Interview

Hi Emily and Welcome!  Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to interview you for Romance Junkies.

First, can you let us know what projects you are currently working on?

 

Thanks for having me here, Mammakim!

 

I just turned in the manuscript for my upcoming novella (A CHRISTMAS BALL, due out Sept. 29^th!) so I’m out of contract at the moment. My novella is called MY LADY BELOW STAIRS and was such fun to write. I just posted an excerpt at http://www.emilybryan.com/A%20Christmas%20Ball.htmalong with the totally gorgeous cover! The cover is double embossed and the gold and red so rich looking. The jpg doesn’t do it justice.

 

I’m at that delicate time right now, when I’m percolating some new ideas. Last weekend I attended the New England Chapter RWA’s annual Conference Let your Imagination Take Flight and my editor, Leah Hultenschmidt of Dorchester was one of the industry professionals invited to attend. Leah and I put our heads together then to decide what’s next. She’d asked me to have 3 possible premises for the next book and I pitched 4 to her. In the end, she let me choose, so she must have enjoyed them all. The final details of the contract have yet to be worked out, but it looks like my next book will be available in April/May of 2010.

 

Which means I need to get busy writing it!

 

How do you fit writing into your schedule? What does your workspace look like?

 

Since I write full-time now (thank you, God!) my schedule revolves around my writing instead of the other way around. But when I was working 40 hours a week, I primed my writing pump by jotting a few paragraphs in the car before work while I waited for my partner to come open the bank with me (Yes, I was a dreaded banker. My DH says I enslaved people to debt by day and lust by night!). Then after supper, I wrote 2 pages every week day. On Saturday, I’d plow ahead 10 pages and on Sunday, I’d add another 5. In this way, I could finish a 100K word manuscript in 4 months. Of course, I had to add a month to either end for research and polishing so that amounts to 2 finished manuscripts a year. My production is up from there now.

 

We live in a rather small condo now (I cheer that fact when it’s time to clean!) but that means I don’t have a whole room dedicated to my writing. My workspace consists of a recliner, laptop, some apartment-sized bookshelves and a desk for my printer and scanner and storage—all tucked neatly into a corner of our bedroom. It’s a bit snug, but on the plus side, I have a lovely view of the Mystic River from my writing chair.

 

Do you do a lot of research for your stories? What is the most interesting thing you have learned?

 

Tons of research. Constant research. As I write, I research. But that’s part of the fun!

 

It would be hard to pinpoint the single most interesting thing I learned. That’s why I devoted three pages on my website to the backstory for VEXING THE VISCOUNT. It’s called the COURTESAN CLUB, since my heroine Daisy Drake masquerades as a “woman of pleasure.” Check out her Venetian platform shoes at http://www.emilybryan.com/Courtesan%20Closet.htm 

 

Are you a plotter or do you write as it comes? Do your characters start with names or do they have to have personalities before they can be named?

 

I started as a pantser because I didn’t know any better. Then I decided I needed a little more structure in order to make best use of my limited writing time. I became a “kinda plotter.” I start with the characters (and a name is the first thing I focus on because I believe their name should define them). Then I figure out what they want and how I can make getting it difficult. I research their world so my story doesn’t come off as a “costume drama” (Modern-thinking characters parading around in corsets and knee britches are really kind of silly.)

 

Then I jot down possible scenes off the top of my head on sticky notes. After I have 20 or so plot points, I begin to arrange them on a full length mirror. At this stage, I can identify holes in my story and figure out the best way to connect the dots. I use the sticky notes to write my working synopsis, which I’ll use to sell the story to my editor.  I may deviate from this story line as the work progresses but at least I have a road map I can consult along the way.

 

What do you want readers to take away after reading one of your stories? What do you want them to feel?

 

If I’ve done my job right, my readers will “get” the theme of my story. Every story has characters and they get into and out of all sorts of scrapes. That’s not the theme. That’s just what happened. The theme is what the story is about.

 

I’ve heard it said that writers tend to work on their own issues as they write and that theme will come through in everything they do. VEXING THE VISCOUNT is about trust. More specifically, about trusting someone enough to let them see who you really are.

 

I want my readers to feel as if they’ve walked in Daisy Drakes 6 inch Venetian platforms without developing any blisters! By the time they reach “the end,” I hope they’ve fallen in love with Lucian and had an adventure worthy of the name!

 

What genre would you love to write but haven’t yet? Is there one you would shy away from?

 

I haven’t written a fantasy/paranormal and would love to try it, but I’m not a vampire/werewolf fan. If it doesn’t move me, I can’t move my readers. I like the idea of alternate worlds. CL Wilson’s Fading Lands Series is one of my favorites. Ah, but could I be so inventive?

 

I think I’d shy away from erotica. Not that I’m a prude. I like sex. I like writing about it. But I only like 2 bodies to a bed. I can’t imagine allowing a 3^rd party in and ménages (along with male/male scenes) seem to be the mainstay of erotica now. I don’t think I could find anything sexy about a divided heart. But those are just the perceptions of someone outside the genre. I may be wrong about what erotica is.

 

While my books have been called “erotic”—and let me tell you that was a shock to my mother’s prayer group!—I would name them “very sensual.” We are not just physical beings. I want my hero and heroine’s joining to be more than just bodies colliding. It has to mean something. There has to be a spiritual/emotional component to the sex or it’s all just plumbing to me.

 

Have you taken any classes to hone your skills? What classes/workshops would you recommend the most?

 

I took a creative writing class in college, but it focused on short story. A novel is big unwieldy beast. I’d have liked some help in taming it, but writing is the best teacher.

 

My best advice is join a writers group and pay attention when writers you admire speak. Attend a local conference and take all the writing craft workshops on the schedule. You really don’t need to know how to promote or play with your muse (which I think is a myth anyway) or explore the writer’s life until you sell something. Only the craft classes will help you do that. 

