If you're searching for the answer, you're going to have to dig. The hint for The Temple of Fyre is to search in the villainess interviews.
For The Henge Betrayed -- Flight, you must look very far and find Astrology and Characters.
Lots of luck, Janet
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Critique partner, Jenny
I've known Jenny since her first writing projects that she shared with HVRWA and the critique group. Her historicals are feel good stories and her paranormals to come are quite intense. Janet
. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?
I’d have to say neither or, perhaps, both. I usually start with a ‘what if’ question or some fragmented scene. Each book is different. For one of my recent historical, HIGH PLAINS BRIDE, I came up with an opening page of dialogue and had to construct plot and characters from that. That book left me wondering who these people were and how they had gotten themselves in such an awful mess. My newest paranormal, DREAM STALKER (Silhouette Nocturne), came to me as a premise: What happens when a woman discovers that the terrifying creature from her nightmares is not a dream, but a vengeful spirit sent to reclaim her for the spirit world from which she escaped?
2. How do you create your characters?
I generally try to decide what is good and honorable about my hero and then what his flaw or insecurity might be. Then I find the woman who would be absolutely perfect for him, but also be most threatening to his flaw/insecurity, so as to put him under the most stress possible. Then I’m in business.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?
I do a lot of planning, plotting and scene outlining. But I’m not so detail oriented that I don’t allow for surprises and discoveries along the way. It reminds me of a road trip. I know the starting point, the major points of interest and my final destination, but I leave time to explore interesting or unexpected attractions.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?
I often do a lot of research. I love to read history books and original journals, diaries and sources from the time period I am exploring. I also use the web to check facts and details. Sometimes just reading along in a history book, I might find an intriguing detail that sparks a story. That was the case for my story, TURNER’S WOMAN, from Harlequin Historicals. I discovered that an up-and-coming military man dropped out of the service and disappeared for a few years to be a mountain man and then returned to resume his career with great success. It was theorized that he may have been a spy/cartographer for the US Government, sent to Spanish California to find an overland route to the sea. Well, that was all I needed to have my imagination go into overdrive.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?
The character’s goals grow naturally out of their backstory. I don’t force them into unnatural situations, but let them lead me into discovering why they do or don’t want a particular thing. It is fun, as the author, to figure out or unearth an entire psychological profile on a person that began with just a name and a vague impression.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
I’m not sure which story will be released next, but believe it might be DREAM STALKER, followed by the second book in the series, GHOST STALKER. The second story is about a shapeshifting wolf who escapes a vicious attack by ghosts only to be dropped into the hands of an enemy healer who might just as soon kill him as help him. Check out my website at www.jennakernan.com for exact release dates and excerpts.
7. What's on your backlist?
My back list is all western historical, which I will continue to write. I’d say my westerns are romantic adventures that take place mainly on the trail or in the mountains. My first three stories (WINTER WOMAN, TURNER’S WOMAN, THE TRAPPER) all feature scouts and trappers. My last release, OUTLAW BRIDE, begins with a jail break and then a mountain rescue.
8. What are you working on now?
I’m working on two projects now. The first is a western historical where a woman is forced to choose between the man she loves and saving her family’s home. It is set in Sacramento after the gold rush and my hero is a railroad tycoon with issues of trust. No release date on that one.
The second project is a short story for Nocturne Bites, which are about 50 pages and released initially as ebooks available from www.eHarlequin.com . The story is titled, SHADOW STALKER and it is about a bear researcher who is rescued from poachers by a shapeshifting grizzly bear.
Thanks for the interesting questions. Aspiring authors can always visit my favorites pages for articles on craft at www.jennakernan.com.
. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?
I’d have to say neither or, perhaps, both. I usually start with a ‘what if’ question or some fragmented scene. Each book is different. For one of my recent historical, HIGH PLAINS BRIDE, I came up with an opening page of dialogue and had to construct plot and characters from that. That book left me wondering who these people were and how they had gotten themselves in such an awful mess. My newest paranormal, DREAM STALKER (Silhouette Nocturne), came to me as a premise: What happens when a woman discovers that the terrifying creature from her nightmares is not a dream, but a vengeful spirit sent to reclaim her for the spirit world from which she escaped?
2. How do you create your characters?
I generally try to decide what is good and honorable about my hero and then what his flaw or insecurity might be. Then I find the woman who would be absolutely perfect for him, but also be most threatening to his flaw/insecurity, so as to put him under the most stress possible. Then I’m in business.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?
