Author Interview: Eva Caye

I met Eva online. We chat on Facebook, commiserating on the fun things life throws at us. But today we're here to talk about writing, not the rest of it.

It took a health crisis to inspire Eva Caye to walk away from teaching and pursue her long-time hobby, writing. She had written eight books before finding a way to pay for an editor, and then she succeeded in getting all eight books in her To Be Sinclair series published within one year while she worked on the finale. Her current works-in-progress are two prequels about colonization some 450 years prior to the series, and an unrelated novel about 60 years in our future featuring a rare telepath.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, her blog, and her website.

What genre do you prefer to write? What books or stories that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

I write science fiction romance, which covers the spectrum of awareness from logic or reason (science) to feeling and emotions (romance).  I have finished my To Be Sinclair series, featuring a scientist as Empress and her children as progressive, high-minded, hard-working Imperial Family members who truly care about their people.  It’s tough enough for regular people to find love – what about not only the most important person in the galaxy, but also her children, raised to be paranoid?  How do you date under constant security, anyway?

Since the majority of my books feature different Imperial Family members, they all have different ‘timbres’ to them according to their personalities, so it’s hard to say which are my favorites because they are all unique.  I add ‘Easter egg’ short stories or novellas to my books as lagniappes, just little ‘thank-you’ gifts to my readers, and even then they tend to have a completely different tone than the books, moving from serious to funny or social to intimate.  An add-on book I refer to as ‘book 6.5’, since it consists of four novellas, is my editor’s favorite, whereas I adore book 5 but it has few reviews, all of which say something like, ‘good book but not my favorite’.

I am working on two distant prequels to that series, and I have a third work-in-progress that is more paranormal fiction than romance, although there is plenty of love in that story.  In particular, I deal with the societal influences of my characters and do not shy away from sexual situations, although I try to project what I feel is a ‘healthy’ approach to sexuality.  I avoid purple prose, but I also avoid smutty descriptions!

What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

Between diabetes, depression, and a long-lingering infection, I suffer a lot of brain fog and don’t have much energy in the first place.  I garden a bit but won’t tell you how many plants are still alive, and if I’m not writing or editing, I’m listening to brain improvement or subliminal mp3s while crocheting small stars to piece together into a garment someday.

I don’t watch TV, unless hubby has something on.  He wears headphones so he doesn’t distract me unduly, though I can sometimes hear what he’s watching.  I abhor violence and even wear a visor to cut off subconscious images from the TV, unwilling to let the least image of guts and gore slip sideways into my brain!  It’s about the only argument I’ve ever had with my hubby, trying to figure out why he likes that stuff in the first place.

"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

If anything, I would say all writers must have dogs.  Dogs worship you like a deity, adore you for every smidgen of attention, and are always happy to see you, feeding your ego.  Since writers tend to be ignored, scorned, or demanded to produce (stories, money, freebies, aka ‘food’) anyway, why would any writer want a cat?

I hear you there. I've got dogs and a cat, but they belong to my kids and husband mostly. The frogs are mine. What writers inspired you to become an author?

Robert A. Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold are my favorites, although Anne McCaffrey, Spider Robinson, Arthur C. Clarke, Julian May, and Marion Zimmer Bradley are way up there, too. For the record, I’ve not verified any of the personal information I’ve heard about these authors, which shouldn’t detract from what they have written, anyway.

If you could travel to any time in history, when would you visit?

I would love to see the construction of the Pyramids of Egypt, but I would really love to see what high civilization occupied the current Gobi Desert.  In my opinion, civilizations create deserts, with their monocultures and need to feed their people destroying the environment as their populations swell.  I always figured Coleridge psychically accessed that civilization to write Kubla Khan.

Describe your dream writing spot.

Anywhere completely plain, really.  If I’m too comfortable, I might not get anything done.  If the scenery is too beautiful, I might get distracted.  I tend to curl up on the couch, with my chores undone while I pound away at the laptop.  If I get to feeling too guilty, I’ll take a break and do some chores while I work on the next scene in my mind.

Sounds like me most days. Thanks for stopping by, Eva, and good luck with your series!