Please welcome Victoria L. Trenton, author of The Outmate, an erotic crime thriller. Check out her interview, where she discusses her books, her writing habits, and some fabulous insights around how she has drawn from her personal experiences to create her stories.
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Victoria L. Trenton
Tell us your name, and a link to where we can find you (blog, Facebook, etc). How many books have you written? This can include both published and unpublished works. Describe each of them in 1-2 sentences apiece (if published, feel free to include the links as well).
Hello, my name is Victoria L Trenton. I just wrote and published my first novel, “The Outmate” which is a fast paced, edgy, erotic crime thriller. It is told from the perspective of Chrissie Laursen, who falls in love with dangerous career criminal and inmate Nick Jessup, and goes over the edge of sanity to become a fugitive herself in order to free him.
Here is the link on Amazon, where it is available in both print and on Kindle:
Here is The Outmate website, where you can watch the book trailer, read an excerpt, and read my blog among other things:
Here is our FB page:
Tell me a little bit about your current WIP.
Currently I am writing the sequel to “The Outmate”. I can’t say much about it, as I don’t want to give away the ending of “The Outmate”, however I can tell you it’s even darker, steamier, and more disturbing.
What does writing preparation look like for you? Do you do full outlines and character profiles, or do you just start with a general idea and write?
I used to write very linear from start to finish. With “The Outmate”, I began writing it as short fantasies for my Beloved’s entertainment. He is an inmate and “The Outmate” is partially based on a true story. I wrote the pivotal scenes that the muse drove me to in random order. Before I knew it I had the entire book fleshed out and only had to tie everything together. That is how I write best.
Editing is a challenge for many writers. Give us some of your tips for editing efficiently and well.
For me, editing was so tedious and seemed never ending. I am a perfectionist and it frustrates me to no end to feel as if there are still mistakes, and still things I could have done better. I guess all writers must feel that way, as if their work is never truly done. While editing I did the best I could, took it chapter by chapter and really drilled down into each sentence- each word- until it flowed the way I wanted. Then I moved on to the next chapter and refused to go back to the one before it. Editing in the end becomes a “letting go”, to me.
Research is another challenge writers face, but is an important part of the writing process. What are some of your research tips?
Double-check everything. Even if you find a reliable source for whatever it is you are researching, go out and find more. Be certain that what you are putting on paper is verified. Readers are very sharp at spotting errors and inconsistencies and while there does need to be some room for suspension of disbelief in fiction, be careful not to take it too far. This is why writing what you know is so important.
if you have been published (self or traditionally), what type of marketing did you find worked the best for you? What was the least helpful?
I’ve found the best response I’ve had in marketing was from a free giveaway on Goodreads. After that free giveaway, people really started to respond to the book and word started to spread. I’ve also used Facebook heavily to market my book, and am currently speaking to a publicist about a possible radio tour. As a prison wife, I was lucky enough to have a very strong support group in other prison wives nationally who went out of their way to get the word out to the larger community- especially the founder of www.strongprisonwives.com who did my very first video book review, which is available on her site and on mine. So I guess the best marketing advice I can give is find your target audience and get to know them intimately- really immerse yourself in their worlds. It will pay off.
What genre do you write in? What are some of the challenges to writing this particular genre well?
“The Outmate” and its sequel, “The Mastermind”, are erotic crime thrillers. It’s not soft and gentle BDSM erotica like “Fifty Shades of Grey”; don’t make that mistake. It’s very dark, fast paced, and at times gruesome. But ultimately it’s a love story. I hit my stride as a writer in this genre and I know this is where I belong now, so readers can look forward to more of the same in the future. You might read parts of it through your fingers cringing, but you’ll also read parts of it crying, and parts of it completely turned on. At least that’s what my feedback has been from readers so far. The challenges for me writing this is coming to terms with the darkness and deviance within myself- that I am capable of writing about such things even if I’m not capable of doing them. I guess you could liken it to Stephen King. He writes some scary stuff. But he’s not an axe murderer himself. We all have a darkness to us and I had to learn to accept mine and express it in a healthy way. It was hard to let it out in the world and not worry that I would be judged some kind of maniac.