I do a lot of planning, plotting and scene outlining. But I’m not so detail oriented that I don’t allow for surprises and discoveries along the way. It reminds me of a road trip. I know the starting point, the major points of interest and my final destination, but I leave time to explore interesting or unexpected attractions.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?
I often do a lot of research. I love to read history books and original journals, diaries and sources from the time period I am exploring. I also use the web to check facts and details. Sometimes just reading along in a history book, I might find an intriguing detail that sparks a story. That was the case for my story, TURNER’S WOMAN, from Harlequin Historicals. I discovered that an up-and-coming military man dropped out of the service and disappeared for a few years to be a mountain man and then returned to resume his career with great success. It was theorized that he may have been a spy/cartographer for the US Government, sent to Spanish California to find an overland route to the sea. Well, that was all I needed to have my imagination go into overdrive.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?
The character’s goals grow naturally out of their backstory. I don’t force them into unnatural situations, but let them lead me into discovering why they do or don’t want a particular thing. It is fun, as the author, to figure out or unearth an entire psychological profile on a person that began with just a name and a vague impression.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
I’m not sure which story will be released next, but believe it might be DREAM STALKER, followed by the second book in the series, GHOST STALKER. The second story is about a shapeshifting wolf who escapes a vicious attack by ghosts only to be dropped into the hands of an enemy healer who might just as soon kill him as help him. Check out my website at www.jennakernan.com for exact release dates and excerpts.
7. What's on your backlist?
My back list is all western historical, which I will continue to write. I’d say my westerns are romantic adventures that take place mainly on the trail or in the mountains. My first three stories (WINTER WOMAN, TURNER’S WOMAN, THE TRAPPER) all feature scouts and trappers. My last release, OUTLAW BRIDE, begins with a jail break and then a mountain rescue.
8. What are you working on now?
I’m working on two projects now. The first is a western historical where a woman is forced to choose between the man she loves and saving her family’s home. It is set in Sacramento after the gold rush and my hero is a railroad tycoon with issues of trust. No release date on that one.
The second project is a short story for Nocturne Bites, which are about 50 pages and released initially as ebooks available from www.eHarlequin.com . The story is titled, SHADOW STALKER and it is about a bear researcher who is rescued from poachers by a shapeshifting grizzly bear.
Thanks for the interesting questions. Aspiring authors can always visit my favorites pages for articles on craft at www.jennakernan.com.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Critique partner again
I've known Kathy for a long time and remember her first book and the revisions. We had a fun time with finding all the It was starts. She's a great writer and I'm eagerly waiting her return to the States. We've been through both joy and sadness together. Janet
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?
The Characters definately come first. I need to know then before I can decide what kind of situations I can put them into.
2. How do you create your characters?
They are composits of people I have met, or someone's who story I heard. Once I figure out one character, the second one is developed by pretty much choosing a person whose goals are at odds with the fisrt.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?
I do not write a full synopsis or outline, but I do have a general idea of where the story is going before I begin. Often it takes off on its own, despite some planning but for the most part they end up where I expect.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?
I do as much research as is necessay to make the characters, setting, and plot believable. Since I write contemporary romance and tend to set my stories in placec I am familiar with, I'd probably say I do less research that a historical writer, but I still fact check what I write about real places, legal matters, police matters or medical referances.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?
It usually springs out of character's past. The more complex the character's past, the more motivated they are towards their goals, and the strong the conflict with anyone who stands in their way.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
"Miuphy's Law" is a romantic suspense. A sometimes comical road trip of two people who must rely on each other, despite a mutual distrust, to avoid being found by a villinous murderer who wants to stop them form returning to America to testify against him.
7. What's on your backlist?
Check my wesite at www.katattalla.com
8. What are you working on now?
I am revising my forst release, Homeward Bound for re-release and then it is back to my romantic suspense, "China Blue"
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?
The Characters definately come first. I need to know then before I can decide what kind of situations I can put them into.
2. How do you create your characters?
They are composits of people I have met, or someone's who story I heard. Once I figure out one character, the second one is developed by pretty much choosing a person whose goals are at odds with the fisrt.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?
I do not write a full synopsis or outline, but I do have a general idea of where the story is going before I begin. Often it takes off on its own, despite some planning but for the most part they end up where I expect.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?
I do as much research as is necessay to make the characters, setting, and plot believable. Since I write contemporary romance and tend to set my stories in placec I am familiar with, I'd probably say I do less research that a historical writer, but I still fact check what I write about real places, legal matters, police matters or medical referances.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?
It usually springs out of character's past. The more complex the character's past, the more motivated they are towards their goals, and the strong the conflict with anyone who stands in their way.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
"Miuphy's Law" is a romantic suspense. A sometimes comical road trip of two people who must rely on each other, despite a mutual distrust, to avoid being found by a villinous murderer who wants to stop them form returning to America to testify against him.
