Author Lacey Cross

Lacey Cross writer of Four Lawyers and a Hotwife series. Known for her charming, authentic main characters and her love of helping new writers.

Website: https://crosserotica.com/lacey/
Amazon https://author.to/laceycross
Twitter: @Cross28Lacey

Lacey Cross Author

Q&A

Introduction

What is your name?

Lacey Cross

If it’s a pseudonym how did you come up with it?

Yes, this is my pen name. I was looking for a name that might go with a hotwife series writer. I teamed up with erotica author Rachel L. Thompson to create our “sisters” with Lacey and Catelynn Cross. Rachel chose the last name, though I was told later it was a perfect fit together with Lacey because it brings to mind lingerie with criss-cross ties.

Where are you from?

U.S. Pacific Northwest

Writing

What genre do you write in?

My first series is a hotwife series, but I am branching out with upcoming stuff.

Future direction – My next series is going to be more cuckold from the woman’s PoV. I am also working on two different BDSM series. One actually involves Miranda, the main character from my first series. It’s going to be a series of birthday books. Her marriage is changing and not going to be so much of a hotwife situation anymore, but I don’t want to ruin the storyline so that’s all I’m giving.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since November 2020. I took a creative writing class in college and sucked. I made a couple of attempts to write over the years and wrote 1-2 crappy short-story eroticas, and maybe 20-30 pages of a young adult novel before giving up. Last November a friend told me to try NaNoWriMo after not writing anything in over 10 years and I impulsively said yes. I rocked it and I’ve been writing continually in the last 7 months. I switched to erotica at the end of January 2021.

What was the last book/thing you have written?

The last story I wrote is my first F/F story for an anthology that is coming out in June.  It’s an interesting alternate universe anthology called Instant Kicks where sex work is legal and you can order people on an app to come fuck you. It’s a cute story about a first time lesbian looking for an experienced woman on the app but ends up with another first-timer.  

The Instant Kicks anthology will be out mid-June and one of the authors, Kyra Keys, has a story up on medium set in the same world.  Here’s a free link to read the short erotica if you want to check out what type of stories the anthology will have.  Kyra’s story is a little tame compared to what some of the other anthology authors came up with.  We have some pretty crazy scenarios and sexy hijinks in the book. 

Why did you want to write Erotica, how did you get into it?

After writing a young adult novel during NaNoWriMo last November, I realized my writing skills were not up to editing it and looking for a publisher.  I set aside my finished draft and turned to blogging.  I blogged for 20 hours a week for a month and made $7.  A friend sent me an article about writing erotica as a joke and after reading the article and looking at my $7 paycheck, I decided to give it a whirl. 

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a writer?

My biggest mistake at the beginning was starting in a niche I didn’t research.  It ended up working out for me in the long run, but when I started the Lacey Cross pen name, I did a lot of research on niches and how to write to the niche.  Lacey’s stories are by far, per story, way more successful than my first pen name’s individual stories.  So that tells me that my research paid off.

Where do you get your ideas from?

So far my story settings are based off of on things in my real life that I twist to be WAY hotter than they really are.  So some things I’ve tried, but the majority of it comes from sexual fantasies I’ve had while bored at work.

The Book

Bonding with the Boss

What makes this book so important to you?

Bonding with the Boss is my third book in my Four Lawyers and a Hotwife series.  This book is the first book I wrote with Lacey where I knew I had written something good when I finished my first draft.  The previous two books I had the concern that maybe other people would not find it sexy. 

Book three showed deeper emotions in my main character, Miranda, and introduced one of the bosses that ended up being significant to her in the future.  I also had to research bondage to make sure I portrayed it correctly since I’ve never done anything but light bondage play in my own life.  

I learned several things that ended up in the book, and I later got comments that the bondage scene was done really well, so I felt good about that.  I was also able to use my bondage research in a future book I wrote on a different pen name, so it was an overall good learning experience and I grew as a writer from that book. 

