Ann Lawrence

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Livia Holton & Tracy Farnsworth 

Livia - Many of our readers are being introduced to Ann Lawrence for the very first time.  For this reason, we'd like to ask you to tell us something about yourself.

Ann - Thank you for this opportunity to share my books with your readers.  First, I've an avid reader.  Along with romance, I love to read SF, mystery, and . . . well, just about anything.  If I'm trapped somewhere without a book, I'll read the back of a cereal box :).

I was born in England to a pair of reading addicts.  Our house was always filled with books and the weekly trip to the library was the highlight of my week.  I came to the USA when I was a tot and lived in the Philadelphia suburbs where I still live today.  I also spend a lot of time in Ocean City, New Jersey, the real world setting for my virtual romances.

My dad was born and raised in Portsmouth, England, and I've used that part of England in my last two historical romances.  My dad also loved to draw treasure maps for my kids and I had him draw one for VIRTUAL DESIRE.  So my family gets into my stories, one way or the other!

I have a fabulous husband (he's endlessly patient with the craziness of the writer's life), a college-age son, and a teenage daughter.  I also have two Maine Coon cats.

Until recently, I spent much of my spare time doing the mom thing...driving my kids to their games and practices, band concerts, etc.  Now, with my son in college, I get to drive to college games, which are much farther away.  I'm also a nervous wreck teaching my daughter to drive herself to practices...my hair is now white, my nails bitten, my face frozen in a mask of fear...but that's another story all together.

Livia - Three of your books have the word "Virtual" in the title (VIRTUAL HEAVEN, VIRTUAL DESIRE, VIRTUAL WARRIOR.)  Who came up with the name for this series, and why this particularly story line?

Ann - Sorry, this answer's a little long...

The book titles came from a contest I entered.  These books were hard to classify when I tried to explain what they were about.  They're not really time-travels, but they have an element of that sub-genre because the heroine (or hero in VIRTUAL WARRIOR) is inadvertently sucked into a virtual reality game.  They're fantasies as well, but saying that scares people off sometimes, so I was mulling over how to convey the "virtual reality" idea for this contest and thought of the title of the game shop.

The game shop's name was Virtual Heaven.  I chose that because the heaven idea is that - everything you could possibly want or need will be there and my shop has every game, video, etc., you could possibly want.  So, to make a rambling, long story shorter...I used the game shop name for the title in this contest.  The editor who judged the contest bought the book and loved the title.  I wanted to change it, but she felt it easily gave the reader the idea that virtual reality was part of the tale.  After that, we kept the "virtual" word to let readers know the stories were all linked.  As to the story line...I love Celtic legends on which they are based.

Livia – LORD OF THE KEEP and LORD OF THE MIST were historical novels.  Subsequent books have been paranormal/fantasy.  Do you prefer one sub-genre to the other?  How do you handle research for each?

Ann - I really love both genres.  I probably have as many paranormal story ideas swimming around in my brain as historical ones.  I have a great love of history, but I'm also fascinated by legends and myths.  I based each of my "virtual" romances on Celtic legends.

There are similarities in the books whether they are historical or medieval.  Even in the virtual game books, the world is one of sword-toting fabulous men... well...Virtual Warrior's hero has never touched a sword and doesn't want to ...but he's got the same desire to fight for the good guys :) and defend the heroine as my other heroes.  He's a bit more beta, but I wanted to be true to a "regular" guy from our world (Ocean City, New Jersey to be specific!!) and how he would behave.  I thought about how he would not be familiar with blade weapons, etc., but as I was brainstorming, I realized I saw my son and his friends wielding a weapon of sorts every day...on the lacrosse field.  When you see how men use their lacrosse sticks and how the tactics of games resemble battle tactics in some ways, I thought I'd make the hero an athlete and a former lacrosse All-American.  That way, he had the defender mentality.  I also must say I liked the Little John character in the Robin Hood legends as much as Robin!

I do as much research for the paranormal books as the historical, just a different kind.  I do an incredible amount of reading.  One thing always leads to another.  Just worrying about when words came into being and can I comfortably use a word not really in use until 1537 in my 1217 book, takes a huge amount of time.  I read legends, Celtic and otherwise and different versions of the same one.  I like to use the bibliography in the back of a reference book to go a bit deeper into the times or history.  That said, I try not to overdose the reader with too much research.  It's a question of balance.  And that said, I also bow to my editor who makes her own decisions about what history she cuts out, what anachronistic words she wants in and so forth.

Livia - Where do you get your ideas for development of the virtual stories?

