Radio Interview: Brenna Lyons and Lyn Armstrong/Print Interview: Nancy Madore and Joanna Waugh
Radio Interview: Brenna Lyons and Lyn Armstrong/Print Interview: Nancy Madore and Joanna Waugh
Interview: Nov 14, 2008
The idea that nature should be preserved is important to us here at All Romance eBooks. It's a core value and one of the reasons that we adore eBooks. We care about our carbon footprint, the world we live in, and the world that we're leaving to future generations. When we decided to create a gift calendar to entice some charitable giving this holiday season, it seemed a natural choice (no pun intended) to feature celebrating the beauty of men to preserve the beauty of nature.
Don't miss this weeks podcasts from What's Hot in Romance. The Featured guests are authors Brenna Lyons and Lyn Armstrong. Be sure to tune in every Monday night for the live broadcast from 9:30 - 10:30 pm est at Blog Talk Radio
That's right, What's Hot In Romance internet radio show is on Blog Talk Radio, where our host Cat Johnson has a full schedule of not to be missed romance authors in every genre. So please tune in tohttp://www.blogtalkradio.com/whats-hot-in-romance at 9:30 pm est.
Wildfire would like to welcome authors Nancy Madore and Joanna Waugh.
Nancy Madore
Julie: When a new book comes out, are you nervous about how readers will react to it?
Nancy:Yes, very much so. I'm one of those authors who puts a little of herself in each book and that makes it personal. Plus, I'm a people pleaser, so I naturally want everyone buying my books to enjoy them. I try hard to incorporate more than just entertainment in the stories, and I get excited when readers pick up on this. However, I've long since come to terms with the reality that you can't please everybody, especially in this genre. Different things appeal to different people and that's the way it is.
Julie: How long have you been writing? What inspired you to pick the pen up one day and create characters that capture the imagination?
Nancy:Believe it or not, my background is in sales and marketing. I only started writing about six or seven years ago. I spent the better part of my life reading everything I could get my hands on. I really prefer reading to anything else.But I think if you read a lot you naturally want to write.Reading opens the mind and enhances thought. I was reading everything from children's books to classic literature to modern pulp fiction. My head was swimming with ideas and I just had to write or I think my brain might have exploded.When I finally began to write, I was bursting with ideas, but I was all over the place. I had to really sit back and plan how I was going to get it all out. This is when my marketing background kicked in. I started doing organized research on women, sexuality, etc., in an effort to write something a little different, and my research worked really well with all the things I wanted to write about."Female friendly erotica" was born.
Julie: What makes your characters so vulnerable yet strong? Can you describe them to us? What do you do when characters stop talking to you when writing?
Nancy:My characters are a strange mix of reality and optimism.There is an almost cynical realism to them, yet I think there is hope, too.But I like to look at people as they are.When it came to writing sexual fantasies, for example, I began with the belief that I would be writing about strong women who were wielding whips and chains (I used to be a pretty militant feminist). Imagine my surprise when I learned through my research that women more often prefer the submissive roles in their fantasies.This produced a kind of paradox that brought up interesting questions. How can a woman be strong or empowered if she's on her hands and knees, so to speak?But in the end, I always opt to make my characters realistic, because I've come to realize that the first step to empowerment is acceptance.
Julie: What about the heroines for these determined heroes? What makes them strong enough capture the heroes heart?
Nancy:In my stories, the women aren't always that strong and, actually, they don't have to be anything.In Enchanted, for example, there isn't a single physical description of any female character in the book!I did this on purpose because, in fantasy, I believe women would prefer to imagine themselves in the heroine's role.After all, the book is based on their fantasies.If you read that book carefully, you'll notice that it's all about what is happening to the character, not what she has to be or do to be worthy of it.In The Twelve Dancing Princesses, I took this one step further by actually creating female characters with problems and issues. You might even say their problems are the characters (for example, Princess Conscia is self-conscious during sex). And yet, they are lovable and loved and deserving of every bit of it.In my latest, Enchanted Again, I have taken some of the very worst, neediest, self destructive habits of women and molded their characters out of that!But you see, I love women for who they are, and I enjoy presenting them with all of their characteristics, good and bad, instead of building a perfect stereotype of the kind of woman I feel might achieve love.This is romance and erotica. It's hard enough to find in real life; in fantasy it should be available to everyone!
