For my latest Author Spotlight I’m joined by the fabulous Joelle Lynne. We talked about writing what she loves to read, challenging herself, planning to explore more tropes, and putting projects on the back burner.

Take it away Joelle…

First things first, please introduce yourself!
Hi! I’m Joelle. I’ve been writing for a little over a year now. I have five published books with a sixth coming out very soon. I love reading as much as I love writing. I claim to be shy, but if you ask anyone I’ve dropped into their inbox, they’d argue that I’m not.

Tell us a little bit about your writing style.
I like to write what I like to read. So it’s hard to say that I fall into a specific type of category. Almost everything I’ve written so far has been very low angst and sweet. I am challenging myself going forward to add some more angst and drama to my writing.

Describe your books in only three words.
Sweet, Steamy, Fun.

What’s your next book about and when is it coming out?
My next book is something that I wanted to write to kind of close out a writing style for me. I have done a ton of really sweet very low angst books and I love them, but I want to challenge myself to do some different things. The Date Mistake takes a character who appeared as a side character in a few of my books and I finally gave him a HEA. He has to pose as a fake date to his boss’s brother’s wedding. This story is still really light and fun, but it is a start of a shift for me. I’m really excited about it and I can’t wait for people to read it on June 3rd.

Out of all your books, which one are you most proud of?
My last release! Strictly Curious was the book I always wanted to write and I almost didn’t write it. Step brothers had always been one of my favorite tropes and when I started writing, I knew I wanted to write one. Around that time there was a rumor that they were going to start banning them so I put it on hold. When more and more of them kept getting published I caved and wrote the book I wanted to. The story just poured out of me and I had so much fun while writing it. It’s my best selling book to date.

What or who (or both) has influenced you most as a writer?
Oh man… I had an obsession with Neve Wilder when I first started reading MM. I just loved her writing style and I used to shove her books at everyone. I used to joke that I wanted to be on that level. Her steam just jumps off the page. I’ve found loads of authors who do such amazing job with their steam and I want to be like that.

What inspired you to start writing?
I used to consider myself a heavy reader when I read 3 to 4 books a year. When everything shut down back in 2020 I found myself with a ton of free time and spiraling into some pretty deep depression. I was scrolling Facebook and saw an ad for a romance book and said “why not.” I downloaded the book and finished it in two days. I quickly started going through the backlist for the author. Once I realized I had spent $30 in a week on books I invested in my first Kindle Unlimited membership.

I ended up connecting with a mom in a Facebook Mom Group who was also plowing through book after book and she became my reading buddy. She later revealed that she was beginning to write her own books and sent me a few chapters. I was instantly hooked. After reading her stuff for a while, I suddenly had an idea for my own story. She encouraged me to write my idea down. I published that book, my very first book, Worth the Wait, in December of 2021.

What’s your writing process like? Do you have a typical “writing day”?
I am so beyond disorganized. I don’t really have a typical writing day. I’m such a planster too when it comes to writing. When I’m starting a new book, I go in with a general idea with what I want to happen and I may or may not stick to it.

What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
I think I’ve done this both ways. With my first two books, it was the characters that came to me first. My third and fourth it was the plot. I knew what I wanted to happen before the characters came to me. The fifth and sixth book the characters came first. The book I’m about to start writing, the plot came to me first.

What’s a book that you wish you’d written?
I had to step away from a group project with some friends that I really wanted to do. We had been plotting it for a year and when it came time to start, I was so swamped with things, I just couldn’t swing it. I was sad to let the project go, but I plan to work with them again in the future.

If you could only write one trope for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Oh, that’s an impossible question. I have so many tropes that I haven’t explored yet. But I really enjoy doing bi-awakenings, so if I had to get stuck writing that, I think I’d be okay.

What would be your three desert island books?
These should be books I could read over and over, right? 
1st – Put Your Big Girl Panties on and Deal With It: The no nonsense guide to getting what you want by Roz Van Meter. Yes. It’s a cliche self help book, but this little book helped me through some tough times when I first moved out on my own. I used to buy it for people as a gift.
2nd – Can I cheat here and say the Bloodsucking fiends series from Christopher Moore? It’s technically three books, but they made me laugh so hard I cried. Not to mention the amazing titles. Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, You Suck: A Love Story, and Bite Me: A Love Story.
3rd – And the book that made me want to write MM and I’ve probably read 20 times already. Which is Want Me from Neve Wilder.

If one of your books could be made into a movie/TV series, which would you choose and who would you cast?
And this is where I get to expose that I am a complete idiot when it comes to pop culture. I have no idea who popular actors or actresses are.
But If I had to pick one of my books to be turned into a TV show or Movie, I would have to stick to my nerdy roots and pick Nerdy Talk. Just because I think lab techs need more love and I would totally watch a TV show about them. We’re a wild bunch.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Do you have a secret passion or hobby that we don’t know about?
I have two small kids. They’re 8 and 4 so if I’m not writing, I’m doing stuff with them. If I’m not, I’m probably reading.

Finally, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
I totally had to look this up. But I’m going to say Brontosaurus just because of The Land Before Time. I probably watched the movie a million times as a kid and you gotta love Little Foot the long neck!

Joelle Lynne is a M/M Romance author who is a total nerd at heart. She loves her romance sweet but on the spicy side. She hails from Washington state where she lives with her husband, two small children, and big fluffy cat. She works in laboratory medicine, and loves playing with her bacteria. She’s a firm believer in writing what you want to read so her stories fall across the spectrum and always puts a fun spin on popular tropes.

For more information on Joelle and her work you can sign up for her newsletter, and follow her on Instagram, Amazon, BookBub, and Goodreads. You can also join her Facebook reader group, Joelle’s Junkies, for more news and updates.