Christine Presents: His Jilted Bride

I am painfully shy and a super klutz. I just wanted to get that out there right off the bat. I’ve had readers and other authors email me to say that were we in school together, they assumed I’d have been the popular girl with all the friends. Not so. I’m actually very socially awkward and make a fool of myself quite frequently. The only saving grace I have to this is that I’m so used to myself, I can laugh about it and have no problem telling awkward stories about myself to others so they can get a chuckle, too.

I started writing my first book on my own, inspired mainly because I felt like I’d been reading the same story over and over and I wanted a change. In the words of Toni Morrison “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” So I started, but what kept me going was my husband wanted me to finish it. I’d started, now I must finish it. I had days where I was excited to do so and days I just wanted to throw it all away. That’s part of writing. I still have those days and at the time of writing this I’m currently working on my eleventh book. Those feelings never go away, I don’t think.

Oh yes. I play chess regularly, or I did anyway; as a result I have several chess players for characters. I also have a strong love of science and so do some of my characters, heroes and heroines alike. My husband has been teaching me for years how to fly fish. I say years, because even after eight years, I’m still terrible. As a result, I’ve given his ability to fly fish to two of my heroes (Paul Grimes hero of Liberty for Paul and Marcus, Lord Sinclair, hero of Her Reluctant Groom) and my lack of ability to their heroines. Of course, while they’re teaching or helping their counterpart learn to fly fish, I have them say things my husband says to me and the heroines messing it up—just like me! I will also admit that there are a few skills I’ve given to my characters that I wish I had, such as the ability to paint…

Best—Write. Nora Roberts once said something to the effect of if nothing else, make yourself write two pages. Even if you have to completely change them later and delete part, at least you have the two pages to do that with. If you don’t write anything, then you don’t have anything to change. Even when “stuck”, I’ve learned that if I try write something—anything at all, it’s easier to get unstuck than when I go days without writing just because I can’t.

Worst—Don’t self-publish. Is there still a stigma about the quality? Yes. Are there still some who will self-publish and never sell a book? Sadly, yes. But the stigma is fading, and with so many options available, those who do self-publish have a better chance and that old, “You’ll never sell more than 40 books over your lifetime” is no longer the rule. I’m not saying it’s easy or that it’s for everyone, but for me personally, I’d say that’s the worst advice I was ever told.

A bit of both. I have an overall sense of what I think will happen in the book, where it will go and how it will all end. However, how the characters get to each of those points is up to them, and has led to some changes I didn’t see coming. I think it’s more fun this way, if not the most efficient.  I have, however, been stuck and instead of writing out a full scene, I’ve jotted out a detailed outline of how I think the story will go from this point to the end.

The Amazing Race! I love the awesome (and usually bizarre) things they get to do and how the history of the different customs and places is explained. Best show ever.

Yes. The book after this one is His Brother’s Bride and will follow the hero’s twin Henry as he’s confronted by a young lady presenting a betrothal agreement between her and Elijah. Henry has to find some way to put her off without causing a scandal until this can all be resolved (since Elijah is already married, of course), but with a few unexpected developments, Henry doesn’t want to “put her off” too much!

We are a very strange family in that we don’t have a lot of traditions. The only one I can even think of is that since we’re a “fishing” family, on Christmas Eve each year we tie a Christmas Fly, then go fly fishing with it on Christmas Day. My husband Bob and I started doing this in 2004, the year we were married, and haven’t missed a year yet. We even have pictures of each of our boys as babies strapped to my husband’s chest while my husband helps him drop the fly line into the water to help fulfill everyone’s ceremonial cast.

Unfortunately, the frustrating answer to this is that it depends on the characters. I like to recycle characters, if I can, so when I meet them during someone else’s story and learn their personality, their story takes shape easier. Only with my first story did I write the characters to match the plot, and even then, I knew the ones I’d written would follow it. After that, the plot has changed to match the characters. Now, some plots they fall into or plot points that happen along the way are often created based on things I’ve experience or witnessed. One of my most unconventional plots was when a scientifically-bent hero decided to treat his courtship like a science experiment. While it seems strange anyone would even connect the two, this idea actually came from my own husband who, when confronted about his every-changing personality during the early stages of our romance, informed me he was conducting an experiment! Blasted man was seeing my reaction to certain mannerisms to see which gained him better ground. This did NOT endear him to me, and was quickly ended. But it did give me a great plot idea for one of my most popular books, Her Sudden Groom, so it wasn’t all bad.

Yes, I want to thank you so much Christine for having me as your guest today. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to meet you and your readers.