Jules Dixon - Interview

Author Name: Jules Dixon

Fiction or Non-Fiction: Fiction

Genre(s): New Adult Contemporary Romance and Male/Male Contemporary Romance

Number of books published: 5

Links to published work (Amazon, Smashwords, etc):

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Jules-Dixon/e/B00PUSNF90/

WYLABWYW: Author Bio

Jules Dixon lives in Omaha, NE with her beer-concocting hubby, two almost grown children, one dog and two cats. She enjoys entertaining her neighbors, by singing and dancing while mowing her lawn and is an online distraction to her writing friends. She quite possibly eats her own body weight of Gummy Bears, Hot Tamales, and Red Vines, every year. She’s addicted to everything related to the amazing emotion of love, and has been referred to as "terribly optimistic" which she took as a compliment, but may not have been and she’s okay with that.

She explores the rich psychology of sexuality, choices, and conflicts of high school, college, and new adult characters in her novels and novellas. Her Triple R Series is New Adult romance and has four novels published as of March 2015, with at least four more to be published in the series in the year. She has a college romance trilogy in the works, a young adult suspense-romance series almost completed, and an erotic New Adult serial of ten parts started. She’s a busy writer, but she loves it.

WYLABWYW: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Something we won’t find in you author bio on your website (do you work, hobbies, what do you like to do when not writing/working, etc.).

When I’m not writing, I like (honestly, I’m obsessed with) watching the TV show Supernatural. I’m in love with Jensen Ackles (but don’t tell my hubby ;-)!) Otherwise, I manage rental property for money to pay the bills.

WYLABWYW:  Are you self-published, with an agency, or a combination of the two?

I am self-published, but I would like to be a hybrid author with the combination of the two.

WYLABWYW: What inspired you to become a writer?

Two people. First, my son watched me read all kinds of books for years. One day he just simply asked, “Mom, why don’t you write a book?” I stopped and thought about it and decided it was a good question. I loved to write, had some ideas floating around, and so I sat at the computer and for 27 hours straight I wrote. My hubby likes to refer to it as “The beginning of the mania.” Then I showered and sat down for another 19 hours straight. It became an obsession and I’ve been consistently writing eight to nine hours a day about five days a week ever since.

Second, I read the Marked Men Series by Jay Crownover and I was hooked on New Adult Contemporary Romance. Her characters, especially the males, had grit and emotion and problems that had teeth. The women were strong and spunky and from the beginning of the book I wanted them to be happy and find someone as great as they are. Her writing inspired me to start a second series and find my voice. She still is an inspiration and I love her writing!

WYLABWYW: Do you have a mentor or mentors?

I have a writing partner, C Jai Ferry and I have a critique partner, author Kelly Eadon. Both have been an integral part of who I am as an author. My writing partner is the closest to a mentor. She has so much knowledge and isn’t afraid to share it. She also brings me back down to Earth when I start freaking out about something that isn’t that important. I think we all need one of those in our lives. At the beginning of 2015, I vowed to pay it forward to other authors, so I’m mentoring three newbies this year. One of them will be publishing soon and I’m so proud of her. I love helping other authors and find that the writing community is very willing to assist each other.

WYLABWYW:  What do you do to prepare for a story?

Before I start writing, I make a soundtrack of songs. I use Spotify and think of what kind of emotional rollercoaster I want to portray. Will the characters listen to country, rock, alternative, oldies, 80s? Will they be sappy love songs or upbeat tempos? Then I write an outline and after I’m secure in what I want to say, I write the story. I put the songs in an order that corresponds to the novel and I add more songs.

WYLABWYW: What do you find to be your biggest obstacle in the writing process?

Altering from my outline so much that the story doesn’t have direction would be something I struggle with. I usually end up scrapping a portion of each novel and rewriting. I’ve come to terms that this is part of my process and it isn’t wrong, it’s just mine.

WYLABWYW:  Where do you write?

I have a desk that I write at 80% of the time. The other 20% is spend in a recliner in front of the TV screen while Supernatural plays in the background and I write.

WYLABWYW: Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what do you typically listen to?

That 80% of the time that I’m at my desk, yes, I’m listening to music. I’m an 80’s girl, so if I’m not enjoying the corresponding soundtrack for the novel, I will pick out an 80’s station on I <3 Radio or Spotify and listen to that. I also love the Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift (she is great when writing angsty romance) and anything Justin Timberlake.

WYLABWYW: How much of your book(s), if any, is taken from real life events?

A few parts, but not as many as I thought I would use. More dialogue is used or quips of conversations. Like the other day my friend said “He almost went fetal,” and I thought, I’m using that line in a book. I type them into my phone. My friends probably think I’m recording them! J I also have “Everything’s better with two vaginas in the room” in my phone and I don’t remember what it came from but it will appear in a book. My first series was started after a girls’ night out with a friend and we saw this really cute bartender and he just inspired me. The character description looks little like him because he had a ponytail, but other things aren’t the same. The night appears in the book just like it happened, we nicknamed him “Ponytail” and have called him that ever since.

WYLABWYW:   Who is/was your biggest support for your writing career?

Wow, naming just one person is so hard, but I would say my husband. He’s been great at supporting, but not smothering. He asks questions, and listens to me.

WYLABWYW:  What lead to write your chosen genre?

I write New Adult. I read Jay Crownover’s Marked Men series and thought that is what I want to write. Love her work so much; it almost hurts to know that the series is over. I’m avoiding reading Asa until I have a weekend where I can read from Rule to Jet to Rome to Nash to Rowdy to Asa…that will probably be a full weekend of reading, but I’m committed. I also love that New Adult embraces LGBQT warmly. I’ve written one male/male romance and it was well received and readers loved the diversity.

