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WRITER, SPEAKER, PUBLISHER & QUILTER: A WOMAN OF MANY TALENTS

February 2, 2018 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Quilting, romance, writing, Writing Something Romantic

Debra Dixon | A Slice of Orange Debra Dixon has published with major publishers, written ten books, contributed to twelve anthologies, and served as Vice President of RWA, and her popular GMC:Goal, Motivation, and Conflict workshop spawned a book that has become a how-to bible for writers.

These days, she’s better known as Publisher for BelleBooks and its imprint Bell Bridge Books, which tackles a broad spectrum of genres in both print and ebook formats. A 2011 company highlight was holding the # 1 spot on the full Paid Kindle list for more than two weeks. Their titles have been picked up in translation and by major New York publishers in subrights deals for mass market paperback, book club, audio and large print. The company has published work from NYT’s bestselling authors: Anne Bishop, Susan Addison Allen, Deborah Smith, Sharon Sala, Sabrina Jeffries, Sandra Hill, Jill Marie Landis, and Jill Barnett. As well as USA Today bestseller Kalayna Price.

Debra lives in the South with her husband and son. When she’s not working in publishing or Corporate America, she moonlights as an award-winning quilter. The current home-remodeling-project-that-will-not-end began because Debra thought it would be nice to have a quilt studio for her art.

Jann: We’re starting February out with a bang!! The phenomenal Debra Dixon, is here with us today.

Jann: Let’s take a look back. How long had you been writing before you published your first romance Tall, Dark and Lonesome? Why the romance genre?

Debra: I had written all of my life, but seriously submitting fantasy for a few years before switching to the romance genre. I read romance as well as many other genres, and I’d met someone at a dog show of all things who was going through her page proofs. I thought, ‘Gee, an everyday real person is published in romance. Maybe I should try that.’ I joined RWA, one of the few professional writing groups that allowed unpublished authors to join. Shortly after that I found an agent. Carin Rafferty came to my city and founded the River City Romance Writers. That was my signal to really invest in romance because I had a support group and an agent! I went to conferences and the rest is history or some small dark corner of history.

Jann: In 1996 you published GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict. This phenomenal book is on my bookshelf and is mentioned in the majority of writing workshops I’ve attended. I’ve been privileged to hear two of your workshops based on this book. What was the motivation for you to write this book (no pun intended)?

Debra: I gave this workshop at my local chapter in a much abbreviated format when I was still an unpublished author. They’d told me they needed me to come speak about plot. Then I had to figure out the “how” of plot for me. Those writers told people, and I started getting requests for the workshop. Then a very tiny company who specialized in books for writers came to me and badgered me to write a book. I kept telling them, “No one is going to buy this book. I don’t think this is a good idea for your investment.” Well, they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They were very clear that they wanted the book to be almost a conversation. They absolutely did not want the book to be stuffy, ponderous or pedantic. I had to revise to get the tone right, but I’m so happy now that they had a clear vision for the kind of book that GMC should be.

Jann: With your writing career in full swing, you decided to open a small press with seven other authors—and BellBooks, Inc. was founded in 1999. Since then Bell Bridge Books and ImaJinn Books joined the family. In this constantly changing world of publication, what bits of wisdom can you share with today’s writers—both published and unpublished.

Debra: I’m so sorry to trot out the obvious, but “write.” Write a lot. Keep writing, improving. Building an audience is great, but if you can’t feed that audience they’ll wander off and forget you. I can’t say how many books to write a year because every writer has a different ability to output and writing a 150k word fantasy takes a little more time than a 70k word mystery, etc. But writers should think long term and plan to put out books as frequently as they can write a GOOD book. We see most successful authors today have found a way to engage with their readers in an authentic way through a variety of social media. And then read. Read a lot. Most of all I’d say there is no ONE path. Every writer has a different idea of what success looks like. Enjoying the process is always good advice. Don’t be afraid to carve out your own path that looks quite different from someone else’s.

Jann: Do you see writing another romance in the future?

