Where a Suggestion and Writing Meet

Please welcome today's guest author, Tilly Greene! Tilly writes erotica and erotic romance novels in a variety of genres and sub-genres like shape shifter, paranormal, contemporary and futuristic.

Where a Suggestion and Writing Meet

by Tilly Greene

One of the first suggestions given to a writer is: write what you know.  Well, I’ve been a published writer since 2006, and, whether knowing or not, I still follow this advice.  By no means is it intentional. When I think about a story or series, what I know is far from my mind. I know I can research, ask questions, and then do even more research. Apparently this advice holds a special place in my heart because it simply happens.

While I’m surprised by how often my hometown and places I visit when home often show up as the setting, I’m a So Cal girl, there were two series where I intentionally went with what I learned and knew. At university I went for a double major, Classical Greek and Russian Area Studies, for no other reason than I had loads of time on my hands. Ten years I studied these two subjects and I love them to bits, and that’s why I wrote with them in mind.

When asked by another author if I wanted to do an erotic romance that touched on Greek mythology, I jumped up and screamed YES! While I refused to touch the original myths, I did write what happened next. All of my stories have a new ending, hence the title of the series: Mythological Messes Redux. I take on Hephaestus, Castor and Pollux, The Cyclopes, the last ipotane named Marsyas, and Zeus and Hera twice.

Everything is touched on in this series.  There’s bondage, ménages, no sex and some watching, as well as one story that is both based on Mount Olympus and Earth. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this series with it’s ancient touches that come with the immortals and the places they visit. Everything is there, but I like to change things up. I’m one of those writers that demand I not be tied to one genre.

With that in mind, no one should be surprised when I say my Russian Area Studies came about with Shape Shifters. The Come series is based in New York City, with new immigrants from Russia, who find-lose-and find love again. There’s paparazzi, the police, city life and a family estate in the country where they can be themselves. I love how the heroes, three brothers, all have whiter than white hair. They aren’t old, just prematurely white [like some of us] and sexy as sin.

So, readers want wannabe writers out there to know something very important. Build your plot on what you know and then there’ll be no mistakes. It can be a person, place or thing you know like the back of your hand and take it in any direction you want but keep it real. You can change bits, but I warn you to be very careful. Fifteen years ago a NYT Bestselling author wrote a scene with a drive I knew could never happen because it was in my neighborhood and there was no such road, couldn’t with a nuclear power plant and military camp in the way. They ruined the story for me and I couldn’t trust them to actually do research. I never picked up another book by them.

It never hurts to read loads!

Thank you Tilly for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Tilly Greene and her books, please visit her website (contains adult content).

Do you have a question for Tilly?  Please ask in the comment section below.  We love comments!

Note: I'm in New Orleans for Author Reader Con, so we're mixing things up and trying something different today.  Paranormal romance author Tilly Greene was kind enough to provide this guest post on writing.  Enjoy!  -E.J.