7. What's on your backlist?
Check my wesite at www.katattalla.com
8. What are you working on now?
I am revising my forst release, Homeward Bound for re-release and then it is back to my romantic suspense, "China Blue"
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Another critique partner -- Allison
Allison is the newest of my critique partners and she always has good insights into what's right and wrong with what I've written.
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot? Usually, it's the plot: a situation or circumstance will pop into my head. I'll think "What if..."?" and then I'll create the characters to develop that situation into a full-blown story.
2. How do you create your characters? I've used character charts, I've used astrology signs, and I've sometimes based my characters on people I know. I don't have any one way I create characters. Usually I have a rough idea of who they are, and they develop themselves for me as the story goes along.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow? Oh, I'm a big planner. I usually have a pretty specific outline before I begin a story. I can't start without having a general idea of the major conflicts and the black moment.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it? Since I write contemporary romance, I don't usually have to do a lot of research. Anything I need to look up, I do so on the Internet.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals? Sometimes I base my characters' goals and motivations on actual people and situations I've known; sometimes I draw them from things I read about in the news. It's amazing, the things that actually happen to people!
6. Tell us about your latest release. One Night in Memphis is a "twenty-four hour" romance that takes place over a single day and night. The hero and heroine meet up in the blues clubs of Beale Street, but she's trying to outrun a violent ex-boyfriend, and which means neither of them is safe. The reviewer from Literary Nymphs gave the book 5 Nymphs and commented, "Boniface conveys some real danger and tension in this fast-paced tale, but shows astonishing and realistic growth in her characters. This is an absorbing novel, nearly impossible to put down. It has coincidence, a car chase, corruption and cool piano music..."
7. What's on your backlist? Readers can check out my first twenty-four hour novel, One Night in Boston, about college sweethearts who meet up ten years after they broke up, or Lost in Paradise, a contemporary romance about a woman with the right name and the right connections who leaves entire her life behind and discovers a new life and love by moving to a place where no one knows who she is.
8. What are you working on now? I'm finishing up a third twenty-four hour novel, One Night in Napa, and also doing revisions on another contemporary novel, Summer's Song, about a woman who returns to her hometown after 10 years away and discovers not only a new love but old ghosts.
Thanks, Janet - this was fun!
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot? Usually, it's the plot: a situation or circumstance will pop into my head. I'll think "What if..."?" and then I'll create the characters to develop that situation into a full-blown story.
2. How do you create your characters? I've used character charts, I've used astrology signs, and I've sometimes based my characters on people I know. I don't have any one way I create characters. Usually I have a rough idea of who they are, and they develop themselves for me as the story goes along.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow? Oh, I'm a big planner. I usually have a pretty specific outline before I begin a story. I can't start without having a general idea of the major conflicts and the black moment.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it? Since I write contemporary romance, I don't usually have to do a lot of research. Anything I need to look up, I do so on the Internet.
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals? Sometimes I base my characters' goals and motivations on actual people and situations I've known; sometimes I draw them from things I read about in the news. It's amazing, the things that actually happen to people!
6. Tell us about your latest release. One Night in Memphis is a "twenty-four hour" romance that takes place over a single day and night. The hero and heroine meet up in the blues clubs of Beale Street, but she's trying to outrun a violent ex-boyfriend, and which means neither of them is safe. The reviewer from Literary Nymphs gave the book 5 Nymphs and commented, "Boniface conveys some real danger and tension in this fast-paced tale, but shows astonishing and realistic growth in her characters. This is an absorbing novel, nearly impossible to put down. It has coincidence, a car chase, corruption and cool piano music..."
7. What's on your backlist? Readers can check out my first twenty-four hour novel, One Night in Boston, about college sweethearts who meet up ten years after they broke up, or Lost in Paradise, a contemporary romance about a woman with the right name and the right connections who leaves entire her life behind and discovers a new life and love by moving to a place where no one knows who she is.
8. What are you working on now? I'm finishing up a third twenty-four hour novel, One Night in Napa, and also doing revisions on another contemporary novel, Summer's Song, about a woman who returns to her hometown after 10 years away and discovers not only a new love but old ghosts.
Thanks, Janet - this was fun!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Interview with Carly Phillips
I've known Carly for a long time and under another name. I've watched her career blossom and her talent grow from the very beginning. Here's her interview.