Debra: I occasionally fantasize about writing the most awesome Regency historical <g> or other project, but the reality is that I have authors who are counting on me to do my job and put their books first. So, I don’t think I’m going to find the time to write anything in the near future.

Jann: As a Publisher, public speaker, and a writer your schedule must be full. Do you have time to travel? Would you share some of your favorite travel adventures.

Debra: Not much time to travel for pleasure! We do take the occasional road trip. Hubby loves to drive, and I’m fortunate to be able to read, knit, and play on the iPad in the car! My favorite story about traveling to speak, is one time before cell phones were ubiquitous. When I landed in a foreign country, no one was there to pick me up. (My designated handler was stuck in a horrible 2-hour long traffic jam unbeknownst to me or anyone else.) When I called the hotel to check on a shuttle, they didn’t have the event on their schedule. (The group had changed the venue and never told me.) So there I was—marooned in a foreign land (Canada). Okay, so they spoke English, but it was pretty funny trying to figure out where to go or what to do. I finally tracked people down at the restaurant after managing to sweet talk the phone number for the old Workshop Chairman out of the cancelled hotel. She was no longer a member of the chapter, but she gave me some phone numbers. Then those numbers led to the restaurant. They were amazed I could find them. So was I. LOL! Thank heavens for the rental car place that let me tie up their phone!

Jann: Do you have a bucket list of future destinations?

Debra: I’d like to go back to Australia and New Zealand. Maybe spend a month in Italy just eating cheese, olives, and bread! My uncle does adventure vacations to unbelievable places in the world, and every time we get a chance to sit with him and go through his slides of a trip, it’s almost like we’ve been there! He’s even been to base camp at Everest. I’m not sure I want to adventure vacation and climb mountains. I really like the traditional “sleep late, what are we eating tonight?” vacations!

Jann: Do you still find the time to quilt? Do you have any pictures you can share?

Debra: Yes, quilting is my stress relief! I quilt every day, even if it’s only ten minutes. Sometimes it’s handwork, sometimes it’s working on the machine or designing the next quilt. Never ask a quilter if they have pictures…you’ll be there all day. But I’ll limit to applique, a pieced quilt, and a bag I made to carry around my knitting.

The applique quilt with the vase of flowers is one I’m working on hand quilting now. This is an original quilt design with the exception of the vase and flowers. Those are adapted from the line drawing of another quilter—Sandra Leichner.

Next is a pieced sampler (teal & brown) that I finished sewing the binding on when my husband was in the hospital. (Yep, I even took quilting to the hospital.) And for those who really are curious, here’s a link to a little photo tour of my quilt studio.

Jann: Thanks Debra for being here with us on A Slice of Orange and sharing bits of wisdom and your lovely quilting.

Jann Ryan grew up with the smell of orange blossoms in Orange County in sunny Southern California, where she has lived her entire life and dreamed up stories since she was a young girl. Never an avid reader, she was in her thirties when she picked up her first romance quite by accident. She fell in love with happily ever after and has been reading romances ever since.

Wanting to put pen to paper, Jann joined of Romance Writers of America®. Currently, she is working on a romantic suspense series set in Stellar Bay, a fictitious town along the California central coast to fulfill her publishing dream. Jann is also a member of Writing Something Romantic critique group.

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Intelligence Official to Amateur Sleuth Author—Oh My!!

January 2, 2018 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as amatuer sleuth, cozy mysteries, mystery

Maureen Klovers | Jann Says...| A Slice of Orange

Maureen Klovers | Jann Says... | A Slice of Orange Maureen Klovers is the creator of the Jeanne Pelletier amateur sleuth series set in Washington, DC, and the memoir In the Shadow of the Volcano: One Ex-Intelligence Official’s Journey through the Slums, Prisons, and Leper Colonies to the Heart of Latin America.

As suggested by the title of her memoir, Maureen has served as a U.S. intelligent agent; taught in the shantytowns of Quito, Ecuador; toured a notorious Bolivian prison in the company of a German narcotrafficker; and been inspired by some of the most positive, life-affirming people on the planet–residents of a facility for those suffering from Hansen’s disease (the new name for leprosy).

