Fifty Shades Freed Interview!

When I woke up early one morning to an email asking if I wanted to be part of the Fifty Shades Freed Tour, I said to myself, HELL YES I DO!  I fell head over heals in love with Fifty the books, and thought this was too good to be true. I honestly thought this was a cruel joke someone was playing on me. Really, I did. I had never been asked to part of a blog tour before so I thought it was really cool. I filled out the Google form and waited......and waited......and waited.

This is how I felt. I swear this could pass as me too! What can I say? I'm an inpatient woman.

If you haven't heard of The Fifty Shades Trilogy....then you must be living in a bubble. That bubble needs to be popped asap so you can get cracking on reading these books! Fifty is so, so....bossy, delectable, addicting and deliciously so! Ana is a gem to read too, but seriously, it's allll about Fifty. Whenever I see an Audi now, I will forever associate it with this trilogy....and I'm ok with that. This story makes me all warm and tingly inside. :)

A few weeks later, I finally received the email I was hoping for. I was part of the Fifty Shades Freed tour! *SQUEE* I was beaming with joy! How cool to be apart of this awesome book tour? I'm not quite sure how I managed it in the first place, but I am so beyond happy and grateful that I could be part of the Fifty Shades Freed Tour.

     Fifty 1

Fifty 2

I figured since this was probably the one and only chance I had to talk books with the creator of our beloved Fifty, I had soooo many questions I wanted to ask her! Like who does she see as Fifty? My head was seriously swimming with questions. But my grandma's voice rang loudly through my head of her saying, "Taryn, it's not always what you want" or "Taryn, it's not always about you!" *sigh* Isn't that the truth. So then I thought it would fun if the fans of the Fifty Shades Trilogy were able to questions as well. And that's what I did.

 

Fifty 3

Oh, did I mention that I will be doing a giveaway today too besides the interview? Well, I am! Not only will there be an interview to day, but I will be giving away a Kindle copy of Fifty Shades Freed too. If you do not have a Kindle, have no fear! I can give away an ebook copy from The Writers Coffee Shop website (where the books are published from). All you have to do it leave a comment and fill out the Google form to entered in the drawing. The giveaway will go until Friday night and I will choose a winner using Random.org on Saturday.

Fifty 4

As you see, I've posted pictures of hunky men who could pass as Fifty. Well, I think who could pass as Fifty. All you have to do to be entered in the contest is leave a number to which man you think would pass as Fifty. If you don't like any that I posted that's ok! I won't be upset. :) You can always post a picture of one that you have in mind or a name. And if you haven't read the books yet, still post who you like.

Fifty 5

 

Ok...back to my train of  thought....So without further ado, please give EL a warm welcome and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. And don't forget to fill out the form and leave a comment to win Fifty Shades Freed! 

Hi Erica, 

Thank you for taking the time out to answer our questions. I really appreciate it and your fans do too. Thank you!
Thank you, Taryn for giving me some precious blog time. It’s much appreciated.

Will we be seeing Jose, Mia, and Ethan get their HEA? Maybe in a spin-off series or a long novella? -Amanda C.
You know I haven’t thought about this. I’d have to go away to a small dark room and lie down and think – but it’s an idea.



Coming from a media background myself, was it hard for you to take yourself and your passion for passion seriously when romance novels are, shall we say, NOT taken seriously as a genre in mainstream media? I worked in media sales selling airtime and ad-space for over ten years and yet with all my networking connections, never felt brave enough to bring up my "hobby" which was writing. In fact, I often took a ribbing when people (and not just men) saw whatever novel I wasreading--usually something by Catherine Coulter, Heather Graham or Karen Robards.

-Your fellow author, Kathryn Gayle 

I used to work in the center of London and take the tube into work everyday. It was a horrible commute and I used to pick up Catherine Coulter, Heather Graham and Karen Robards novels and devour them on the tube – but you’re right I didn’t talk about them – and I was one of those people that didn’t like naked torsos on the front cover of the book I was reading – as those books are such guilty pleasures (or so I thought at the time.) I used to fold the covers back and risk the person sitting next to me reading what I was reading… and that was embarrassing too. Anyway I digress – once I started writing I had no problem telling the people I work with that I did. I think you get to a certain age and you really don’t give a toss what people think – and it’s very liberating. So yes – I am constantly teased by my work colleagues about what I write – and I just brazen it out. :)



Okay this is going to sound crazy but do you ever get tired of writing? *gasp,* Yes, I asked. I know you are a new author, but sometimes we even get tired of what we love. If you do get tired, how do you pick yourself up and get back to it? Also, is there anything you collect? Like rare books? Or coins? Or anything like that? -Dawn S.

Yes I do. At the moment I have so much going on that I don’t have very much time to write but it makes me restless – I think I need a holiday after all these shenanigans, somewhere warm – and I’ll get on with the next thing.  I don’t really collect anything… I wish I could say young men but it’s not true… and my husband might get a bit grumpy with me.



