E. J. Noyes Shares Her Unusual Lesfic Journey
E. J. Noyes Shares Her Unusual Lesfic Journey to discovering lesbian fiction, how she came to write it, and what she likes to read now.
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Transcript
please note this transcript has not been edited and is automatically generated meaning certain words will be incorrect.
hi I’m Tara and welcome to let’s do books I’m excited because today author EJ Noyes here to talk about her journey with lesbian fiction emily is the author of five lesbian romances all of which are out everywhere right now from Bella books welcome Emily hi hey going okay thanks so how did you first discover lesbian fiction what was that first book my journey with less Vic actually sort of goes a little bit backwards I discovered it because I wrote one and until I had written my debut asked how I’d actually never written or I’ve never read a lesbian fiction book and I had a friend who said you know if you’ve written this book maybe you should read some and I sort of went oh yeah okay good idea so that’s sort of how I got into it was yeah I wrote one okay I have more questions that’s really interesting yep because I’ve had some authors will say it wasn’t actually published fiction they started with it was fanfic but in that case then how did what prompted you to start writing I keep saying this and it sounds silly but I was bored and I just you know I have a really active mind and I just sort of had this idea and I said I’m just gonna blurt out some words um and I did that and I sent that to a friend I have in Chicago and she sort of went well this is actually really good maybe you should keep going so I did and it was actually her who prompted me to sort of I was sort of struggling with just you know having never written a book before what to actually do and and you know I don’t plan anything I’m just a fly by the seat of my pants sort of person and she said why don’t you read some lesbian fiction and just sort of see how they build conflict and tension and drama and all that sort of stuff so and she actually sent me my very first let’s pick all the way from America paperbacks so that was uh yeah that was my start so this is really interesting [Laughter] lost for words no I’m not I’m not I’m trying to figure out which question to ask you first because I feel like I want to ask three at once but that’s not possible so the first time I’m going to ask is your publisher is Bella who is one of the premier less fit publishers and how did you end up great with them yeah like if you weren’t if you weren’t reading it how did you know where to submit it how did you end up with that relationship before I submitted I I did read some others fake so I suppose I had written ask tell I’d sort of had it critiqued and you know friends picking it apart and whatnot and I sort of got it to a point where I felt as comfortable as I thought I would with it and then I sort of ignored it for a little while and I read some less fake I actually found Bella I think I probably google search like lesbian publisher or lesbian books or something like that and I went on to the Bella books website because what I was really interested in was I mean if anyone’s read my books they know that they’re in first person mmm-hmm and oh goodness like a tangent of this for an eternity I mean I suppose the first thing being a person who’d never written a book before I had I actually didn’t know that it was first person present tense again until it was pointed out to me because when I read I just I just read a book and I loved it and I don’t sort of oh well this is third person past and this is second you know it just I just I’m just into it and well the first thing I found out was that I had basically committed the biggest literary sin I was just looking through all of their authors and I was looking at samples of their published work and I found one that was in first person because I was just curious and that was Mina Borsalino flips out by Sarah marks very funny book in first person I said I went okay well okay so this publisher publishes first person books tick um and then I did a pitch contest on Twitter again I had no idea that I was actually pitching agents or publishers I had no idea what I was doing and I submitted to a publisher that’s sort of a broader LGBT q.i publisher who I won’t name and was rejected and then I went well right I’m gonna suck it up and I’m gonna go to my number one that I really want Bella and I submitted and I received an answer yes please rather quickly and it sort of just went from there that’s pretty cool it was pretty exciting so what was that first book that your friend sent you Emma night by Nicola Griffith so yeah and I mean is it was actually quite an interesting choice because I don’t really like sci-fi fantasy sort of books mm-hmm as a rule I mean I will read them but I sort of read it and I was you know okay well this is interesting you know and then when is it I kind of remember the name was so long ago mug I think it is the main character sort of the romance build and I was just like I just got this black gut feeling like oh my god like this actually like it’s a thing like you know and I was just gobsmacked by it so yeah so you kept reading I did I kind of I just I think I sort of just went on then I would just went on a bit of a spending spree which I hid from my wife of e-books you know and I sort of I didn’t really hit Amazon so much as I was just looking at mostly I think probably Bella and maybe bold strokes and just sort of looking at their their catalogs and and so you know like Radcliffe Karin poor maker j/kg McGregor all that sort of stuff and just sort of devouring what I could and yeah sort of just mushroomed from there really you’re listening to the lesbian talk-show the lesbians all choke on your hub of podcast information and we’re there any favourites that stood out for you or are there any kind of like any themes that are your favorite jams or anything like that that you find yourself going back to whenever you see more of them I’m a sucker for celesbian I really am celebrity romance especially you know like it’s one celebrity one you know like in quotes regular person that sort of thing like KarenT will make a stepping stone I absolutely love that one and then of course captain of industry where Jennifer Lamont turns up as well just yeah what else I sort of like and I go it sounds like a cop-out but I really just like everything except I do I do find fantasy and sci-fi hard to get into just it’s a detail of those sort of the word the world-building and then the really intense description it just sort of it froze my brain a little bit so that would probably be my my least favorite you know I will read them but yeah I definitely am just Morra romance and something that’s not ultra slow burn I do sort