Between the Lines

Ashley Lister talks to Sommer Marsden

Sommer Marsden is an extremely prolific author of erotic fiction. Her work has appeared in a broad range of anthologies including L is for Leather, Love at First Sting, Ultimate Sex and Coming Together. Renowned for her style of combining exquisite sex with well-realised situations and credible characters, Sommer’s writing is a pleasure to read and re-read. Graciously Sommer took time from her busy schedule to talk to us here at ERWA about her fiction and the processes behind creating hot stories.

Ashley Lister: What inspires you to write erotica?

Sommer Marsden: Wow. What inspires me? I would have to say a high sex drive, a love of words and the wonderful discovery that when I blended the two together, I magically found my niche. I wrote a lot before I started writing erotica. I tried to wedge myself into mysteries, mainstream, non-fiction, straight up romance. I did pretty well here and there, but when I decided to give erotica a shot it was like watching a firecracker finally go off after the fuse has run out. I tripled my output and my acceptances.

I think what really and truly inspires me is that there is so much inspiration! It’s everywhere. If you look, sex is in everything. And it’s entirely elastic. It can be dirty, rough, sweet, meaningful, trivial, life altering, life affirming or just you know...good. How we have sex (or don’t have sex) says a lot about who we are inside. So, I think the sheer volume of possibility in erotica excites me...um, so to speak.

Ashley Lister: One of my personal favourites of your stories is ‘How He Likes Me’ from L is For Leather. This is a story where your female protagonist describes her involvement in a threesome. One of the strongest pieces of description in this story is the leather gloves worn by the protagonist’s partner. You’ve drawn these gloves with such detail it’s a startling and vivid image that stays with the reader long after the story is finished. How did you go about creating such detail?

Sommer Marsden: I closed my eyes and imagined them. My goodness, I wish I had a better answer. I remember a pair of gloves a family member had when I was a kid. They were so soft and so very black and the feel of them was just mesmerizing. I think the memory of them was what ran in my head as I wrote that story. I wanted the gloves to be his found fetish. A gift from her to him. She presented him with his ‘thing’ and then they became, basically, an extension of him. Then he, in turn, gave her something. Her new found fetish.

Ashley Lister: I was also struck by the emotional intensity you managed to invest in ‘She Looked Good In Ribbons.’ This was, on the surface, a story about mild bondage. However, you made it into something that seemed like a ferociously powerful exposition of passion and adultery. Was it difficult blending emotional intensity with sexual explicitness?

Sommer Marsden: Yes. It was horrible in a wonderful kind of way. That is a story that fits into a little category I came up with. I refer to them as ‘breathers’. They aren’t really just stories to me. They’re more. I joked with a friend that I swore I could hear them breathing, they were that intense to write. Usually with a breather, I feel them more than I would like sometimes. I’ve been known to cry, but don’t tell anyone. Or just basically climb the walls I get so turned on. I basically feel like I could crawl out of my own skin with some of the breathers.

When I write a story like Ribbons, I get up and I pace. I sit down and type. Up and pace. When I smoked, I could go through damn near a pack of cigarettes. Now I walk in circles or get on the phone or fold laundry when I cannot sit with the piece and need a few minute break. Breathers take twice as long as other stories simply because they can get so intense I can’t sit still for long! Proof of my insanity, I guess.

Ashley Lister: Do you have a particular favourite of the many stories that you’ve written?

Sommer Marsden: Well, Ribbons is definitely number one. and it seems to be the favorite for a lot of folks who write to me. After that, I’d have to say ‘Dirty Little Lollipop.’  It appeared at Clean Sheets a few years ago. I love that one. Oddly, also about adultery. Which I find thoroughly amusing since I am so happily married and still madly in love with my man after all these years.

Tied with that one is a new one. Am I allowed to have a tie? Either way, it‘s ‘Fire Woman’ which appears in Playing With Fire edited by Alison Tyler. It’s also written from a male POV like Ribbons. I think maybe in a past life I was a guy. A guy who really liked blow jobs…

Ashley Lister: It’s noted that you write short erotic fiction. Have you written any longer fiction, or do you have plans to write anything longer?

Sommer Marsden: I’ve the Seekers books (Into the Light, Intruder and Inhuman) with Eternal Press. Also a few titles with Whiskey Creek Press Torrid. And for flavor, a few novels out with eXcessica. eXcessica will be publishing my anthology Lucky 13: Thirteen Tales of Getting Lucky in late April ’09.

As for plans of future longer works, I’m about a third of the way through a new book. Plus I have a completed full-length paranormal erotica novel that’s out there under consideration. So, I have tons going on and am nowhere near close to being done.

Ashley Lister: What advice would you give to any aspiring authors of erotic fiction?

Sommer Marsden: Try and try again. Ask questions. Be open to advice. Don’t be afraid to befriend writers, they all seem to be super terrific in erotica for some reason. Maybe we’re all just so happy because of all the sex! But people are very helpful and kind and open to new writers, so do not be shy. Enter some contests and find some favorite blogs and just put yourself out there! But my number one bit of advice in general for life is: Never Buy Your Own Hype. Just don’t do it and you will be a happy camper.

Ashley Lister: Where can readers find your next piece of fiction, and what are you currently working on?

Sommer Marsden: The Mighty Quinn comes out mid May ‘09 from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid (www.whiskeycreekpress.com/torrid). Lucky 13 is due out April 27th. Beyond that, I have upcoming work in Liaisons and Misbehaviour (Black Lace), ‘Where the Girls Are’ (Cleis), ‘Girl Crazy’ (Cleis), ‘Pleasure Bound’ (Cleis), ‘Coming Together Al Fresco’ (Phaze), and a bunch more I cannot remember!

I’m currently working on a full length BDSM book that is keeping me up at night and distracting me during the day. Also, as always, some sexy short stories. And anything that flits through my scattered brain at random intervals!

Visit Sommer Marsden at: www.freewebs.com/sommermarsden

Ashley Lister
May-June 2009

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"Between the Lines" © 2009 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books; ISBN: 0753511355), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley's non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Websites: www.ashleylister.co.uk / ashleylister.blogspot.com

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