Debut Author Joy Daniels Swims with the Mermaids

RevvingHerUp72lg-1By Denny S. Bryce

I am very excited to welcome author Joy Daniels to the Mermaid pond to celebrate her debut release “Revving Her Up” from Samhain Publishing. My critique partner and good pal, Joy’s book has received excellent reviews  (MamaKitty Reviews and Read-Love-Blog), and she’s already working on several new titles including “Unmasked”, an Entwined Erotic Romance, for Colioquy and L. Perkins Agency. So please take a moment and get to know Joy!

Q. How about the mini-bio and a little about your next big thing?

Joy said: Hi everyone! I’m thrilled to be here and to talk about my debut book and what’s coming next! “Revving Her Up” was released January 14, 2013, and is available now. Next up, I submitted a short story “Lights Out” to “We Love New York” an anthology to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief. It comes out February 12, 2013 with Riverdale Avenue Books. I also contributed to “Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey” edited by Lori Perkins. Then soon, I’ll head back to Rapture, VA to write two more novellas (or maybe novels) in the Full Throttle series. Also, I’m planning a series about succubi and incubi. I submit where I think the story will do best. For now it’s Samhain and Coliloquy. I’m thinking of pitching my WIP to LooseID and Ellora’s Cave.

My editor at Samhain is Christa Desir, who is fantastic! And my agent is Louise Fury! I started writing December 28, 2008 (yes, I remember the date) after getting a Master’s degree in oceanography and spending 15 years in the environmental policy field. I had no writing aspirations before that – or they were so deeply repressed I wasn’t aware of them. Got my first offer for publication (from Samhain for “Revving Her Up”) just over three years later.

Q. What was the most surprising personality trait you discovered about your heroine in Revving Her Up? Your hero?

Joy said: Heroine: Sarah Lange is a strong woman who has been attracted to all the wrong sorts of men. In Revving Her Up she realizes that she needs an equally strong man like Cole. Someone she can trust and lean on, not a man she can boss around. Hero: Cole Cassidy’s previous experience with “city girls” made him much more defensive and prejudiced than he’d admitted to himself – so much so that he judges Sarah at first sight, because of her license plate and New York accent.

Q. What was the most challenging moment you experienced as you worked toward your debut novella?

Joy said: The most important aspect of any story is not the series of events that happen but how those events are experienced and perceived by the characters. Understanding how and why to switch between POVs to give the fullest sense of those experiences was my biggest challenge. (Was it a coincidence that my second novella was done in the first person? Hmm…)

JoyDaniels_headshot_cropped copyQ. What’s the best-kept secret about your writing process?

Joy said: Fast Draft (as conceived by Candace Havens) all my first drafts – 5k/day everyday (except Saturdays) until I have something that resembles my story. Then I use a shortened version of Holly Lisle’s “How to Revise Your Novel” process to get through revisions. Once I found those two processes, I became much, MUCH more productive.

Q. What character are you writing (or have written) that keeps you up at night – just one, please:)?

Joy said: The WIP that is keeping me up at night: “Nashville Trio”, a male/male/female (M/M/F) ménage about a country musician, her co-singer and the man she left behind. I am really enjoying writing Ty Monroe, one of the male leads in “Nashville Trio.” He always believed that although he wasn’t narrow, he was definitely straight. Now that he’s met Rob Porter, he’s wrestling with his attraction to a man and his growing curiosity about where a MMF threesome might lead.

Q. What real person, television or fictional character has had the greatest influence on your writing style and why?

Joy said: My background in science and technical writing had a huge influence on me – I tend to write sparely (too sparely sometimes) and focus on getting the narrative down first. At the risk of sounding totally pretentious, one of my favorite classic authors is Ernest Hemingway. At the other end of the spectrum (length and depth-wise) I love Diana Gabaldon’s writing and storytelling style.

Q:What book title (or author) is the current “hot read” on your bookshelf?

Joy said: I was on a huge epic fantasy kick but now I’m getting back into urban fantasy. I recently read the latest releases from Christina Henry, Laura Resnick and Diana Rowland and loved them, and I’m looking forward to Kim Harrison’s latest release. I’m also reading “The Black Count”, the true story of Alexander Dumas’s father, a half-slave, half-noble Frenchman who became a general in Napoleon’s army and inspired both “The Count of Monte Crisco” and “The Three Musketeers.”

Q. What’s your favorite drink on a chilly Thursday evening in January – and who (fictional or not, friend or family, celebrity or historic figure) would be sitting at your side enjoying that drink with you?

Joy said: During the day, it is herbal tea, especially rooibos with steamed almond and coconut milk, a drink that my South African agent got me ADDICTED to. Every evening I drink a glass of dry red wine, preferably a South American Malbec.

Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!

Denny's MermaidsThank you Joy! Now readers it’s your turn. We’re going to giveaway an e-copy of Joy’s novella to one lucky commenter. So ask her questions, or just comment and join the celebration here in the Waterworld Mermaid pond for Joy’s “Revving Her Up”!

15 thoughts on “Debut Author Joy Daniels Swims with the Mermaids

  1. Good morning Joy & Denny 🙂 First, I’ve always wanted to tell you how much I like your curly hair and your beautiful scarves, Joy. You always add an extra spark of life to our monthly meetings. And then I want to congratulate you on your Revving Her Up release! I was just curious what it was specifically that made you remember the date you started writing? I think that is very cool. I wish you much success with your book!

    1. Thanks Carelene – you are so sweet!

      I remember the day I started writing because, naive as I was, I just opened a Word doc and started typing! I had no clue of what I was doing (or doing wrong), no idea of how to write a novel. Had never even read a book about fiction writing or taken a class. Just started an historical about horse racing of all things. I still have that first doc (which will NEVER see the light of day as a novel) so I know the exact date 🙂

    1. Thanks Mary Jo. The cover artist at Samhain deserves the credit for the hot cover. I LOVE it.

      5000 words/day is painful but less so than slogging through months of a first draft. For me the worst part are the revisions. Now that’s torture…

  2. Good morning all! Sorry I’m late to the party -a few inches of snow fall and my whole morning gets screwed up. (Pathetic, I know).

    A HUGE thanks to Denny and the rest of the ever-talented Waterworld Mermaids! I’m really happy to be here with you today. I have a degree in ocenaography so marine creatues – real, fictious and literary – are near and dear to my heart 🙂

  3. Lost in admiration at your productivity, Joy! I’m thrilled to know you’ve put those courses to such good use. And your story? Can’t wait to get my hands on it.

    1. Thanks Susan! Those courses saved my sanity. After I finish revising the Nashville novel I’m going to dive into Holly’s “How to Think Sideways” to plan out my next two novellas.

  4. Welcome to the pond, Joy! And thanks for the recommendation to Holly Lisle’s process. I will have to check it out. Best of luck on your debut release!

  5. Fantastic interview, ladies!!! Congrats on your debut, Joy – I’m so excited for you and can’t wait to read it!!!! 😉

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