written about twenty five books.    

 

When I get asked this question, it always feels like someone is asking me to pick between my children, but do you have a favorite work? 

I'm with you on that!  It's really hard to pick a favorite!  All of them are like real people to me, like my friends.  I love all of them!  Some works have special meaning for me because of their significance in my writing career.  For example, Samantha and the Detective was the very first book that I got published.  Every time I look at the cover, I can't help but think how excited I was when it was first accepted by the publisher.  I literally jumped up and did a Snoopy Dance!  Then I called my hubby, yelling and screaming like a crazy person.  Protective Custody was the first book I pitched in person to an editor, so seeing that book out there reminds me of how nervous I was during the pitch and how elated I was when the editor said she wanted to see it!  You'd be very proud of me, I didn't do the Snoopy Dance right in front of her - I waited until I was outside the conference room!

As a matter of fact, speaking of chosing a favorite, I just so happen to be in a quandry of sorts over just such an issue.  I entered a whole bunch of my recent heroes in the The Romance Studio Hero Competition.  I couldn't force myself to vote for just one of them, though, so I ended up voting for them all, just so none of them would get upset!  LOL!  Maybe you guys can help me decide who's the best?  If anyone would like to vote, the link is http://theromancestudio.com/summer2009/hero.php BTW, Nik Evans, the sexy hero from my contemporary erotic romance Librarian By Day is in second place and could really use more votes!  Just thought I'd mention it! *wink*   

Not only have you written a lot, but your work varies from the contemporary erotic to science fiction.  Do you have a favorite genre to write in? 

Not really.  Remember when I mentioned those little seeds that I write down?  Well, after adding a page or two of notes to go with them, the genre usually picks itself.  I feel comfortable with contemporary, sci-fi, paranormal, and even a little historical/time travel.  It really depends on where the story takes me.  In Valuable Cargo, the hero is on a space ship and is accidently put into cryo-sleep for seven hundred years before he is revived on a deep space salvage ship crewed completely by beautiful women - sort of screams sci-fi, huh?  LOL!

How do ideas come to you? 

They just pop into my head!  I'll be putting on my make-up or jogging or doing Pilates or at the beach and a small little snippet will wander on by.  The secret is to not demand a full storyline all at once.  All you need for any kind of romance story is the two people coming together for a reason - any reason.  I come up with an interesting idea that would throw the hero and heroine together, write it down right away (before I can forget) and then worry about coming up with the rest of the story later!  Just remember - don't fence yourself in!  Write the thought down and worry about the details later.  I have seeds that I've been trying to get to grow for years and they're still sitting there staring at me.  I don't worry about it, though.  They'll grow up at some point. 

What is up next for you?  

As I mentioned above, I have a sexy new sci-fi erotic romance called Valuable Cargo coming out in August from Liquid Silver Books,  When that hunky astronaut wakes up from hypersleep, he finds out that a lot of things have changed in seven-hundred years, but not the most important things - like the attraction between a man and women and the pleasure of hot, steamy sex! 

I also just finished a paranormal romance, which is part of a new series, and now I'm working on a contemporary romance.  I'd like to give you some more details to whet your appetite on these two stories, but I'm sorry to say, that information is still classified!  Keep an eye on my website, though, and I'll fill you in as soon as I can!

Just so you don't get too upset, I can tell you that I'm just about done with the outline for the second book in my Modern Day Vampires series.  It features the hero and heroine (Savanna and Kaige) from the first book, Vampire 101, picking up where that left off, with the couple going on a new adventure - right in the middle of their honeymoon!  And this time they're up against a lot more than just a few nasty rogue vamps!  I hope to have this book wrapped up nicely before the end of the year. 

Some of our readers are relatively new to e-publishing.  Can you give our readers, a lot of whom are writers, any advice on the subject? 

First, I would recommend joining a few different writing groups, like Romance Divas.  Talk to the other writers and find out which ePublishers they trust and most importantly which ones accept your particular kind of work.  Don't be afraid to ask other writers for recommendations!  Check out the ePublishers' sites that the writers mention as well, get a feel for the kind of books they promote and what they are looking for.  Once you find an ePublisher that you think is interested in your kind of book, put together a submission (in the format they require) and submit your work!  And then the hard part - wait!!!  In short - submit it and forget it!  Move on to another story - don't sit around checking your e-mail every day, you'll go crazy!  And if you ever get the chance to attend a reader/writer get together, I would recommend it.  You get a chance to rub elbows with a lot of industry people and that really helps.

 

Here is the question I ask every writer I interview. Here at Paranormal Romantics, we talk a lot about our muses.  Tell me something about yours. 

Well, my husband would certainly fall into the category of a muse.  He encourages me and supports me, and even reads my stories without laughing too much. Just kidding about that last part!  He's really great about my writing!  But my biggest muse would probably be my laptop.  Yup, that's right!  My laptop talks to me, lets me talk back to him (yes, it's a him - I can tell because it's very stubborn), tells me when I'm spelling something wrong, even tells me to get rid of that extra comma that's sitting out there for no reason.  And best of all, my laptop connects me to readers out there who constantly remind me why I love writing so much! 

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Paige and for being here today. 

 

Thank you for having me!  I really enjoyed it!

 

Links:

 

Website:  http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com

Blog:        http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com

 

 

 RR