Today I am so pleased to welcome Jules Radcliffe to Joyfully Jay. Jules has come to talk to us about a new release, Pirate Master. Jules has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving a big welcome!

 

Today Jules has written some questions and answers to share with us…

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Due to the amount of research I do, it takes me about a year to write, edit, and polish a full length novel. I edit obsessively, which is part of my slow speed! I wish I was a faster writer as I have so many stories I want to tell, but I’m just not.

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? 

There was never any question that I’d write historical. I’ve always done deep dives into history since my grade five project on the Greek pantheon. Exploring the modern day holds little appeal for me.

I grew up reading Georgette Heyer, who writes believable characters in faux historical settings. (I say faux, because she gave her characters Victorian rather than Regency values, possibly because she was writing for an audience that believed all people in history had the values of their grandparents!) Her anachronisms didn’t bug me because I love her characters, but I found other historical romances unsatisfying, mostly because I couldn’t relate to the characters. Many heroes were borderline, if not outright, abusive stalkers. Most heroines were helpless milksops who let the world happen to them, or drama queens kicking against the pricks in a way only a sulky brat would in real life.

I wanted to write historical romance with characters who acted like normal people, but when I tried to write het romance, I realised I just couldn’t write straight men. They all turned out to be insufferable pricks or insufferable snags. So I gave up on writing romance, and over the next couple of years, I tried my hand at other genres.

The first MM romance I read was The Magpie Lord, still one of my favourite MM romances, and a light switched on. For the first time, I realised there was an audience for romance with queer MCs! Within three months, I had the first draft of The Winter Trail, a novel I’d originally visualised as MF that became MMF. I didn’t think I could do MM, but when I wanted to tell the ‘what happened before’ story of Jake and Ash, my first ever MM story, A Summer Pursuit, was born.

Also, I’m totally not into BDSM, although I’ve been in relationships with people who were, and have many friends in the scene. But when I came to write Perry and Quinn in the Pirates of Port Royal series, I realised their relationship was a classic power exchange. Perry, uptight and highly disciplined, can only relax when Quinn, happy-go-lucky and confident, takes the responsibility for pleasure from Perry’s shoulders. But BDSM is only part of their relationship—The Puritan Pirate and Pirate Master are primarily adventure romances.

Are you a plotter or a pantster?

I’m what you might call a plantser. I get an idea for a story, do a ton of research on the era I have in mind, and then plan the outline chapter by chapter. After all this, I start to write. And chuck out most of the chapter plan as my characters wrestle the story from me and throw me into myriad sub-plots I never envisaged. I have the most unruly characters.

What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?

Scrivener. Without question, it changed my life as an author. In the BS (Before Scrivener) world, I hunted through bogloads of word docs trying to find where I put a piece of research and clicked through dozens of saved links to find the ones I needed. Now, everything is in one place, with notes attached where necessary. My entire Pirates of Port Royal series is in one Scrivener document, meaning all my research, character sheets, plot settings etc are in one place, and chapter comparison can be done not just within one novel but across novels. Brilliant!

Jonathan Greene’s timegliders. For authors of historical fiction, his wonderful work on slang lexicons is invaluable. Most of my swearing and naughty bits words come from his timegliders.

Social media. It enables authors to connect with readers in a way they’ve never have been able to before. And for authors like me, who tend to be introverted, it’s a good way to reach out. However, I hate posting myself, because I’m incredibly shy, even behind a keyboard.

What was the weirdest thing you had to Google for a story?

Opium addiction and bomb making for Poppies in Paris, which is about Duke, a WWI soldier with PTSD who can make a bomb out of almost anything, and Harry, who does his best to protect Duke from drug addiction in the trenches. I’m certain that research combination earned me a place on someone’s No Fly list!



Blurb

A strait-laced lieutenant. A free-living pirate. A hopeless love.

Quinn has never met a man quite like Perry. Stern and cold on the outside, burning up inside with secret passion. Yearning for a mastery only Quinn can satisfy. But Perry is no outcast—he’s a respectable officer in His Majesty’s navy. Reluctant to test his love for a pirate, Quinn baulks at asking him to give up everything he holds dear.

Though he has no regrets about their night of glorious sin, Perry sees no future with Quinn. Unlike the pirates of Port Royal, he isn’t free to love where he pleases. If word of his illicit affair came to the ears of Commodore Pobjoy, his career would be at an end. And the disgrace might mean he could never return home to England.

With war on the horizon, the Caribbean is a hotbed of intrigue. Quinn is betrayed and thrown into Monte Gris, an impregnable dungeon even the fearsome Brethren of the Coast aren’t strong enough to breach. Perry is stunned. Everything he valued is hollow and meaningless without his master.

Willing to risk all to get Quinn back, he refuses to abandon hope and plots a daring and dangerous rescue. But he can’t do it alone. He’ll need every scrap of ingenuity at his disposal to persuade the Black Wolf and the crew of the Audacious that his plan will work.

This time, it’s not just Perry’s career and reputation at stake. If he fails, men will die. And both he and Quinn will suffer a gruesome fate at the hands of a terrifying acolyte of the Spanish Inquisition.


Bio

From the time I learned to talk, I told stories. From the time I learned my letters, I wrote the stories down!

I love vintage items, from advertising posters and pulp fiction covers to Art Deco furniture to Victorian sex toys.

I’ve lived, studied, and worked in several countries, but I always return to Australia. My home is near the beach in Queensland, where I live with my unconventional family. But I miss the cold winters and often dream of sitting by a blazing fire on a snowy night.


Giveaway

Jules has brought a $10 Amazon gift card to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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