Give Robyn Sperling a book, and she’ll probably read it and tell you, “I could do better.” As a creative point of view, it’s a pretty good sentiment.
Self-trained, Robyn feels her way along with strength and resolution, not to mention a sense of joy conveyed by living in the moment for her art. “Somewhere maybe around the third grade,” she says, “I was given an assignment to write a poem. I didn’t want to do it. When I told my mother, she said, ‘Tough,’ and made me write it anyway. It was about tigers, and I felt pretty good. I haven’t been the same since."
Her body of work now encompasses about 500 poems. “They come naturally,” she says, “but I also like writing stories.”
Currently, Robyn is working on, “A vampire...something." The length and scope have yet to be determined. She also collaborates with a friend on a horror/erotica novel, using social media to connect over distance.
“We use Facebook Notes. I’m stronger in dialogue, so I write those parts. My partner is better with description, so we write back and forth to one another.” Their sessions take place several times a week, and typically stretch two hours or more. “It’s carefree writing. Less structure helps with writer’s block, and it also helps inspire other work.”
Robyn’s two published collections - a body of poetry entitled Demon’s Muse: Dark Serenity Collection, and the short story compendium Revengeful Pleasures: Erotic Tales are both available on Lulu, Amazon, and the iBookstore. She also maintains a website for her fans, which includes sample poems.
A question presents itself at this point: what’s the difference between romance and erotica? Robyn’s answer lends a clue to her writing process, which is discussed in Part 2 of the interview. “Romance is elegant. It’s about the subtle set-up. Erotica’s language is more in-your-face.” As to why she writes, in both genres, the truth is an axiom all writers keep in mind as they create: “I write what I’m feeling, or what I imagine others are feeling.”
Sometimes the best advice is the home-grown kind.
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