Did the story change while writing?

Yes, originally the story was going to be just some kinky fun where Miranda gets tied up fully and loved it. But the entire book ended up having a much deeper meaning to Miranda.

After my bondage research, I realized a first-timer should not be fully tied up, so I adjusted the story. I also didn’t know much about aftercare before that scene, so I incorporated that.

The most important aspect of that book was the profound effect it had on Miranda. What I thought was going to be a fun fuck ended having meaning for her and opening a portion of her heart she shouldn’t. I had zero intention of writing any of that and it all developed as I wrote the scene.

What emotions did it stir in you?

I was going through a similar awakening in my real life, so I felt I was putting a lot of my own thoughts and feelings into Miranda at the time. 

How do you relate to the main character?

How do you relate to the main character?  In general, Miranda is my fun quirky side of my personality.  I say and think a lot of things she does, as well as my day job, is in an office with a bunch of lawyers during non-pandemic times.  And no, I have never fucked one of them, but they are usually quite attractive and sexy in their business suits so I plead the fifth when it comes to any fantasies I have.  

Did you collaborate with anyone?

The entire original concept of Lacey, along with the first four stories were birthed with Rachel J. Thompson. We spent a day going over what Lacey and her “sister” Catelynn were going to write, and we mapped out general story ideas and titles. Plans changed over time but Rachel really helped me find a direction for Lacey and helped launch that pen name.

Starting in book 2, I also asked various friends to give me a random item to include in each story. The easter egg in book 2 was the bearded dragon. Book 3 it was the sterling silver kitten necklace. Book 4 was the Star Wars toys (friend did not tell me to use the lightsaber as a dildo, that was my own idea). Book 4 was the ying yang symbol that I turned into a tattoo on one of the lawyers.

Musings

What do you get out of it?

Writing erotica has been life-changing for me.  The erotica writing community has brought me friends that I believe will always be in my life.  Also being a new writer who never finished anything before last November, erotica has opened the door to grow my skills as a writer.  When I look back at my first books I wrote in Jan/Feb on my other pen name, the work I’m producing now shows a significant difference.  The fact that erotica readers are more lenient has given me the freedom to gain confidence with every book release and not have the fear of being trashed in the reviews.  If that first book of mine had been torn to shreds, I might not have continued, so I am thankful to everyone who read it and told me it was fabulous for a first attempt at erotica. 

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given as a writer?

 I was told to not spend a ton of time proofing because erotica readers don’t care as much about quality.  While that is partly true since they are more lenient if the sex is hot, I realized by my 6th story that I personally cared.  I felt embarrassed whenever I found a mistake in my first 5 books, and I knew that I didn’t want to be a writer pushing out garbage just to get sales.  

I took steps to correct that process, but without having a large income to hire an editor, it’s been a very slow process to update everything and fix my mistakes.  I should have been doing it from the beginning. 

What would you like your readers to know about you?

First off, I’m not an actual hotwife.  I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked that.  I may not have a traditional marriage but it definitely does not fall into the hotwife category (but a girl can dream).

What would you like non-erotica readers to know about erotica?

Not all erotica is crazy kinky.  I have seen plenty of hot vanilla-ish erotica.  I think that Twitter gives people a false sense of what all is out there in erotica because the kinks are the hot things people talk about.  But if you look for it, even if you just want some sexy vanilla, it is out there.  Not everyone wants to be fisted and gangbanged.

What, for you, constitutes “sexy”?

Confidence and success.  

In one of my real-life relationships, I worked at the same company as my partner.  When he was promoted to being in charge of everything, he was immediately hotter to me. (yes, there may be a reason why I wrote about fucking bosses).  

But overall, I think confidence is the main thing that attracts me.  Just own that you’re awesome and it’s sexy.

Published Books with links

Works In Progress

Excited about Instant Kicks? While you are waiting for the launch, check out Kyra’s Erotica (free) set in the same Universe.