Melody Snow Monroe!

Unlike most other authors, I started writing late in life. Writing stories in high school and college was not for me. Only after I graduated did I fall in love with romance novels. For the next twenty years, I read voraciously. It got to a point where my book buying habits cost as much as my groceries. At that point, my husband suggested I write a book. Hey, it looked easy, right? All the stories started in the same spot (hero and heroine at odds) and ended the same way (happily ever after). Only it was anything but easy. Eleven years and fifteen completed romantic suspenses later, I finally published. I never would have gotten that far had it not been for two local chapters whose generous members shared their amazing wealth of knowledge.

Q: Describe a typical writing day.

A: I think I do most of my work at night while I’m trying to fall asleep. The sexy dreams just won’t stop. As soon as I wake, I get up and start writing. I’m lucky enough to overlook the North Carolina Mountains and am able sit by a running stream while I work. Now that’s heaven.


Q: How many stories do you have at any given time?

A: I write one at a time but am always thinking about the next story. I really love connected series as I like to revisit the same wonderful characters and setting for several stories.


Q: Where do you get your ideas? 

A: Everywhere. It could be from a person’s comment, from reading, from the world around me. Now that I write sexy stories, it’s easy to lie in bed and dream.


Q: How real are your characters while you write them?

A: As much as I hate to admit it, a bit of me is in each of my characters. As the story grows, I fall in love with the hero and must admire the heroine. I try to have each of them learn a lesson, which might be a lesson I, too, need to learn.


Q: What are your future plans for your writing?

A: I mostly plan on writing ménages, as the interplay between multiple men and one woman fascinates me, but I might slip in a few classics every now and then.


Q: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

A: The most important thing is perseverance. Write every day and give yourself permission to write bad stuff. A very wise teacher once told me you can’t edit a blank page. Lastly, join a writer’s group for support and to learn for others and then to help others.