WYLABWYW:  Tell us about your book(s).

My books are all happy ending books that have characters with both deep crevassing internal and external flaws. I tried to dig down into each character to find something that will make them unique and touch a different place in a reader’s heart. I tackle some pretty hefty issues like adult bullying, cancer, PTSD, drug usage, unplanned pregnancy, and sexual orientation.

My Triple R Series currently has four novels and one novella released. I like to say that the series has the camaraderie and humor of the TV show Friends but with a whole lot more sex.

WYLABWYW:  Do you have muses you used for your characters?

Sure! The first novel, Run to Love, male character, Jude Saylor came from a bartender after that fateful girls’ night out. The second novel, Rest, My Love, the lead male spoke to me after I saw a picture of a soldier on the internet and he had these puppy dog brown eyes, but this look of pain in them. The third novel, Ride With Love, well I drive by a Ducati dealership and there are always these hot bikes lined up outside. I just started imagining what someone who owns multiple motorcycles might be like and the lead male Kanyon was born. The fourth novel, Road to Love, I have always been surrounded by loves of all variety and combination of people, so it is an amalgamation of those relationships that have touched my heart most.  The novella, Ribbons of Love, I think subconsciously I used my friend’s son as the muse. Her son was just out of the Army and finding his way as a new adult. He’s very impressive and the lead male, Bryson, is too.

WYLABWYW: Time to give your support a shout out! Tell us about your crew (cover designer, photographer, editor, videographer, proofreader, swag designer, etc.)

My cover designer is Gabriel Renfrow of Frac Media. My editor is the wonderful and talented, Michelle Josette or MJbookeditor.com. That is my current team, but I just added a personal assistant today, Angela and I hope that it works out because I need some help to do everything and still be able to write!

WYLABWYW: What are you working on now, and when can we expect your next release?

I have four projects going: a Young Adult suspense series; a New Adult erotica serial of ten parts; a male/male cowboy and college graduate romance series; and a college sports romance three-part novel series. Plus, I plan to finish up the Triple R Series this year with three more novels and two more novellas. The erotica serial will be released at the beginning of 2016, the college romance and male/male is being pitched to agents for traditional publishing, but if I nothing happens by the fall of 2015, I will publish those myself, too.

WYLABWYW: Can you share an excerpt from a work in progress?

I’d love to: This is from the tentatively titled Spurs: Cherry County #1:

Grayson

“Gray, you look like someone stole your puppy, ate your last Twinkie, and took a crap on your prized laptop. It’s like sad, angry, grossed-out—all in one messed-up face.”

My normally unobservant brother wasn’t wrong. The last two weeks of my life had been about the level of hell that he described. If he’d added, “diced your heart into a hundred pieces,” he’d have verbally amassed my emotional state, but his interest in my mood was fleeting. Holston returned to fidgeting with the sound system, plugging his phone into the USB and bouncing around music genres more than Taylor Swift.

The seven-hour mind-numbing drive to my hometown of Valentine, Nebraska from Denver, Colorado was doing nothing to help me forget what had happened. As the green ditches of countryside flew by, I relived the past two weeks of fresh hell, which now included Taylor Swift’s newest album singing about her fucked-up relationships. I could relate to her situation and that fact only deteriorated my mood. To be in the same place as T-Swift…now that was rock bottom, maybe hiding-under-and-being-crushed-by-a-rock bottom.

“Holston! Just stop, please,” I huffed as he forwarded through a song for the tenth time in succession. I propped my head up on my fist as I balanced my elbow against the cool glass of the driver’s side window.

“Dude, you’ve been a dick the entire drive and it’s not my choice of music that’s the fucking problem. What is up with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Again, that’s not a nothing face!”

Maybe Holston was better at reading people than I thought. Of course, being around me for twenty-one years probably had a little to do with it. I blindly inspected the ankle-high, quarter-mile lines of corn that waved leafy fingers. The movement seemed friendly and welcoming and reminded me of running through the rows as teenagers, the sharp leaves slicing tiny marks into our skin but our happiness outshining any pain. Sometimes being an adult was pain without happiness.

“Just a lot on my mind,” I mumbled.

Holston turned off the radio. “Bro, whatever it is, just spit it out. I can’t take you sighing and huffing and shaking your head for the next three hours.”

Telling my family that Trex Jones would no longer be a part of our lives would be more difficult and gut-wrenching than when I informed them I was gay. My two brothers, three sisters, and both of my parents loved Trex, probably as much as I did. And because he was an only child and they substituted as family for him, Trex loved them, too. And me. At least that was what I thought, until, on the last day of classes, I caught him balls-deep in the summer library intern on our kitchen table.

WYLABWYW:  Do you have any upcoming signing events or appearances scheduled later this year or in 2016?

I will be at the RomCon convention in Denver Colorado September 26 with the signing 3:30-5:30pm.  And then I plan to be back at the Romance Rendezvous in Cedar Falls Iowa in 2016 and adding more dates next year.

WYLABWYW: Which new authors have caught your attention?

BL Berry- she writes these angsty, twisty, gritty New Adult stories. Harper Miller has this sense of humor that makes me smile. She is also willing to take chances and make people think outside of themselves. Jacqueline Winters asked me to critique for her and I was so thrilled. Her debut release has heart and suspense and her lead male is beyond yummy.  And lastly Corrissa James is a new favorite of mine. I love cowboy romances and her Great Plains Series is contemporary cowboy romance- even better!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us all.