Strangely Funny Interview: Erin Lee!

USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Lee, who also writes as EL George, is a dark fiction/reality author and therapist chasing a crazy dream one crazy story at a time. She is the author of Crazy Like Me, a novel published in 2015 by Savant Books and Publications, LLC, Wave to Papa, 2015, by Limitless Publishing, LLC and Nine Lives (2016). She’s also author of When I’m Dead, Greener, Something Blue, Freak, and 99 Bottles. She also penned Losing Faith, a novella with Black Rose Writing. She is co-author of Black Rose’s The Morning After. She is also author of the Diary of a Serial Killer Series and Lola, Party of Eight Series formerly with Zombie Cupcake Press, and now home with Crazy Ink, Pretty Bones, Boned, The Ghosts who Raised Me, His Village, Seeds, Resurrection, and From Russia, With Love. She is a co-author of the Moving On series, including bestselling The Ranch and Moving On and The Cabin. Other horror and upcoming titles include Pawn Takes All and The Haunt. Other recent titles include the co-write Bella Amore and the award-winning and bestselling six-book Circus Freak series.

Your story is one of the raciest we've ever printed in Strangely Funny. How did you decide what would happen?
I've always enjoyed pushing limits, so that comes naturally to me. I have a 12-book series with Rena Marin about a deranged sex doll. Because of that, not much feels too wild to me. I enjoy writing satire and making people laugh, so there are generally hidden messages about society and social situations in my work. By day, I work as a therapist and find that laughter is the best treatment plan for anything. My writing reflects that often. 

You've teamed up with other authors (Rena Marin, Sara Schoen) to write novels, which is anathema to most of the authors I know. What helps the most when working with another creative mind?
I have about 100 published titles. About half of those are co-written. I've been really fortunate to make close friendships in the indie writing community. Rena and I generally write humor, while Sara and I write thrillers. With Rena, the ability to banter back and forth as characters helps keep things funny. With Sara, we write with no plot and keep each other in suspense - something that translates into our books for readers. For me, co-writing is nice because it gives me new ideas and has taught me to write in all tenses and points of view. 

You're phenomenally prolific. Can you tell us a little about your writing process? Do you have a psychedelic hut somewhere? A fairy godmother? A shrine to Stephen King?
LOL. I wish I had a magical answer. My true answer is discipline. I write 2,000 words a day seven days a week no matter what is happening in my life. Some days, those words are only journal entries but they keep me in the habit of daily practice. 

Which genre is your favorite to write in?
Stories based on real-life, situations, and people. I guess that would be literary fiction, but I"m not big on genre labels as I tend to cross those lines often. 

Who is your favorite author and what really strikes you about their work?
Sylvia Plath. I think she wrote as honestly and fearlessly as possible. Her life story fascinates me and her poetry is fantastic. 
  
What is your current project/newest release?
I work on several WIPs at a time, depending on mood. Today, I worked on Shrinking Tink under my pen name EL George. It's a Peter Pan retell based on a true story about a client I admire. My last release was It's a Rap? That one is a satire written about the indie author community I so dearly appreciate. 

Thank you for allowing me to tell my writing story journey! Happy writing and reading to all!

Thank you for sharing!

To learn more about Erin's back catalog, visit her Amazon Page. To see what's next, visit her author page.

Looking for pointers on zombie love? Be sure to read Erin's story, "Zoe and the Stiff" in ​​Strangely Funny VIII, which is available in print and Kindle now!