of struggle with that just like come on guys get on so I feel like that might explain turbulence a little bit yeah that one was I mean I know I shouldn’t say it but it’s I wouldn’t say it’s my least favorite but it’s definitely the one I think maybe I’m not even sure if release popular is the way to describe it but it is definitely different it I mean it is just like an erotic romance it is fun yeah it is fun but it’s sort of hard because um yeah I don’t know it’s just I suppose it’s just sex as a communication tool but you know it worked for what it was but um yeah it’s definitely straight into it definitely other erotic romances that do that and well like that as well like did you ever read the sex therapist next door by Megan O’Brien I have I do like I work very much and that’s oh you’re right that is the same but it does have a good sort of plot and a good I think you know building of Diana’s character to sort of learning to you know let someone in rather than holding them at arm’s length all the time but yeah it’s true so what do you think about where we’re at as is your honor especially as someone who like your you’ve been a part of it for a few years now is that right yeah not three yeah yeah so how like how do you how do you feel about it how do you feel about being a part of this community I suppose being a part of it feels pretty incredible and it was something that actually surprised me and something that was really unexpected was what I mean was the community sense of you know women who loved reading about women who loved women you know and just the sense of family around that is I mean it’s again nice description from an author it’s nice yeah it’s nice I mean as I mean are we talking about as a genre as in romance or just less fake in general either I think we’ve got a lot of room I wouldn’t say improvement but room for growth less fake I think with inclusivity but I think that’s part of the community as a whole and I would so love to see us pushing into sort of more mainstream fiction you know like just becoming more widespread more accepted just like you know just seeing us in in all bookstores instead of just queer bookstores and things like that would just be absolutely fantastic but you know we’ve just sort of got to keep working at that sort of thing so how would you say the becoming an author and becoming a part of this community has changed your life I’m a lot more anxious than I used to be yes you know there is there is certainly an aspect of you know stress with writing a book I mean it’s incredibly fun and it’s incredibly rewarding but you know deadlines concern about how people are going to take it or that sort of thing does add an element of sort of anxiety to the whole process but on the flip side the interaction with people you know hearing that they enjoyed something that I think particularly with us tell and ask me again you know which delves into PTSD which I had I’m not a doctor I’ve never been in the military so I don’t sort of get the deeper nuance of PTSD relating from sort of military things and to have people say we know I served and I have PTSD and I found this really you know just really beautiful and and sort of moving and that sort of thing is incredibly rewarding for me because I have an ego and I like to be told you know and that’s I think that’s part of it I think anyone who says that they don’t enjoy praise might be telling a little bit of an untruth mm-hmm you know I think that the good aspects of people enjoying my work far outweighs the anxiety of having to have the work out there but yeah so I probably should have started with the good and then gone yeah but I’m a little bit more anxious I’m really anxious now no I think it’s good to be honest about anxiety because that’s are there any books on your to be read list or that are going to be released in the nearest future that you are especially excited about I was gonna think it’s Lee winters spinoff of breaking character mm-hmm changing the script I think it’s called I’m very excited about that and I have sort of I did give her a little note didn’t say you know like come on what about you know best in summary you’ve got to put them in there yes just can you just write some deleted scenes for us like a little add-on yeah I’m pretty excited about that one but to be honest I don’t read as much less because I used to I find I can I’ve sort of moved a little bit more it to audiobooks I sort of found that listening is a little bit easier for me because when I’m reading let’s figure I tend to especially of romance I tend to get sort of little bits of inadequacy sort of feeling especially when you’re reading you know really great work and it was just making it harder for me to write but listening it’s more like just enjoying the performance rather than just like scrutinizing the words and go I really wish yeah so I but I am looking forward to that one and it’s going to be an auto buy for sure me too I do love her books so much yeah absolutely yeah so because you came at this little unconventionally what advice would you give to people who are thinking about writing for the first time I’ll steal it from Nike just do it I think that’s the advice I wish that I’d sort of been given was that just just write doesn’t matter if it it you know if you think it’s not good or if you think it’s not as good as somebody else’s just write write and do the best that you can and ask for help ask for advice you know I don’t think I’ve meant a mean person you know that I’ve sort of spoken to in the less fit community you know everyone’s so helpful everyone’s always wants to talk so yeah just write and ask for advice sage words very wise yeah where can people find you online if they would like to connect with you probably if you want to chat to me which I’m always up for I’m on Twitter at I call it I say Crockett it’s a bit weird and I should change it but I’m sort of stuck on it Zed gr o ki T or I’m on facebook as EJ Noyes or if you want to find where my books are you can always jump onto the look aside and find me there that is all for this episode thank you so much for joining me no worries thanks for having me I’m Tara and you’ve been listening to Les Deux books you can email me at Tara at the lesbian review.com with your questions or comments or if you’re an author who’s interested in joining me on the show to talk about the less fake you love or trends that have you interested please let me know if you’ve enjoyed this episode please check out the show notes where you’ll find a patreon link for the lesbian talk show or visit patreon.com slash the lesbian talk show patrons get exclusive content like bonus podcasts and author interviews that no one else gets access to to find this and many other great shows all you need to do is search for the lesbian talk show on iTunes podcast assure or Spotify
