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 Can you tell us a little about how
Addicted to Nick came to you? What arrived first - the characters, the situation or the setting?
I started with the opening situation -- heroine waking to find a stranger creeping around her stables and being prepared to defend both horses and property. This scenario also included her need to search said stranger and that added an extra something. But then my idea for the scene did include the characters , albeit in a rather undeveloped form. I knew she would be a sassy tomboy type and he a smooth city-slicker and that was my first broad sketch for heroine and hero. Now I think about it, I also had the setting. I knew this would be my "horse book" right from the start. In fact, for quite a while in its early untitled stage I referred to it as My Horse Book. So I guess my answer is really all three.
I found the racing stables setting intriguing. How were you able to write about this scene so knowledgeably?
That was the easy part. I grew up in a horsey family and married into one. My father, my husband and two brothers-in-law train harness horses. Of course I took liberties, this being fiction, but that made the story more fun. Sort of like creating an idealised little world from the reality. The harder part was limiting the horsey bits -- my original idea had Stella (the horse) taking a major secondary role but she turned out too charismatic and I had to ruthlessly cut back her on-page time.
Nick and TC are wonderfully sexy and layered characters with fascinating back stories and I know Nick was nominated for a Best Bad Boy award on the eHarlequin site. Where do you find inspiration for such appealing characters?
Thank you for the compliment, Barbara. It means a lot to me as I do spend a lot of time on characterisation. That's what matters to me when I read romance -- I want to read about whole, complex, well-motivated characters -- so I try to create the same in my stories. As for inspiration ... hmmm. Not from real life -- I don't base characters, for example, on either people I've met or celebrity types.
I usually start with a broad archetype. As I mentioned earlier, TC was always going to be this small spirited tomboy with issues about her desirability. I then asked myself what kind of man she would feel least at ease with, least able to trust her feelings for, and added another layer of motivation. Hence, Nick was always going to be a slick city type. Once TC and I got to know him we discovered a whole lot more going on behind that slick veneer, such as the not-so-smooth bad boy edges and, more importantly, his inner conflict. The fact he'd always been a lost soul without a sense of belonging.
You seem to have a special talent for writing beautiful love scenes. Do you have a particular approach to writing these?
Thinking about books I have loved, ones that have really blown me away, I know the importance of love scenes. At least to me. I guess that means I take great care in building them, in pacing (suspense is REALLY important), in use of the senses. I absolutely have to be in the right place, mentally, although I don't employ any outside "stimulants" like music or aromatherapy or candlelight or anything. Usually I read back over the leadup stuff, make sure I'm totally tuned in to the story, that I'm feeling what they're feeling ... and I go for it!
Re the leadup work: I believe a good love scene doesn't stand alone but results from the build-up, and not just what transpires immediately beforehand. I mean the culmination of all the sexual tension that has come before, the growth and change in the characters and how they view each other as well as themselves.
The Ducati motorbike adds great atmosphere. Have you ridden motorbikes? If not, how did you research them?
I did ride one back in college, if only for a short while -- my girlfriend loaned me hers one holidays and I loved riding it. Also had a friend with a BIG bike but my mother didn't much like me getting on the back of that beast, probably with good reason. It was a very sexy machine. So I didn't really research for this book, other than going to a shop and looking at the different bikes and walking around them, touching the leather, thinking about those old college days, I guess.
I know you have to balance writing with helping your husband on your farm and mothering your three sons. How do you manage all this?
With great difficulty. <g> I try to write during school hours and if I goof off and don't use that time wisely, I find it hard to make up the hours. School holidays it's also tough to keep to a schedule and the demands of the farm are more disruptive than time consuming. I like to get myself into a zone and write for hours and hours uninterrupted -- I'm not much good at grabbing little windows of opportunity. My muse needs to really settle in and get comfortable. All that said, my husband is very supportive and I don't do nearly as much farmwise as I used to.
What do you like most about (a) writing and (b) writing for Silhouette Desire?
(a) Going to work in the wonderful world of the imagination where you can make anything you want come true, especially happy endings. It's also a great workplace with no dress standards, and I have made the most wonderful friends through romance writing. Truly wonderful friends.
(b) I can write the stories I want to write, ones that come naturally to me -- character-driven, relationship-focused, sexy but with a deep emotional base -- and I also like that Desire is widely distributed and read. I want readers to read my stories -- that's the reward for all the hard work. Plus I have a wonderful editor who doesn't want to change my voice, whose every suggestion improves my stories, and who allows me to work at a pace I'm comfortable with.
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Addicted
to Nick