An Interview With
Elizabeth Stewart

How did you get started?

I've been writing practically as long as I could hold a pencil. My mother, a voracious reader herself, began taking me to the library to get picture books before I could read. Even then I told stories I'd made up to my stuffed animals and dolls. My older sister and I used to play
"school" and she taught me to read and write before I was in kindergarten so I began writing down my stories and read them to anyone who'd listen. In the second grade, I discovered that there were people called "authors" who actually got paid for their stories and I never seriously wanted to do anything else.

What type of writer are you? Do you plan ahead/plot or do you simply fly by the seat of your pants?

I have tried planning ahead and plotting but it never seems to do any good. My characters usually emerge before the plot line and generally dictate, literally, how the story goes. I've had instances where I planned the story one way and the characters simply refused to cooperate until I wrote it their way. Sometimes I'm as surprised as the reader about how the story unfolds.

Do you write best at a certain time of the day?

Since I hold down a full-time job, I write pretty much when I have the time. Lunch hour, after work, on the weekends. There have been times though that the story has insisted that I get up in the middle of the night or even call in sick to work on it. I've found that when the story is flowing is the best time to capture it.

What type of writing schedule do you have?

As I said, with a full-time job and a very understanding husband, my schedule tends to be very flexible. Depending on how the story is going and whether or not I'm on deadline, I try for about twenty-five hundred words a day. Of course, some days are better than others but I do try to write something every day if for nothing else than the discipline of work.

How do you handle life interruptions?

Fortunately, my children are all grown and my retired husband takes care of the housekeeping chores, cooking, washing and errands so when I'm not at work, my writing time is pretty much undisturbed. I guess since I work, I've learned to juggle my real life with my writing life. Unless I'm under deadline or my characters are really antsy to get something finished, they will usually allow me time to break away from the story. Of course, if I'm gone too long, they've been known to retaliate by keeping me awake at night running a particular scene or even a whole story through my head. When that happens, I know it's time to get back to work.

Do you get blocked? Any hints how to stave it off?

I think that's the great fear that all writers have. That one day we'll write "The End" and discover that we've used up all our words, our stories. After I finished my first full-length novel, I went through a period when it seemed like the well had run dry. It was several months
before I got another good, workable idea. It's not so bad now, but I know that for me getting started is always the hardest part of a new book.

When I'm feeling blocked, I usually try to keep writing, no matter what. An outline for a story, bits of dialog or narrative, anything to keep the pump primed. For me, not writing is the surest way to bring on and prolong a block.

What authors do you look to as a role model and inspiration?

When I started out, I wanted to be my generation's Ernest Hemingway. I even took journalism courses and worked on a newspaper because that's where Hemingway cut his literary teeth. Then I thought I might like to be Agatha Christie. Now I get a lot of inspiration from the truly talented authors at my publisher, Ellora's Cave. The range of talent in that group is amazing.

What's the best advice you ever received?

That's a toughie. I've had so much good advice in my life that it's hard to pick one particular piece. If you're talking about life in general, I think it was, "Life's a crap shoot. Sometimes it comes up sevens, sometimes it comes up boxcars and the best you can hope for is to just ride out the streaks." As for writing, the best advice I ever got was when I was about ten. A very wise person told me, "Write your own stories. If you're true to yourself, you'll always be true to your readers."

What sparks a story?

Practically anything. A name. Even sometimes just a word or a
picture. Usually the stories begin with a single scene in my head and flesh out from there. Sometimes a character will literally introduce himself/herself and begin telling me a story. I once had a short Halloween story arrive in my head while I was on my lunch break at work. The entire story was on paper in less than two hours. Another time, I was driving to work when the phrase, "the devil in the details" popped into my head. By the time I got to work twenty minutes later, the story was complete and just needed to be written down. And then there are ideas I've carried around for years before they began to come together into a story.

What was it about your genre that interested you enough to choose to write in it and not in another genre?

I've written in a lot of different genre.mystery, adventure, comedy, you name it. I'm always experimenting, seeing where the next story will lead. While I'd written adult romances before, I'd never actually written erotica. In fact, the first book I wrote and submitted to Ellora's Cave
was a paranormal called Stray Thoughts. Not only was it my first venture into erotica but the paranormal as well. The Academy, due out in mid-March is a futuristic set on another planet. And Harm's Way which will hopefully be out in September is a contemporary suspense. One of the things I enjoy so much about this genre is that the sub-genres are almost endless.

Have you seen an evolution in your writing? What steps did it take?

I feel I've definitely seen an evolution, not just in the depth of the subjects I've tackled but in a general maturing of writing style. I feel more comfortable with my words and have developed a much keener ear. I think that's due mostly to my wonderful partner who not only has a Master's degree in English and teaches literacy, but is also a gifted writer herself. She gives me honesty.if it's good she lets me know. If it's not, she can generally tell me exactly what's wrong. And of course, my wonderful editor at EC, Martha. She's taught me an awful lot about the mechanics of good writing including helping me battle a lifelong problem with passive voice. I hope I'll never be quite satisfied with my writing and that I'll always feel there's room for improvement.

What have you always dreamed of writing, but haven't yet?

I guess like most writers, I'd like to write The Great American Novel. Something that speaks to people and maybe makes a difference in their lives. In my life, I've read about half a dozen books that simply stopped me dead in my tracks and made me think--really think about something. Books that started me moving in a different and I hope better direction. I'd like to be able to give that wonderful gift to someone else.

What one thing do you like most about writing? Least?

The best thing about writing is the creativity. It lets me paint with my words. Create pictures in other people's minds as real as the art on their walls. With my writing I can be anyone, do anything, go anywhere I want. I can even create my own worlds, exactly to my own whims. The thing I hate most about writing though is the discipline of actually writing. Sitting down at the computer and making the words appear on the screen. I sometimes think I'm basically just too
disorganized and scattered to be a writer.

What is your next project?

Currently, I'm working on a new book for Ellora's Cave, Harm's Way. I'm trying to finish a suspense novel and doing revisions on two other novels, not erotica, which I hope to begin submitting, hopefully this summer.

What advice would you pass along at this point in your career?

Don't ever give up the dream. The only things in this life you ever really regret are the things you didn't do. It's a lot better to try and fail then to one day be ninety years old, looking out your window wondering if you could have made it. You're never beaten until you give up.

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