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?Always, always, characters come first. For me the characters must have life and personality before the plot can take shape. Who the heroine is, who the hero is, how their conflicts mesh together, all of this is of utmost importance. The plot is a means to carry the romance through the book as opposed to more suspense/mystery writers whose plot is central.
2. How do you create your characters?From my heart. Seriously, I have to feel the characters come alive inside me. For example I am working on Lucky Break right now and in the first seventy-five pages, I realized my heroine was flat. The character didn't jump off the page. The plot was there, the heroine's history, background, etc. After reading my critique partner, Janelle Denison's work, it finally dawned on me what MY heroine was missing - PERSONALITY. As a result, i had to go back to the drawing board and ask myself, who is she? How would someone who was raised by parents more concerned with humanitarian issues than their children, who had to clean up her younger sister's messes, who would SHE become? This taught me that you prepare all you want with a character - I gave her everything in her background, conflict, etc. as I always do, and yet it still wasn't enough. I am now in the process of going back to the drawing board and weaving my new heroine into those first 75 pages. That said, my basic process is the same: I sit down with my plotting group (there are four of us) and we tape our sessions, building character first, then plot, then story.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?I go with the flow. This inevitably leads me to have to go back to the beginning often, and weave things back in. Over the years, I've learned to plot more heavily with my plotting group (www.plotmonkeys.com), and plan ahead and then I let the characters tell the story. If I don't follow the plan exactly that's fine, but I write faster and easier with a road map of where to head next. Usually it's transitions that hang me up - how do I get from point A to point B. The easier things are sometimes the hardest!
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?Not enough and that's honest. I prefer to do my research over the Internet or by asking questions of people I already know. I'm not someone who goes deep into areas other than character, so it's easier for me. I do rely on Google. Google is my friend!
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?The goals are usually set by the characters personality first, and the plot second. If I don't have a heavy secondary storyline, the goals must drive the characters more heavily so there is meat to the story. It really depends.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
Three sexy heroes and a centuries old curse defines the series that's out now. I call it my "LUCKY" series, starting with LUCKY CHARM (out now); LUCKY BREAK 6/09 and LUCKY STREAK 10/09/. In between, SECRET FANTASY is being reissued in January 2009. All my books are listed on my website at www.carlyphillips.com.
7. What's on your backlist?Luckily for me, Harlequin has been releasing my backlist in January of each year, so most books are available. My backlist can be found here: http://www.carlyphillips.com/books.php and there is also a printable booklist link on this page. As I said, SECRET FANTASY is out in January 2009, which means my entire backlist as Carly Phillips will have been reissued at least once!
8. What are you working on now?LUCKY BREAK (10/09) which is giving me fits as I had to search for my heroine's personality, but hopefully it's been located and all will be well. Soon! Then it's on to planning a brand new series, and I'm blank at the moment, so I can't wait to see what I come up with!
1. For you, which comes first the characters or the plot?Always, always, characters come first. For me the characters must have life and personality before the plot can take shape. Who the heroine is, who the hero is, how their conflicts mesh together, all of this is of utmost importance. The plot is a means to carry the romance through the book as opposed to more suspense/mystery writers whose plot is central.
2. How do you create your characters?From my heart. Seriously, I have to feel the characters come alive inside me. For example I am working on Lucky Break right now and in the first seventy-five pages, I realized my heroine was flat. The character didn't jump off the page. The plot was there, the heroine's history, background, etc. After reading my critique partner, Janelle Denison's work, it finally dawned on me what MY heroine was missing - PERSONALITY. As a result, i had to go back to the drawing board and ask myself, who is she? How would someone who was raised by parents more concerned with humanitarian issues than their children, who had to clean up her younger sister's messes, who would SHE become? This taught me that you prepare all you want with a character - I gave her everything in her background, conflict, etc. as I always do, and yet it still wasn't enough. I am now in the process of going back to the drawing board and weaving my new heroine into those first 75 pages. That said, my basic process is the same: I sit down with my plotting group (there are four of us) and we tape our sessions, building character first, then plot, then story.
3. Do you plan ahead or go with the flow?I go with the flow. This inevitably leads me to have to go back to the beginning often, and weave things back in. Over the years, I've learned to plot more heavily with my plotting group (www.plotmonkeys.com), and plan ahead and then I let the characters tell the story. If I don't follow the plan exactly that's fine, but I write faster and easier with a road map of where to head next. Usually it's transitions that hang me up - how do I get from point A to point B. The easier things are sometimes the hardest!
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it?Not enough and that's honest. I prefer to do my research over the Internet or by asking questions of people I already know. I'm not someone who goes deep into areas other than character, so it's easier for me. I do rely on Google. Google is my friend!
