Guest Interview - 16 August: Tessa Wanton

Come in Tessa, so good to see you. Let me take your coat and get you a drink. Please take a seat.

Hi Naomi!  Thank you for inviting me onto your new blog! I have to say I love what you have done with it, very nice indeed! So, you’d like to know a little more about me and my writing?

Yes please, fire away!

 Well, where to begin...

I started writing seriously around a year ago now, I’ve always loved reading, and anyone who knows me reasonably well would tell you I can always spin a good story at the drop of a hat. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to write the things down, but it hadn’t. Well, until I was made redundant from my last job. It was a total shock, and its times like those that you re-assess what is happening with your life. Should I continue on the same path as before or maybe chance it and take new opportunities to pursue something entirely different?

 I found myself glued to the internet and, in my search for a new job, barely able to drag myself away from the screen for fear of missing any new vacancies that came up. During this time, I found I was easily getting punch drunk and needed new pursuits to distract me, so I started to research all of the things that had fascinated me over the years, and that which seemed to crop up the most, with the largest amount of online resources turned out to be BDSM. I simply devoured what was on offer, personal accounts, stories, fictional or otherwise, the countless open and honest people willing to share their thoughts and opinions with me, it was amazing. Therefore, I decided to try to put all the emotions that I had heard and explored into short passages, which expressed how these people felt in my mind. The Training of Tess was born.

The Training of Tess is an interesting piece, as unbeknownst to me; I had penned my first piece of erotica. The story itself is self-contained. There are many, many layers, which are unravelled in the second and third books. These however, can be read separately, or in conjunction with the first. There are elements of all three, which explain the motives and thoughts of my characters throughout the series, but I was careful to craft each for their own sake. What is the point of creating art that cannot stand on its’ own merit? The core of each book is the strength of trust and respect in relationships. For me, whether you write erotica, erotic romance or any other genre, the truth behind the story is the interplay between the characters. The real human emotion. Even if your story is set in another universe, it is the human emotion that draws the reader in to your world, despite the outwardly alien setting. That’s always something that teases me from time to time, will I ever write science fiction? Perhaps I shall, but for the moment, my writing is changing all  of the time, I am learning and testing myself, and I have so many stories clamouring for attention in the erotic romance genre, it would be rude not to allow them their freedom wouldn’t it?

The route I have taken is constantly evolving, for instance, with Tickled Pink, I wrote it yet again, as an exploration of an idea, something that struck a chord deeply within me. Therefore, Ellie and Mark were born to live their lives for us, to demonstrate how kink could be involved in everyday life, not your typical kink for sure, but again, something that I have discovered is very much more mainstream than it first appears. This is where I look to explore more for the future. Currently I’m challenging myself with a short story which is a complete departure from anything I have written before – I won’t say much about this for the moment, but what I will say, is that it may surprise those who’ve read my work so far. Watch this space... In addition, of course the next book I will write after that is Nylon Dreams. The second book in the ‘Tickled’ series. Such was the response to ‘Tickled Pink’, that my readers have insisted I write more! I never expected that I would have such a response to their tale, and although the stories I have in mind are a little more fantastical than the gritty realism of the Tess series, the range of emotions that I depict are just as heartfelt in the tale they have to tell. Just how do those who live the lifestyle balance a loving, family life? As much as people like to think that when children come along, anything remotely kinky disappears, I can assure you from my research, that is not the case. In the same way that it’s not just single, attractive 20-somethings that have the most explosive love lives, a married Ellie and Mark will show how love in a strong family will conquer any evil that tries to tear them apart.

Well that’s enough about my writing without giving away too much, but my future ambitions are to continue to grow my skills, and to challenge myself with new ideas, give my readers new and different challenges themselves. Variety is indeed the spice of life!

Wow! That’s a real insight to your writing thanks for that!

As just a taster of Tessa’s Dilemma, the second book in the Tess series, I hope you enjoy this little excerpt from Master Charles – He does seem to be finding a rather passionate following amongst my readers...

Standing casually with his hands in his trouser pockets, he looked reflectively out his office window. She had finally called him Master, but then they all did in the end. His mind skipped over previous submissives whom he had tested, but none intrigued him the way that she did, and by the time they had called him “Master” he had mostly lost interest. There was just something different about Tessa. They’d had a number of encounters and yet she still held such intrigue for him. How she reacted to his tests delighted his senses; her responses had been instinctively sensual, animalistic in some ways, so completely open – perhaps it was innocence? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, weren’t all first time submissives innocent? No. Her submission was different, the inquisitive intelligence behind her eyes, her fear, her trembling body, her delicious gasps – all for him. She would definitely continue to fascinate him, and he was constantly imagining more ways in which to test her.

Distractedly watching the heavy central London traffic in the street a few stories below, images of her alabaster skin flushed with desire, memories of her cries filled his mind and a smile crept across his lips. He chuckled quietly to himself. After all he had said about Lanchester and compartmentalizing his life and her life, his mind was wandering to Tessa yet again. It was becoming all too familiar, allowing his focus to center on her more frequently than was good for him. But it was no matter. He was enjoying himself, and what harm could remembering better times do?

From his gentle testing she had decried that she hated pain, but her response to his belt, his slaps, the nipple torture, had revealed that in fact there was more depth to her arousal.

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Find Tessa and all book links at http://www.tessawanton.com/

Thanks so much for dropping by Tessa, hope to see you soon