Hi Audrey!

Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to come share a little bit about yourself with the Fallen Angel Readers. We’re delighted to have you.

For you, Izzy, anytime.

Can you please tell us about your latest release?

Rogue President is the latest, having been released this year on my birthday. One thing I can tell you that you may not know is, my character Griff Nyle was inspired by Bill Clinton (read the dedication). Just before the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal made headlines someone told me that since I live in such close proximity to the White House maybe I should write a political suspense. I didn’t really want to, and couldn’t get too excited about it, but when the scandal broke I knew immediately what my story would be about. I watched the news closely and took note at how the First Lady was ignored, and it caused me to wonder if anyone gave a damn about what she went through when her husband was caught with his pants down. So, I got busy and gave the story a First Lady with a “mouth” which was just what Griff Nyle needed to put him in his place. She had to be a redhead, and as hot tempered as a red hot poker! Being the daughter of a Senator, she had all the proper background giving her the training she needed to conduct herself in public, even when the man she loved was humiliating her. Even so, I made sure I gave her an opportunity to give the bum a taste of his own medicine. The book is so unique that I had people telling me that if I wasn’t careful I would have men in black suits (secret service agents) coming to my door. The book is filled with romantic tension, hot sultry glances, gritty dialogue, and bigger-than-life characters such as the hot little vixen that played on Griff’s addiction to sex. I struggled at my computer, using everything I knew about the intricate Washington setup, but it was worth it, because after all the smoke had cleared, Rogue President was born!

What are your plans for future projects? Anything you can talk with us about? Give us a sneak peek?

Aside from my several releases coming soon from eXtasy, I’m working on a new book entitled Society’s Son. It’s the story of a professional male whore whose life takes a violent turn when he’s involved in a hit and run accident. This turn of events thrusts him into the streets where he has to rely on his wits for survival. During his struggle a woman sees him and offers him a job. When he shows up in the office without the whiskers and tattered clothes, female hearts begin to throb and temperatures begin to rise. He’s so sinfully handsome he steals the woman’s breath, her heart, and even her job. What follows is hot, steamy sex, adult dialogue, and scorching situations that will leave you breathless as you turn one page after the other.

How do readers find out more about you and your books?

The best way would be to click into my website, www.audreygodwin.com, however it’s being overhauled at present by J & J Designs. I’ve had a sneak peek at it, and it’s awesome! In the meantime, look for my works on www.authorsden.com, one of the best sites for authors that I know of. Besides the Fallen Angel site, of course!

How can the readers contact you?

You may contact me through the publisher’s website, or you can email me at...afullflame@aol.com. If you choose to email me, please put something in the subject line that will alert me so I won’t think it’s spam, or some virus someone wants to give me. Otherwise I might miss you.

Do many readers contact you? Do you have any cool stories about contacts?

Yes, I have a few at both my own email address, and at Authors Den. Just recently I wrote a free short story and posted it on Author’s Den entitled, Candlelight Seduction. Wow, did I get some responses to that one! One reader told me I “stirred things up.” I’ve also been contacted by TWO preachers, one wrote this about my book, Beautiful Devil...

“I must say that this sounds like a very interesting book! It would be an experience to read something like this and I might learn something! (I mean so that I can relate to others!) Very important that is to me. Good luck with the book! Blessings, Rev Davey”

Getting a reaction out of two preachers makes me feel a little like Sadie Thompson.

This, of course is only a few. I have many more and all are very uplifting. I’ve had only one fan slam me for baby porn when she read a blurb of Pretty Baby and leaned that the heroine was “barely out of the cradle.” I had to laugh at that! The heroine in Pretty Baby is eighteen years old, and ripe and ready for love, as any young woman is at that age! Author’s Den came to my rescue and wiped the slam off the website.

Have any of your fans' comments and letters influenced you in any way?

Everything my fans do influences me. I seem to be a controversial writer. My stories are either loved or hated. Very little middle ground. The truth is, if I get slammed by a reviewer it doesn’t affect me half as much as a slam from a reader.

Sometimes when things are not going too good, maybe sales are down, or I can’t get a good idea in my head, I get the blues and am convinced that I can’t write a word. If a fan happens to write in and tell me they like what I’ve written, or encourage me in any way, that helps me more than words can say. I place a lot of value in what my fans think. It’s for them that I’m writing, after all. I want my words to open up a window through which they can escape. I want them to identify with the heroine in my stories to such an extent that they feel they are walking in her shoes, sharing her pain, her joy, looking out of her eyes, actually experiencing the things going on about her. And when that handsome man takes her in his arms, to feel the erotic swirls of passion that builds to a crashing crescendo. Yes, my fans hold a lot of power over me, as they do every writer.

Do you have a favorite comment or question from a reader?

My favorite comment from a reader is, “Keep Writing!!” I also had a reader tell me once that I was “so bad that I was goooooood!”

What influenced your decision to write romance novels?

I guess you could say that after reading countless novels, story ideas began swirling around in my head at a rapid pace. I remember the very day I went out and bought a word processor just for the explicit purpose of writing a book. Sitting down in front of it I began to create the world of Lance and Stefan Duquesne, twin werewolves that terrorized the countryside in Brothers of the Night. What a wonderful experience! I wrote my earlier books on that word processor, however, now it is in word processor heaven and I’m working on wearing out my second computer.

