SHALLA CHATS with author Gena Showalter

“ Write Sex: Getting Characters ’ Chemistry Sizzling off the Page!”

by Shalla DeGuzman

So, who’s Gena?

Gena Showalter is the author of sexy paranormals (The Stone Prince, The Pleasure Slave, Heart of the Dragon), alien huntress thrillers (Awaken Me Darkly) and fun, sexy contemporaries (Unleashing the Tigress Within).

She sold her first book at the age of 27 and now she is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thirteen books, with eleven more on the way in a thrilling blend of genres: breathtaking paranormal and contemporary romances, cutting edge young adult novels, and stunning urban fantasy.

Her novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine, MTV, Seventeen Magazine, and have been translated in French, Italian and Korean. The critics have called her books "sizzling page-turners" and "utterly spellbinding stories", while Showalter herself has been called “a star on the rise”.

Shalla: Hi Gena, nice of you to talk with us.

Gena: I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Shalla: Now, I’ve been reading reviews for The Pleasure Slave at Amazon and everyone’s giving it 5 stars… People love you! They called it “fast paced, witty” and most of all, “hot.” What’s it like to see that?

Gena: Amazing. Wonderful. To work so hard on a book, breathing, sweating and bleeding every word and have others like it is a dream come true. Not to mention a relief ?

Shalla: So let’s talk about putting S-E-X in paranormals. First off, your characters, what makes a good, sexy character? (in paranormals)

Gena: It’s not always about looks. A lot of times it’s about attitude, confidence, and power. If a man will do whatever it takes to keep his woman safe – and he’s strong enough to back it up. . . well, is there anything sexier?

Shalla: Do the heroes always have to be hunky? Do you ever have like a pudgy ET with devilish, irresistible charm?

Gena: Hunky, no, but they do have to exude a certain magnetism. Let’s face it, romance novels are female based fantasies, so the men need to reflect our desires and dreams.

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Shalla: Where do you find your characters? From TV? Serendipity?

Gena: Maybe I shouldn’t admit this because someone might want to have me committed, but the characters are in my head, ready and willing to tell me their stories. However, certain characteristics do tend to resemble and mimic people I know.

Shalla: Do you have a system for constructing characters?

Gena: Nope. I don’t do any kind of character chart. I’m too obsessive and would feel confined by any type of system. I just sit down and write. Everything always flows into place.

Shalla: How do you make characters sympathetic?

Gena: Flaws and victories. People tend to sympathize with what they can relate to. None of us are perfect and we all want to win in the end. We all know what it feels like to doubt ourselves, to fail, to love, to dream. I try to give my characters enough flaws to make them human, and the victory we all want in the end.

Shalla: How would you raise the emotional stakes?

Gena: Think about what they would never do – and then find a way to make them do it. In my book The Pleasure Slave, the hero swore he would never beg for anything ever again. He’d rather die. He doesn’t even beg to save himself from an eternity of slavery. Except, by the end of the book he loves the heroine so much he drops to his knees without thought and begs for her life. Oh, that scene made me cry!

Shalla: What’s your tip in mixing erotic with funny?

Gena: The funny things stem from the characters’ personalities and experiences and the erotic things stem from the characters’ awareness of each other. Mix them together and boom!

Shalla: Lastly, so how do we get character’s chemistry sizzling off the page?

Gena: Grow the awareness. It’s like starting a fire. It starts out slow and each time you add a log, the fire burns hotter and bigger. Same with your characters. They can notice and be attracted to the overall package at first, but as they continue to come into contact with each other, let them notice smaller details.

In The Pleasure Slave, the hero has been with a lot of women. I mean, he’s been cursed inside a box, allowed to emerge only when his female master has need of his services. He’s Sex, capital S. What’s one more woman to him? Nothing. So I had to build his awareness of the heroine by letting him notice little things about her. Little things that set her apart and made him grow increasingly aware of her as not only a woman, but HIS woman.

Shalla: Thanks lots!

For more on Gena Showalter, please visit her website http://www.genashowalter.com

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Featuring: Dorchester author, Tess Mallory; Artscape author, Frederick Ramsay; Hallie Ephron; Shara Lanel; Margaret L. Carter; Gena Showalter; Judie Aitken; NY Times Best Selling author, Barry Eisler; Chick-Lit author, Sonia Singh; Brett Battles; Michele Scott; multiple Emmy Award winning TV news producer & author Mari Mancusi; Terry Spear; Andrea Wilder; Tina Gerow; Seamus Cashman; NY Times Bestselling author, Bob Mayer; Patricia M. Terrell and more!

Produced and Directed by Shalla DeGuzman
www.shalladeguzman.com