Make-Believe Mondays With Jan Conwell

Today on Make-believe Mondays I'm happy to introduce Jan Conwell, my friend from RWAonline. Jan and I share a love of the medieval through our involvement in the SCA, a group which recreates the middle ages. Jan writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense and has her first book coming out soon.

Jan, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Jan: I just finished a romantic suspense, (possibly the first in a series of three) called Tequila Mockingbird. But this month (drumroll? Pretty please?) my first book, a contemporary romance called Lucky Break, comes out with Triskelion Publishing, first in electronic format and then in print through Amazon. It’s about a flighty neo-hippy who ends up with a job teaching Aircraft Fuel Systems for the Air Force (it can happen, I promise) and the poor sap who gets stuck trying to train her.

Debra: Excellent news Jan. And worthy of more than just a drum roll.

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Jan: Yes, but since I’ve only completed two books so far, I don’t have much experience with this. With Tequila Mockingbird, I discovered about halfway in that my heroine was very much like Janeane Garofalo—short, dark, dumpy in a tall blonde skinny world, and highly pissed about it. It took her a long time to let herself believe Gabe could love her just the way she was.

Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Jan: LOL! Yes. One of my favorite authors is Tom Robbins. He writes with this insane sort of excess, like an artist who just throws tons of bright paint on the canvas, but he does it with a voice that is identifiable to anyone who’s ever read him. I tried to imitate that reckless excess in a scene in Lucky Break. Everyone who read it said “Um, this bit…it’s just too…much.” So it’s true what they say: you must kill your darlings. I had to cut that part out. But one of these days, I’m going to try it again, on a short story, something…because it’s like learning a new art medium.

Debra: Experimenting like this is a great way to grow as an author. I like the idea of feeling free enough in your craft to throw the words out like paint on a canvas then stepping back to see what you have.

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Jan: Without doubt, Dr. Seuss. The way he could be silly and serious at the same time, not to mention the fun drawings of bizarre plants and creatures, loved that. It was like having permission to be ridiculous.

Debra: Yes, I loved Dr. Seuss also! And when I started reading his books to my children, I discovered he also wrote for adults. He was a genius who really knew how to play with language.

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Jan: I want to write fantasy one of these days—I know that’s a category, but it’s one I haven’t given myself permission to dabble in very deeply yet. First, and for a while after this, I’ll stick with contemporary romance, maybe with some paranormal or suspense. Reader expectation, branding, editor preference, call it what you will. But I have this medieval fantasy brewing, and it will not let me go. I call it Woldryn’s Star, and I’m in love with the characters. Someday, even if I have to use a pen name, I’m going to write this.

Debra: With your love of the medieval and the experience you've had playing at SCA events I'm sure you could bring a story like that to life! Sadly it is true that authors have to stick with one category for a while to meet reader expectation. I sometimes wonder if an author is prolific and writes many different things, how many names that author could write under.

Thank you Jan, for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Jan: Glad to be here. One of these days, readers, look for Debra Parmley’s interview on Starfish and Coffee: she's headed for big things!

You can visit Jan at www.janconwell.com or her blog, Starfish and Coffee at http://jbdconwell.livejournal.com where she interviews industry professionals.

Make-Believe Mondays With Claire Delacroix

Today on Make-believe Mondays I'm pleased to introduce Claire Delacroix my friend from RWAonline. Claire writes historical medieval romance as Claire Delacroix and she also writes contemporary romance under the name Claire Cross.

Claire, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Claire: Right now, I'm writing ALL OR NOTHING, the fourth and final book in the Coxwell siblings series, a Claire Cross contemporary romance for Berkley Sensation.
(The earlier titles were THIRD TIME LUCKY, starring Philippa Coxwell;
DOUBLE TROUBLE, James Coxwell's story; and ONE MORE TIME, Matt Coxwell's book, which will be out in October.) The hero is Zach Coxwell, the youngest son and resident troublemaker. He's funny, which makes him entertaining to write about, even if he is a bit of a challenge. (Unpredictable, impulsive, reliant upon his considerable charm - you know the type.) The heroine, Jennifer, thinks he's a rich kid who doesn't take anything seriously, but is enchanted by him all the same - mostly because he keeps surprising her. I'm enjoying it: the two strike sparks off each other every time I put them together and they push each other, which I like a lot.

Debra: This sounds like a fun read. I can't wait!

Mark Twain said, “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” How do you fill your creative well to keep your imagination in focus?

Claire: It sounds as if you have also read Julia Cameron's THE ARTISTS' WAY - I think the well metaphor is hers. She has a lot of good advice, mostly about being kind to your inner artist so that you can continue to create. I've found her book to be very useful and still do my morning pages.

Debra: Yes, it may be one of hers. Actually you were the one who recommended it to me about a year ago. Thank you Claire. I found it to be very uplifting. Its the kind of book I can return to and always get something more out of it.