What advice would you give to a writer who is starting out?
My advice to any writer just starting out will always be WRITE. Seriously, just sit down and bang out two or three pages every day- even if you think it sucks do it anyway. Believe in your ability to get over the rough patches and keep going. Sooner or later the muse will hit and then you’re going to be amazed at what starts to flow through your fingers. Stick with it.
What are your writing, editing, marketing, and research goals for 2013?
My goals for 2013 have already been met with the publication of “The Outmate”. Now, I need to focus on 2014 and the creation of “The Mastermind”. I of course will continue relentlessly marketing “The Outmate” but now that it’s started to gain momentum I am very excited to start writing again. It took me three years to write “The Outmate”- I don’t think this next book will take that long. 2014 will be focused primarily on writing the second book and getting it published, too.
Pretend I am from a publishing house and you are looking for me to take on one of your books. Pitch it to me in 1-2 paragraphs.
Live life out loud.
Chrissie Laursen doesn’t date models. Having barely survived her battle with alcoholism and just out of a ten-year marriage that lasted nine years too long, she’s laser focused on her thriving Miami Beach business: promoting erotic photographers in local galleries. She has no time for the ego driven pretty boys that proliferate in that business. For so long she’s wondered if life and love would ever truly touch her that she decides to go it alone. Then she sees the glacial blue eyes and rugged, animal intensity of Nick Jessup, and her resolve begins to fracture.
Irresistibly drawn to him, she begins a relationship with Nick and soon becomes obsessed with his dominant, controlling personality. Even his dangerous past doesn’t scare her. But before their charged sexual energy culminates in passion, the peril of Nick’s past explodes into the present and he is sentenced to thirty-five years in prison for a horrific crime. Faced with the reality that her life can either return to the empty normalcy she’s always known or continue through the terrifying and exhilarating doorway that Nick’s arrival has opened…she makes a decision to do something that will never allow her to go back to the fragile life she’s just rebuilt.
A wild, erotic, and powerful journey of self-discovery, The Outmate shimmers with the intensity of what it means to be human—and the clarity that comes with finding your truth before it’s too late.
Finally, is there anything else you would like your readers to know?
Yes. As I said, I am the wife of an inmate. Much of this book was written about what that life entails and is a very emotional, personal unveiling of a misunderstood and misjudged group of women. While I took this book to great extremes fictionally and went in a very dark direction, I hope people see past the entertainment side of the book, i.e. all the fictitious violence and sex, and gain an better understanding for prison wives and what they go through in the name of love. Oh, and of course, I’ll leave you my favorite saying: “Embrace your Demons”. 🙂
...and then there was Sarah 
I love it when an author can write from the heart. Looks good.
Same! I found her openness, and honesty, very refreshing.
I think that is also important to make readers feel like they can reach and identify with an author. This is definitely one of the advantages to social media.
I agree. Accessibility to authors (Anne Rice comes to mind) enhances the reading experience, and makes the stories more personal for the readers. I can relate so much more to a story when I know what inspired it, and I can hear it directly from the author.
Thank you for the comments. Anne Rice was one of my greatest inspirations as a writer so I’m especially thrilled with Sarah’s credit to her. I did write this from the heart… it was not only an expression of what I have gone through being the wife of an inmate but also a cathartic expression of my frustration, longing, and inner darkness. I sometimes worry I won’t be able to duplicate it in the next book. Thanks again for the comments, and special thanks to Sarah for hosting me. I hope you enjoy it when you read it.
Anne Rice was a huge inspiration to me, as well, both as a writer and as a youth trying to define who I was. A lot of what I write has dark elements, too. One of my characters, in particular, talks often about her own “inner darkness,” and worrying how it will consume her. Some of that was inspired by my own fears, and I’ve had readers say it resonated with them, because it felt real. Well, it was. And for that reason, I imagine your readers will have very similar feedback about what you’ve put on the table. It is brave, and it is real, and for that I tip my hat to you!