Interview with an Author Featuring Ellie Sandoval

The Literary Vixen presents…

Joining us today is Ellie Sandoval! Her debut book, Carnal Sanctuary: Savannah’s Awakening Part I – An Erotic Paranormal Romance release on February 14th 2020.

How long have you been writing?

I started really young. We immigrated here from Argentina when I was just a baby. My parents fed me so many books when I was young to help me learn English. I started writing basically fanfic of my favorite books in about 5th or 6th grade. I took Hermione and Draco on some crazy side quests for a while…

I started writing original fiction and normal stupid teenager poetry in high school. That led to some scholarships and college opportunities as a Lit. Major.

Describe a typical writing day.

Oooh. Good question. I stick to a very rigged routine. I wake up pretty early to feed my kitties. Once I clean up and make some coffee, I sit down and write a minimum of two-thousand words before I do anything else. That usually takes me to lunch. After lunch I scan my email inbox and Facebook messages to see if there’s something I need to address on the business side of things. If not, I try to write another two-thousand words. I do that six days a week. That changes a little if we are inching towards a book launch or, like right now, where I have three stories being produced into audiobooks for Audible. I have to jump on audiobook approvals right away to “keep the trains moving on time,” as my editor DK loves to say. I copied this routine from Stephen King. He’s pretty frank about just sitting down and writing everyday like it’s just a normal job.

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

I think my black cat Kiki whispers them to me in my sleep. Honestly, I have no idea. It just starts flowing. Sometimes little trickles. Sometimes like a dam burst.

Do you have a favorite character that you have written? If so, who? And what makes them so special?

Great question. I don’t know if I have a favorite, but the two that have been easiest for me to write are Savannah from the Carnal Sanctuary series and Mak from The Dragon-Shifter Diaries. Maybe because they are both awkward yet ballsy like me.

When you’re writing an emotionally draining (or sexy, or sad, etc) scene, how do you get in the mood?

Usually some music or ambient sounds that help transport me to that place, to help build that energy in me. I have playlists on my YouTube channel.

Are you on social media and can your readers interact with you?

Heck, yes! I’m responsive on GoodReads. I don’t really use my personal Facebook page. Also, the Cleo Press newsletter is a great thing to sign up to, especially with all my book and audiobook releases coming out this summer. Oh, and omigad! I’m starting to put teasers of my audiobooks up on my YouTube channel. Please, please, please subscribe! *Links down below*

When writing a series how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?

Well, Carnal Sanctuary is my first series and I’m only half way through the second novel… But what works for me so far is to not have an outline written in stone. I didn’t use an outline at all for Savannah’s Awakening, the first Carnal Sanctuary book. I’m a pantser. I prefer to write by the seat of my pants. I literally had no idea that the fae characters were even fae until I was nearly finished with the book. But now that all that is established and I have loose outlines for books 2 – 4, I do give myself permission to explore paths that don’t line up with how I thought the story was going to go. I’ve just started the third part of Carnal Book 2, so I’m more than 40k words into it. I thought I was going to stick to a very tight outline throughout the entire story. But that’s not going to happen because Savannah decided she wanted to kick over the apple cart and a few other ideas that work better materialized.

That’s how I keep things fresh for me. We’ll have to see how the readers react to it. I think they’ll find that this isn’t a cookie-cutter series that always uses the same ingredients. These characters are going to grow and change and often they will die.

Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with me?

Well, Carnal Sanctuary: Savannah’s Temptation is the main thing I’m actively writing. That’s book 2 in the series and it should be out Fall 2020. I squeeze in new Chapters of Lord Primcock on days that I need a break from Astoria OR. I really want to rotate in a few more Dragon-Shifter Diary chapters too, but there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe after some of the audiobooks are fully approved I’ll have a bit more time to go visit Mak and Drake.

What advice would you give to other authors?

Read everything. All the time. And not just the stuff that’s in your genre. Write everyday. Even if it’s only a couple hundred words. And let your work suck until it stops sucking.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you and your books?

Gosssssssshhhhhh. I don’t know. Maybe that I try really hard to create three-dimensional characters that are as flawed as real-life people? And that like me, my writing is a work in progress? Eeek!

Thank you Ellie Sandoval for chatting with me! I will include her information down below. Check out

Carnal Sanctuary: Savannah’s Awakening Part I today!

~Synopsis~

Savannah Taggart always knew her beautiful body was a gift, but even she didn’t think it was blessed enough to survive a car accident. She definitely didn’t expect to wake up afterwards in an opulent mansion overlooking Astoria, Oregon, completely healed from her mortal injuries and surrounded by sexy shifters and fae servants who want to be naughty with her.
Savannah had fled San Diego, running from an ominous threat to the mansion, into the arms of Roman, an immortal billionaire. She knows she’s safe in Roman’s strong arms. But for how long before her supernatural hunters track her to her Carnal Sanctuary? Will her ability to quickly heal save her from them?

Do you like shifters, fae, vampires, werewolves, and the paranormal mixed in with your erotica and romance? What about BDSM and first-time-female lesbian scenes? Yeah? Then join us for Carnal Sanctuary: Savannah’s Awakening Part I!

Savannah’s Awakening is a 4-part serialized ebook in the Carnal Sanctuary series, written by first-time novelist Ellie Sandoval. Cleo Press is fortunate that our first publication is also Ellie’s first. Like what you’ve read? Please consider joining our newsletter and Facebook community; leaving a review; and recommending to a friend. With your help, we’ll publish a lot more in the Carnal Sanctuary series. And more!

CAUTION: Carnal Sanctuary explicitly describes intense sexual encounters hot enough to start fires and induce heart attacks!

When Ellie isn’t watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer or reading mountains of Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, and Erotica novels, she’s writing her own stories with all those elements! Ellie began writing at a very young age and has won several awards and scholarships for her stories–but what she really wants to write is the type of paranormal erotica you are now holding in your hand. Carnal Sanctuary: Savannah’s Awakening is her debut novel. She can’t wait to give you more.