 

Read books. Pick authors you’d like to emulate and study their work as you read. Write a synopsis of a book you especially enjoyed and dissect how the author put the story together.

 

I have a recommended reading list for books on writing on my website http://www.emilybryan.com/Writers'%20Corner.htmalong with 6 linked pages of writerly advice, from developing the first kernel of a idea to polishing and submitting your manuscript. 

 

Do you have any hobbies that you do in your spare time? Is there something you would love to learn but haven’t had the chance yet?

 

I noodle at the piano and sing (music major in college). I love art and when I have time, I like to sketch. But my stuff is strictly amateur. A day at a museum is like a fore-taste of heaven to me!

 

Travel is my most expensive hobby. I love to visit new places and see how people live. A world cruise is on my “must-do-before-leaving-this-planet” list. (Though the way the stock market has tanked, I’ll probably have to stow away on freighter to do it!)

 

In heaven, I will play the violin. I tried to learn here. Trust me. You want me to wait till I have wings to try again. 

 

What kinds of advice would you give a new writer? Is there anything that you have learned that you can pass on to someone just starting out?

 

Less is more. Learn to chop up your own baby so someone else won’t have to do it for you. It’s so easy to fall in love with our own words, but being a writer means being able to judge our work’s worth and destroy most of it. I tend to write long and then tighten like crazy.

 

How did you meet your husband? What is the most romantic thing you have done for each other?

 

We met in college, singing across the room from each other in college choir. (He has a wonderful rumbling bass voice!) I was actually dating someone else at the time, so I said no the first 3 times he asked me out, but I kept enjoying singing to a certain baritone! In the end, I broke it off with the other guy, and then asked HIM out!

 

The most romantic gift I ever received from my DH was ballroom dancing lessons. It was a gift of his time each week as well while we learned how to waltz, foxtrot, swing, rhumba and cha-cha round the room. (We never did master the tango. As soon as we made a “tango face” at each other, we’d get the giggles!)

 

My DH would say the most romantic thing I do for him is make him meatloaf! He really likes my meatloaf! I explain why (and share my recipe!) at http://emilybryan.blogspot.com/2008/08/foodlove.html

 

What kinds of books will we find on your bookshelf? 

 

Oh, boy! A hodge-podge of things. Let me just read off a few:

 

The Writer’s Journey by Vogler

Delicious by Sherry Thomas

The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye

Mrs. Jack by Louisa Hall Tharpe

Hide by Lisa Gardner

Tempting Fate by Alissa Johnson

His Mistress by Morning by Elizabeth Boyle

Inside the Victorian Home by Flanders

The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe

 

I read writing craft books, research books, historical novels, biographies, romantic suspense, paranormal—I’ve been known to raid my DH’s stack of Clancy’s and Ludlum’s. 

 

MORE FUN…

 

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

 

Determined, fun-loving, hard-working

 

Are they the same as family/friends would use?

 

If they know what’s good for them!

 

What are your favorite TV shows?

 

Love Dancing with the Stars! I’ve become semi-addicted to HOUSE, mostly because he’s a thoroughly miserable character for whom I still hold out hope. I also enjoy NCIS. Mark Harmon is such middle-aged joy!

How about ones that you would stay away from?

 

American Idol. I despise most reality shows (Dancing with the Stars the only exception) for a couple of reasons. First—These shows are a cheap way of filling air time without using equity actors or writers. Second—They glorify and reward bad behavior. Third—The pace is usually so glacial, I’m bored to tears. There are too many good books in the world to waste time on “reality” shows. If I want reality, all I have to do is turn the TV off!

 

What is your favorite dessert?

 

Ice cream. Any flavor so long as it’s chocolate!

 

Do you make it yourself or order it out?

 

Why try to improve on what Ben and Jerry have perfected?

 

What is your favorite childhood memory?

 

Breaking and entering. Perhaps I’d better explain.

 

My family was vacationing at a lake in northern Minnesota. My great-grandparents had owned a cabin on this same lake and my dad had spent most of the summers of his childhood there. The cabin had passed to another branch of the family and been allowed to deteriorate badly, but my dad still wanted to see it again. Jimmying the rotting door was no trouble at all.

 

We crept into the cabin, picking our way around spots where the floorboards had given way and crashed into the crawl space. A few pieces of my great-grandmother’s furniture were still there, covered either with a thick coat of dust or a carelessly tossed sheet. I remembered her as a person who took great pride in her things. She’d have been horrified by the condition of the cabin. 

 

When we entered the kitchen, we found an old calendar from the last summer my great-grandparents had spent there still hung on the wall, names of family members penciled in on the dates they’d visited. The cabinetry was intact. My Dad opened one of the cupboards and the scent of cinnamon billowed out, filling the room. My dad blinked back tears.

 

Now, you’ve got to understand that my dad is a tough guy. A 6’1’’ offensive tackle in his youth, a hunter, a railroader. And yet the smell of cinnamon had turned him into a knobby-kneed 10 year old waiting for cookies to come out of his grandma’s oven.  Such is the power of a scent-triggered memory.

 

The reason this is one of my favorite memories is because it was the first time I saw my dad’s soft vulnerable side, the part that he kept carefully hidden most of the time. Men were supposed to be the rock their families could shelter behind, and my dad was. But I loved him all the more for those tears. 

 

Or it may be my favorite because of the illicit nature of our little escapade. I’m just ornery enough to enjoy that part immensely!

 

Thanks again for having me RomanceJunkies!

 

You are most welcome; it has been a lot of fun.  Continued success with your writing career.

By Kim Atchue-Cusella

Romance Junkies Publishing Editor

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