How much of your personality and life experiences do you put into your writing?

Too much for me to be comfortable with. Any writer has to dig down deep, pulling out emotions that have lived inside them for decades. Many are surprised at what they find, me included. I’ve written some sex scenes that I didn’t know was in me. I feel everything I write right down to my very soul. There have been times when I’ve tried something new, not being sure I could handle it, and it flows out of me like water. I kid you not, it has me scratching my head, wondering what else I can pull out from inside me! One of these days I’m going to try a western. Already I have ideas that keep pushing their way into my mind, and I guarantee you, it’ll be the sexiest western you can find anywhere. The West has been in the hands of men long enough. I say give the West to the women who know how to handle it, and let’s rock! Have you ever wondered if the saloon girl sells anything but drinks? There’s not a man anywhere sexier than a cowboy! What’s it like to sleep with a cowboy? Does he ride you like he does his horse? He must be muscled from head to toe, especially his thighs! Can’t you just see the stud smiling at you from beneath the curled brim of his hat? Sunburned, strutting around in cowboy boots, and wearing jeans that are so tight they look painted on! I’m from Texas, so trust me! I know what I’m talking about!

What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels, do you find them difficult to write?

Right now I’m into historical romance, and let me say, some of those love scenes are ridiculous. Because they go on for page after page after page, they become tedious and boring. Yes, I said boring! They cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be called erotic. Eroticism stirs the senses, and it’s not calculated, it just happens! It makes you feel your lovers touch, his breath on your face, the weight of his body on yours, his wet whisper in your ear, the pulse of his... Well, you get the idea. What I’m trying to say is, it’s not... or shouldn’t be... dry words. Try eating a sandwich without mayonnaise on it... it’s dry! Try listening to a preacher who doesn’t know how to relate to his audience with magnetism, appeal, or charisma... you’ll fall asleep! Try watching a movie that moves too slow... who cares? It’s like trying to get that man of yours to move when he’s not interested... boooorrring!

As far as writing them, I love it. I’ve learned how to lock into my own erotic imagination, and like writer Chyna Marsh in my novel, Shadow Lover, make hot, steamy love with my hero, and zowie! I’m off to the races!

What kind of research do you do? How much do you think is necessary?

I do as much as necessary with a particular story. For instance, in Society’s Son homelessness is barely touched upon, but has enough in it that it would be necessary for me to know something about it. But since I had already researched the subject for my novel Dark Masquerade, I simply used knowledge I already had.

Believe it or not, I conceived this story when I used to come out of the subway station at Rosslyn (this station will be familiar to any of you that live in Arlington, Virginia) and used to see a man just like the one I describe in the book. His eyes were sharp, he was young, and he was there every morning. He would look at me just the way he looks at the heroine in the book. I wondered about his story many times. Little does he know that he inspired the novel, Society’s Son.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Mmmm, I think Cheryl Holt, and Audrey Godwin, but not necessarily in that order.

Who, if anyone, has influenced your writing?

Probably everyone I’ve ever read. And even some I haven’t from what others tell me. I’ve been compared to Anne Rice’s lush, descriptive horrors, and to Jackie Collins’ sexy novels. I’ve never read anything they’ve written, however I have read a few by Danielle Steel, so my comparison to her is at least logical, although I don’t agree with it. I learned to write by reading what others wrote. No, certainly not plagiarism, but style, tone, sentence structure, etc.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

As the highest paid, most successful author in history. Don’t you see it? I do!

How many books have you written, how many have been published?

Including the short stories, all together I’ve written thirteen... Nine novels, and four short stories. Ten have been published, two are coming up for publication, and two are being published for the second time.

What book for you has been the easiest to write?

Brothers of the Night was the easiest to write, the most fun, and by far the most controversial!

What are the elements of a great romance for you?

You’re not going to like how I answer this question, but you want honesty, right? Okay, here goes. I’m an erotica writer, but I don’t like to write a book, or a short story with one sex scene after the other in it. I like a well thought out plot, believable characters, and a situation I can sink my teeth into. Of course I want sex scenes that are really hot, and plenty of them, but in my books you don’t get the dessert until you’ve eaten the meal! What I mean is… the building of a situation is important. Build sexual tension. Keep the hero and heroine away from each other at first. Even make them hate each other… be at odds. Then close in for the killing! There’s always that ultimate moment when they fall… realizing they can’t live without each other! And then when they finally wind up in bed it’s that much more explosive! One sex scene after the other makes a story cheap. I want gold, not brass... silver, not tin... wine, not water. The elements of a great romance? Balance. It may not sound too romantic, but if you have it, the story sings!

Any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

Keep writing! If you have talent it’ll be recognized when the right person sees it. Take every opportunity to display your work. After all the query letters I sent out, and rejection slips I received, when I finally got my break, the publisher contacted me after seeing my work on a website.

Thank you for taking the time to share a bit about your writing and your life with the readers at FAR.

You bet. Ask anytime.

Interviewed by: Izzy