5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview
April 11, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Best American Romances, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, heroine, Interview, job, maid, reporter, romance romance, spies, vampire, Victorian
by Evelyn Q. Darling
Romance Reporter At Large
How well do you know your hero? Is he tall, dark and handsome? Okay, so you don’t want a cookie-cutter hero, but have you really thought about what questions to ask him?
(When you can take your eyes away from his sexy grin among other parts of his anatomy.)
This reporter recently interviewed heroines for a romance gig and got some very interesting answers.
Now, it’s your hero’s turn. Ready, ladies? Start your engines…
Here are my 5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview:
1. Don’t ask him to take off his shirt. Tempting, yes, as you check out his muscular arms, but this is a sexist attitude that will get you nowhere. (But oh the fun you’ll have trying!)
2. Schedule the interview in a locale where you’ll both feel comfortable. Not in a sports bar where he can eyeball the basketball scores and the waitresses with the deep cleavage. Forget tea shops that serve lemon dainties, unless you’re writing a regency and you want to see if he exudes the proper Mr. Darcy-isms.
3. Ask him to show you his…wheels. Yes, I said, wheels. Is he a Harley guy? Jaguar? Or does he drive an old pickup? Does he keep half his “stuff†in his car? Or is he a neatnik? You can tell a lot about a man by his…wheels.
4. What’s his day job? Or if he’s into night work (and what hard-working vampire isn’t?), you’ll want to make sure he’s a good match for your heroine. If she’s a lawyer, a police detective can make her life hectic; if she runs a cake and bake shop, how about interviewing a land developer who wants to tear down her vintage cottage shop? And let’s not forget the city gal who’s just aching to meet up with a real cowboy. Just make sure he can ride…a horse.
5. And finally, don’t ask him if he’s a good kisser. Tell him to show you.
Evelyn Q. Darling is the alter ego of Jina Bacarr.
0 0 Read moreThe “Final Four” of Everything American
May 24, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Best American Romances, Best Romances, Bracketology, Final Four
The Bracketology book: The Final Four of Everything is out now with my contribution on Best American Romances. Since I’m not the author and not gaining anything from book sales, I figure it’s OK to share the news. I had solicited your opinions and am indebted to many for their thoughtful, challenging and helpful responses (I post on other blogs and asked my Facebook friends to help!).
The Bracketology concept is simply taking what we see every year with the NCAA Basketball playoffs: selecting the top 32 teams & pairing them against each other to get to Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and then the two top players’ final match to declare a winner–and applying it to things other than basketball. Bracketology is a great decision-making tool, a fund of entertaining argument (you may recall in Diner, the pitting of Sinatra Vs Mathis for who offered the best “music to make-out to,” clearly a Bracketology moment) and it’s a great way to clarify your own thinking.
Check out p.114 to see where the world of American Romance Novel’s square off. I tried to capture samples from what I saw as significant sub-genres (romantic comedies, futuristic, inspirational, time-travel, multi-cultural, etc.) If you don’t like the choices and didn’t help out, then you have only yourself to blame!
This book takes the Bracketology concept further, to 150 different segments. Check out categories like Movie Gunfights, Lousy Husbands, Celebrity Mugshots, First Ladies, Untimely Deaths. It’s a great compilation from some impressive experts: Roz Chast, Manohla Dargis, Mary Matalin, Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, A.O. Scott, and of course me! It’s guaranteed to make you think, disagree, and want to use the method to build your own version. There’s a blank sample to fill in in the book. But also, the publisher, Simon & Schuster, has created a fabulous site. You can amend the existing brackets or make you own–which are posted and can be send to friends and foes alike.
Check it out–you’ll never think about your preferences in the same way again!
Enjoy!
Isabel Swift
my blog
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