A brief
about author Tom Marlowe: Tom grew up on the south coast in the
UK before moving abroad. He has lived in a number of countries in Europe and
has finally settled (at least for now) in Armenia - a beautiful
combination of east and west.
Tom has been writing erotica for the
last five years, although he has only recently published his first books. With
a flair for humour, Tom tries to combine comedy and sexiness into his work. His
45K novella - Kat Amongst the Pigeons is the
first of a two-part story about an irreverent and unconventional woman, bored
with her lacklustre sex life, caught in the middle of spy-rings and agents.He also has a series of short stories
"Dawn and Dirty' about a fun,
confident plus-size woman who is not 'one of the boys', she is far better than
them.
The interview:
How long did it take to get your first novel / book
published?
I actually started writing Kat Amongst the Pigeons around five
years ago. At that time, I knew something was missing from my approach, so I
shelved the idea and didn't return to it until late 2019. Less than three weeks
later, I had written 33,000 words and 'Kat' was read to fly the nest.
What mistakes did you make with the publishing of
your first book which you try not to repeat?
I misunderstood my characters. Let me
explain that. I'm a panster (a writer who does not plot while writing a story),
not a plotter. I wake up at stupid o'clock in the morning with a very basic
premise and build on that. My main mistake was Kat was in trying to tie her
down too much - dictate her actions too rigidly. She rebelled and, apart from
some scenes, the story just wouldn't flow. It was only when I understood both her and
my role as an erotic writer that it all snapped into place. And to answer your
unspoken question - Yes, I do know that sounds crazy.
What made you opt for erotica writing? How do you
get your inspiration for this?
Great question! It was actually a
dare. No, that's the wrong word. More like a challenge, with a very dear friend
of mine - Emmanuelle de Maupassant. We challenged ourselves to write in an
unknown genre. As neither of us had written erotica before, we plumped for
that. Emms went on to write 'The Gentlemen’s' Club', and now has over 25 booked
under her... corset. As I mentioned before, I quit after 12,000 words. Emms
actually loved my work, but I knew something was missing. So it wasn't really
an inspiration, but a friendly challenge.
What kind of responses do you get from your readers
on your erotic writing? Is there a market for this genre?
The market is huge. Romance is the
biggest selling genre out there. It covers everything from those old-fashioned
'Mills and Boon' books that your auntie may have had tucked under her pillow,
to some pretty out-there smut, and everything in between. I guess I fall
somewhere in between. My scenes are graphic - no panning away to an open,
roaring fire, but I strive to keep it real, not too bizarre and, as always, drop
a little comedy in there. After all, that's how much of our love life is like,
right?
So far, responses have been mostly
positive. Readers know what they like and what they are looking for. I have yet
to come across a reader who 'accidentally' discovered my work, thinking it was
something else.
As an author, do you feel that readers love to be
stimulated and titillated with love making scenes in the stories?
I hope so. I try to write what would
work for me. Take my short stories. They are around 8,000 words each, so you
kind of have to 'get to the point' fairly rapidly in comparison to a 45K
novella. That said, it is important to me that my readers feel that my
characters are genuine.
I've read shorts that are literally 'We did this - 1,000 words - goodbye.' As well written as many of them are, I feel unsatisfied. I need more. Look, there's time for a 'quickie', even in literature, but I still want my readers to feel, as you say, stimulated and titillated. I not only need to titillate but build a relationship with my readers also. I guess I just like to take a little more time - hahaha!
What's your modus operandi to write out the sex
scenes?
Five years ago, when I started, I was
shocked just how hard I was finding those scenes. To keep the flow, I would
just write a single sentence - a reminder of the objectives of the scene and
move on. So something like 'Kat sleeps with X, make sure she learns about Y'.
Part of understanding Kat was learning her approach to sex. Now that I
understand how I work best in this genre, it pretty much flows with the rest of
the process now.
Can you focus on working on two books or stories at
the same time?
I'm currently working on part two of
Kat's first story, I have a one-month deadline for 'Robbie' another of Dawn's shorts, I have to finish a 13-16 part TV
series screenplay, have been approached to write a speculative movie screenplay
and I woke up this morning with the idea of writing some 'naughty' sonnets. So
I had to knock out four or five of them before the demons would let me rest.
I always
thought I would be a 'one-at-a-time' writer. I was very wrong.
Does the writer’s block actually exist? Any tips
you would give to come out of it.
For sure it exists, and it is a complete
pain when it hits you. I tend to walk away from the screen, do something else,
like bake something highly calorific and sweet. It may take a moment, an hour
or weeks, but it comes back eventually. Unlike my figure after all those
banoffee pies and egg custards...
What was the book that most influenced your life,
and why?
You may be surprised by the answer,
but the most important book to me is Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland. It is escapism of the purest form - a real work
of art. Clever, witty, intellectual... It's more than 150 years old but still
works today. I actually have a 1908 copy that travels with me. It's
starting to die, unfortunately. But yes, Alice is my literary love.
How often do you read other novels? Who are your
favourite authors?
My eyes are not what they used to be,
so sadly holding physical books is becoming a rarity now. However, my Kindle,
tablet and phone are crammed with books. Apart from picking out the occasional
indie erotic author, I do love my science fictional and fantasy
- the pulpier the better. So, Tolkien,
Anne McCaffrey, E.E 'Doc' Smith are always in there, along with some
children's classics and, for some reason - A
Prisoner of Zenda - I keep going back to that one.