Julie: What do you feel is the most important thing that first-time authors should know?
Nancy:You're going to get rejected.Again and again, and then again.We all did.Remember that and keep on trying.
Julie: What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?
Nancy:This is when the real anal retentive part of me comes out.I won't write an email without an outline.I have to have every single detail mapped out or I can't write. And you know, if I were going to teach a writing class I would recommend everyone work with outlines, although I do acknowledge that there are some unbelievably good authors out there who don't. But I think they have a special talent that most of us don't have. There are a lot of novels out there where you get the distinct impression as you read them that there was no planning. I get especially annoyed when a mystery writer will have the killer point a gun at the hero or heroine and explain why he or she is killing them!That's just plain poor planning and it's insulting to the reader. In a mystery especially, the realization of what happened and why should hit the reader a few seconds before the killer pulls the gun. And that takes planning.
Julie: What genre do you want to try your hand at but haven't?
Nancy:It would be easier for me to answer what genre I don't want to try!There are so many things I want to write about. I am actually afraid of getting locked into any genre.Ultimately, I could see myself content with romance novels with a little mystery thrown in if I had to stay with just one.
Julie: What do you hope for your writing career in the next few years? Any goals that you have yet to obtain that you have set for yourself?
Nancy: Yes, I would like to become more proficient at writing. I would like to pick up one of my books after the fact and not want to write it over.
Julie: Most people envision an author's life as being really glamorous. What's the most unglamorous thing that you've done in the past week?
Nancy: Actually, my life really is pretty cool! I sit around at night with the best guy in the world, hashing out ideas about the stories while he sips on a martini and I have a few cape-coders.He's even become a character in one of my stories in the book I'm writing now. Literally, it's the story of an online love affair and he's going back and forth with me online as if he really was this guy. The stuff he's writing is fantastic. I could never write it as well. The downside to writing, if there is one, is I do get a little writer's block as a deadline draws near (which it has at the moment), and that takes a lot of the pleasure out of writing for me.
Julie:What books are currently on your nightstand?
Nancy: Three books are sitting on my nightstand right this minute:Lady Chatterley's Lover, These English Words and the Best of Edgar Allen Poe.No, I'm not kidding.Whenever I get writer's block I pull out a few of the old classics and a book about words and it really helps.
Julie:Describe the space where you write.
Nancy: For the last five years I have written from inside my little women's shoe boutique.We are going out of business now, and I have to admit I'm a little worried about what I'll do when it closes.It's been kind of easy to sit and write when the store is slow.It'll be harder when I actually have to set time aside.
Julie: Do you prefer writing series books over non series or does it matter?
Nancy: I've never tried series yet but I get the feeling I would get bored. I get bored so easily. Even with the short story collections I had to try something different with each new book, first doing the fantasies, then moving into sexual dysfunctions and relationships.Now I'm working on paranormal stories for this fourth one.On the other hand, I could see where, in a novel format, an author might get attached to the characters to the point where they would want to do a series.I guess I won't know until I try it.
Nancy Madore lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts where she divides her time between writing erotic romance and selling women's shoes.
Julie: How long have you been writing? What inspired you to pick the pen up one day and create characters that capture the imagination?
Joanna: As a child I was asthmatic so I spent a lot of time indoors, alone.Reading became a way for me to travel beyond the four walls of my bedroom.Writing my own stories was a natural outgrowth of this isolation.I wrote my first story about a mouse family living in a tree stump.I even did the illustrations!There has never been a time in my life when I wasn't writing.