Claire: It's important to remember that writing books is not the same as producing widgets - it requires more energy and more mental stimulation. So, over the years, I've gotten better at being kind to myself and have struck a balance: I work a limited number of hours per day and deliberately spend time doing things that I know my inner artist likes - mostly pursuing color. I go to art galleries and museums, visit gardens, prowl through knitting wool and quilting stores. I knit and quilt and garden myself, all of which are activities with a repetitive routine. This kind of repetition lets stories take shape in my mind while I'm not paying attention - much like dreaming. My subconscious gets bored and wanders off to find something else to do.

Like fix my plot. Bingo! I'll be up to my knees in uprooted periwinkle and suddenly know exactly what comes next. It's like magic.

Debra: I can just picture you in your garden amid the periwinkle, daydreaming a new story.

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Claire: Sometime in the first 100 pages of a manuscript, I'll start to hear the characters talking. This is usually when they seize the plot and run in a different direction than the one I'd anticipated.

Debra: Oh, don't you just love it when that happens?

Claire: I tend to think of my imagination as a rental apartment: with each new book, I choose the new tenants, then give them time to settle in and arrange their things. When they start talking to each other, I start eavesdropping, like a nosy landlady, and that's when the book comes to life. They get evicted when the book is done, but not all of them depart quietly. Those ones come back for cameo appearances in subsequent books.

Or they just haunt me, as Darg and Isabella are doing now. Too bad the fairy Darg doesn't know enough about sex (or anything, really) to satisfy Isabella's curiosity. Then they could solve everything without me.

Debra: Darg is such a fun and unpredictable character. She would likely solve things in a very unexpected way!

Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Claire: Well, I've made up fictional locations for my historicals, but probably everybody does that. They're usually modelled on a real location that I've researched, then modified to suit my nefarious purposes!

I've also just finished the first book in a mystery series set in the future, and that was an interesting challenge with language. In this fictional world, there was technology that we don't have (yet) which needed to be named. I didn't want there to be a language barrier, so I nudged words that already exist toward new meanings. I think that people are more likely to adapt existing words to name new technology and ideas, at least colloquially. That makes my fictional world both familiar and not, which was a lot of fun.

Debra: Fascinating. I like the idea of finding new meanings for words we already know. So you're trying something quite new!

Claire: (Keep your fingers crossed for Lilia's story, please - it's in New York, even as we speak.)

Debra: Oh yes, I'll cross fingers and toes.

For some writers, dreams play a role in creating fiction. Has this been true for you? Have you ever dreamed a scene or an image that later wound up in one of your books?

Claire: Actually, I use dreaming as a writing technique. I tend to paint my characters into corners (metaphorically speaking) and whenever I can't figure out the answer, I try to dream it. This isn't as nutty as it sounds - the subconscious is really good at solving problems. Before going to sleep, I focus on the issue in the book and review all the facets of it that I can recall. It's quite common that I awaken in the morning with the answer in my head, either the dialogue of the new scene running or a dream still in my mind's eye providing the answer. I've seen other authors give credit to this technique, too, which is reassuring as it sounds a bit crazy.

Debra: I've always suspected dreams play a larger role in the creation of fiction than most people realize. It's definitely something to try.

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Claire: Well, some people might argue that I don't think enough about the market! I tend to follow my characters and my muse, and don't worry about marketing when I'm excited about a story. When I do think a lot about the romance market, I come to different conclusions about it than everyone else. For example, I believe that the genre has suffered in the last decade from too much determination - on the part of both editors and writers - to make books "safe". There's a uniformity in the genre that wasn't there even ten years ago, and especially not twenty years ago. And I think that this insistence upon alpha heroes and feisty heroines, for example, on protagonists that are always sympathetic has disappointed a number of readers. Do all historicals have to be set in Scotland? Why can't we have a real character arc, and show a protagonist being changed by the power of love? Readers who savor diversity and unpredictability in their fiction - according to my theory, at least - have left the romance section, which is why romance genre sales are dropping.

Debra: Claire, it is so good to hear you say this. I think writers need to hear this and they need to be willing to be a bit more daring with their fiction so that we have more diversity and more choices as readers.

Claire: For this reason and for the creative challenge, I decided about five years ago to write romances that pushed the boundaries of expectations. I thought, actually, that the romance market was ready for some fresh thinking. For Claire Delacroix these included:


• THE ROGUE, an historical romance written in first person from the heroine's point of view in which she's uncertain of the hero's motives, like those Gothics we used to love;


• THE SCOUNDREL, an historical romance written in first person, half of the book from the hero's point of view and half from the heroine's, in which the hero who is the eponymous scoundrel is reformed by love;

• THE WARRIOR, an historical romance with a reincarnation element to the story, in which the heroine has dreams, the hero has visions of their past together and they both think they're losing their jellybeans.