More recently, she has switched to writing mysteries. Her first novel, Hagar’s Last Dance, features lawyer-turned-bellydancer Jeanne Pelletier and her zany, crime-fighting urban family and delves deep into the Washington, D.C. that tourists never see. A sequel, Graveside Reunion, is set to be released in January 2018.

Maureen is also hard at work on a garden-to-table culinary mystery series starring Rita Calabrese, an Italian-American matriarch (and excellent cook!) turned small-town crime reporter.

She loves poking around forgotten corners of DC; speaking Italian, testing recipes for Italian-American classics (which will later work their way into Rita’s cookbook!), and traveling to Italy; and spending time with her incredibly supportive husband, fun (but exhausting!) toddler, and energetic black Lab.

Jann: We’re starting out 2018 with a bang! Maureen Klovers, author of the Jeanne Pelletier amateur sleuth mystery series, is going to chat with us today.

Your character, Jeanne Pelletier, that you introduced in Hagar’s Last Dance—what can you tell us about her?

Maureen: By day, Jeanne is a mousy temp attorney slaving away at a big Washington, D.C., law firm. But outside of work, she has a whole different persona—as a belly dancer named Zahira, and as a successful amateur sleuth. She’s assembled a fabulous crime-fighting “urban family” in D.C., consisting of her curmudgeonly ex-CIA agent neighbor; her ravishing sister, Vivienne; her commune-dwelling wild child best friend, Lily; her Scottish hacker boyfriend, Fergus; and a Salvadoran ex-con, Carlos—the only man other than Fergus that gets her pulse racing. She’s also got a third-legged rescued Golden Retriever named Scarlett!

Jeanne’s a strong, independent woman. She’s smart, caring, and funny—but not perfect the way most protagonists of mystery novels seem to be! She guzzles hot chocolate, struggles to get to work on time, and has a fear of commitment. Basically, she’s human—a little like a more intellectual and more wholesome American version of Bridget Jones.

Jann: How did the idea for an amateur sleuth mystery series originate?

Maureen: One blistering August day, when my mom and sister and I were holed up in the air conditioning and a little bored, the three of us decided to write a spy novel set in 1960s Italy and starring Sister Gilmary, a character very loosely based on my mom (who actually was a nun in the 1960s and did live in Italy—just not at the same time). We ended up having creative differences, so we never published the book together (although my mother did on her own!). However, this process jump-started my interest in writing crime fiction. But I am more interested in writing about amateur sleuths than spies! (Which is ironic, given that although I was never a spy per se, I did used to work for U.S. intelligence.)

Jann: Tell us about the plot for Graveside Reunion, the second book in the series, which will be published on January 19th?

Maureen: When Jeanne meets a wealthy conservative congressman at a Halloween party, neither is in a festive mood. Jeanne is cash-strapped and anxious about her upcoming high school reunion. Congressman Richardson is worried about the mental stability of his wife, a beauty queen-turned-historian who claims to be terrorized by a vindictive two-hundred-year-old ghost.

Before their dance is over, Jeanne agrees to investigate who—or what—is behind his wife’s “haunting.” But when Jeanne finds a body draped over a Confederate spy’s tomb near the Richardsons’ Georgetown mansion, she begins to suspect that the “haunting” has escalated to murder—and that her clients may be involved.

Jann: Are you working on book three?

Maureen: Not yet. But I have an idea that involves Carlos, the Salvadoran ex-con who forms one leg of the Jeanne-Fergus-Carlos love triangle, being arrested for a murder he claims he didn’t commit. It gives me lots of possibilities to explore Jeanne’s conflicting feelings and put her legal and investigative skills to work!

Jann: Do you find yourself returning to certain themes in your stories? What? Why?

Maureen: I seem to gravitate to strong, not-particularly-girly female protagonists and nuanced, not-totally-evil villains. I’m really interested in local history, so setting my story in an atmospheric, historic location is important.

Jann: What are you working on now? Can you tell us about your next project?

Maureen: I am working on the first novel in a new culinary cozy mystery series starring Rita Calabrese, an Italian-American matriarch turned crime reporter. It’s peopled with an eccentric cast of small-town characters and features mouthwatering recipes and a bucolic Hudson Valley setting.

