About Christa Tomlinson:
Christa Tomlinson is an exciting up and coming author in erotic romance. Her first self-published novel, The Sergeant, was an Amazon Best Seller for Gay and Lesbian Erotica for seven weeks straight.
Christa graduated from The University of Missouri-St. Louis with a degree in History. She loves to create stories that are emotional and lovely with sex that is integral to the characters’ romantic arc. Her books include straight couples, curvy couples, gay, and multicultural couples. Love is love and everyone should have their story told.
Christa lives in Houston, Texas with her two dogs, and is a retired roller derby player.
What inspires you to write?
So many things inspire me to write. A painting, a song, a scene between characters on TV. I’ll get the smallest kernel of an idea and then spend time day dreaming about it until it grows into a full story.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am definitely a plotter. And I’m really particular about it to! I even have color coordinated binders, notebooks and calendars.
1) Day dream about the story
2) Rough outline of the story where I just write out brainstormed ideas
3) Chapter outline
4) Scene outline
5) Write
6) Revise, revise, revise!
Following the same steps each time is really helpful for me. When I get stuck, I know it’s because I didn’t work out the details for a scene.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I definitely listen to my characters. I can see them playing things out in my head, like little mini movies. I watch and listen and feel everything they do. For example, Ryan in The Detective’s Pleasure was so lost and sad. He made my heart hurt! I listened to his feelings and that’s what came out in the book. For the most part I love listening to my characters. The only time it bothers me is when characters from a future book keep intruding when it’s not time for me to tell their story!
What advice would you give other writers?
To just write! Don’t worry about whether or not it’s any good, if someone will like it or if it will sell. You have to get the story down first, then you can spend time perfecting it. You can’t sell what doesn’t exist.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
My first novella was published with an e-book publisher. But after publishing it, I realized just how much promotional work I was going to have to do on my own. It was a lot! I figured, if I was going to do all of that work, I might as well self-publish and keep more of the profits for myself. Plus, I get to do cool things like decide when I want to release my book and choose my cover art.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think e publishing will continue to grow. And I see e books becoming more colorfully technical, with images and gifs, even for books that don’t usually have pictures.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: erotic romance, m/m romance, gay romance, contemporary romance, historical romance
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Christa Tomlinson Home Page Link
Link To Christa Tomlinson Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