Claire Cross, of course, has the Coxwell family series, which also defy conventions of the romance genre with their ChickLit tone and exploration of taboos.


• ONE MORE TIME (October 2006) is about a married couple, Matt and Leslie, who split up at the beginning of the book. Even worse, Matt goes to stay with an old girlfriend, but Leslie still wants to save their marriage.

• In ALL OR NOTHING, Zach has a history of encounters with law enforcement officials. Does that mean he can't grow up and become an adult, fall in love and make something of himself? I think that loving Jen can prompt him to do so, and I'm going to prove it!

These books are about real characters, not about fantasized archetypes, and I think that makes them more compelling and more interesting. All of these stories are about love redeeming characters, which is the fundamental premise of a romance but one that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. If we believe that love can and does conquer all, shouldn't we as writers give love a real challenge? It's not much of a triumph if love only conquers a misunderstanding!

Debra: Yes!

Claire: I believe that love really does reshape lives and I want to show its power at work in my books. I want to give it something to fix - because really, I'm only going to believe that the protagonists of a romance have built a relationship that can go the distance if I get to watch them face a very serious challenge.

• For example, Jen, the heroine in ALL OR NOTHING, is a breast cancer survivor. You will guess, then, that the root of her fear is that Zach will only hang around for the good times and that if she has a recurrence, he'll bail (like her last boyfriend did). So, guess what happens near the end of the book? Zach has to face that test, that twist has to happen, so that Jen and all of us know that he's the hero for her. It's not a lot of fun to put your characters through the wringer, but I need to know (and all readers need to know) that Jen and Zach really will be happy ever after.

I've never thought these books were that risky - and still don't - in fact, I think they're necessary. Writers are the creative party in the publishing triumvirate (agent, editor, author) and it's our responsibility to find new stories to tell and new ways of telling them.

Debra: Yes!

Claire: I do know that these have been the most satisfying books creatively that I've ever written: they challenged me and are my best work to date. Isn't that why we're writers in the first place? To tell our stories in the most compelling way possible? That's certainly why I signed up for this dream job. Otherwise, we might as well all be delivering pizza.

Debra: It is a dream job, isn't it? Claire, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.

Claire: Thanks for inviting me, Debra. It's been fun.

Debra: I'm so glad!

You can visit Claire at http://www.delacroix.net

Make-Believe Mondays With Lori Devoti

Today on Make-believe Mondays I'm pleased to introduce Lori Devoti, one of my friends from RWAonline. Lori writes romantic comedy set in the Missouri Ozarks. If you enjoy comedy, you'll enjoy her latest book, Love is All Around.

Lori, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Lori: Well, I just finished a proposal for a dark paranormal totally different than either of my published books. I also have proposals out for a paranormal mom lit, a hen lit, and a couple romantic comedies. I’m researching a paranormal female adventure type story now.

Debra: Wow! you have been busy.

Mark Twain said, “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” How do you fill your creative well to keep your imagination in focus?

Lori: A friend told me a shoot out ideas like gumballs out of a vending machine. I thought that was funny. And while I prefer it to struggling for ideas, it can be difficult to. You can begin to feel a tad haunted. Usually though, one idea somehow manages to bubble to the top.

Debra: Gumballs out of a vending machine. That's a good one.

Lori: I also have a book I keep working on in downtime. Meaning when I don’t have another driving idea. I go back to it to refill I guess. It’s nice to have something I feel I can just take my time with and enjoy writing or researching. I am very deadline driven so that is a real weakness of mine—feeling I need to be pounding something out all the time.

Is there a point when your characters begin to come alive and you can see and hear them?

Lori: My characters are always alive. What I do find sometimes though is that there are aspects that aren’t as focused as others, especially if it is a growth area for that character. For example in my dark paranormal, my heroine is a strong person, but doesn’t see herself that way. Thus the book starts with her seeing herself weak but will end with her being much stronger. It took a few passes to get that figured out in the beginning chapters.

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Lori: I had a ton of favorite writers/books. I loved Zane Grey, the Anne of Green Gables series, Alexander Dumas, Black Like Me, and A Little Princess. I think I read A Little Princess twenty times. I still remember where it was shelved in our library. The same goes for the Zane Grey books—I went back over and over to get new ones, ordered them direct from the publisher and read old ones my mother had. LOVED them!

Debra: That's the true test of which stories children love. When they return to them again and again.

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Lori: Books with strong women, that could be funny, but didn’t have to be. So a mix of serious and funny—but definitely strong female characters, and maybe a pet. I have a weakness for pets. ;-)

Debra: Yes, your pet pig toadstool comes to mind. (Readers can see a picture of Lori with her pet pig by visiting her website at www.LoriDevoti.com) She also had a duck named Spud and a pony named Wishbone.

Lori, thanks for visiting here on Make-believe Mondays.