About Zannie

Zannie Adams writes, reads, caters to her chocolate-brown cocker spaniel, and watches cooking shows on television. She has lived in eight different states, had far too much graduate-level education, and generally done her best not to settle down. She has been writing novels all her life, but only recently did she begin to write erotic romances--a genre that has allowed her to explore her love of both passion and commitment.

Zannie prefers to spend most of her time writing, but she has to stop occasionally to teach writing and literature at a liberal arts college and to walk her dog. She lives on the East Coast.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long have you been writing?

For as long as I can remember. The first story I recall writing was in the first grade-about a hot air balloon that barely missed a power line. I wrote my first novel in seventh grade. Obviously it wasn't very good but I'm still quite fond of it. It was a high fantasy overly inspired by Tolkien, and I wrote two sequels to it as well. I wrote a few novels in high school and college. They were pretty decent for someone of that age but I was too ignorant of publishing at that point to even begin to get them published. Now I'm glad I couldn't do anything with them because-although the writing is pretty good-the perspective is so immature that I cringe a little now when I look back at them. I took a hiatus from writing several years back after some incredibly discouraging experiences with the publishing world. Then I started writing fanfiction for fun and that got me back into writing. It also taught me how to write erotic romance.

What do you like to write the best?

Recently, I've been most inspired by contemporary erotic romance, although in the past I used to write a lot of historical fiction. Everything I write has romance at the heart of it, and almost everything has had a traditional happy ending. I write male/female romance, and the kind of sex scenes involved always depends on the plot and character. For the most part, my erotica is grounded in reality and emotion. Thus far, I've only written one threesome scene (m/f/m)-in Inescapable-and I made that one work primarily because it was driven by the plot. I tend to write novels I can believe might actually happen in the world as I know it, since those are the kinds of novels I love reading the most.

Where do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas the same way most writers get theirs: from a combination of personal experience, imagination, and outside inspiration. A usually get a kernel of an idea initially-a visualization of a scene, a bit of dialogue, a particular mood. For instance, I was inspired for Inescapable by a scene on a television show. I started wondering what would happen if the two characters on the show had sex at that moment. Then the fictional characters took a life of their own and the story followed naturally

What advice do you have on getting published?

First, of course, you need to have a polished, completed manuscript. Then you need to do appropriate research. Look at who is publishing the novels in your genre. Check the publishers' websites and submission guidelines. There are books like the Writer's Market that list publishers and contact information, but make sure you do additional research-since that information isn't always up-to-date and guidelines often change. There are some publishers (particularly in romance) that accept submissions from unagented writers. Ellora's Cave is an example. But the wait-time is very long, so patience is key. Getting an agent is necessary in order to get published by a lot of the big publishers, and you'll be more likely to get a good contract and have your submission read in a timely manner with an agent. But finding a literary agent can be as rigorous as finding a publisher, and it also takes a lot of research. Make sure, before you submit to any publisher or agent, you look into the background and credibility through a website like Preditors & Editors or the Bewares and Background Checks section of Absolute Write. There are a lot of scammers out there. Also, if you want a legitimate publishing credit, then you should never pay any money to be published.

What are you working on now?

I just completed an erotic historical novella set in Regency England. And soon I’m planning to start on another contemporary erotic romance set within the context of a threesome relationship