I met Claire Gillian through AbsoluteWrite, a resource site
for writers and, shortly thereafter, discovered that she wrote under not one,
but three pen names (Claire Gillian – mainstream fiction and non-fiction
essays, Lila Shaw – erotica and erotic romance, and a YA pen name). The mind, it
boggled! We grabbed drinks at RWA last year, and I will admit to being a little
relieved that she displayed only a single – very charming – personality. Though
she did refer to herself in the third person the entire time…is that weird? J
You have the unique ability to combine strong sexuality with
humor and suspense. Is that something that you intentionally work to balance,
or does it develop organically during the writing process?
I don’t give it much conscious thought, to be honest. I
write what I enjoy reading—romance, sex, mystery/suspense (sometimes), but nearly
always humor. I look for humor in most situations and I especially love the
ridiculous. Humor is subjective though, so I’m always taking a chance I’ll fall
flat on my face with some readers. Sometimes I’ve consciously removed it when
it felt inappropriate or too campy. Other times, I’ve had readers characterize
a work or scene as funny when I hadn’t intended such. J Happy accidents are
always fine with me. I never cease praying for luck to fill in the cracks and
gaps in my skills.
However, I’m quite the cynic, though I don’t necessarily
want to read or write about human misery. I wish I could write a starry-eyed /
tearjerker to make people cry and sigh and tell all their friends to read it,
but I prefer my fiction to make me cry with laughter. The other kind gives me a
stuffy red nose that’s not at all attractive.
You’re writing prolifically, interacting under multiple pen
names across the gamut of social media, inventing glorious blog features
(Regrettable Book of the Week, anyone?), while maintaining a day job and a
life. One question: Oh Dear God, How Are You Doing It???
Badly, I’m afraid. Actually, I have a really nice day job
that pays enough to allow me to hire an occasional maid service to at least
keep the CDC away. My kids and husband learned basic survival cooking and
grocery shopping. I stopped watching almost all television. I cut way back on
my exercise because I noticed that being buff had no bearing whatsoever on the
quality of my work products whereas a fat butt in the chair did. Now, if I
could train my pets to walk themselves responsibly and to use barf bags for
hairballs I’d almost be set.
Beyond the time mismanagement, I’ve always been this
eclectic type person. I was the one who floated between the various cliques in
high school--never put down roots or committed to any one group. (Typical
military brat.) I enjoy the challenge of writing in different styles and for
different age groups. Diversity keeps writing fresh and fun.
To some extent I do regret having three pen names because it
is more work and can be a pain in the tookus, especially when my YA pen name
accidentally tweets something racy (damn that rascal Tweetdeck).
I consider Tweetdeck the great betrayer of social media. The
things it’s done with my (not so) innocent tweets. *shakes head*
