The Blitz

Author Spotlight: Lulu Sylvian Romance Writer

Meet LuLu Sylvian! The author of Twelve Strippers of Christmas and this week’s Author Spotlight. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? When did you write your first book? This is a hard one to answer. My mom says I’ve always been writing, but I don’t remember that. I’ve always been…

June 10, 2020 / jennykate /

Meet LuLu Sylvian!

The author of Twelve Strippers of Christmas and this week’s Author Spotlight.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? When did you write your first book?

This is a hard one to answer. My mom says I’ve always been writing, but I don’t remember that.

I’ve always been drawing.

I wanted to go into comics when I was in high school.

So that might be it, the combination of drawing plus story telling?

As far as I’m actively aware I didn’t think about writing until I was in my late 30s, and I didn’t start writing until my mid 40s.

I completed my first manuscript in the fall of 2014, and by the summer of 2015 I had completed three more.

How long does it take you to write a book? What is your work schedule like when writing?

The fastest I’ve completed a novel was 8 days.

That was a complete fluke, and clearly that character needed their story told.

Typically it takes me about six weeks to get a story to where I think it’s ready for beta readers and then to editing.

When I’m in writing mode I typically start writing after dinner, and go for about four to five hours.

A lot depends on how well the story is flowing, or if I’m fighting my characters to get the words happening.

Why do you write in the genre you write in?

I write in paranormal romance, and some contemporary romance.

Those are the stories I love to read.

And those are the stories my characters want me to tell for them.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My very first published work is the Twelve Strippers of Christmas.

The quirk is I did that as a challenge.

And it’s become my personal glitter.

It’s stuck to me, it shows up at the oddest times, and in the oddest places.

And I love it.

I still get distracted from my current WIP by dancing boys, and because I put that initial collection together, I have an excuse to constantly have another dancing boy story in the works.

So I guess that means my quirk is I channel writing distractions into male stripper stories.

How do you research for your books?

My Google-Fu is strong.

And when it’s not strong enough I ask others for assistance.

I’m fortunate to  know people who know more than I do, and they are willing to share their knowledge with me.

I’m also learning to ask the right questions to get to the right people outside of my circle for the things I don’t know.

Regarding locations: for the most part my stories take place in places that I have been.

And since I started writing I take location notes whenever I do go to new places in case I want to use them.

I also bolster my memory of locations with Google Maps.

Longing takes place in San Diego.

I did a lot of research to figure which neighborhoods my characters would live in, and the freeway system  since I wasn’t familiar with those aspects of the area.

Zillow bombarded me with real-estate ads the entire time!

I tend to write in a contemporary time frame so I don’t need to to look up too many historical facts.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I’m artsy-crafty so I always have some project to jump into if I’m not writing.

Currently I am working on a crochet blanket I started a few years ago, and then put down for a few years.

I do a lot of work in polymer and metal clays.

I watch movies more than TV shows.

But when I do watch a show I will binge it.

I’m not good with the one episode a week format anymore.

The day jobs are in design education, and office admin and desktop publishing.

I also do some cover design.

Who is your strongest supporter / superfan and how do they support you?

I don’t know if I have any super fans or if I’m just foisting my process onto supportive friends.

I have a few who are also yet to be published writers and we support each other by reading each other’s works and  listening/talking through when we hit road blocks in our stories.

They are also really nice about reposting announcements and other promo-related posts I put up on social media.

I also have a group of friends who are published and we beta read for each other as schedules allow.

We also share marketing and promotional tips and tricks as we learn them.

Plotter or pantser? What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Planster. A little bit of both.

My writing style is very much documenting an incident report my characters decide they need to share with me.

But sometimes, just sometimes, I know their key points, and I have to take notes to make sure I hit those spots along the way.

What is the best marketing tool you use and why?

I think the best tool I have at my disposal is perseverance.

I have yet to find a “best” marketing outlet.

At this point I’m trying a bunch of different approaches.

I am learning how to determine whats working and what isn’t.

You have to be willing to keep at it, review, switch gears if you need to, and keep moving forward.

Find Lulu online: