Q&A

The Starnberg Series consists of eight volumes, all of which are published by Christmas 2024. The published titles are:

If Time Were Not A Moving Thing

You Don’t Own Me

Give Me Time

How Can I Be Sure?

All I See Is You

Stay Awhile

Go Softly, Goodbye

Yesterday when I was Young

Dusty Springfield will be a familiar name to some of my older readers. The gay icon and one of the greatest singers of her generation inspires the titles of all my works. The books are accumulatively about a group of lesbian women who bond to form a support system. Each volume deals with a story about one or more pairs, usually new to the group. The characters from previous books weave in and out of the story, sometimes taking a leading role, sometimes on the periphery.

I have worked for a great part of my professional life in the world of music and the performing arts. It is a subject I know a lot about, so it is natural that I set my books within the milieu. I aim for factual accuracy. I would rather be convincing in a field I know than have to rely on the internet for research, although it is sometimes unavoidable, and I don’t mean to knock the search engines. My first experience of theatre was a musical performed by amateurs. I can’t imagine what it was really like, but to my very young eyes and ears, it sparkled and was magical from start to finish. And I fell in love with the leading lady, rather than the handsome hero, a trend which continued and only became significant as I entered my teens.

In most of the books, one or more characters discover their sexuality. It is often a big deal for them, and they are usually hesitant about revealing this secret to the world at large, especially as many of them are in the public eye. Unfortunately, we live in voyeuristic times. And in a social media world teeming with hate. A hate which is increasingly weaponized by the far right in politics. The why of this is not hard to understand. I will go out on a limb and say that the majority of gay people tend to the left of the political spectrum, or at least to the middle. It is in the interests of the right to go after this group. As it is for the ultra-religious, of whatever creed. As to why the compromising circumstances, well, a book about a couple who love each other from page one isn’t necessarily very interesting. Drama is what keeps people turning the pages.

As far as I know, yes. Most certainly in the USA; and also in much of Europe. The audiences for this music tend to be conservative. I don’t need to spell out what that means in terms of intolerance. But nor do I want to push a huge and diverse audience for folk music into a small box full of narrow-minded people. The fact remains that only a handful of folk singers world-wide have come out of the closet. Statistically speaking there must be more. Obviously, they feel they have a good reason to stay within the confines of that small space, living a double life. Despite rumors swirling, some folk singers continue to deny their sexuality.

At a young age. See answer to question two. Then later heavy crushes on my female teachers. But puberty is a hot house which doesn’t necessarily determine one’s path in life. Then a gradual realization, despite falling in love with a man, that I was much more turned on by the female body, not to mention the personality. I was lucky to have a family who didn’t blink, and to work in a profession where nobody cares a hang.

I was always an avid reader, and during my school years I wrote stories. A small number were published in teeny magazines. Then professional life took over and any ambitions to write were deeply buried. Where they would have remained if Covid had not come along. My profession, involving live performances, came to a juddering halt during the pandemic. Growing tomatoes, although deeply satisfying, didn’t fill the day. Two characters and the bare bones of a plot came into my head, and I opened the laptop and began the first story. It flowed easily. I didn’t know how it would end when I began. The characters took on a life of their own and determined their own fate. The next book followed naturally out of the first, in fact it could be read as one story. I hope the transfer to the next protagonist is seamless. Without intending to, I created a secondary character in each book, who then takes up the story, contributing to the overall arc of the series. There is a reset in the fifth book where I set the book in England, rather than Germany, but they conjoin in the last third of the volume. It wasn’t necessarily my intention when I began the book, but I couldn’t contain my curiosity about what the Starnberg Set were doing. I hope my readers feel the same.

I want the reader to create their own detailed image of the characters. I give a fairly detailed description of the protagonists, but after that it’s up to the reader. Everyone will see a different face. One that they personally find attractive. My publisher came up with the first cover based on my description of the book. I felt they nailed it. I was rather dreading a lurid cover of two women in some sort of physical contact. Or a cartoon graphic. From the second book on, I had more input into the covers, choosing a picture which I think epitomizes the setting. Staying with the same corporate look.

That’s hard one. Narrative. Descriptive. Half in the first person, but not exclusively. As the series progresses there is more dialogue. One of the clichés, for want of a better word, in lesbian erotic romance is the so-called Ice Queen. The strong, independent older woman. Most, but not all, of my books features this kind of woman, although none of them is actually the CEO of a large firm, who wears pencil skirt suits and six-inch stiletto heels. Incidentally, this character is not exclusively popular with the lesbian community. There are a host of films and TV series in which this role becomes the star of the show for a heterosexual audience.

Obviously, the main readership comes from the gay community. But I hope that the characters are complex enough and interesting enough that straight readers might enjoy the series. They can skip the sex scenes. And I hope for a readership among people who are interested in the Arts, whether opera, theatre, film or television. If I can encourage one reader to make a cross reference and investigate an opera aria or a literary work or play, I will be thrilled.

I have a good memory. I can think myself back in time to my teenage years. But most of my characters are a little, or a lot, older. In the Starnberg series, Leonie Brandt is the only protagonist who I follow from teenager to young woman. I did borrow a relationship from my own past in this one. In the fourth book in my next series, which centres itself around the British Parliament, the principal character is a graduate, and the book traces her university days. She is seventeen when the book begins. But most of my characters are aged between twenty-five and thirty-five. They do of course grow older as the series progresses. And I hope it is interesting to follow how the various relationships and career curves develop over time. When I write a sex scene it has to develop naturally out of the moment. I’m sure every writer fears repetition. I try to keep things fresh.

You mean an Olympic biathlete and an opera singer. I don’t see that their worlds are so very different. What unites them is living a supremely disciplined life from an early age. When they reach the top of their professions, they are exposed to a public who have enormous expectations. Fans can be piranha like, especially in our age of everyone giving their opinion (usually negative) on social media. Actually, Thea and Emma have to endure very similar stress. And Emma cracks under it. But then she is younger, and is an athlete where homosexuality is rarely admitted. Statistically speaking it is impossible for so few athletes to be gay. All credit to the pioneers in tennis and especially in women’s football who have the courage to say who they love. My pity goes out to the players of men’s football. There are a handful of brave men but look how they are treated by the baying fans of their sport. It’s grotesque.

It wouldn’t make a very good book if it wasn’t.

The cheaters usually get their come-uppance. Although I try to paint in greys rather than black and white. I acknowledge that it is impossible to generalize, but a feature of lesbian relationships is that although women usually understand each other on a level that perhaps a relationship between a man and a woman doesn’t always, it does mean that women know especially well how to hurt each other. So, in each book there is a conflict which must be resolved. Involving heart ache. Which is true of at least ninety percent of novels. And as over half of heterosexual marriages end in divorce, often stimulated by “cheating” from one of the partners, it would not be realistic to ignore the fact. It has little to do with acceptance. And my fictional partnerships, once they have found their partner, remain committed and in love. In the final book of the series, I break this rule.

I have travelled a great deal in my life, from early childhood onwards. For me the settings are second nature. I write from experience of either living or visiting the locations. As I’ve said before, I aim to be factually accurate.

I enjoy writing about beautiful people. It’s logical to put them into beautiful locations. The genre is romance. By definition escapism. My new books, which make up The Westminster Series, move the main location to London, or Oxford. Again, cities with which I am familiar. I would never write a book which takes place in New York, despite having visited on numerous occasions. I never lived there. It’s a different ball-game.

That is another difficult question. Is writing a form of self-plagiarism? I think it must be. Even if subconsciously. But there are only a very few instances where I have drawn on concrete occurrences from my own life. And only as a starting point. The end result isn’t easily recognizable. And the biography of a real person has sometimes been my inspiration. But only the kernel of the character. I veer away from any physical resemblance, or actual events in those people’s lives. But when describing emotions, I think personal experience will of necessity creep in. If you submerge yourself in a character, trying to bring them to life on the page and to make them credible, there is a limit to the plausible description of a deeply felt emotion if it is purely objective and not subjective. I do deal with artists who wear their emotions on their sleeves more than most, so I have an advantage. I can observe them and file away their reactions.

I have almost total recall of conversations and the inflections and nuances used by those speaking. I never have to ask who is calling me on the phone. I recognize their voice. At least if I’ve spoken to them before, and they don’t have laryngitis. And even then…Most people have an individual speech cadence and vocabulary. Almost like a fingerprint. If the person calling has a media presence, sometimes I don’t even have to have spoken to them personally. I recognize the voice.

It is particularly fascinating in a foreign language where the stress word is placed in a different part of the sentence. And different nationalities have different traits. Germans often speak nasally, the French at the back of their throats, the Italians on the front of their tongues. Nowadays most English people swallow their consonants. But this is a diversion, because I don’t write in a foreign language. I hear my literary dialogue and the timbre of the voices in my head. Probably other writers do too. It doesn’t make me very special.

During the pandemic I read a lot of the lesbian romance genre on my kindle. It was a form of escapism, and certainly influenced me in my decision to launch out myself. The standard of writing on offer varies wildly from extremely well written multi-layered volumes not shying away from politics or the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the armed services, to privately printed epistles from which I moved on after the first few chapters. Most of these books are set in the USA, and surprisingly, in small town America as opposed to the large metropoles, although there is a weighty contingent of glamorous Hollywood locations. There are some writers who set their books in Britain, and there are excellent books set in Australia and New Zealand. I found only one who writes using a German setting.

The latter of course. I believe I offer some meaty character studies. And I have tried to ensure that the sex scenes are a logical part of the story and not just gratuitous titillation. I’m told that the stories are gripping and make a reader want to keep turning the pages, not just to get to the next erotic moment. Although I don’t plan a book from the outset, which is probably not the best way of writing. I think it was Hilary Mantell who said one should at least write the last sentence first. I might have a feeling about the dénouement fairly early on, but never before I start writing. I took some pride in first getting to page sixty in one of the books, before any physical contact between the protagonists occurred

Oh yes. But more from the male singer side. Tenors have the worst reputations, but in my experience, baritones are way ahead. And there are a host of stories, apocryphal or not, about female singers needing sex in order to hit their high notes. The Arts are a thankful melting pot. Not only does a myriad of nationalities work together, so also do people right across the sexual spectrum. Unfortunately, the industry is not exempt from #MeToo problems, although things have improved dramatically since the movement began. Where a man, or in extremely rare cases a woman, wields power in a competitive industry, the temptation seems to be irresistible. The caveman still hasn’t died out

Within the profession, homosexual liaisons are not always kept secret. That would be difficult in the often intense atmosphere of rehearsals and performances. And there is no stigma attached to being gay. The decision as to whether the knowledge is in the public domain lies with the artists themselves. Disapproving families will necessitate secrecy, but that is a problem faced in all walks of life. And there are artists who feel they reveal enough about themselves on a stage, without letting the public into their private lives as well. The chipping away of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism and populism are almost certainly going to make the problem worse, not better. Supporters of right-wing politics and the politicians and media sharing their views seem determined to create a culture war against liberal thinking. Why people hold such intolerant views transcends my comprehension. It doesn’t really originate from the literary sources of the world religions, but rather from the dogma developed over many centuries by the clergy representing those religions. It is a complex subject and to some extent it depends on the continent on which you live. Some homosexual people are a great deal luckier than others. I count myself as one of the lucky ones. Being able to read and write books without censorship is an enormous privilege.