Stephanie Tyler | Romantic Suspense featuring strong military heroes

Introducing Sydney...

Sydney Croft is my alter-ego. While Stephanie Tyler writes sexy Romantic Suspense, Sydney writes Paranormal Erotic Romance (emphasis on the erotic) for Bantam Dell – heavy on the romantic suspense and the military heroes – my co-writer, Larissa Ione and I call it, X-Men meets Erotica.

Sydney was born from Hurricane Katrina. You see, Larissa was living in Mississippi during that fateful time and she was forced to evacuate. I was so worried about her that I couldn’t concentrate on anything and I was supposed to be writing a follow-up to a novella my agent was shopping to publishers. I wrote a scene about a man who was a draw to the weather and was driving into a hurricane, but I couldn’t get past that. And months passed and Larissa mentioned, as she did every few months, that we should try writing together. And so I sent her the scene.

What am I supposed to do with this? she asked.

Write the heroine, I tell her.

Who is she?

Me: No idea. Remy just found her naked in the shower. Your turn.

Larissa: You do realize that you’re asking a traumatized hurricane victim to write a book that centers around hurricanes, right?

Me: (after a long pause) It’ll be cathartic.

It was. It was also loads of fun. That first scene turned into Riding The Storm, book 1 in our first trilogy and we’re still writing together. And having a blast.

If you’d like to learn more about the Storm trilogy, the Agency for Rare and Covert Operatives and what it’s like to co-write books, please visit SydneyCroft.com.

Recently, I was asked to fill in my profession on a form in a new doctor’s office. I put down, writer.

The doctor was perplexed by this. Writer. Writer. Oh, you mean, author, he said finally, as if he’d just figured out the greatest puzzle in the world.

I nod.

I won’t ask if you’re published or not.

I am, I tell him.

Then you should call yourself author.

I shrug. And tell him that I consider myself a writer because that’s what I do – the part I love. The writing.

You should still call yourself author, he said confidently.

Hi – I’m Stephanie Tyler – and I was born a writer – there’s no other way to say it. When I tell people things, it’s in story form. I use dialogue tags in emails. I carry a notebook with me all the time, even to dinner with friends. They ask me if I’m planning on writing if they bore me and I tell them, maybe.

I also don’t really like to be told what to do, which is why I adore writing. Even though the characters tell me what they’d like to do (and, most of the time, I listen) - and eventually, my editor tells me what she’d like done (and again, most of the time, I listen) I still rule my created world for those four hundred plus pages. And, when it’s done, I get to do it all over again.

So writing for a living was absolutely my dream, but I never thought it could be a reality.

In college, I was a double major – English Lit and Creative Writing. I wrote poetry and short stories and then I graduated and had no idea how to make a living from writing.

For a long time I did things that circled around the writing world. I was a manager in a bookstore. I went back to school for a Masters in English Lit – and finished half a PhD as well, while completing a Masters in Secondary English Education (there’s that only child, overachiever thing. Add to it a strong dose of impatience and a sense of, I must do it all, at once, and you’ll understand.) And then I taught – middle school and college, at the same time, which was fun. Except I wasn’t writing. I was too busy being creative for my students and had nothing left over for myself.

Stephanie with her husband dressed like the Masai in Africa.

I also got married – traveled to Africa a couple of times and decided that one day I must live there. And then my daughter was born in 2001 with some serious medical problems and my world changed completely. I left teaching. And I went back to writing and I haven’t stopped since.

It took me about four years and ten manuscripts before I got my first sale call. Which was quickly followed by another, and then another, and so in one year, I was offered contracts for eleven books. Three years later, Hold on Tight hit the New York Times Bestseller list. Persistence pays off – as does practice. And so what I’ve learned is that, even if you try to give up on your dreams, they somehow have a way of finding you.

» Why do I write romance? I answer that question here and here.

» Why do I write as both Stephanie Tyler and Sydney Croft? Check out my Frequently Asked Questions page.

» Looking for a shorter Stephanie Tyler bio? Try this:

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Tyler writes what she loves to read - romantic suspense with military heroes for Bantam Dell. She lives in New York with her husband, her daughter and her weimaraner. She also writes paranormal erotic romance for Bantam Dell under the pen-name Sydney Croft.

» Meet Stephanie in these online interviews and articles

I've gone back to school several times for English Lit and creative writing courses. What does that tell you? I love learning, but only about what I'm interested in, as my math and science teachers can attest to. Obviously, that's reading and writing, which is why I taught both before embarking on a writing career. Here's a collection of articles I've been asked to contribute over the past few years to various places in the blogosphere -- they range from my discussing writing process to my first sales and my character blogs.

» Writing Habits
» Wanting It
» Where Heroes Come From
» Not Tonight Dear...I'm in Danger
» My Ideal Reader
» My Journey into Writing Romance
» Don't Do What I Did

Please feel free to link to these articles or quote from them – just please credit clearly to Stephanie Tyler with a link to this site, and of course, let me know

Gus aka Augustus Xavier Tyler was born on November 4, 2007 and came to live with Stephanie & Co. in February 2008 when he was a mere 25 lbs. (He is now pushing 100lbs.) He is a purebred AKC Weimaraner. His father lives in Finland and Gus has twelve brothers and sisters scattered all over the world (really, one of them lives in Brazil!) and he enjoys running through the woods, barking at dogs he sees on the TV screen and eating ice cubes. And snow. And paper towels and toilet paper right off the roll, like it's a delicious snack. He is wonderful with small children, doesn't understand when adults get scared of him because he's big and is genuinely concerned with the storyline of Lucky the dog on Army Wives. He enjoys watching Sons of Anarchy (seriously, I'm not kidding) and Jaws. Perhaps this is the reason he does not like to go into the water.

Keep up with Gus!
» (Please note he only checks his email once a month.)
» Blog posts about Gus