5. How do you select goals and the reasons your characters what to accomplish these goals?The goals are usually set by the characters personality first, and the plot second. If I don't have a heavy secondary storyline, the goals must drive the characters more heavily so there is meat to the story. It really depends.
6. Tell us about your latest release.
Three sexy heroes and a centuries old curse defines the series that's out now. I call it my "LUCKY" series, starting with LUCKY CHARM (out now); LUCKY BREAK 6/09 and LUCKY STREAK 10/09/. In between, SECRET FANTASY is being reissued in January 2009. All my books are listed on my website at www.carlyphillips.com.
7. What's on your backlist?Luckily for me, Harlequin has been releasing my backlist in January of each year, so most books are available. My backlist can be found here: http://www.carlyphillips.com/books.php and there is also a printable booklist link on this page. As I said, SECRET FANTASY is out in January 2009, which means my entire backlist as Carly Phillips will have been reissued at least once!
8. What are you working on now?LUCKY BREAK (10/09) which is giving me fits as I had to search for my heroine's personality, but hopefully it's been located and all will be well. Soon! Then it's on to planning a brand new series, and I'm blank at the moment, so I can't wait to see what I come up with!
Interviews with former and current critique partners
Thanksgiving approaches and brings one thoughts of things they are thankful for. Among these are my former and current critique partners. In the next few days I'll be posting interviews with soem who have helped me on my way to publication and some who have gained from my help
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Interview with Marilyn Meredith
Today, a friend I met in Omaha at the first EPICON is on for an interview. I remember the great restaurant she and her husband took me to while I was waiting to go to the airport for my plane. I've seen her several times since then and read a few of her books. Enjoyed them.
. For you which comes first, the characters or the plot? Because I write two series, the main characters I already have. For my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, when I'm thinking about what I want to write about, first, I usually consider who is going to be a murder victim, why more than one person would like to see this person dead and that these people had the opportunity to do the deed. Of course this is all entwined with the plot.
2. How do you create your characters?
I being thinking what the character looks like, what he or she does, the kinds of things that motivate him or her, character traits--and of course I write that all down so I don't forget as the book progresses.
3. When writing do you plan or do you go with the flow? Really, kind of a combination of both. After I've figured out pretty much what I think the story is going to be about and who the other characters besides Tempe, Hutch and others who live in Bear Creek and Indians who've already appeared in the previous books, I usually start working on the computer. But as ideas pop into my head, I'll write notes down on paper so I don't forget. I also jot down clues and things I need to resolve as the story unfolds. I don't outline though, it might be easier if I did, but I've never worked with an outline.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it? How much research I do depends upon the book. I did quite a bit for Kindred Spirits because there was so much about the Tolowa people that I didn't know. When I'm writing about mystical Native American things, I do research quite a bit.
Of course I use the Internet a lot for research, but I also have a lot of Native American books that I consult. For Kindred Spirits, my primary source was a Tolowa woman who was also the inspiration for two characters in the book.
5. How do you select goals and reasons your characters want to accomplish these goals.
In Kindred Spirits, of course Tempe's goal is to find out who murdered the woman found in the aftermath of the forest fire. That's why she goes to both Crescent City and Santa Barbara. Another important goal was repairing her damaged relationship with her husband, Hutch.
6. What is your latest release? Tell us a bit about it.
Of course I've told you a few things about Kindred Spirits in the answers of the last questions.
There is a two year gap between Judgment Fire and Kindred Spirits. During that gap a casino was built on the Bear Creek Reservation--something Tempe was happy about because it changed the Indians lives but her husband fought against because of what gambling can do to people.
7. What's on your backlist? Kindred Spirits is the eighth novel in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, this is the order for the books:
Deadly Trail
Deadly Omen
Unequally Yoked
Intervention
Wingbeat
Calling the Dead
Judgment Fire
8. Do you write just one genre or do you do more than one? If so, what?
Right now I'm just writing mysteries, but I do have two series going. Besides the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series I also right the Rocky Bluff P.D. series. The latest is Smell of Death, the previous ones are Final Respects, Bad Tidings and Fringe Benefits. I have a new publisher for the one that is coming next, No Sanctuary.
9. What are you working on now? I'm finishing up the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. But I have to confess, that I have a lot of promotion going on for Kindred Spirits that's taking up a lot of my time.
Besides doing things on the Internet, I just returned from the WOW Writers Conference where I gave two workshops. I have something every weekend until the second week of December.
