Author Zetta Brown

AUTHOR ZETTA BROWN

Zetta Brown is a Texas girl now living in Scotland with her husband. In 1998 she was the regional first-place winner for The National Society of Arts & Letters (NSAL) Award for Short Fiction. Her work has been published in literary journals produced by Tarrant County College, Mary Hardin-Baylor University and Southern Methodist University. In 1999 and 2000, her stories were adapted for performance for Letters Live! at the Craft of Writing conference in Denton, Texas.

Zetta is currently Editor-in-Chief for LL-Publications, which she runs together with her husband, author and publisher, Jim Brown.

MESSALINA
Devourer of Men

Tell us a little bit about you outside of being an author.

I am married to the most romantic Scotsman in the world, Jim Brown, and together we own/operate LL-Publications and the imprint Logical-Lust Publications. I’m Editor-in-Chief for LL-Publications where I’m always looking for good genre fiction whereas Logical-Lust Publications focuses on romance and erotica.

Learn more about our publishing company here:
LL-Publications – http://www.ll-publications.com
Logical-Lust Publications – http://www.logical-lust.com

Then, there are my blogs:

“Zetta Brown – She’s a colourful woman.” This is my “author” blog where I update with things I’m doing and anything else I feel like posting.
http://zettabrown.blogspot.com or http://www.myspace.com/zettabrown

“The Full-Bodied Book Blog” – where the discussion focuses on books with “characters of substance.” http://fullbodiedbooks.blogspot.com

“Sistah in Scotland” – is my new blog where I chronicle my thoughts of being a black woman living in Scotland http://sistahinscotland.blogspot.com

Feel free to subscribe/follow any of them!

What is your earliest writing memory?

I started writing my first novel when I was 10. A friend and I thought it would be fun to write our own version of books we had been reading. I started working on a trilogy based on The Island of Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, with touches of information I had learned about the Titanic as well as books I was reading by Anne McCaffrey (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums). I was the female protagonist and John Lennon was my love interest, which made things weird after he got assassinated. In the end, I wrote the first volume during that summer and started on the second, which I finished early the next year. I started writing on the third and final installment but only got half way through because, believe it or not, I was bored with the story!

What feelings do you experience once you are satisfied with your completed manuscript(s)?

I feel accomplished that I have finally been able to express in words what had been on my mind . . . then the editing begins . . . I’m also eager to start on the next project!

In your upcoming release or newly released book, how did you come up with the idea of your main character(s)?

I started to write Messalina – Devourer of Men because, at the time, there were no erotic or erotic romance novels featuring larger women, let alone a woman of color, and definitely not an interracial romance. This is no longer the case, but at the time, interracial romances were still considered exotic, if not taboo (sigh!) and having a large woman in the lead just was not done. She could be the comic relief, but not a love interest. I created Eva Cavell to disprove all of that and developed Jared Delaney as a man who was not only artistic, but could appreciate a woman with curves could be sexually, physically, and aesthetically attractive.

Tell us a little bit about your work in progress and/or your upcoming release.

My next novel, Malice, is more of an erotic mystery/suspense. My aim is for it to be released in May/June 2009. The premise for Malice is: what would you do if you were not only implicated in a murder, but found out that murderous intent runs in your family?

I’m a big believer that word of mouth creates more sales than advertisements. Let’s say I’ve never read any of your books before, how would you pitch the idea of your latest release to me?

Messalina – Devourer of Men is about a woman in her mid-thirties, Eva Cavell, who has struggled with her body image all her life and it has tethered her emotionally and sexually. While she’s the obedient daughter and model employee, she knows a sex goddess lurks inside her, determined to escape. As a result, she has anonymous sex (or rather, foreplay) in order relieve some of her sexual tension, but even this is no longer enough. Then Jared Delaney enters her life. He’s a smooth-talking Texan and an artist with penetrating violet eyes. His attraction to Eva is immediate and intense and he starts to flirt with Eva’s inner sex goddess—with explosive results.

I consider myself a tough critic when reviewing books. What do or would you do when you receive a mediocre or less than average rating from a reviewer or reader?

1) I would assume they haven’t gotten laid lately, and if they had, it wasn’t good.
2) I would file their review under “Whatever” because I know I can write.
3) I’d go hook up with my other author friends and readers I’ve met online, hang with my family and non-author friends—anyone who can help me take my mind off of it so it doesn’t throw me off my stride.
4) Possibly create a character like the reviewer in my next story and cast him/her as a villain ;-)

What authors influence your writing dreams, goals and aspirations?

I am very fortunate to have as a mentor Laura Parker Castoro. She has a successful romance writing career spanning from 1980 and has been a fountain of information and encouragement. The same goes for romance author Judi McCoy who helped critique my initial submission of Messalina – Devourer of Men when I was looking for a NY publisher. I am very lucky to be able to call them both friends and if I can get a fraction of their recognition and audience share, I’ll be happy!

What books would you recommend on writing?

Any thing in the Write Great Fiction series by Writer’s Digest Books
• Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint – Nancy Kress
• Plot and Structure - James Scott Bell
• Dialogue – Gloria Kempton
How to Write a Mystery – Larry Beinhart
Elements of Style – Strunk & White
The Gregg Reference Manual (latest edition)

To name a few . . .

If you could change one thing you did during your road to publication, what would it be and what would you have done different?

I wouldn’t take over 10 years writing the first draft of my debut novel, that’s for sure! I would have tried harder to make time for my writing.

What advice would you give an aspiring author?

Take time to learn the craft of writing. Fiction writing is more than just telling a good story. Learn about the “elements of fiction:” plot, characterization, dialogue, pacing, word choice, setting—the list goes on. You need to learn about grammar and punctuation—all those things you may have glossed over or ignored in school because no editor will have the time or patience to teach you. You also need to read. Why write stories and books if you can’t be bothered reading the works of others?

Learn to take criticism and learn to tell the difference between criticism meant to help and criticism meant to hurt. The former comes from people whom you know speak sense and/or know what they’re talking about; people you can trust and won’t just give you lip service. The latter always comes from someone who is bitter about something and that’s their problem—not yours.

All of this doesn’t have to be a chore. It can actually be quite fun and you will meet and make new friends. And you don’t have to learn everything overnight! But you should never think that you know it all.

Where can readers learn more about you and your books?

Visit my website, http://www.zettabrown.com, and my blogs:
The Full-Bodied Book Blog http://fullbodiedbooks.blogspot.com
Sistah in Scotland http://sistahinscotland.com