What makes a hero unforgettable? The answer to that question is no doubt different for each of us. We all have a certain idea of what we’re looking for, and of course no one guy is going to have every quality we’re seeking. However, romance heroes have to be a step above. They have to transcend our every expectation. Nick Cappuano in Fatal Affair is the man. Tall, handsome, smooth, elegant, smart, sarcastic, neat (to a fault), sexy, thoughtful, persistent, and (this is very important in Washington) well connected. By the time we finished work on the book, my editor Jessica were both in love with him, and kinda fighting over him if the true be told. I adore him. I flat out love him. I want him for my very own (but please don’t tell my husband that!). Nick is the kind of character who becomes so real, so tangible, that I find it hard to believe he’s not really out there moving and shaking on Capitol Hill. I’ve spelled out some of Nick’s finer qualities above, but there’s another fine quality that reviewers have pointed out more than once: Nick is not afraid to apologize when he’s wrong….

Ever since romance novels first hit the market decades ago, they have always been the Rodney Dangerfield of fiction…as in “No respect.” Why is that, do you think? The same people who dismiss romance novels as ‘porn for women’ are the same people who will go to the movies to see films like Pretty Woman, a classic romance novel if ever there was one. And they don’t see the similarity between the movie they are raving about and the books they disparage. Well, I feel sorry for those people, because they are missing out on something wonderful. Some speculate that the reason romance is looked down upon by so many is because it is genre written by women for women. But I believe this is the very reason why it is so popular. Aside from those naysayers who would pooh-pooh our beloved genre, there is no denying that romance novels are a billion dollar business. And who does the bulk of purchasing in our country? Women. What do women want to read? Spy thrillers? Grisley murder mysteries or true crime? Maybe. Women tend to have varied tastes. I know I can curl up with a romantic Susan Meier Harlequin Romance…

Here I am, on a cruise ship sailing across the Atlantic without a bit of land anywhere in sight. That pretty much describes exactly where I was when I started to plot THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS – adrift without anywhere to place my hero. Usually we think of a hero – or heroine – as being firmly planted in a single place. Where would Arthur be without Camelot? D’Arcy must have his Pemberly in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, right? How could Harry Dresden live anywhere but Chicago in Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES? I, for one, refuse to imagine Sookie Stackhouse living anywhere but Louisiana. Now put yourself in my shoes. I knew THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS was going to be about Gareth Lowell. After all, he told me at the end of THE IRISH DEVIL that I had to write a book about him. I just nodded and said, yeah, right, mister, you’re maybe eighteen years old, you’ve got some growing up to do before you’ve got enough angst to be interesting… Boy, was I wrong! Gareth reminded me he was still waiting during three more books. He only kept his mouth shut during KISSES LIKE A DEVIL because that…

I’m a big fan of the teacher Socrates–you know, the Ancient Greek philosopher who had to drink poison hemlock because he drove everyone crazy through his constant questioning. Socrates never wrote anything, but his student, Plato, attributes these words to Socrates: Writing shares a strange feature with painting. The offsprings of painting stand there as if they were alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words. You’d think they were speaking as if they had some understanding, but if you question anything that has been said because you want to learn more, it continues to signify just that very same thing forever. Phaedrus 275 d-e The enduring value of a good book lies in the questions it raises rather than those it seeks to answer. Books contain ideas that act as seeds that can take root in a fertile mind. To Sell Without Selling Out On the road to publication, I’ve frequently asked myself if I should write what sells–give the people what they want–or should there be a higher purpose to my writing, a value that endures and engages the hearts and minds of my readers? Can I…

Last Saturday was our annual Boas and Tiaras Tea, and if you follow our musings you’ll know we posted a recap and link to Felicia’s blog about the event. I’ll wait if you need to go catch up. In the meantime, it was fun to reminisce about it. There are over 50 pictures you can check out on our Meetup.com page. We filled the room with readers, I got rid of a couple of boxes of books (ha!) and we meet old friends and new friends. But now, I’ve put away my tiara (gasp) until either next year or the next “big” event! We did miss several of our members and also has had people say, why didn’t you tell me about it? It’s hard to judge with the effectiveness of getting the word out, but we try really hard. SO I thought I’d tell YOU all now, next year’s big event, the Boas & Tiaras Tea will be held on Saturday, June 11th, 2011. It will be held somewhere with high tea, chocolate, scones and champagne! Promise! And no long walking in the heat (had to promise that after last year’s tea in the Arboretum, we’re precious flowers, ya…

