SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Author A.J. Llewellyn!

Joining me today in The Loft is author A.J. Llewellyn. The author of more than 300 erotic romance novels, A.J. started life as a journalist and boxing columnist. She has now written a number of series, including the Mingo McCloud Honolulu Mysteries and Honeybone. An early obsession with Robinson Crusoe led to a lifelong love affair with islands, particularly Hawaii and Easter Island. A.J. has a desire to paint, draw, juggle, work for the FBI, walk a tightrope with an elephant, be a chess champion, a steeplejack, master chef, and a world-class surfer. She can’t do any of these things, so she writes about them instead.

Author A. J. Llewellyn

S: Welcome, A. J. Thanks for visiting today.

What do you think is the biggest issue facing romance authors today?

A: I think it’s the quality of the books that are being released. The best thing that happened to authors is that we got to self-publish. I make a lot more money self-publishing than I do with my publishers, but I stay loyal to them and still give them books. But I think it’s wonderful that we have more freedom now. I am so grateful. I’ve built up my backlist to over 300 books and I treat my career seriously. The problem is some authors don’t work on their books. They won’t hire an editor and their covers often suck. It makes it very hard for romance writers in general, because there is a perception that it’s easy to write romance. It’s not. It’s a job and I love it, but I spend a lot of time honing my stories. I spent a lot of money on edits, covers, website updates, and promotion.

S: Sadly, AI will probably further taint the book pool.

Do you have a literary agent?

A: No. I used to have one when I was writing screenplays, but she couldn’t get me arrested, let alone a paid gig. We’re still friends, but I have bad memories of all the pitch meetings I went to, hoping to get work. I even had pitched ideas stolen. I actually wrote about a lot of this in my Black Point series with D.J. Manly. In those days, I had to photocopy my books and screenplays, and spent a fortune getting her new material to send out all the time. I never saw those items again. I know she sent them out because I had a list of places they went to – and like I said, I did get pitch meetings, but I have done much better on my own. These days, it’s so much easier and cheaper because everything’s done via email.

S: I can't imagine what a chore it was to make paper copies.

Is there any advantage to having a literary agent?

A: I would not advise a romance author to get an agent. You don’t need one. You can send publishers your material directly and even the big six New York publishing houses are open to unrepresented authors. However, I would advise getting a literary attorney or a lit agent to go over the contract if an author does land a big book deal. For movie projects you definitely need an agent, but the good ones are hard to find.

S: Have you ever attended a writer’s retreat? Did you find it helpful?

A: I have been to a few and I really enjoyed them. The best one I went to was run by author Rachael Herron and I learned so much from her. The meditations we did, writing prompts, and outdoor visualization writing exercises were beyond valuable. She held the retreat at Pelican Point Lighthouse and State Park in northern California. A breathtaking place. We were there five days, and it was wonderful. I am still friendly with some of the people I met there.

S: How do you develop your characters? Do you use photos or a vision board?

A: No. But I do use a graph like I did when I was writing screenplays. I use post-its for the various characters. Each character and storyline gets a particular color. I put them on the wall and as the story develops, I can tell if one color isn’t in there enough. Then it’s time to repack the snowball as William Goldman used to say, and go back and fix things. It’s a fun way to write. Sometimes, I have a particular look for a character in mind but mostly I don’t work with photos anymore.

S: What do you write first—the blurb or the book?

A: The book. However, as I am writing it, I’m always thinking about the logline. That’s the Hollywood script reader in me. I do screenplay coverage for a studio and we’re trained to think of a 10-word sales pitch. That is the selling point for any book or screenplay. So, I do think about that. One of my favorite loglines ever and gosh, I wish I’d written it was the one for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “One Man’s Struggle to take it easy!”

S: I find the blurb limiting, so I don't write it until after the book is done. However, I usually have a tagline in my head while writing.

If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose to write books?

A: Oh, yes. I live to write. I wanted to write screenplays after 20 plus years as a journalist but it’s a heartbreaking business. The writer who spends years creating and developing their screenplay often doesn’t even get a writing credit. They might get paid, but their work is taken over and it’s written by a committee. I once got offered $10,000 by actor Robert Blake to take a book I’d written “out of my hands.” I was desperate, but not that desperate. He wanted to put his own name on my work. I said no. It ended our communication but that was okay. By the way I ended up making quite a few changes to the screenplay and wrote it as a book. It became "Honeybone," one of my favorite mysteries that I’ve written. There are five books in that series at the moment.

S: What famous book do you wish you had written?

A: Wow, what a great question. I’d say "The Daughter of Time," by Josephine Tey. Written in 1951, it still stands up today and it’s a cracking great mystery. I love that book!

S: What do you want inscribed on your tombstone? How do you want to be remembered?

A: "She could write but above all, she loved animals. The animals have lost a friend.”