. For you which comes first, the characters or the plot? Because I write two series, the main characters I already have. For my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, when I'm thinking about what I want to write about, first, I usually consider who is going to be a murder victim, why more than one person would like to see this person dead and that these people had the opportunity to do the deed. Of course this is all entwined with the plot.
2. How do you create your characters?
I being thinking what the character looks like, what he or she does, the kinds of things that motivate him or her, character traits--and of course I write that all down so I don't forget as the book progresses.
3. When writing do you plan or do you go with the flow? Really, kind of a combination of both. After I've figured out pretty much what I think the story is going to be about and who the other characters besides Tempe, Hutch and others who live in Bear Creek and Indians who've already appeared in the previous books, I usually start working on the computer. But as ideas pop into my head, I'll write notes down on paper so I don't forget. I also jot down clues and things I need to resolve as the story unfolds. I don't outline though, it might be easier if I did, but I've never worked with an outline.
4. How much research do you do and how do you go about it? How much research I do depends upon the book. I did quite a bit for Kindred Spirits because there was so much about the Tolowa people that I didn't know. When I'm writing about mystical Native American things, I do research quite a bit.
Of course I use the Internet a lot for research, but I also have a lot of Native American books that I consult. For Kindred Spirits, my primary source was a Tolowa woman who was also the inspiration for two characters in the book.
5. How do you select goals and reasons your characters want to accomplish these goals.
In Kindred Spirits, of course Tempe's goal is to find out who murdered the woman found in the aftermath of the forest fire. That's why she goes to both Crescent City and Santa Barbara. Another important goal was repairing her damaged relationship with her husband, Hutch.
6. What is your latest release? Tell us a bit about it.
Of course I've told you a few things about Kindred Spirits in the answers of the last questions.
There is a two year gap between Judgment Fire and Kindred Spirits. During that gap a casino was built on the Bear Creek Reservation--something Tempe was happy about because it changed the Indians lives but her husband fought against because of what gambling can do to people.
7. What's on your backlist? Kindred Spirits is the eighth novel in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, this is the order for the books:
Deadly Trail
Deadly Omen
Unequally Yoked
Intervention
Wingbeat
Calling the Dead
Judgment Fire
8. Do you write just one genre or do you do more than one? If so, what?
Right now I'm just writing mysteries, but I do have two series going. Besides the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series I also right the Rocky Bluff P.D. series. The latest is Smell of Death, the previous ones are Final Respects, Bad Tidings and Fringe Benefits. I have a new publisher for the one that is coming next, No Sanctuary.
9. What are you working on now? I'm finishing up the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. But I have to confess, that I have a lot of promotion going on for Kindred Spirits that's taking up a lot of my time.
Besides doing things on the Internet, I just returned from the WOW Writers Conference where I gave two workshops. I have something every weekend until the second week of December.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
One of Jane Toombs' villains.
Jane and I have been friends for years and have even written a book together. Becoming Your Own Critique Partner. Glad to read about her villain.
This villain is from Let My Bones Rest, one of the stories in the NORTH OF NONESUCH ANTHOLOGY by Jane Toombs, out in November from Whiskey Creek Press.
Today we're interviewing a man who prefers to be called Number One Ghoul. Why is that, sir?
Ghoul: Not because I chose the name, you blockhead. I'm obviously as human as you. What I told you was that those two who seek to thwart me refer to me in that way.
Interviewer: You feel they misjudge you?
Ghoul: Those university types never understand those of us who are business men.
Interviewer: Business men?
Ghoul: Certainly. I know a demand when I spot one and so I find a way to become the supplier.
Interviewer: By using force to obtain your product?
Ghoul: Whatever it takes. Look, they weren't supposed to be there yet. It's their own fault for getting in my way. I don't allow anyone to keep me from what I want. Ever.
Interviewer: You sound like a dangerous man, sir.
Ghoul: In spades. I've wasted enough time with you. My helicopter's waiting to fly me back to the site.
Interviewer: Thank you for being--"
Ghoul: Knock it off. If coming here causes me to fail in this project, you can bet I'll be back. Uninvited. In spades.
This villain is from Let My Bones Rest, one of the stories in the NORTH OF NONESUCH ANTHOLOGY by Jane Toombs, out in November from Whiskey Creek Press.
Today we're interviewing a man who prefers to be called Number One Ghoul. Why is that, sir?
Ghoul: Not because I chose the name, you blockhead. I'm obviously as human as you. What I told you was that those two who seek to thwart me refer to me in that way.
Interviewer: You feel they misjudge you?
Ghoul: Those university types never understand those of us who are business men.
Interviewer: Business men?
Ghoul: Certainly. I know a demand when I spot one and so I find a way to become the supplier.
