Five Questions with Jade Lee / Kathy Lyons

by Julie Tetel Andresen | October 12, 2015 |

Five Questions Series

There are so many smart women out there writing novels for the romance genre. I love connecting with them on the Internet. This is the fifth interview in my new series of conversations with other authors, who join us to share about their creative process, their habits, their inspiration, and more. Our guest this week is Jade Lee, also known as Kathy Lyons, an author of Regency and contemporary romance novels.

1) What initially drew you to reading and writing in the romance genre?

Jade Lee: I love love. [Cue Beatles: All You Need is Love!] Falling in love is awesome. Watching how love conquers all is a rush, but most of all, I like seeing how love changes people for the better. Those are the things that draw me and so naturally, I’d write and read romance. Plus, my mother disdained Harlequin romances as trashy books, so I had to see what they were.

2) You write both historical and contemporary romance novels. What are the biggest challenges you have with each type of novel? What do you like best about each style of writing?

Jade Lee: The historical books are much more lyrical. They’re more about wittiness and the lush, larger landscape of the book. Not that the actual setting is bigger, just that with nearly double the page count, I have room to tell a bigger story. The contemporaries are shorter and funnier. They’re more about antics and great jokes. Both have hot love scenes, but again, in the historicals, I’m able to layer in much more complicated stories which means the sexual/intimate scenes are much more layered as well.

In short, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. It’s really hard to write funny first thing in the morning and it’s a big challenge to write lush when I’m feeling tired. So it all falls to my mood as I start the project.

3) You have multiple identities as an author, describing Jade Lee as the “fudge brownie of Regency Romance” and Kathy Lyons as the “contemporary blondie.” Why did you decide to have a pen name for some of your novels, and what kind of creative freedom has that decision given you?

Jade Lee: My real name is not romantic at all, so I wanted a penname right off the bat. My editor wanted me to write Asian, so I became Jade Lee and stupidly did not Google the name first. Thankfully, Jade Lee the porn star seems to have retired, but that has not been so for the first part of my career!

Anyway, I was writing steadily as Jade Lee when Harlequin approached me to write for Blaze. I wrote about 5 of them as Jade when the editor called me and said, “Marketing believes that the Jade Lee name is tainted ethnic.”

I couldn’t argue with the ethnic part. They wanted me to take a “girl next door” name which I took to mean “white as Wonder Bread” and I became Kathy Lyons. As much as I could rail against Harlequin for the decision, they knew their market. Without any promotion at all, the first Kathy Lyons book did very well as compared to all 5 of Harlequin’s Jade Lee books.

As for creative freedom, there’s no change with the penname. I write the stories that I hope will satisfy myself, my readers, and my editor. They decide which name to put it under.

4) Over the summer you announced the release of your first book, RULES FOR A LADY, on audio. Do you feel that audio books are changing the way people consume literature? How has the process of creating an audio book challenged you creatively?

Jade Lee: I didn’t do any of the audio production, so I can’t say it’s changed me at all. And there have been Kathy Lyons audio books compliments of Harlequin. So for me as an author, audio has just given me another line item on my royalty statement.

However, I can say that I LOVE listening to audio books. I drive lots of places and I started listening to books on tape (yes, I’m that old). Then I started listening when rollerblading or when I can’t sleep. Add in the times I just want to rest my eyes for a time, and I’m an avid listener!

5) You release multiple books each year, now totaling nearly 50 books released. What is your writing routine and how do you prioritize your writing schedule? Are you ever working on multiple books at once?

Jade Lee: I hate working on more than one book at once. I like immersing myself into a world and staying there until the Happily Ever After. Sadly, contracts and revisions mean that I often have to leave one world to do revisions on another. Fortunately, it’s a process I’m familiar with even if I don’t enjoy it.

As for schedule – well, I write every day and often on a weekend. I have a daily word count I have to make – somewhere between 2,000 – 4,000 words. Add in interviews and conferences plus my family and I have a full schedule! But it’s what I love to do!