Jann: Do you have a website, blog, twitter where fans might read more about you and your books?

Maureen: Absolutely! Please connect with me at http://www.maureenklovers.com On my blog, I discuss anything and everything that’s related (even, tangentially!) to my books. That means sharing my favorite mysteries; telling you about my upcoming books, author appearances, and conferences; sharing the joys and tribulations of writing; giving you insider’s tips to Washington, D.C. (where my Jeanne Pelletier mystery series is set); and feeding your inner Italophile (like the protagonist of my upcoming garden-to-table culinary mystery series, Rita Calabrese) through Italian and Italian-American recipes and tips and trivia on la bella lingua italiana, travel in Italy, and Italian culture and cuisine!

Jann: In your books, who is your favorite character and why?

Maureen: Jerry, Jeanne’s lovably grumpy ex-CIA agent neighbor. He is Jeanne’s sleuthing partner, sidekick, and confidant. They communicate by banging on the paper-thin wall between their apartments, and since they both suffer from insomnia, spend many a late night drinking coffee and solving crimes. Jerry is something like a cross between her older brother and the oracle of Delphi—he manages to say some pretty profound things in his own inimitable way.

Plus, Jerry’s lines seem to write themselves! That’s a real gift for an author. He’s one of those characters I can really see with my mind’s eye.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE VOLCANO

HAGAR’S LAST DANCE

GRAVESIDE REUNION

THE SECRET POISON GARDEN

Thank you so much for taking the time to share a corner of your world with us Maureen. Wishing you a wonderful 2018!!

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Love for Christmas: Writing a Holiday Anthology by @jannryan

December 24, 2017 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as holiday romance, OCC/RWA anthology, romance

Jann: We’re here today talking with five dynamic authors, Ottillia Scherschel, Jill Jaynes, Angela Shelly, Kathleen Harrington and Barb DeLong, members of the Writing Something Romantic critique group who came together to publish a collection of holiday short stories entitled Love for Christmas: A Holiday Romance Anthology.

Jann: Tell us about your critique group and how you came together?

Kathleen: Our Writing Something Romantic critique group started some years ago with a few writers who belonged to OCC. We wanted a small group to critique our romance writing. Angela Kyle, Carol Persinger, and I were original members. Shortly after we began to meet, we invited Barb DeLong, Val Millette, Jann Ryan, Ottilia Scherschel, and Jill Jaynes to join us. Ever since, we’ve met once a month to critique each other’s manuscripts. We celebrate birthdays and, of course, each others’ successes.

Jann: The anthology covers a variety of genres—a cursed whimsical witch, a woman looking for Mr. Right, a Montana suffragette, a woman on a dangerous and thrilling train ride, and an artifact hunter who finds hope and love. Was it difficult to blend these stories into the anthology?

Barb: We decided as a group to write to our strengths and particular genres with a unifying theme of Christmas time for our first anthology. Hopefully the anthology will appeal to a wide audience because of the different genres.

Jann: This question is for Ottilia Scherschel. Your novels take place in foreign countries. Your short story for the anthology, Night Train to Hong Kong, a romantic suspense which takes place on a train ride from Beijing to Hong Kong. Why did you decide choose China for your location? Are all your novels romantic suspense?

Ottilia: My mother liked to say I was born with a foot in a suitcase. I’ve always loved to travel. Growing up, Hong Kong seemed mysterious, so far away, and its history with the British fascinated me. I sought out movies set there and visited San Francisco’s Chinatown to gawk at all the finery from Hong Kong. When my husband and I were married, he presented me with pearls he had bought in Hong Kong for his future wife while he was in the Navy. Years later, when my brother started doing business in China, I decided I had a reliable source and the time had come to write about that country and its customs.
Not all my novels are romantic suspense. I also write historical fiction, but all my novels have an element of suspense and are set in foreign countries at least in part.

Jann: Jill Jaynes—your contemporary romance, The Christmas Wish, has a woman looking for Mr. Right. Your story has Allie making a wish on a magical ornament for true love. Did you ever make the same wish?