Interviewer: By using force to obtain your product?
Ghoul: Whatever it takes. Look, they weren't supposed to be there yet. It's their own fault for getting in my way. I don't allow anyone to keep me from what I want. Ever.
Interviewer: You sound like a dangerous man, sir.
Ghoul: In spades. I've wasted enough time with you. My helicopter's waiting to fly me back to the site.
Interviewer: Thank you for being--"
Ghoul: Knock it off. If coming here causes me to fail in this project, you can bet I'll be back. Uninvited. In spades.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Rowena Cherry here with another villain
An on-line friend gives us this villain.
http://tinyurl.com/Buy-KnightsForkhttp://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/productdetail.cfm?product_ID=2215&L1=2INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL by Rowena CherryDorchester Publishing - Online Bookstore for Romance, Horror and Western NovelsDorchester Publishing/ LoveSpell
1. What should I call you?
The god-Prince Django-Ra: To my face, Earthling, you should call me "Your Highness" or "Sir". Behind my back, I presume you will call me "Django" .... pronounced "Jan-GO"...
2. Tell me about yourself, Your Mightiness.The god-Prince Django-Ra:
My talents are many. I am exceptionally gifted and exceedingly dangerous. I can read or wipe minds with ridiculous ease. Consequently, I play god-level chess, and am one of the most formidable Duplicate Bridge players in all the galaxies. In my day, I was a superb star-fighter pilot with many kills to my credit... and to my discredit. Friendly fire is such a useful expression, isn't it?I am misunderstood. I daresay I have bad genes. I enjoyed a deeply disturbing childhood. My twin brother died in what you would call his crib. His cot. I had nothing to do with his demise. It would have done me no good to expedite his departure from this life. We had vigorous, older half-brothers who were first and second in line to the Imperial throne, and it was beyond my strength and powers to remove them from my path.Indeed, I was obliged to feign an interest in lesser-being members of my own sex in order to enjoy my big brothers' tolerance. As long as they thought me "peculiar", they did not see me as a threat to their male dominance. Eventually, as you see, I...ah... outlived them.
3. What do you want?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:I want to experience the Great Djinn mating frenzy known as the rut-rage. I want to fuck myself silly with the scent-love I never was in a position to claim. My muscular half-brothers had her, consecutively. I, alas, would have gladly stood in line but Djohn Kronos and Devoron-Vitan made war over her.By All the Lechers of Antiquity, I tried to experience the rut-rage with other Princesses and even my nephew's Empress, but met only with frustration. At first, I did not harm the females. One does not blatantly soil ones own nest. I beDjinned them, and took them by stealth. They survived, with no memory of my attentions. Although, my offspring might have been a reminder... It pleases me very much to think of the cuckoos (as I think you'd call them) that I have foisted on my unwitting half-brothers' heirs.
4. So you have a good reason for what you do. What is it?The god-Prince Django-Ra:Earthling, do you not understand what the rut-rage is? It is more than a drive and an obsession. It is a sexual madness. Pure Great Djinn males, such as myself, possess saturniid glands of such sensitivity that we can smell a full-Djinn female who is approaching oestrus from as many as fifty of your miles away. We then fixate upon that "scent love" sight unseen, and become obsessed with possessing and impregnating her.It is inconvenient to be thwarted. However, I have relatively few enemies left, so annoyances are few and far between.
5. Do you have a family and friends?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:Hah! No. I am something of a rogue. I hesitate to describe those with whom I associate (when convenient) as friends. They have their uses, but they seldom outlive their usefulness. I've been known to eliminate my bastards if they become embarrassing.
6. Why would you be called a villain?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:Is it possible that you have been so dazzled by my presence and alien Royal glamour that you did not comprehend what I have told you, my dear? Possibly, your mind is not worth the slight trouble of wiping! You may read my great nephew's love story, Forced Mate, and also Insufficient Mating Material for a less subtle view of my exploits.Hmmmm. I believe I smell blood not too many of your miles away. Someone is in pain. You will excuse me....-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/Buy-KnightsForkhttp://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/productdetail.cfm?product_ID=2215&L1=2INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL by Rowena CherryDorchester Publishing - Online Bookstore for Romance, Horror and Western NovelsDorchester Publishing/ LoveSpell
1. What should I call you?
The god-Prince Django-Ra: To my face, Earthling, you should call me "Your Highness" or "Sir". Behind my back, I presume you will call me "Django" .... pronounced "Jan-GO"...
