About Your Books:
1) Which book, of your own, is your favorite?
I think it's always the one I'm currently working on- this time it's the second book in my WW2 series.
2) What are you currently working on now?
Well, it WAS titled Super Natural Spies but that's been changed. Not sure what its new title will be. This series is set in Sept – Nov, 1940 in a small village in SE England- right in the path of the planned invasion. The Germans have dropped a number of vampire spies, and certain inhabitants- the Others (ones with paranormal abilities)- are searching them out and destroying them...
The main characters in this book are Gloria Prewett- the local district nurse who's also a werefox- and Andrew Barron, the administrator of a munitions plant nearby.
3) What do your friends and family think about you writing stories involving vampires?
To my sons (all long grown) it's just another wild thing their nutty mother does. The dh is bemused but proud.
About Writing:
1) What book do you suggest for aspiring authors to craft their own vampire novels?
Are we talking fiction here?
Top of my list would be Chelsea Quinn, Yarbro's vamp series (any of them), St Germaine, Olivia Clemens or Madeleine de Montalia.
After that, and in no particular order- Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, Tanya Huff's Blood series <g> Maggie Shayne's Wings in the Night trilogy and all the sequels, and Susan Sizemore's Laws of he Blood.
Non-Fiction:
Stephen King's On Writing, Dwight Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer.
2) What advice would you like to have known before you become a published author?
Not sure. I think starting out blind the way I did, worked for me. If I'd known how hard it would be to sell, I'd never have stared, and missed the best fun I've ever known.
But that said, I do think writers need to educate themselves as to how this business works.
3) Do you agree that Paranormal Romance is a hot genre
right now? If yes, why do you think it's popular now?
I think the NY publishers finally cottoned on to what readers enjoy.
About Kiss Me Forever
1) How many changes, if any, did you have to make from your original storyline to the finished product, after the publisher, editor, etc got involved?
For the initial, small press publication KMF (then Walk in Moonlight) I had to cut 20K - it was originally 120K; after that I had only light editing and mostly line editing. No major plot or character changes.
2) I am curious about the quotes on covers of books
with endorsements. Your "Kiss me Forever" book cover
has the following quote from Christine Feehan "Absolutely fascinating!" Although I agree with her
and I love Christine Feehan's work, she is not part of
the Vampire Vixen group of Vampire authors.
Not now, but when JC Wilder and I first set up the Vamp Vixens Chris Feehan was one of them - so was Sheri Kenyon. Over the years, people have left and new ones joined as careers took different paths.
As for Chris's quote... there's a lovely story there.
I'd met her briefly at a conference, but that as all.. then after Walk in Moonlight first came out, she emailed me. Seems the people on her Yahoo list had been talking about WIM; she had tried to get a copy and couldn't (it was small press and Walden’s seemed to be only place that carried it) and asked if I had a spare one- and of course I sent her one.
She then sent me a lovely e-mail saying how much she enjoyed it. I was speechless- or close to it :-) But when the second book The Rapture in Moonlight (now Love me Forever) was due out, I asked Chris for a quote. I think the publishers have used it ever since.
This leads me to the question, do you have any control over quotes?
Not really. Either the editor gets them, or you send them in and editors use them at their discretion.
3) What's the feedback, from your readers, in regards to their favorite vampire? Kit, Justin or Tom?
I've never noticed a preference.
>From MarieWP: Your vampires, Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, are based on real people. Who is Justin Corvus based on?
He's a figment of my imagination. :-) As actually are almost all my characters.
>From Jessie: This is the first time I have read vampire fiction with the vampires being weakest on their mortal death date. That is a great addition to
vampire lore; how did you come up with that?
For the story, I needed a time when he was weakened, and knowing he'd died in May- it worked out perfectly.
>From beyond hope: Two things that I noticed while
reading your book that were interesting were the
concept of "native soil" and the ability to have
vampires roaming around in the daylight. Were these
your original ideas or do they stem from other vampire lore?
I took both from Bram Stoker - adapting the soil to under their feet when they were awake rather than resting.
>From Born2RazeHell: What was the first thing that got
you interested in this genre?
To be honest - writing it. When I started KIM/WIM, the hero wasn't a vampire- I discovered that about chapter three or four... had to do a bit of rewriting.
From strangelogic: What inspired you to cast
Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, two 15th century
playwrights, as vampires in your story?
>From MmsmcMillen: What research did you do and what
drew you to Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd to use
them as vampires?
I'm answering these two together as they sort of overlap.
First: I've always been fascinated about Marlowe- since I was a teenager in Mother Mary Phillip's English class more decades ago that I'd openly admit it <g> His career as a spy, his brilliance as a poet and playwright, and his tragic- and definitely odd- death at an early age are themselves the stuff of fiction.
When I realized my hero in the then WIM was a vampire, Kit Marlowe seemed the obvious choice. Given that scholars have often puzzled over the conflicts between the evidence given the coroner and the report on the body, I had my hero Justin change him and they switched Marlowe's body and that was that :-)
Bringing Tom seemed only logical. They had known each other- even shared lodgings a tone period. And Tom was arrested and tortured- some historians believe he was mistaken for Marlowe. That of course we will never know. He died some months afterwards, never regaining his health from being racked.