Jill: Haha! More than once, I’m sure! I think most of us wish we could get a little help finding that guy. I definitely settled for a few frogs before my true love finally swept into my life and showed me what I’d been missing all along. In my story, Allie finds out that nothing is as easy as it seems, even with a magical wish in your pocket. But hey, it’s Christmas! I’m pretty sure something good will happen…

Jann: Angela Shelley, you also write novels for children as well. Did this have anything to do with basing your story, Winter’s Warmth, on the Snow Queen myth?

Angela: Children’s stories lend themselves particularly well to myth, legend, and symbolism–all things I’ve been fascinated by as long as I can remember. (As does the fantasy genre.) This is probably why I find myself writing (and reading) mostly in those areas, even though I enjoy contemporary, scifi, mystery, historical, romance, and other genres as a reader.

Old tales, religion, psychology, and modern storytelling speak in the languages of archetypes and symbols. We use them to layer depth and glean meaning from our world. That’s why I enjoy writing stories based on myth—these old stories give me worlds in which I can explore the deeper connections that live in us all.

Jann: Barb DeLong—A Witch for Christmas, is a humorous paranormal romance, and you’re also writing a series with the same theme. What triggered your interest in witches?

Barb: I knew I wanted to write a paranormal story because I love reading them. I write humorous and absolutely loved Jill Barnett’s Bewitching. I thought whimsical witches and their magic were right up my alley. My work-in-progress is a paranormal romance series called Charmed by a Witch, with the first book being Charm’d.

Jann: Kathleen Harrington—you have published several historical romances and for your short story, you selected Montana in the 1880’s and the suffragette movement. Was it Montana, the time period or both that attracted you to use this time and place?

Kathleen: My genre has always been historical romance. I’ve written several romances set in Montana during the 1880’s, so my familiarity with the setting made for an easy choice. While doing some research on Helena, I came across a photo of a suffragette from Great Falls. She was identified as a librarian and was standing so straight and proud beside the bicycle she rode to work, I felt an instant admiration for her and all the ladies who strove to secure the women’s vote. And so, Paulette Winslow, spinster and librarian, sprang to life in my imagination. My hero came just as easily. I’ve previously written a romance set in Butte, about a wealthy mine owner. This time my hero, Brent McFarland, comes from Butte to Helena to take over the local newspaper.

About our Authors:

Ottilia Scherschel | A Slice of Orange When Ottilia Scherschel started sixth grade, she learned her fifth language. Her immigrant parents wandered throughout Europe and Latin America, waiting for papers to enter the United States. Today, she lives in Southern California. After a successful career in international communications, she took up writing romantic suspense stories set in foreign climes.

Her first novel DARING THE DRAGON, takes place in China and her second, A KISS TOO LONG, is set in Hungary and Italy. You can read one of her short stories in ROMANCING THE PAGES, an anthology by the Orange County Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. https://writingsomethingromantic.com/

Jill Jaynes began her love affair with romance when she was a teenager growing up in Southern California, spending many a late-night under the covers with a flashlight and good romance novel.

This early addiction stuck, and she discovered one day that telling great stories was even more fun than reading them. Today she writes stories with happy endings her own way- with a dash of magic that means anything can happen.

When she’s not writing, you can find her (still in Southern California) occupied with one of the following activities: a) wine-tasting, hiking or otherwise hanging out with her hot husband, b) walking her two high-maintenance dogs, c) plotting her next story with her writer-daughter or d) working at her day job in her spare time. http://www.jilljaynes.com

Angela Shelley was twenty-two when writing became a passion. She’s been doing it in one form or another ever since. As a technical writer, she published science articles for magazines, grant proposals, software manuals, and online help systems. She won Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards for her first and second novels, Ennara and the Fallen Druid and Ennara and the Book of Shadows.

Angela Shelley is a member of Romance Writers of America and the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In her spare time, she makes book trailers and volunteers for her writing organizations and twins’ classroom. Visit her at http://www.angelashelley.net.