2. Tell me about yourself, Your Mightiness.The god-Prince Django-Ra:
My talents are many. I am exceptionally gifted and exceedingly dangerous. I can read or wipe minds with ridiculous ease. Consequently, I play god-level chess, and am one of the most formidable Duplicate Bridge players in all the galaxies. In my day, I was a superb star-fighter pilot with many kills to my credit... and to my discredit. Friendly fire is such a useful expression, isn't it?I am misunderstood. I daresay I have bad genes. I enjoyed a deeply disturbing childhood. My twin brother died in what you would call his crib. His cot. I had nothing to do with his demise. It would have done me no good to expedite his departure from this life. We had vigorous, older half-brothers who were first and second in line to the Imperial throne, and it was beyond my strength and powers to remove them from my path.Indeed, I was obliged to feign an interest in lesser-being members of my own sex in order to enjoy my big brothers' tolerance. As long as they thought me "peculiar", they did not see me as a threat to their male dominance. Eventually, as you see, I...ah... outlived them.
3. What do you want?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:I want to experience the Great Djinn mating frenzy known as the rut-rage. I want to fuck myself silly with the scent-love I never was in a position to claim. My muscular half-brothers had her, consecutively. I, alas, would have gladly stood in line but Djohn Kronos and Devoron-Vitan made war over her.By All the Lechers of Antiquity, I tried to experience the rut-rage with other Princesses and even my nephew's Empress, but met only with frustration. At first, I did not harm the females. One does not blatantly soil ones own nest. I beDjinned them, and took them by stealth. They survived, with no memory of my attentions. Although, my offspring might have been a reminder... It pleases me very much to think of the cuckoos (as I think you'd call them) that I have foisted on my unwitting half-brothers' heirs.
4. So you have a good reason for what you do. What is it?The god-Prince Django-Ra:Earthling, do you not understand what the rut-rage is? It is more than a drive and an obsession. It is a sexual madness. Pure Great Djinn males, such as myself, possess saturniid glands of such sensitivity that we can smell a full-Djinn female who is approaching oestrus from as many as fifty of your miles away. We then fixate upon that "scent love" sight unseen, and become obsessed with possessing and impregnating her.It is inconvenient to be thwarted. However, I have relatively few enemies left, so annoyances are few and far between.
5. Do you have a family and friends?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:Hah! No. I am something of a rogue. I hesitate to describe those with whom I associate (when convenient) as friends. They have their uses, but they seldom outlive their usefulness. I've been known to eliminate my bastards if they become embarrassing.
6. Why would you be called a villain?
The god-Prince Django-Ra:Is it possible that you have been so dazzled by my presence and alien Royal glamour that you did not comprehend what I have told you, my dear? Possibly, your mind is not worth the slight trouble of wiping! You may read my great nephew's love story, Forced Mate, and also Insufficient Mating Material for a less subtle view of my exploits.Hmmmm. I believe I smell blood not too many of your miles away. Someone is in pain. You will excuse me....-----------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, September 22, 2008
Another villain
Today I'll be talking to the villain from The Henge Betrayed -- Flight published by Mundania.
Sir, what should I call you?
I am Dom Senet and would be called the ruler of all.
Tell me about yourself.
I am the master of the elements and am able to use Earth, Fire, Water and Air to control and rule lesser people. My affinity with the elements is strong. In fact I have never met anyone who has a stronger talent. I travel between Wesron, one of the princedoms where I am considered an advisor and the highlands where my allies abide.
Sir, what should I call you?
I am Dom Senet and would be called the ruler of all.
Tell me about yourself.
I am the master of the elements and am able to use Earth, Fire, Water and Air to control and rule lesser people. My affinity with the elements is strong. In fact I have never met anyone who has a stronger talent. I travel between Wesron, one of the princedoms where I am considered an advisor and the highlands where my allies abide.
What do you want?
"What do I want?" Laughter sounded. What all men of great power wants. To rule and to control others. I have seen the Henges destroyed and once I find the four halflings who have but one affinity each, I will train them to my purpose. I am seeking other halflings and have sound several who will do as I will.
Do you have a good reason for what you do?
Why should I worry about reasons? I do what I do because I can. There are those who believe the advice I give is helpful. They don't understand in the end the usefulness is to me.
Do you have family and friends?
Who needs friends. There are syncophants who gather around me but they are not friends. As to family, I once had a son and daughter, twins. The son is being trained in the highlands by one of my followers. The daughter has been lost but since her brother has a great affinity I am sure she has none.
Why do others call you a villain?
There are four children and their friends who think I am evil. One of them is the son of the prince of Wesron, but he has vanished and perhaps is dead. Anyone who wishes the power to rule can be called a villain by someone. I am no different.
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