Ann - The idea for VIRTUAL HEAVEN came from watching my daughter play an interactive game on the Ocean City boardwalk.  The shop isn't there anymore, but at the time, they had a game where the child entered a booth and spectators could watch on a TV screen.  On the TV it looked like my daughter was underwater grabbing gold coins.  And swimming around her were sharks.  I really got into the game, yelling out warnings every time a shark got close to her...I thought, "Wow, what if she got sucked into that game?"  And the idea just came to me...what a great way to "time-travel."  Only instead of to a traditional time period, into a game.  But any game I'd want to be pulled into would have to have warriors and quests...and I used Celtic legends to fashion the game.

I also used my favorite places as settings.  Each place in my virtual romances exists.  I may have altered colors, but I've been to every place mentioned.  That's also true of my medieval stories...I used places I've visited and although all my castles are of my own creation, they have parts of real castles I love.

Tracy – Do you have any favorite authors?  Did any of your favorites shape your desire to become a writer?

Ann - This is really hard to answer.  I've hardly met a book I haven't liked :)  I'm an eclectic reader.  I started reading romance with Kathleen Woodiwiss's SHANNA.  I've read every Stephen King.  I love Jane Austen as much as Nora Roberts.  I especially love finding a new author.  I like the "out of the box" choices on ebooks as well.  I even spend my many car hours "reading" audio books.  I especially like classics for listening.  I just read THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and THE THREE MUSKETEERS that way.  Also, by necessity, much of my reading time is spent doing research, reading biographies of historical figures, books on medieval foods, hunting, etc.

I love Internet book buying because I can see a book review and immediately click and buy and find the story on my doorstep a few days later.  My TBR pile is embarrassingly high...it's a toppling tower!

Tracy – Is writing your full-time profession?

Ann - No, it isn't.  I don't write full-time because I teach.  I love my "day" job as much as my writing job.  Kids are great.  I love the enthusiasm they bring to learning often missing in adults.  I do the bulk of my writing in the summer.  However, I have to say that the best advice I would ever give any new author is to write every day.  I write everyday.  The pace is just slower, fewer pages or less words, when I'm working full-time.  I write for hours on end in the summer.  My family knows that if I'm not making eye-contact, I'm probably in 1200something or a virtual fantasy world and haven't heard a word they're saying!

Tracy – What can readers expect next from you?

Ann - Well, immediately next is VIRTUAL WARRIOR, my third in that series coming in mid-July.  This time, the hero is from our world and gets involved in the quest of the heroine, Ardra.  Both Neil and Ardra are secondary characters from VIRTUAL DESIRE, but you don't have to have read VIRTUAL DESIRE to enjoy VW.  The tale is all about choices and the bridge that love forms between different worlds.

In January, I'll have another medieval romance.  LORD OF THE HUNT is the story of Adrian de Marle, son of Durand de Marle from LORD OF THE MIST.  Adrian's all grown up in LORD OF THE HUNT.  He's been given a mission for his king--hunt for a traitor under the guise of suitor to one of England's most desirable heiresses.  While looking for the traitor and playing the suitor, he meets an unusual woman, the heroine--Joan.  Joan, a huntress, is the daughter of the castle's Master of the Hunt.  When Adrian falls in love with her his mission is jeopardized, his heart ensnared!

Joan embodies all the qualities of Adrian's favorite Roman goddess, Diana.  Joan has an almost magical affinity with the hunting hounds and an earthy sensuality that calls to him on every level.

One of the things I've enjoyed doing in my historical novels is departing a bit from the usual lord of the manor/lady of the manor idea.  Each of my heroines is from the humble walks of life and are women who, under ordinary circumstances, could never aspire to wed the lord of the manor.  In LORD OF THE KEEP, the heroine is a weaver.  In LORD OF THE MIST, the heroine works with flowers and herbs, (she is not a healer though...she makes soap, potpourri, perfumes, love potions for the ladies of the manor), and finally in LORD OF THE HUNT, the heroine is a huntress.

Livia & Tracy - Thanks so much for your time.  If there is anything else you would like to mention, please do not hesitate!

Ann - Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my work and myself with your readers.  I hope readers who are unfamiliar with me or my books will visit my website:  http://www.annlawrence.com

They can read excerpts of my stories there.  They can also see a great picture of my family drawn by my daughter!  The kids are a bit taller now, but it's a surprisingly accurate look at us all!

Readers can write to me at annlawrence@pobox.com, and I always have bookmarks, postcards, and autographed bookplates available for my books.

(Click for a review of VIRTUAL WARRIOR)

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