Did you do any "kinky fuckery" research for the books? Like look into Dom/Sub clubs and such to research the toys, safe words, and the contract? Or even have to go to stores just to be familiar with
writing about spreader bars, and anal beads, and ben wa balls? -Alana

Yes. (Nuff said)



Are you planning on doing any other series similar to The Fifty Shades Trilogy? -Janna S.

I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see. Right now I want to lie down in a small dark room for a few days!



BDSM books aren't always my cup of tea, but I loved the way you incorporated it into your series. Fifty and Ana's love scenes were steamy, hot, and sexy. Will you continue to write stories with BDSM? -Anna

I have one BDSM idea… which is a bit more hardcore – similarish to Fifty… but different – but I am not sure if this is what I am going to write next.


So, I have to ask. Is there a real Fifty in your life? Please say YES! Well, maybe you shouldn't tell us....we may hunt you down to find him!

This always makes me giggle when people ask me. Fifty is kind of based on one person I know from my past – but really – he’s a fantasy guy… my fantasy guy that I felt brave enough to share with everyone.



Will Christian ever get his own POV book?

Maybe – if people want to read it… maybe after I’ve done something else.  Never say never eh?



What motivates you to write? Your inspirations? 

I just enjoy telling a story. I am the world’s worst joke teller (ask my husband)… so I have to make up for that somehow.  I like to take a one line simple idea – and daydream around it and see where will it go.  Fifty started with – what if you met someone who was into BDSM and you weren’t interested… what would you do?


I've heard talk that you are planning, or in the process of, writing another book series. I was told this time it be for the young adult genre. Is that true? If so, why did you decide to do YA and can you
please give us a little of what it's about? 

Well I think it’s YA – I am very confuzzled by all these genres – for me it’s just another story – and it’s a ghost story I originally wrote in 2009 which I am re-writing at the moment.  Basically it’s a story about grief – it’s a real barrel of laughs – let me tell you.


When I first starting reading the trilogy, I had no idea it was a Twilight Fanfic. I didn't find out until the middle of the second book and to be quite honest, I was shocked! I had no idea! If I really look
closely at it, I guess I can see similarities, but yet they are so completely different. What made you do a fanfic of Twilight? Was it just for fun? Did you ever expect them to become so popular? For the
record, and not just because I have you on my blog today, I'd chose Fifty over Edward and Jacob any day! I'm sure many ladies would too! 

Yes it was just for fun – and it became insanely popular and people started talking to me about publishing – and eventually I did. The reason I did it, is because in November 2008 I watched Twilight the film – and loved it – (I went to the cinema ten times to see it) and for Christmas I asked my husband for the books. On 27th December 2008 I sat down and read them in five solid days – and I just adored them. My work life was not very happy at the time so I escaped into these books and read them, and re-read them and re-read them (something I very rarely do with a book.) At the end of January – I sat down and wrote my first novel. And then I wrote another one – and in August 2009 I discovered Twilight fan fiction – which I thought was completely weird – I’d never heard of fan fiction before. I read a few fics – and thought – I want to have a go at this – so I did. I wrote my first one in 3 weeks… and then I started what became Fifty Shades –
and it was enormous fun to do.  And no I never expected the fics to be popular or the novels… but they are – which is great.



In Fifty Shades Freed, it feels more of an erotic romance with elements of bdsm. Is that what you were going for? 

Again – this is is this genre thing cropping up – I was just telling Christian and Ana’s story – and this is where it went.



For readers, we love when book covers match the story. Did you design the covers of the books yourself? I really love them. Simple, to the point and it matches your story! 

I wanted very simple covers that I would not be embarrassed to read on the tube.  So yes – they all had to be items that were worn. I was going to do wedding rings for the final book – but that kind of gave away what happened at the end – so I decided on the handcuffs.  Initially I wanted an undone black bowtie for the first book – but Amanda (my publisher) and I couldn’t find one that I liked on the sites we used – so Amanda found the silver tie – but not in the right format – when I found the one in portrait format I knew that’s what I wanted.  Jenn our designer did the design.  I wanted a mask for the second – which was much easier to find.



Why did you choose The Writer's Coffee Shop to publish your books? 

I think it was June 2010 I asked the Writers Coffee Shop if they would be interested in publishing and Amanda Hayward the CEO said yes immediately. I then got cold feet and didn’t think about it again.  Every month or so Amanda would get in touch… and hassle me.  Then in January 2011 a dear friend of mine published his story… and I thought ‘well if he can do it…’ so I called up Amanda and the rest is history.

Beer or wine-
White wine – Oyster Bay, Sauvignon Blanc

Ereader or paperback-
Paperback

Favorite sport-
Gymnastics

Favorite book-
Twilight

Favorite food-
Anything carbohydrate

Favorite thing to do in your down time-
(Smirks)

Favorite hero in a book-
Fitzwilliam Darcy