1.
Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating
tales in many forms? Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices?
Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?
I
prefer historical to everything else, although I’ve tried my hand at S/F a few
times. Something to do with Time, I guess—one way or the other. I’ve never
tried to plot a murder story or a police procedural, but probably because I’ve
never done the research homework necessary. The “semi-biographical” is my favorite
form of historical, because the plot is already constructed for you. That form
also has burdens, too. Chief among them is that you really, really must immerse in your subject’s life. That
means mentally swallowing a mountain of research followed by a long digestion
period in which you assemble the character from all the bits you’ve collected.
2.
Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? Does one of these
come easy and why?
Heroines,
hands down! Once again for me, the easy way—write what you know. I’m female,
and that’s my experience of life. Strong women fascinate me as our sex has
always been swimming against the societal tide. It’s still, in so many ways, a
man’s world, and to be rewarded as a woman, just like the old saw, you must be
“twice as smart and twice as fast” as the men against whom you compete. Not that I’m one of these superwomen. My bold
and brave heroines, I’ve begun to suspect, are a form of wish-fulfillment.
3.
Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination
create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or
after you have the idea for the story?
Heroes
can be a pain sometimes, especially when writing romantic fiction. To some
extent, these are dream guys, so they aren’t allowed to have a lot of faults.
Pardon me, but they can’t fart in bed, like real men sometimes do. I have taken
up the practice of studying pictures, although contemporary fashions in “good
looks” aren’t the same as those in the past, so the reader and I sometimes have
a conflict of interest there. I’m currently writing a fantasy historical,
however, in which the hero is the chief narrator, so there’s an exception to
every rule. This charming guy, BTW, ‘came first,’ long before the plot, so in a
very real sense, he’s the center of this story.
4.
Heroines. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or imagination create
the woman you want the reader to root for? Do they appear before the plot or
after you have the idea for the story?
In
romantic fiction, I often use pictures (and astrology) to build a heroine and
to instantly give her a shape. When I wrote Roan Rose, a medieval historical set in the now mega-popular
English Wars of Roses period, I decided that instead of using the obvious
narrator, one of the doomed royal principals, I’d use a fictional woman. She
would be a ‘body servant’ who would naturally be—not a social equal, but,
nevertheless, an intimate. Rose, an insider, could relate a “downstairs” view
of events. She appeared with freckles, so many freckles that when she
displeases her masters, they call her names like “spotted cow.” She’s
definitely a girl with attitude.
5. Villains or villainesses or an
antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be
a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you
choose one? How do you make them human?
It’s
a tough job, making the bad guy a little more than a cardboard cut-out,
particularly, again, in romantic fiction, which has certain conventions a
writer must follow. I’d prefer to write stories in which people just are
people, with good and bad mixed together, the kind who make enough messes just
by themselves without some deadly exterior antagonist to cause trouble and plot
twists. It’s helpful, though, to imagine a villain as someone who practices one
of the seven deadly sins. That’s ‘human’ as all get-out! In a romance, first
choices are lust, envy and greed, with drunkenness, avarice and hubris running close
behind.
6.
What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?
Black Magic should be released in
October. It’s a sequel to a book I never originally imagined would have one.
The first, Red Magic, is
historical/romance with fantasy elements, but the second book is more ‘creature-feature’
with a shape-shifting hero and villainous vampire with a long memory and a
grudge. The love interest never really jelled, so perhaps, with the addition of
sufficient Marvel-type bone-crunching and wrong-righting, this one treads closer
to fantasy. The hero is one of a pair of noble twins born at the end of Red Magic. Handsome, disillusioned
Goran von Hagen returns to a family
estate after a decade of Napoleonic Warring to embark upon the life of an
ordinary country gentleman. This definitely does not happen.
7. What are you working on now?
What next? Another Magic character has already begun talking to me, as well as another
of Sophie’s German sisters for a sequel to the Pennsylvania set Hand-me-Down Bride. I have an immense
semi-biographical ‘drawer baby’ (as they were once called) about Alexander
Hamilton and his wife, which I must polish. Note to self: Must, per Nora Roberts, get “fanny in chair.”
Thanks so much to Janet Walters, for such a
kind invitation to blog on her excellent site!
8.
How can people find you?
Twitter (Haven’t yet made it into the 21st
Century.)
5 comments:
Thanks for the opportunity to post with you, Janet--it's always interesting to answer interview questions and suddenly clarify more of one's own process.
:)
Juliet, So glad to have you here. Am waiting for the Black Magic story. Really enjoyed Red Magic and the Mozart based books. Your others, too
Fascinating interview! Love how you create your heroes and heroines.
I, too, enjoyed Red Magic, so I'll look forward to Black Magic's release in the near future. A thoroughly interesting blog post, Juliet!
Very interesting to learn how you organise your writing Juliet. Good luck with your new books.
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