Julie: What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?
Joanna: I'm a control freak so naturally I'm a plotter.I have to know the entire story before I even begin.I write linearly; I can't hop around.And every chapter has to be editor-ready before I can move on to the next one.
Julie: What influenced you to get published? How long did it take for your first book to be published?
Joanna: It's difficult to explain the compulsion we authors feel to put our work in the hands of others.I suppose it's the same sensation a chef gets when someone takes a bite of their food and rolls their eyes with pleasure.It's deep and it's visceral, this satisfaction derived from pleasing readers.
I was published in nonfiction prior to Blind Fortune so a little of that neediness was blunted.The day I got the contract offer from Cerridwen Press, however, ranks high on my list of best days in my life.But it took five years to get to there.
Julie: What do you feel is the most important thing that a first-time author should know?
Joanna: It's okay to follow the trends, but write what's in your heart.I've watched so many authors bounce around genres trying to find the magic bullet until they were so discouraged they just gave up.My advice is to write to please yourself as a reader first.
Julie: Do you ever experience writer's block? If you do, how do you cope with it?
Joanna: When I get stuck, I turn to my favorite Regency authors.I have an extensive paperback library I'm adding to all the time.Reading other Regency authors reenergizes me the same way a get together with my crit group does.While I'm reading, my subconscious is working on my story.Before long, the solution to my current problem pops forward, resolved.
Julie: Who are your favorite authors to read?
Joanna: There are so many!I will say Mary Balogh's Silent Melody was the impetus behind Blind Fortune.Her heroine—Lady Emily—is a deaf mute.I found it fascinating the way she wrote Emmy's point of view without auditory cues.I decided to try my hand at writing a blind heroine without visual cues.
Blind Fortune is based on my personal experiences with my late husband who lost his sight to diabetes. Ninety-three percent of human communication is non-verbal so my husband often misinterpreted things people said. It's that kind of misunderstanding that lies at the heart of Lady Fortuna's and Charles Lowden's relationship in Blind Fortune.
Julie: What did you do before you became a writer?
Joanna: LOL. I've written all my life so there's never been a life before writing.But I supported my family as an electric meter installer, working for the local gas/electric utility.I was the first woman to qualify as a journeyman in the company.
Julie:If you weren't writing Regency romance, what would you write?
Joanna: I'm a history buff and always have been.I enjoy researching for a new book almost as much as writing it!Anyone who has visited my website can testify to that.Next to the Regency, I find the Edwardian period most fascinating.The early 1900's were a time of transition similar to what we are experiencing right now.Technology was advancing rapidly, yet the social structure hadn't changed much in a hundred years.Women were starting to demand that men no longer treat them like children or objects.
Julie: What makes your characters so vulnerable yet strong?
Joanna: Charles Lowden in Blind Fortune is modeled after my late husband.In fact, all my heroes are!From Gary I learned to take risks.Whenever I wanted to take the safe road, his mantra was, "you can do anything you put your mind to."
He lost his sight to diabetes early in our marriage, yet never let it hold him back.And he worked hard to makes others feel comfortable with his blindness.The best way to describe Gary is to say he possessed an abundance of kindness and grace—very old fashioned traits.I've incorporated those vital aspects of him into every hero I write.
Julie: What's next for you?
Joanna: I'm currently working on a paranormal Regency set in 1816 in the borderlands between England and Scotland.The hero accidentally sets free the 6th century spirit of a pagan king from a well.The spirit follows him home and starts wreaking havoc with the heroine.
Joanna Waugh lives near the Indiana Dunes on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.When not writing, she collects Russian nesting dolls and antique nautical prints.She's the former president of Northwest Indiana Chapter 89 RWA and is represented by the Roberta Brown Literary Agency.Blind Fortune is her first published book.
Listen to our interview with Brenna Lyons and Lyn Armstrong
