Interview with Marian Wilder

“Imagine if you were handed the opportunity of living out every sexual fantasy you ever dreamed of ... even your darkest ones ... without any consequences? Imagine if all you had to do was sit in a mysterious old chair and allow its strange powers to do the rest?

Miranda Martin has found the Master of her dreams: a man who can take her to the very pinnacle of her submissive nature, and at whose feet she longs to kneel. The only problems are, he comes from a different time and a different land, and he only exists within her deepest fantasies. But Miranda now has the means to turn her fantasies into reality, and she will allow nothing to stand in her way of doing so. Be careful what you wish for, Miranda ... be very careful.” –Synopsis for The Slave Girl's Seat: Roman Submission.

This month’s profile comes from across the pond, specifically the Emerald Isle, and I’m featuring Irish erotic author Marian Wilder.

10) Marian, you’ve done two series, the Judicial Tales and The Slave Girl's Seat. The first centers on the penal system and the other on historical times, including ancient Rome. From a research standpoint, which series was more difficult to research?

Hi Robert. Happy New Year, and thank you for the Author of the Month Award for January.

Without a doubt, ‘The Slave Girl’s Seat’ was the more difficult to research. Oddly enough, it wasn’t actually the Roman aspect of the first two books in the series that proved tricky, but the accuracy required in the depiction of Port Royal, Jamaica, as well as the ships and plantations of the 18th century in the final two books (‘Pitiless Pirates’ and ‘Sugar and Cane’).

9) Take us back to ancient Rome. What was the life of a sex slave like or was there anything such as a uniform experience?

Unless we read the accounts of the great Latin scholars or delve deeply into Roman history we cannot know for sure. But given that Hollywood, as well as some of the Southern European movie houses have done that work for us, I would be inclined to believe that what they show on screen (disregarding the soft porn stuff, of course) is pretty much accurate. Referencing, of course, Ben Hur and Spartacus as two classic examples.

8) Assuming you didn’t read erotic literature while growing up, what authors did you read as a child and had any of them gone on to your influence your work?

Like most kids who grew up in Ireland and Britain, my childhood days were filled with the great adventure stories of Enid Blyton. I mean, who didn’t want to be a member of the Famous Five or the Secret Seven as a kid? My teens saw a move to Terry Pratchett and JRR Tolkien (my all-time fav), and I would rate Lord of the Rings as the best novel / trilogy of all time.
Leaving those greats aside for a moment though, the writer who most influenced my own work is Pauline Reage, author of the classic erotic novel ‘Story of O’. Magnificent!

7) Describe your typical writing day, if there’s any such thing. Do you draft in notebooks or laptop exclusively both and do you set word goals for yourself? If so, what are they?

My day in front of the keyboard begins at 9.30am. I start by working the social media posts, then move on to a bit of cross media promoting. Actual writing begins at around 11.30. I break for 10 minutes every hour for a bit of exercise on the treadmill – gotta avoid backache, and keeping the body fit as well as the mind is essential.
Lunch is at 1.30 for an hour, then it’s back to work until 5pm. Most evenings see me on social media doing a further bit of promotion, so it’s a full day. The only day I try to take off is Sunday, but that does not always work out.
If it all sounds like a chore, don’t worry … I love it.

6) Plotter, pantser or plantser?

It depends on what I am writing. Most of my stuff doesn’t actually require a great deal of research, so I guess I am an equal mixture of Pantser and Plotter.

5) As well as your two major series, you’ve also written some standalones. Which do you prefer writing?

If the standalone has promise, then I prefer to work on it. However, as anyone who has read my stories will recognize, many of my characters show up in different tales. For example, the character I receive the most feedback about – Ann-Marie Rabbitte, the off-the-wall dominatrix, shows her face in all the ‘Slaves of Dark Haven’ stories, as well as holding a top role in the ‘Penitent Place’ books, and I am sure she will pass through more in future.

4) Considering the extreme nature of your fiction, is there any situation you wouldn’t touch or is everything on the table?

My hubby and I are blessed (some might not agree) to have been part of the real life BDSM lifestyle for many years, but some of the things I write about carry the ‘Don’t Try This At Home’ warning. A classic example would be the dubcon scenes in the ‘Disciplined in the Desert’ series and similar in the ‘Dystopian Prison’ sub-series in ‘Judicial Tales’.

3) The Slave Girl's Seat involves a heavy dose of time travel fantasy. Have you ever considered writing in another genre?

I am in the process of plotting a Horror Fantasy novel, but it will be a long time until release. I feel it is important to establish oneself in one’s own field before indulging in pet projects. In other words, I would like to write Fantasy, but as a full-time writer, the primary object at the start is to put bread on the table … not an easy task at times.

2) If you weren’t writing BDSM, how do you think you’d spend your days?

I’d probably spend my days wishing I was writing BDSM. J Oh … or wishing I was still young enough to get up to ALL the sexual adventures and acrobatics the lifestyle holds. (My next birthday is my 60th … no wonder I spend so much time on the treadmill!)

1) What’s next for Marian Wilder?

As well as writing, I am currently doing a Higher Diploma in Creative Writing, with a view to teaching it on completion. Fingers crossed.
So, until that is done, I will be writing novelettes and shorts rather than novels.
Next? A series of erotic short stories for Smashwords and B&N, followed by an anthology on Kindle.

Thank you for all you do, especially the great support you provide to the Writing Community, Robert. My best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy, and productive 2022 and beyond.

If you want to explore more of Ms. Wilder’s work, then follow the links below.

Amazon author page.

Twitter.

Facebook author page.