A veteran
writer of fan fiction known as MissBeizy to her online readers, Melissa Graves’
stories have thousands of followers. At age 13, she wrote her first work of
fan-based fiction, and by age 16, had met her future husband in an online
vampire fiction chat room. A fan of science fiction/fantasy, she has a degree
in anthropology and a passion for good chocolate, amateur erotica and fan
worlds that celebrate diversity. She is mother to two cats.
What is your story's heat level? How do you approach the
sex scenes?
On
a scale of “the kids are home and I can read this” to “oh dear, I may have to
schedule some alone time before I crack the spine on that one”, I'm going to go
ahead and say that you should probably plan ahead! The sex scenes in Bleeding Heart are
the result of two characters who are very much in love, but who also want each
other more than they've wanted anyone else in their lives—they are full on, no
holds barred romps. I've always been a
firm believer in explicit erotica combined with romance and story telling that
makes you care about every moment those characters spend in bed, and Bleeding
Heart is that and then some. These
men talk and fuck and fall in love like its their job.
How do you maintain activity as a writer when sitting at
a desk all day?
My
cats are very dedicated (someone has to keep refilling that kibble bowl). No, but really—I spend a ridiculous amount of
time on the computer, and it's really important to me to manage my mental time. I make sure to have other things to do,
whether it's chores or time with my husband or taking my eyes away from text
and putting them on movie or a television show or a friend or a new
restaurant. Often, the only way that I
can be productive as a writer is to stop writing and come back to it
later. I'm a night owl, but there's a
certain point where your brain says “please, no more”, and you know you'll be
useless if you don't learn to take a break.
What is it that you loved about the main characters in
your story?
They're
such a wonderful blend of different traits that it's a pleasure to write
them. I don't like writing in a vacuum
where a story becomes an obvious expression of “This Is What I Believe
In”—basically just an author using characters to express their take on the
world and nothing else. Kyle is broken
and lost and looking for love and purpose.
Brian thinks that he has already found his purpose, that he knows who he
is and what he contributes to the world, but then he meets Kyle and realizes
he's been seeing things through rose-tinted glasses. Elisa is a hardened, hard-working realist,
but if not for Clara, who is a tough business woman with a sweet center, she
may never have made it to where she is today.
They are a wonderful sampling of the human spectrum, despite most of
them not being human at all!
What do you feel is your strongest type of writing?
Humor? Angst? Confrontation scenes? Action? Sex? Sensuality? Sweet Romance? And
why?
I
often feel as if I'm an erotica writer with an action writer inside of her just
dying to get out, which is funny because I always whine when I write action
scenes and insist that I'm no good at them.
Sex is absolutely my primary joy to write, but when I hit my stride, ooh
boy, action scenes! Sensuality and sweet
romance are like spices to me, adding layers to the erotic flavor profile of my
stories. But without a doubt, I am first
and foremost an erotica author. Nothing
pleases me more than writing people enjoying sex, especially when they are
experiencing something or someone new.
Are you social media savvy? If so what do you suggest for
others? If not, why not?
In
a lot of ways, no, because despite being in my thirties I sort of fell off of
the social media bandwagon for a few years in my late twenties and missed a lot
of the fun stuff. But getting back into
writing and fandom and jumping back onto several social media platforms has
begun to change that for me. Websites
like Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr and Instagram are absolutely 100% vital to
getting yourself and your work out there nowadays. For others struggling with it, I say take it
one website at a time. Use the social
media in ways that you are comfortable with, but most importantly—ask people
for tips on how to use them! Social
media has become the vehicle by which most artists are getting themselves
noticed and hopefully, eventually appreciated these days, and I think that
trend is here to stay.
What are some things from your life or things you have
observed that you've infused into your stories?
The
“blood drinking as foreplay” thing, from start to finish, is something that I
honed over years of role-playing on the Internet when I was a teenager. Of course, blood drinking + sex is nothing
new in literature/films/television—I'm not claiming credit for that!—but the
specific kind of blood drinking that you read about in Bleeding Heart,
with the localized anesthetic, the associated sexual euphoria, and the
coagulant after the bleeding stops, as well as the way that the feeding creates
a hunger for both the vampire and the human to do it again is the result
of many nights spent in a chat room with the boy who would, twelve years later,
become my husband, role-playing sex and blood drinking and all sorts of fantasy
character madness.
If you had an unlimited budget, where would you like to
visit for story-related research?
Bleeding Heart is set in Chicago, Illinois, so I'd
love to spend some significant time there.
Urban settings are so much fun for vampire stories, but I'd also love to
go overseas—London, Paris, Venice. I've
never been outside of the continental United States, so that would be a treat!
Any fun facts about the research for your book?
Well,
I'm sure I'm on some sort of list somewhere, with all of the hours I spent
Googling stuff about human anatomy and blood loss. I'm not a murderer, I'm just doing research
for a book! (That's a bumper sticker,
isn't it? I really need to get one of
those.)
Finally, tell us a little about your newest release!
Bleeding Heart is definitely an erotically-charged
romance, but it's also the story of two very different young men meeting each
other at interesting points in their lives.
Neither of them are really looking for love. Kyle is a young, new vampire, and pretty
lost—he'd be happy just to have a place to live, and isn't thinking about
romance at all. Brian is a medical
student who is very close to finishing school, has a fairly settled life, and
even though he hasn't had much luck with long-term boyfriends, he isn't hunting
for one. One day they look up and there
they are, seeing each other through a glass window for the first time, and
suddenly the whole course of their lives shift.
The question is: can they make it work?
Excerpt:
"I know," Kyle says apologetically. "I can't
help it." He swallows. "I mean, it only happens when I—when—I get
excited. Sorry. Just, missed you."
"You—you can." Heat pounds in Brian's cheeks.
Kyle goes still, panting against his skin.
"W-what?"
"You can, if you want," Brian repeats. His body is
aching all of the sudden, for something new, for something more, for something
that they haven't done yet. He can feel it, simply at the idea—it has been
since they started kissing, of course, but now it's fully awake and invested in
the proceedings—against the front of his jeans. "You can."
"Have you ever—"
"No," Brian answers. It's impossible to think
clearly with Kyle holding him against the door, with Kyle's head bent over his
neck like that. He's so hard that his jeans are starting to hurt; the angle at
which he's risen against them is uncomfortable, but he can't move.
"Please." The anticipation is like ants beneath his skin, crawling
and crawling and crawling. "Please."
Kyle kisses the half-numbed skin just inches off of Brian's
neck. His fangs are fully distended now and Brian can feel them, smooth and
hard as they brush his skin.
The need to feel the pain that he knows he'll feel, to feel
opened, to feel his blood run past Kyle's eager lips is sudden and new. Kyle
can and will drink from his body; Brian can let him do that, this is a thing
that they can do together, and it is as exciting as it is frightening.
"You can," he repeats. He feels dizzy. "I
want you to. Want to take care of you, please. Do it." His hands are
shaking so hard that he can't even maintain a grip on Kyle's waist, but it
doesn't matter; Kyle is supporting him.
"God," Kyle breathes, shaking, his lips damp as
they pass over Brian's shoulder again and again. "Ever since you—that
night with the wine glass, I—god, I've dreamed of your blood so many
times."
"Please," Brian hisses, arousal pounding through
his body. "Do it. Do it."
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