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This month the Romance Readers Connection
welcomes Beverly Barton as our Author of The Month. Ms. Barton,
well known among Silhouette Desire and Silhouette Intimate
Moments readers, has won numerous awards and recently branched
out writing a mainstream romantic suspense for Zebra titled,
AFTER DARK. Next month, Silhouette will release her first single
title in The Protectors series, SWEET CAROLINE’S KEEPER.
LH: It’s
obvious you love writing about "bad boys" like,
Gabriel Hawk, the big tough agent, meets Ms Goody Two Shoes, the
preacher’s daughter in GABRIEL HAWK’S LADY. Also
"tortured heroes" like Britt Cameron in CAMERON. What’s
the appeal? Do you like reforming these types of guys?
BB: Answering the last
question first—oh, yes, I love reforming these types. As much
as I love uncomplicated good guys in real life, I find these men
BORING in fiction novels. If a man is already perfect husband
material, then where’s the challenge for the heroine? Where’s
the conflict and tension? And if neither the hero nor heroine
has any problems, any personal emotional "baggage"
from the past, then I think they aren’t three-dimensional,
well-rounded characters. They will come off as cardboard cutouts
and not "real people."
As many of my readers already know, my favorite fairy tale
is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Ever since I was a very young girl, I’ve
been fascinated by the scenario that love can tame the most
horrific beast.
LH : A few of your books have
paranormal elements (THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN and THE OUTCAST). Did
you have any doubt about how they would come across to your
readers? What made you decide to write about special
powers?
BB : Being totally honest, I
didn’t even think about the readers when I included paranormal
elements into any of my books—THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN, THE OUTCAST
and GUARDING JEANNIE. The paranormal elements were simply what
the characters and the story called for as I was plotting and
writing each book. But I must say that my wonderful readers
seemed to love the touch of supernatural and some have even
asked for more books that include paranormal elements. And yes—before
anyone asks—I’m sure I will write another book with a
paranormal element sometime in the next few years. As to what
made me decide to write about special powers—I didn’t
actually sit down one day and say, "I think I’ll write a
book about a couple who fulfill an ancient prophecy and in doing
so are briefly (during lovemaking) possessed by the souls of two
ancient lovers. The same holds true for a heroine with powerful
psychic abilities that overwhelm her to the extent that she must
live away from civilization in a mountain cabin and for a
heroine who is cursed with empathic abilities that allow her to
temporarily remove pain from others by experiencing it herself.
These marvelous characters simply "came to me" and
their stories had to be told. If in the future another hero or
heroine with special powers or an element of the supernatural
"comes to me," then I’ll write that book and hope a
publisher wants to give it to my readers.
LH : Now that you’ve started
writing mainstream, do you plan to stop writing categories?
BB: Absolutely not! At least
not any time in the foreseeable future. I love writing for
Silhouette –both Desires and Intimate Moments. And I still
have quite a few Dundee agents who desperately need to find
love, so I’m hoping to write many more The Protectors books.
Of course, now that I’ve written a single title The Protectors
book—SWEET CAROLINE'S KEEPER (June 2001) and am contracted to
write a second—I’m hoping more of these will be planned for
the future, too.
LH : I’ve heard readers
comment on your "sensual" style of writing. How do you
come up with these scenes? Does your family read your stories
and if they do, how do they react to your love scenes?
BB : Asking me how I come up
with "sensual" scenes in my books is like asking me to
explain how I breathe. Writing explicit sex scenes comes as
naturally to me as every other aspect of my writing—characterization,
plotting, pacing, etc. I’m a born storyteller and a born
romantic. I’m a writer who writes from the heart, from the
gut; and to me, sex is a fabulous thing between a man and a
woman, especially when, as a romance writer, I can create
characters who bond not only physically, but also emotionally
and spiritually. I believe sex is a beautiful, natural
experience to be celebrated as a normal part of being in love.
My daughter and daughter-in-law are avid readers and love my
books—they’re two of my biggest fans. My father reads my
books and has no problem with the explicit sex scenes. My
husband, son and son-in-law are not readers and don’t read my
books or any books or magazines that don’t relate to cars,
sports, etc. But my husband has received his share of
"comments" from friends and acquaintances about his
wife’s "hot" love stories and my "strong,
silent" hubby just smiles at them.
LH : All authors are asked
this question. Which book is your favorite, and why?