Barb DeLong, long-time member of the Orange County Chapter/Romance Writers of America, is a member of RWA’s PRO community. She has been writing one thing or another for as long as she can remember. Her stories have won and finalled in several contests, and she published a short story in the Romancing the Pages anthology. Barb is currently working on a humorous paranormal romance series called Charmed by a Witch.

She’s excited to share with you the magic of love, laughter and happily ever after! https://writingsomethingromantic.com/

Kathleen Harrington | A Slice of Orange

Kathleen Harrington, multi-published, award-winning author, has touched the hearts of readers across the country and the world with her sparkling tales of high adventure and unending love. Her historical romances have been published in Chinese, Russian, Italian, and German. She lives in Southern California with her American Bulldog, Auron. http://www.kathleenharringtonbooks.com/

Thank you ladies for sharing with us about your critique group and your holiday anthology, Love for Christmas.

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Helping Santa by @jannryan

December 2, 2017 by marianne h donley in category Jann says . . . tagged as critique groups, interviews, Jann Ryan

Helping Santa | Jann Ryan | A Slice of Orange

Jann says she’s off today helping Santa. But don’t worry she’ll be back on December 4th with a special interview featuring the members of the Writing Something Romantic critique group.

Mark your calendars because the group has something fun to share.

Jann Ryan grew up with the smell of orange blossoms in Orange County in sunny Southern California, where she has lived her entire life and dreamed up stories since she was a girl. Never an avid reader, she was in her thirties when she picked up her first romance quite by accident. She fell in love with happily ever after and has been reading romances ever since.

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A Chat with Author Fae Rowen by Jann Ryan #amreading @FaeRowen

November 2, 2017 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Fae Rowen, Young Adult Science Fiction

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak. Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes that she can live anywhere but the present. As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong. She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told. Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow.

Jann: We’re here today speaking with author Fae Rowen just days after the launch of the first book in her young adult science fiction romance series. Let’s get started.

Jann: How exciting! Fae, you just launched the first book in your P.R.I.S.M. Series. How does it feel?

Fae: This is going to sound funny, but it seems that all my friends are more excited than I am. I’m very happy to finally share this story, but even though I have lots of work still to do—there’s marketing and social media to do, PRISM 2 to write, another series to revise the first two books that are already written, and a third series that I’ve finished the first two books “in my head”—for now, I’m learning how to make social media more user-friendly for me. Next week I’ll start plotting and writing PRISM 2 and begin the final revision of Keeping Athena, the first book in my adult science fiction romance series. I’ve been working such long hours for the past eighteen months, it’s nice to just take a breather and bask a little in the congratulations. And…there is a kind of sadness that I’m not hanging out with these people in the same way anymore.

Jann: Can you tell us what preparation you did for the launch of this series?

Fae: More than five years ago, Jenny Hansen, Laura Drake, Sharla Rae and I started a blog for writers: Writers in the Storm. Jenny said we needed a platform for when we got published, so I climbed on the blog train along with them. It took a year before I finally understood the technology and idea behind a blog for writers.

Everyone says to write the best book you can, so I did. Every chapter went through the WITS critique shredder. I probably re-wrote the beginning of the book eight times. When I finished the book, I had an hour-long “session” with Michael Hauge. I felt like I’d been steam-rolled, but his questions and suggestions helped me clarify the soft-points in the book that I hadn’t seen. It’s amazing what he can cover in sixty minutes! I entered it in half a dozen contests to get feedback. Young adult science fiction is not a large sub-genre, so I didn’t expect much, but it finaled in just about every contest. I took it to an Immersion Class with Margie Lawson. Because I wanted to put out the best book I could, I worked with Tiffany Yates Martin, my editor, through four revisions to bring out themes I hadn’t even known were there. Remember, I’m a math major who avoided writing classes. I’m a pantser who abhors plotting and cringes when someone asks the theme or turning points of my novel. Luckily, I’ve always been a voracious reader, so those story-telling “landmarks” have been absorbed by osmosis. (More on this below in the answer to question #3.)

