Interview with Eve Silver

Jen: This week we welcome Eve Silver as our guest at Book Talk. Eve, will you please share a short bio with us?
Eve: Hi Jen. Thanks very much for inviting me to blog. I’m excited to be here.

I always feel odd offering a bio…it must be that talking about myself in the third person feels awkward, LOL! But here goes: Bestselling author Eve Silver writes contemporary paranormals and dark historicals. As Eve Kenin she writes speculative romance. Her work has garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards, and was listed by Library Journal among its Best Books 2007. Eve holds two post-secondary degrees, and she is an instructor of human anatomy and microbiology. She lives with her husband and two sons, along with an energetic Airedale terrier and an enormous rabbit. Contact Eve through her website at http://www.evesilver.net

That’s the official bio. The unofficial one? Eve Silver writes books and lives in her own little dream world. Her favorite flowers are gerbera daisies, her favorite game is BOGGLE, and she loves to dance.

Jen: Tell us about Demon's Hunger and where it's available.
Eve: In Demon's Hunger, savvy forensic anthropologist Vivien Cairn agrees to help sexy sorcerer Dain Hawkins search for a supernatural serial killer, only to find herself the most likely suspect. Demon's Hunger is available wherever books are sold.

Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:

Forensic anthropologist Vivien Cairn fears she's losing her mind. Her libido has kicked into overdrive, and she's blacking out-leaving hours of her life unaccounted for and no memory of where she's been...or what she's done. But when a sexy stranger rescues her from a demon attack, Vivien realizes there's more than just her sanity at stake...

A seductive killer is luring victims, and Sorcerer Dain Hawkins finds himself walking a dangerous line between ancient duty and sizzling desire when the brotherhood-and Vivien herself-begin to suspect that her mysterious symptoms may connect her to the crimes. Can Dain save Vivien from the evil that threatens to claim her? Or will they both succumb to...Demon's Hunger...

Jen: At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Eve: I wrote my first book when I was nine. It was the story of an unwanted teddy bear that found a new and loving home. I actually submitted that story to a publisher and received my very first rejection letter. Many years later, I began writing romance. After honing my craft, writing some odd and not so odd tales, and receiving…oh…about a bazillion rejection letters, I made my first sale. I actually never received “the call”, but rather a very understated email from my agent telling me there was an offer on the book.

Jen: Describe your writing in three words.
Eve: This question’s a little tough for me. It depends on what genre I’m writing. My paranormals are dark, sexy and suspenseful. My historicals are dark, steamy and twisted. My Eve Kenin post-apocalyptic books are dark, edge-of-your-seat and sexy. I suppose that no matter what I write, I’m a little bit dark.

Jen: How do you approach your writing? Do you plot or go with the flow?
Eve: I’m a pantser. I open a page and start to write and hope to heck that a story actually appears on the page. That’s a tough thing in a business that relies heavily on the synopsis or outline. I’ve had to learn to create those as well, which is a challenge. Thankfully, my editors have been very understanding when my finished product in no way resembles the synopsis I originally turned in. But if I try to write to the synopsis, the book is very slow going, while if I write free flowing, I am faster. Notice the word choice: faster rather than fast. I doubt I’ll ever be fast because I don’t know how to type. I hunt and peck every letter of every word, and I do that for every, single 100,000 word manuscript.

So why don’t I just learn to type? Well, this method had worked for me so far, and I’m afraid that if I learn to type, I’ll lose my ability to write.

Jen: Do you have any “must haves” with you while you’re writing?
Eve: Nope. I originally wrote while I was holding down a very demanding day job, and I had little kids at the time. So I learned to write wherever and whenever without any must-haves. Just open the laptop and write. And if there’s no laptop to be had, fall back on the old and trusted pad and pen.

Jen: What’s the most rewarding aspect of writing?
Eve: Writing. I know that sounds trite, but really, the job itself is the reward. Writing is solitary and often painful, which makes me suspect that anyone who writes must love it. I do. It’s in my heart, my soul.

Jen: Do you do anything special to celebrate a sale, new contract, or release?
Eve: No. Isn’t that terrible? The truth is, I’ve been working so hard since I made that first sale that I haven’t taken time to celebrate at all. But my hubby is thrilled, and each time a new cover flat arrives, he lovingly has it framed and hangs it in the family room. There’s quite a collection there now…nine covers, and two more coming in 2009.

Jen: Is there a genre that you’d like to write?
Eve: Currently, I write in three genres: paranormal, historical suspense and futuristic. If a story comes to me on a fourth genre, I’ll write it. In that way, I’m more story focused than genre focused. But I have to admit, I doubt I’ll be branching into new genres right away. I’m still trying to catch my breath writing the genres I’m already in.

Jen: Who has inspired you as an author?
Eve: I always have a different answer to this question because the truth is that there are so many amazing authors who have been inspirational in one way or another and I just list a few every time. Today, I’ll say Jane Austen, Linda Howard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Judith Ivory, Jayne Ann Krentz, Glenna McReynolds, Nora Roberts, Daphne Du Maurier, Karen Marie Moning, Teresa Medeiros, Gena Showalter, Marjorie Liu, a slew of Manga writers, Christopher Moore, Stephen R. Donaldson, and the first romance novelist I ever read, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.

Jen: Do you have a favorite character or one that you identify most with?
Eve: As I’m writing them, each new character takes over as my favorite. Then I finish that project, give it a kiss on the cheek send it, all grown up, out the door and turn to the next fledgling that must be raised and nurtured.

Jen: What do you do in your free time?
Eve: Umm…free time? What’s that? Just kidding. Actually…no, no I’m not. I write seven days a week, and I have a teaching job, as well. So my time is tight. But I’m hoping to find a better balance one day soon (if anyone knows the secret of that, send it my way please!). I do make certain that I have a one-hour walk every day. That’s my down time. But I’d like to take a hip-hop class, and I’d like to carve out more time for scrapbooking (which I love), and I’d really, really like to paint my bathroom (which is currently a horrific shade of neon green).

Jen: What's next for you?
Eve: I’m currently working on my next dark historical suspense (SEDUCED BY A STRANGER), due out in 2009, and I recently turned in a short story that will be part of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE. And I’m working on a dark, sexy paranormal idea.

Jen: Where can you be found on the web?
Eve: www.evesilver.net or www.evekenin.com

Jen: Do you have anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Eve: Do you follow your favorite authors across genres? I do. Off the top of my head I can think of Linda Howard, who writes whatever genre strikes her, and I adore whatever she writes. I followed Michelle Rowen (paranormal) as her other incarnation Michelle Maddox (adventure), and I’ll be first in line to buy her new YA when it comes out. I followed Lori Devoti from romantic comedy to dark paranormal. I followed Kelley Armstrong from her urban fantasy/paranormal stories into her new YA series, and also the straight thriller books she’s writing about hit woman Nadia Stafford. So what about you? Do you read favorite authors in only one genre, or do you follow them and enjoy what they write, regardless?

Jen: Eve, thank you so much for joining us this week and congrats on the new release. Readers, Eve is giving away a copy of Demon's Hunger to a random commenter this week. So, comment here, on her excerpt or on my review and you'll be entered. The contest will run until early Thanksgiving Day, November 27. Please leave an email address or subscribe to the post comments if you will not be stopping back by the blog to see if you're a winner.