As for research, I did a fair bit- including going to see The Jew of Malta one summer when I was home. As prominent playwrights of their period, there's a lot written on them, and all sorts of theories. I just added to them with a fictional twist :-)
>From SourGirl: Hello Rosemary. Thank you soo much for
taking time to answer our questions. My question
is...What inspired you to write Kiss Me Forever?
It was the sixth book I wrote... I was trying to sell. This one sold.
>From nessalyn: Why did you decide to write books about
the very popular vampire genre?
As I mentioned to Born2RazeHell - the vampires found me!
>From bettyboop73: I was wondering why it was so
important that Dixie had to die before she was turned
into a vampire?
I put that in to make life hard for her. I do so enjoy torturing my characters. <g> When I wrote WIM/ LMF, it was just a stand-alone...not a series... and no sequels planned- then.
That little detail had made things more difficult for me in the later books. There are, after all, a limited number of ways healthy young women die in this day and age.
From MrsHenryFitzroy: Who's your favorite Vampire -- Kit,
Justin or Tom and why.
LOL! That's like trying to pick between your children. I love them all!
>From Boomer: I'm curious about your choice of Dixie as
a Southerner. Hailing from the South myself (North Carolina), I was wondering if you have ties to the Southern U.S. or were you aiming to instill in her character a bit of that "fire" that we Southern women are known for?
Booker. I'm a Brit; I married a man from SC. Lived in NC for six years, then VA for twenty. I sort of felt comfortable in Dixie's skin. Also at the beginning, before I found out Kit was a vamp, I planned on playing up the cultural rift and making that their conflict. Still is of course, but the vampire bit really upped things.
>From Sylvie: Hi Rosemary! Thanks so much for taking
the time to answer our questions! My question to you
is: Your vampires tend to avoid mirrors because
mirrors reflect a vampire's entire life - every loss,
every mistake, etc. How did you come up with this
great variation on the vampire mirror mythos?
Seemed like a good idea a the time :-) My feeling is vampires are so strong they could take over the world, so they need a few snags to hamper them.
>From Catlady: There are two kinds of vampire stories
for me, the ones where the vampire is a monster,
hunted and sometimes slayed and the ones where the
vampire is a complex but sexy character. Why did you
choose the latter?
With this series, it happened that way. Now with the new series that's I'm currently working on the vamps are the villains- German Spies.
And, according to you, what makes vampires so appealing to girls?
Several things. The lure of the forbidden- you know that no matter how desperate your mother might be for you to get married, she does NOT want you to bring a vampire home for Sunday lunch.
The ultimate dark and dangerous heroes- after all they could kill you as easily as kiss you. The appeal of strength and power. Remember Kissinger's line about power being the greatest aphrodisiac?
>From Scotialynn: Thank you so much fro taking the time to quench our curiosity! My question is how/where did you come up with the term revenant for your vampires?
A revenant is someone who returns from the dead- sort of seemed to fit them. I can't claim it as mine- I've seen other writers use it.
>From DreamVision: Thank you for agreeing to answer our
burning questions Rosemary! My question is this: What
is your favorite vampire book, outside of your own books?
Hard one this... I'd say it's a toss up between Yarbro's Blood Games and her Darker Jewels.
>From Rosemary: Thank you for taking the time to answer
our questions. I was wondering if any specific authors
inspired you to become a writer and if so, which ones?
Not really. I was one of those manic readers as a child reading anything and everything I could lay my hands on. I've become a little more selective these days but still read a lot of fiction.
As for 'inspiration' to start writing… well to tell the truth here… I started writing when my three sons were all in college, thinking it might be a way to make some extra money-didn’t quite work that way! By the time I sold, all had finished undergrad, one was out of grad school and gainfully employed, and the other two -- one was in Law School and the other just finishing off his PhD! It took me a long time to sell.
>From freg: Hi Rosemary. Thanks for taking the time to
come play with us. I have read KMF and am nearly done
with LMF. As others have said, I love the concept on
mirrors and native soil. It fascinates me how there
are so many variations on the vampire myth. I dig Kit,
the eye patch heh.. sexy.. and Justin.. could you give
me some more details on their appearances?
There's picture of Marlowe -before he lost his eye of course- at: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/marlowe.htm or http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc24.html
I don't think there are extant portraits of Tom Kyd, and as for Justin... I see him as tall, and dark haired- and of course a Roman nose!
Are there any people that might resemble them? I have lived both
in the US and Canada and tend to have a twang when I
say Apple (Ohio) but end everything in a questioning
'eh (Toronto). Dialog vastly differs in the UK and the
US when it comes to slang. Did you find it hard to
keep the character dialog reflecting their background?
Not 'hard' but it's something I go over with a fine tooth comb when I'm rewriting - and will add I've had more than one battle with a line editor over word and idiom choice. Should add in the current series there's an added snag- I have to be careful not to include words and expression that are more modern. Wouldn't go to have people in 1940 saying 'rad' or ‘groovy’ or referring to a film or radio program or product that didn't exist then.
Visit www.brytewood.co.uk to learn about my new series and enter the contest.
Coming in September: The Morgue the Merrier with Karen Kelley and Dianne Castell
Visit www.rosemarylaurey.com for excerpts and goodies. |