Eighteen months ago, when I decided to self-publish, I attended as many of the self-pubbing workshops and panels at RWA 2016 San Diego as I could. I filled a notebook with tips, timelines, and scheduling calendars. I thought I’d have my first book out (I was thinking it would be Keeping Athena) within six months. Ha! That deadline got pushed back four months, then another four, then two more, then two more. What caused all the changes? I was very picky about my cover, so that took two months longer than I’d anticipated. (But I love the results from Deranged Doctor Designs. They are marvelous to work with.) I reworked my website, with help from June Stevens Westerfield. I looked at other author’s newsletters and websites. I took a social media class. A few months later I started looking at my Facebook page once every two weeks. I started a Pinterest site to collect pictures and quotes that are pertinent to my genre in general and my books, specifically. Both Keeping Athena and P.R.I.S.M. required a fourth pass with Tiffany, requiring another couple of months. I joined a blog of YA authors, and I started telling people in my circle of acquaintances that I had written a book. (I have this secretive streak…)

Jann: Your characters in P.R.I.S.M. – Jericho, O’Neill and Cal – how did they come to life?

Fae: I don’t get inspiration about characters. The weird thing is, long before I ever start typing, my characters and their story show up in my brain. Don’t ask me how that works. One morning, I wake up, and they’re there. They aren’t fully fleshed out and I don’t know much more than the beginning and the end of the book, but I hang out with them. If they are persistent enough and I’m engaged in their lives, I write their story.

A very spiritual friend says she thinks I channel my stories. If that’s true, I wish I channeled better writing! I know my characters—and I believe that the exile world of Prism is also a character—very well. I’ve “lived” in their heads and in their surroundings. I know why they react as they do because I know their backstory. In the early drafts, when someone asked a question about some detail I invariably left out—because heck, I live there—I know the answer immediately. This has happened during pitches with agents and editors and they seem shocked at the information I can give them about what doesn’t appear in the book.

When I started P.R.I.S.M. I was hiking fifteen miles a week and eating more than a normal person would of protein shakes and bars. On the beautiful trails I wondered what it would be like if there were no ducks or squirrels or rabbits or lizards. I remembered what the Middle East was like when I spent a month there a few years ago. Long stretches of desolate sand dunes, very different food, a language I didn’t understand. I’ve been all over the world, but I couldn’t even figure out the road signs. All these bits of my past end up in the world of Prism.

Music has always been important in my life. I wrote my first book to only one song. I played that song the entire nine months I wrote that story. I played the song at work, too. Sometimes, brave co-workers asked if I had any other CD’s. Now before I start a book, I’m lucky to hear new songs on the radio that mesh well with the story. I end up with a playlist for each character, so when I’m writing a scene in that character’s POV, I listen to that playlist. For instance, Guardian (Alanis Morissette), Bring Me to Life (Evanescence) and I Drove All Night (Cyndi Lauper) are three of O’Neill’s songs, while every time Cal thinks about Jericho, it’s He’s a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean or when he’s with O and their friends it could be Uprising (Muse). Jericho’s POV comes to life with Geronimo (Say Hey to Single Life) and Satellite (Rise Against). Selecting my playlist is not a one-time chore, but more of an organic growth as I drive and listen to the radio. Once I identify a song for my playlist, I purchase it and listen to it until I find the next song. Usually there is a scene in each of my books that is based on a song on the playlist.

O’Neill has a lot of me in her. I didn’t realize just how much until Tiffany kept after me to dig deeper into O’s character arc. And Cal. Ah. He was just perfect for O. They came to me as so-in-love teenagers. Caring, always there, supportive Cal to balance O’s brashness and tight-leashed temper. They were, literally, destined to be together. And then Jericho shows up from Earth, just after O’s father goes missing. Can I just say right now how much I love O’s father? If Jocko Neill walked through my door, I’d be a goner. How did I not see when I was writing the book that he’s got so many of my husband’s good traits?

That was a really long answer. I guess the short answer is I find my characters in my life, in the people around me. But I couldn’t really match one character to one person. My characters are bits and pieces of what several people are—and my impressions of who they could become.

