Laci's Place: Ian Dalton ~ Wife helped with research, but didn't read the book.

I'd like to thank Ian Dalton, author of the sexy Victoria Wilde series, for today's interview! I first found Ian during a free promo through the KDP program on Amazon. I read the first book of his VW series and was hooked. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the rest. I did, and they didn't disappoint!

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I know I enjoyed the refreshing no-holds-barred way you approached sex in your Victoria Wilde series. What did you enjoy most about writing the series?

That I got to fantasize about people living exciting lives and having amazing sex and instead of just thinking about it, I was able to write it all down, refine it and try to make it perfect. A few times, while writing steamy scenes, I had to close up my lap top and see if my wife was "available" for some let's call it book research…

*LP: Ah, yes, that is the BEST kind of research! ;)

What is something readers would be surprised to learn about the VW series?

That book one was inspired by true events— that I was so stupid in college that I actually was blind to what was going on around me. Looking back, I feel pretty stupid about the whole thing, but it was a lot of fun to relive and turn mostly a bad memory into a book that people really seem to enjoy.

I enjoyed Jillian in book one, but from there Brian was my fave. Who is your favorite character in the VW series?

It's got to be Victoria. There is nothing she won't do or won't ask someone. She's a firecracker and she's fun to write for.

Who is your favorite author(s) and why?

I love John Grisham and have read nearly everything he's written. I was never a big reader, but I remember picking up The Firm twenty plus years ago and not being able to put it down. A few of his early novels end with his main character escaping the life he hates and ending up on some tropical island with a hot girl. That sounds really good right now.

*LP: Such a typical male! =)

What books have most influenced you in life? And in your writing?

I don't know about life, but in my writing…

Olivia Cunning's Backstage Pass was my guide on how descriptive I could go with my sex scenes and Chad Kultgen's Average American Male was my guide on how raunchy I should go with my story lines.

I personally have a long list, but is there anything you find particularly challenging in writing?

The editing drives me crazy. Reading an entire novel you wrote for the eighth time as you attempt to improve it is a nightmare. Affording quality editing is a real challenge and I so worry that every time I open a document and fix something that I've somehow screwed something else up. I really should keep track changes on, but I absolutely hate working with track changes.

*LP: Wow, someone who feels like I do! I agree with all of the above statement!

Do you have a regular routine for writing?

Not really, I'll go through bouts of not writing a thing and then I'll kill myself writing thousands of words a day to the point where I'll need to visit the eye doctor and get drops for an eye infection caused by eye strain!

Do you ever suffer from the dreaded writer’s block?

No, but I do lose interest in projects and need to put them away for a while before coming back. I'm having a hard time getting away from the characters in my Victoria Wilde series. I really miss them, but I want to move on. I might need to come back sooner than I thought.

*LP: As a VW fan I wouldn't mind if you did revisit some of the cast in a short story or two!

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Get something published out there. Make sure it's good and is free of as many mistakes as you can find, but get it out there. Also take advance of Amazon's KDP to start. Don't be afraid to offer your book for free. Free is the best "free" promotion you will find. If your book is good, it will find an audience. Sometimes that audience is small, but it's still an audience. Oh and ignore bad reviews. All books get at least one. Glance at them, wish horrible things on the person who wrote them and then move on. J

*LP: Oh, how I could have used you around the first time I got a bad review. Good advice!

Please tell us what are you currently working on, and when can we expect it?

I'm trying to adapt the first screenplay I wrote into a novel. I'm struggling to decide whether or not to write it in the first person. I was hoping to have it out this year, but that might be a little ambitious. It's about a guy who loses his job, discovers his wife cheating, and inadvertently saves a celebutant (think a Paris Hilton type) from an ill-planned kidnapping all in the same morning. From there, hilarity ensues as he goes on—let's call it—a little adventure as he struggles to move on with his life.

*LP: Oooh, I like!

Share with us five things that the average reader might not know about you:

-I have early stage prostate cancer and it sucks.

-I hit puberty full on when I was almost 19 and started college when I was 17. I was a five foot two, hundred pound freshman. (life's not fair)

-I somehow began losing my hair at the age of 25. (again, life's not fair)

-I have twins and a daughter who's eighteen months younger. They're all in the eleventh grade and somehow I think I'll need to pay for three college tuitions all at the same time. (God help me)

-My wife has never read any of my books. (She likes murder mysteries and biographies and really wouldn't be interested in my steamy, funny stuff…)

Links to keep track of Ian Dalton and his on-goings:

http://iandaltonbooks.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/InappropriateThoughts

https://twitter.com/#!/iandaltonbooks

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5311054.Ian_Dalton

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So what did you think? I think Ian is an interesting kind of guy! (And he writes good steamy scenes, too!)