Thank you, FreshFiction, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog! My 19th novel, The Lies We Told, is out this month and I thought you might enjoy a peek behind the scenes at how my significant other, photographer John Pagliuca, and I created the book trailer for it. Book trailers are hard to make. Movie trailers are easy (by comparison) because movies are visual and you can simply take carefully selected scenes from the film. You don’t have that luxury with books. It’s tempting in making a book trailer to try to interpret the story literally, using narrative either typed on the screen or in a voice over. She was beautiful and good hearted. (Cue image of beautiful, good-hearted woman). Until the night He appeared. (Image of scary looking but very handsome dude. With a couple of tattoos. Nice ones). On that night (Image of dark night, clouds drifting across a crescent moon) her young brother disappeared. (Image of young boy slowly fading to black). Okay, they’re not all that cheesy, but you get the idea. They’re a challenge to do well. I like my two previous trailers for Before the Storm and its sequel, Secrets She…

Young Dorothy wants to run away from home. Later, she’ll move heaven and earth to return home. Daniel won’t compromise his principles as an artist when he doesn’t like the way he’s directed to play a scene. When he’s later called to play an outrageous roll in order to be close to his children, he’ll perform in any way necessary. What happens to change the goals/outlooks/lives of these characters? An inciting incident. All good stories depend on an inciting incident to get them going. What distinguishes an inciting incident from other incidents in a story? The inciting incident, the event which jumpstarts the story and prompts protagonists to make lofty goals, is an event which will change a character’s life, his outlook on life or both. In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy wants to run away from home when a neighbor woman takes away Toto, her dog. Losing her pet is an “incident” in her life, but it isn’t a life changing incident. Landing in Oz is a major event, the inciting incident which is going to change everything about her outlook on life. In “Mrs. Doubtfire” Daniel gets fired from another acting job because he won’t follow the director’s…

A reading drought? Guilty! I never thought I would say that. I’ve been an avid reader all my life. On vacation, my suitcase hit the maximum weight limit due to the layer of books in the bottom. If I walk out the door, I have a book in my bag. Just in case, that line in the grocery is really long, or the dentist can’t see me quite yet, or . . . I haunt bookstores. Even when I was busy raising a family, I read, not only for myself but I read to my children, instilling a similar love in them. I started reading Golden books, Nancy Drew, children’s classics (I always wanted to go live with grandfather in the Alps, like Heidi, even though my lovely grandparents were firmly planted in Indiana and New York) and continued on into adulthood, with more grown up fare. Until recently. Oh, I still love reading good stories; I’m just not doing it much. I still love books, but I find it harder to get lost within their pages. For a proud bookaholic, that’s an embarrassing admission. I’ve been trying to figure out why the change, and what to do about it….

I was asked recently where I get my ideas for my books. Well, the short answer is: everywhere. The long answer is: I write the kind of books that I like to read, so I usually combine my favorite plot elements to create a fun/fast-paced story. For ROYAL CAPTIVE, I took one of my favorite islands, Cyprus, a handsome prince, a reformed jewel-thief, and tossed them together in an international heist. I like it when sparks fly between characters from the beginning. Makes my job as a writer so much easier. I really lucked out with this couple. Prince Istvan didn’t trust Lauryn as far as he could throw her. Once a thief, always a thief in his eyes. The second Valtria’s crown jewels disappeared, he was certain that she was to blame and went after her with a vengeance. I love writing these royal brothers. They are honorable, brave and would gladly give their lives for their country, family and the women they love. I even set up a special page on my web site for them, I never thought I would be partial to prince heroes, to be honest. Originally, I submitted an idea to my editor about…

When you write fiction as I do, you rely on your imagination to make the story come alive, creating a setting readers can visualize, characters people can root for, and a plot worthy of escape. But when you’re writing a series, you have yet another task—crafting characters that people want to follow from one book to the next. The creation of interesting characters is doubly important in my Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series because the books, themselves, use relationships as the hook. Sure, these women sew, but it’s the coming together as a group—and the friendships that are formed as a result of a common interest—that’s truly at the heart of these books. Think about it… Friendships tend to form over a common interest—similar aged children, a particular sport or hobby, or even a favorite cause. These interests provide a common ground that often supersedes a host of other differences (age, ethnicity, religion). It’s this common ground (sewing) that I use to bring nine unlikely souls together, thereby giving myself a more colorful palate from which to work. Let’s take a look… Tori Sinclair is the protagonist in my series. She’s in her late twenties, hails most recently from Chicago,…