Interview with Lee Winter
Lee Winter needs little in the way of introduction. She's one of the best-selling sapphic authors out there, and one of the best, period! Her books include the wildly popular The Brutal Truth, The Red Files, and Breaking Character (my personal favorite). She's the mistress of the ice queens, and readers haven't been able to put her books down ever since her very first printed word. Thanks for taking the time for this interview, Lee!
Tell us a little about your background as a writer.
I’ve written from the youngest age. My scribbles were everywhere, every spare scrap of paper. My poor parents!
I didn’t know being an author was an option or I’d have chosen that as a career. Instead I did the only writing choice I knew was a proper job and became a journalist.
In the last decade of my 27-year journalism career, I became a sub-editor and was no longer writing. I missed writing so badly that I became a fanfic writer as a creative outlet. Once Upon A Time and Devil Wears Prada stories mainly.
Then Ylva publisher Astrid Ohletz read and loved one of my fanfics and asked if I’d write her an original book. I agreed and the rest is history! Now I’m a full-time author and finally doing the job I was always meant for.
Let’s hear about your most recent publications! What can you tell us about the Villains series?
Protagonist Michelle Hastings is the villain from The Red Files and Under Your Skin. I never had much sympathy for her because she’d made terrible choices and essentially made her own bed.
I was inspired to write her story after hearing narrator Angela Dawe voice her in a short story from my Sliced Ice anthology, First-Class Villains. Angela’s Michelle was so clipped and charismatic and diced the other villains so perfectly, I was in utter awe. So I set about writing Michelle’s story.
In The Fixer, force of good, Eden Lawless, a warrior for planet Earth, a professional protestor, and all-round lovely human, is hired by Michelle to do a small side job for her company, The Fixers. Somehow, and Michelle’s not entirely sure how, Eden gets under Michelle’s defenses with her natural nosiness and naive niceness.
In Chaos Agent, Eden’s now working full-time for Michelle but, bless her heart, has no clue whatsoever that she’s working for an evil empire. And Michelle’s working double time to make sure she never finds out. Which is awkward in itself - if she ever stopped long enough to ask why she was bothering!
What do you find most rewarding about writing sapphic romance?
I get paid to write the stories I wish had been around when I was a young woman. Icy women, competency porn, with queer businesswomen, assassins, and superheroes? It’s a blast. I love it when people love these stories as much as I do.
What are some ways for readers to get involved in the sapphic romance community?
Social media has many, many groups for lovers of sapphic romances. On Facebook, there’s The Lesbian Review Chat, Jae’s Reader Group, and Lesbian Audiobooks, for example. These are filled with readers/listeners who love to talk sapphic stories.
And if you’re a Kiwi or an Aussie like me, there’s also Southern Cross Lesfic Readers and Authors on Facebook.
What do you do when you get stuck on a writing project?
If it’s just writer’s block, I generally have a good sleep and a proper think about the plot. You can’t make a tired brain write something if you aren’t sure where you’re going in the first place. I try to imagine a scene in my head like a movie, then all I have to do is write it down. Simple!... In theory. If I can’t imagine it, that means I don’t know what’s happening, which is the problem. Fix that, and the story fixes itself.
For a bigger issue, maybe a large plot hole, or it feels too complicated or overwhelming, I’ll put the manuscript away for a year or so, and return to it with fresh eyes.
What book are you most looking forward to in 2023?
Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. That is the final book in one trippy, fascinating, fiercely original series.
The books have two queer leads who start out in a hate/hate relationship, shift to hate/almost like/mutual respect, and now??? Well, I admit while the sci-fi plot is primarily a grand tale about a universe where worlds are being made and torn apart, my romantic lezzy heart wants Gideon and Harrow to have a romance of some sort (or even a declaration of liking each other *that way*) before the series is over. If they don’t, I might have to trash some things. There will be blood on the carpet!
Finally: you're sitting down with a celebrity and they're willing to tell you a secret…but you can never tell another soul. Who is the celebrity, and what do you want to know?
Oooh a truth serum question for a famous person? Egad! Well, I'm such a Once Upon A Time tragic (Swan Queen, people!) - I need to know what the deal is with star Lana Parrilla (Regina/Evil Queen). At one fan convention she hinted at being bi (“I’d like a man that smells like forest... or a woman”), but she was laughing really hard and could have been just playing to her boisterous queer fans. Sooo, I want to know if she's truly "family" and if so, maybe she'd care to share who she's been romancing on the sapphic side of the sheets? *wink*
Connect with Lee!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeeWinterOz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeWinterOz
Website: http://www.leewinterauthor.com/