Author Interview: L. P. Peace

About the author:
Lucy is an all-round nerd with a life-long love of mythology, fantasy and science-fiction, throw in a happily-ever-after and she's a happy customer. When she's not reading or writing about alien males and the human women who love them, she's spending time with her husband and three cats in their Derbyshire home.

What inspires you to write romantic fiction?
It's not just the fantasy of it, though that is a compelling reason to write and read romance. For me, it's the science fiction part of it. I'm not saying I'm fed up of human men, I'm very happily married to my human husband who keeps assuring me he's human… sadly. It's the discovery of learning about one another with no presumptions or expectations. The males in SFR accept their human females because they don't have a basis of comparison, or any media telling them what a woman should be like. So as a reader, you get to see the heroine being completely loved just for being herself. It's easier to believe it could happen because you already suspended belief when you opened the book.

Tell us about how you write.
First thing in the morning, with classical music blaring in my ears and copious tea and coffee supplied by my amazing husband who's usually done with his own writing before I'm even awake. I've tried writing with my favourite songs, but I usually end up with several lines of lyrics before I realise what I'm doing!

Do you listen to or talk to to your characters?
Yes, for example right now I have the heroine of my latest WIP wondering why I'm not writing. She's very persistent!

What advice would you give other romance writers?
This is really difficult, because I have so much advice! I think the most important thing, because there are romance writers who can write a lot of books in a year, is don't forget to read. It can be easy to become overwhelmed with writing and publishing schedules, but if you don't refill your creative cup by reading, you'll quickly run out of words.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
Science Fiction Romance isn't a commonly published genre, so going it alone was a easy choice. I want to tell my stories and I want to release them on a regular basis, most publishers simply wouldn't have given me that kind of release schedule.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think publishing has burnt a lot of reader trust by publishing the beginning of series and then dropping the author when they didn't perform the way they want them to. It used to be different, publishers invested more time in authors knowing it takes time to find your audience, so I think we're going to see a lot more authors choosing to publish both traditionally and independently. The worry here is that publishing is a behemoth of a beast that takes a while to change direction and if they don't soon, more and more authors are going to choose indie over traditional.

I'd like to see traditional move quicker and compete against Amazon better.

Which romance sub-genere(s) fit your stories best?
Science Fiction Romance

My books are available in the following formats:
eBook