BB : I honestly don’t have a
favorite book. I love all the books I’ve written (forty in all—WHITELAW’S
WEDDING is the 37th, with three more due out in 2001) and each
is special in its own way. I do have three heroes who are
extra-special to me—three with whom I fell madly in love. Sam
Dundee who has appeared in almost all of my Intimate Moments and
had his own book, GUARDING JEANNIE; David Wolfe, the hero of my
upcoming The Protectors: Sweet Caroline’s Keeper single title
for Silhouette; and Johnny Mack Cahill, the hero of my first
single title for Kensington/Zebra.
LH : You said The Protector’s
series actually began with THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN? However, I
recall one of your Desires, YANKEE LOVER leading into this
series. Am I right about this?
BB : Yes, in a way you are
right about this. In my very first published novel, Silhouette
Desire # 580, YANKEE LOVER, the hero, John Mason, had a friend
in Florida named Nate Hodges. Nate was introduced in the last
chapter of this book and later I began thinking a great deal
about this "hunk," who was a Vietnam vet. Nate
became my first ethnic hero. In THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN, my first
Intimate Moments, Nate hired the heroine a bodyguard named Sam
Dundee, thus the beginning of the Dundee agency, which made this
first IM a forerunner of my The Protectors series.
LH : Your backlist on your
website contains this book: FLOWER GIRLS Anthology St. Martin's
10/96. This was the first I heard of this book. Can you tell me
a bit more about it?
BB : FLOWER GIRLS is actually
the title of an anthology that I did for St. Martins with Janet
Dailey, Margaret Brownley and Ruth Jean Dale. My novella was
entitled TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH. This is the only book I’ve
had published under my legal name, Beverly Beaver. My story was
about the divorced parents of a six-year-old daughter who are
forced to live together temporarily when their child is injured
in an accident. While living under the same roof and acting as a
united front to help their child, the two realize they’ve
never stopped loving each other and that they allowed youthful
insecurities and family interference tear them apart years ago.
Naturally, in the end, the two remarry and live happily ever
after—after learning the true meaning of the words "to
love and to cherish."
LH: You’ve written several
cross series for Silhouette, i.e. IN THE ARMS OF A HERO
(Fortunes of Texas), NINE MONTHS (36 Hours), and HIS SECRET
WEAPON (A Year of Loving Dangerously). Have you enjoyed
participating in these? How difficult have you found it to be to
be given a plot and take the story from there?
BB : I’ve participated in
the three you mentioned and will be writing an anthology novella
and a book in the new continuity series for Silhouette called
the LONE STAR COUNTRY CLUB. Each continuity book was a different
experience. Although in the end, I was glad I participated in
all three, my favorite writing experience doing this type of
project came with writing IN THE ARMS OF A HERO (Fortunes of
Texas) because they gave me a mercenary/bodyguard hero and it
was so easy for me to make him "my own" and take the
plot and give it the "Beverly Barton" touch. I did
more research for HIS SECRET WEAPON (A Year of Loving
Dangerously) than I’ve ever done for any IM simply because the
book was set in London with a hero and heroine who were both
half English. I do prefer to come up with my own plot and
characters, but I find it interesting and challenging to write a
continuity book. Despite being given the basic plot and
background information about the hero and heroine, I’ve always
been able to take what I was given and develop the characters
into my kind of hero and heroine as well as to expand and
develop the plot enough to put my own stamp on the book.
Difficult—yes. Rewarding—yes.
LH : In your Desire, THE
WANDERER, the main hero had a brother and an ex-wife with a
sister that was very interesting. Did you ever write the
brother and sister-in-law's story? If not do you plan to?
BB : No, I didn’t write this
story, but I did have an idea for it at one time, which I put
away in my files. At present I have no plans for the brother’s
story. I think it’s probably been too many years since THE
WANDERER was released to go back and try to revive those
characters.
LH:
We could go on with this discussion for hours! You have created
a number of fascinating heroines and heroes and for you readers
that are just jumping aboard the Barton train, she has a listing
of her previous books at her website. In addition,
two of Beverly Barton's fans have read all her books and below they have listed the sequence of the connected books.
Thank you Beverly for visiting TRRC and
we anxiously await your upcoming releases.
(Click
here for a review of WHITELAW'S WEDDING)
(Click here for a
review of NAVAJO'S WOMAN)
(Click here for a review of SWEET CAROLINE'S KEEPER)
Beverly's Backlist
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