Jann: I see on your website that you have another series in the hanger to launch – The Keep Sphere Series. Tell us about it.

Fae: Thanks for asking. I’m so glad you visited my website. I wish I had time to hang out there more. I love writing the character blogs. And posting my “other” writing from what seems like a previous life.

Keeping Athena is an adult science fiction romance. When I wrote the book, a long time ago, I planned to write “sequels” about her two brothers. I wrote Keeping Athena and Contracting Joy, about Athena’s younger hot-shot cocky fighter pilot, before I started P.R.I.S.M.

Maybe I should mention here that I didn’t start writing to publish books. Did I say before that I might be considered weird? I started writing to tell the stories that accosted me every night when I turned out the light. (I was lucky to have a husband who was willing to eat corn flakes for dinner when, after work, I couldn’t stop writing in the middle of a space battle.) The Keep Sphere is populated with several planets, all having wonderful places and people with stories that could keep me busy for a long time.

Keeping Athena is filled with space battles, lies and betrayal, and two worlds at war. This is the kind of science fiction that made me a science fiction freak, and the romance that made me love the romance genre years later—all rolled into one story. Think Star Wars and Gone with the Wind, if Rhett and Scarlet ended up together and madly in love. Athena, an Agran fighter pilot and trained assassin, crashes behind enemy lines onto Drake’s tiny asteroid, becoming his prisoner. Drake is the second-in-command of the Keep forces, but he hides that fact from her, pretending to be a space bum. She struggles to escape. He struggles to decode the secrets in her nav boards. They both fight against the attraction they feel.

I got the idea for the Hangar Bay that’s on my website (www.faerowen.com) from the flight deck in what will be my third series, The Regent Fleet Academy. I wish I had a clone, because the first two books in that series are fully written in my head, I just need time to type them out. And, as usual, I’m in love. With a bad-boy hero, which I’ve never written before. Can I just share a song from Fire on Roof, the first book in the series? Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon is on my main character’s playlist the first half of the book, then it flips and is on the hero’s playlist. There is a scene for each of them based on the song, and they just might be my favorite scenes in the book.

Jann: What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

Fae: “The book won’t write itself.” Laura Drake told me this when I complained that I wasn’t getting the daily word count I wanted. She asked how long I was sitting at the computer. Uh…not long.

Jann: What are you dying to try next?

Fae: I’d love to write about Navy SEALS and special ops. I’d be willing to do the research for that, but I don’t think I could pull off the on-going suspense. I can tell you that I will never write historicals, even though I love to read regency romances. I don’t have the patience for hours of research that passionate readers know much better than I ever will. And because I don’t plot, mysteries are out. My stories are too convoluted with lots of subplots to be short. (P.R.I.S.M. came in at over 125,000 words.) My first book, still under the bed, was a medieval fantasy romance. I liked writing about knights and swords. But I have a lot to deal with in the future, and I’m good with that.

Jann: What’s the best thing about being an author?

Fae: I love being able to work whenever I want to-late at night, early in the morning, all day and night if I want to. And it’s great not to have to get dressed for “work” with make-up and hair to impress whomever.

Jann: If a spaceship landed in your backyard and the aliens on board offered to take you for a ride, would you go? Why or why not?

Fae: Are you kidding? Beam me up!

Thank you Fae Rowen for sharing your time with us here on A Slice of Orange and providing a look into your writing world.

Jann

Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard. When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen
Fae also blogs at YA Outside the Lines on the fifth of every month.

P.R.I.S.M., a young adult science fiction romance story of survival, betrayal, resolve, deceit, lies, and love is available now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Jann Ryan | A Slice of Orange Jann Ryan grew up with the smell of orange blossoms in Orange County in sunny Southern California, where she has lived her entire life and dreamed up stories since she was a young girl. Never an avid reader, she was in her thirties when she picked up her first romance quite by accident. She fell in love with happily ever after and has been reading romances ever since.
Wanting to put pen to paper, Jann joined of Romance Writers of America®. Currently, she is working on a romantic suspense series set in Stellar Bay, a fictitious town along the California central coast to fulfill her publishing dream.