Another of WeWriteRomance.com’s exciting features is the interview section. We usually have one to two new ones posted each month (or so!) …be sure to check back often!
Interview with Portia Da Costa
Portia Da Costa is an author of steamy, erotic romance novels and erotica for women. Her publishing career began around 1994 and has been going strong since. She’s best known as one of the original pioneers of Black Lace, and the only author from the original line up who still produces new titles for the imprint. She also writes for Spice Briefs and Total-E-bound. Portia is certainly one author to put on your to buy list!
WWR: Portia, to start us off, can you give us a brief rundown of your writing career to date? How long have you been writing? What got you started?
Portia: I first started writing way back in the early 1980s, more by mistake than anything. An artist friend was looking for some stories to illustrate, and she suggested that I write one for her. She thought that because I was a librarian at the time, and a voracious reader, I should be able to write as well. I knew that it didn’t necessarily follow, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. I didn’t write what my friend wanted, but for myself I wrote a paranormal erotic short story, about a sexy zombie who fell in love with a living woman. It was a bit mad and probably a terrible story, but I enjoyed writing so much that I decided to keep on doing it.
For several years I wrote purely for my own amusement, and as part of a writing group I’d joined, but eventually, I decided to try and get published. My first attempts were aimed at Mills and Boon, but I wasn’t successful, although I got some great feedback from editors. But then, a book doctor suggested I try erotica, because I had a flair for writing hot sex scenes, and very quickly, I sold my first erotic novel to Nexus, an imprint of Virgin Publishing. Not long after that, Virgin Publishing started Black Lace too, and I became one of their pioneer authors with GEMINI HEAT, my first title for the line.
Since then, I’ve written 12 books for Black Lace as Portia Da Costa, as well as titles for several other women’s erotica and erotic romance publishers, including LESSONS AND LOVERS from Ellora’s Cave, and OBJECT OF DESIRE and WILD IN THE COUNTRY for Total-E-Bound. In all, I’ve written over twenty books.
WWR: Do you have any other names you write under? And, if so, what books have you published under the other name(s)?
Portia: I’ve got masses of pseudonyms! Some I don’t use any more, and some I’ve probably forgotten. My main writing name is ‘Portia Da Costa’, but I’ve had two women’s erotica titles published for X Libris as ‘Dorothy Starr’ – HOTEL OF LOVE and DESIGNED FOR SIN. I’ve also had two straight romances published under the pseudonym ‘Megan Paul’ – NO SWEETER CONFLICT and FORBIDDEN.
