An Interview with Author Fierce Dolan

Please welcome yet another lucky interview winner from the 20,000TH Hit Giveaway events, erotic author Fierce Dolan to Unwritten! Let's just get right to it, shall we?

Fierce, please tell us a little more about yourself. Where are you from, and what do you do when you're not writing spicy stories?

Thanks for having me, Mysti! I’m right-coaster, though I consider myself a world citizen. I like to travel far and wide, and can never get enough of seeing new places. When I’m not writing erotica, I’m writing all kinds of other things. I’ve been a career writer for 22 years, in technical documentation, articles for journals, magazines, also nonfiction, poetry and gentler fiction—all under various names.  I really never stop writing, even when I stop.

On your website, you describe yourself as a mezzofiction writer. For the more clueless ones among us *ahem*, what is mezzofiction, and how did you get into it?

I came up with that term about sixteen years ago to describe my quirky style of writing quasi-believable stories. MezzoFiction is my way of describing method acting, not for the stage but for the page. The term doesn’t describe the validity of the stories, but how I write them. I work with trance states, and “mezzo” means middle, or medial. I go into trance when I write, sometimes not even remembering what I wrote until I look back. So, mezzofiction is about not just me thinking up things and writing them down, but sensually going into those spaces and feeling them, being them. Probably a little weird, but all in context… Giving it a name helped me to grow into it as a technique, and I use it for writing nonfiction as much as fiction.

I found this quote on your Facebook page: 

An editor asked me what led me to write erotica. I replied, "A dirty mind, excess words, and an overactive sacral chakra."  

I think most of us would agree that writing erotica is not only challenging, but often controversial, particularly when it comes to homosexual themes. Have you experienced any opposition to your work, and if so, how have you handled it?

You know… I’ve not had an opposition to the GLBQ aspect of my writing, though there was sort of a trip up on the “T” part of that not too long ago. Someone reacted very emotionally to my statements around being gender-neutral in how I identify in my life and in my writing. I was very surprised by that, though it’s a reminder that a lot of people still think in two genders, only. And if they can make assumptions around that in my writing and how I choose to present myself, it makes me wonder what assumptions they make about gender vs biogender in their everyday attitudes. In this particular instance, my choice to be presented as gender-neutral in open correspondence was targeted as a marketing device to draw in more readers. Well, my writing speaks for itself. It draws readers, or it doesn’t. I just was stunned that someone would get angry over my choice to reflect how I view myself and how I choose to hold gender as loosely as possible in my writing.

Buy it HERE!

Let's talk about your latest release, Traveler Through Darkness. What's it about, and what inspired you to write it?

Thanks for asking! I’m really excited about it because it’s part of Decadent Publishing's The Edge series—stories that are quite short, focused on tight plots and brief interludes, with intense heat levels. This story is interracial gay erotica. I like to write stories featuring Middle Eastern characters fusing into mainstream western romance tropes, particularly when it comes to breaking taboos.  In Traveler that fusion is front and center in multicultural erotic collisions.  Particularly, I like making Middle Eastern men romantic leads. 

In Traveler Tarik is an Arab Muslim, though he’s been in the western world long enough to have established a bountiful life in the United States. Wo, a young Navajo man, is proudly out but on the fringe, himself. They have a chance meeting the night of Tarik’s bachelor party that leaves them both changed forever.

Several well-known authors have been caught paying for book reviews. What are your thoughts on this? Since I doubt this development is anything new, do you think the "revelations" may be just another publicity ploy?

I think you’re right—I don’t think it’s new.  I know that big agencies and publishers pay interns, etc, to plant positive reviews for their authors. I guess it’s just part of the indie progression for authors to do that, themselves. I’m sure it’s in part a PR move, perhaps for the author at the center of it, but also for the industry to say, “See? Indie authors aren’t legitimate.” We focus on where digital technology fits into the production and distribution process of publishing, when in reality we don’t know how it fits into the afterlife of a publication, either. It’s still a very new frontier in a lot of ways.

Everyone I interview gets a random question. Here's yours: What's the most neglected room/area in your house?

Ha! I don’t know if it counts as a room, but the attic.  I’ve not been in my current space long—just a few years. I was thinking yesterday of how when I first moved in, it was all shiny and new. Now every flat surface stays covered and it’s a constant struggle to beat it all back. The attic, though, was empty, completely empty, upon arrival. Now I have to step over things up there to keep from tripping.  *sigh*

Would you be so kind as to share a short excerpt of your work?

“I am so sorry–” Tarik began.  

“It’s okay. It was an accident.” The words were rushed as he pulled the soaked sweatshirt from his skin and fanned the dripping tablet. Black smudges coated the fingertips and heel of his left hand.  

“I've ruined your work,” Tarik lamented, motioning toward the pad.  

“Oh, no. It's just a sketch. I was fascinated with the moonlight on the harbor.” He flashed a charcoal rendering of the midnight water. A long, shimmering black strand fell forward of the band securing his hair, lighting just at the edge of his upturned mouth. “No masterpiece here.”  

Piercing umber eyes met Tarik’s, and the gentle smile relaxed his shoulders. “You were in the ballroom earlier.”  

“Mmm. The bachelor party.” Tarik pursed his lips, nodding once. “I’m staying in the hotel. Allow me to get for you a clean shirt.”  

“It’s fine. I don’t have far to go.”  

“In this cold, with no jacket, you will freeze. Please. I insist—” 

 “What's your name?” the younger man asked. 

 “I am Tarik.” He bowed.  

“I'm Wo.” He nodded. “Thank you for your kind offer, Tarik.”

~*~*~*~

There's also a 'Reader’s Guide' highlighting wee details in the story's context on my site:

http://www.fiercedolan.com/TTD-readersguide

Thank you so much for being here, Fierce! I wish you a ton of success!

Thank you!

Frolic with Fierce on:

Facebook

@FierceDolan

Google+

Goodreads

Amazon