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This
month please welcome author Brenda Novak a much loved romance author
for the Harlequin Superromance line who this month, for the first
time, has a Harlequin single title release called TAKING THE HEAT.
LH:
Brenda, welcome to The Romance Reader's Connection. For
our readers that are meeting you for the first time via this
interview, please tell us a little about yourself.
BN: I'm
basically a busy soccer mom who loves to read and write. I
have five children, ranging in age from 16 - 6. They keep me busy and
are the joy of my life. They're
pretty supportive, too. They
take my books to school to give their teachers, and help me do
postcard mailings when I have a new book come out. They're
like a little promotion army.
LH: You've
written many Harlequin Superromances especially in the "Nine
Months Later" series. This series leans towards the home,
hearth and family scenario. Are
you partial to writing this type of storyline or do you prefer
mainstream stories or historical settings such as you did in OF NOBLE
BIRTH?
BN:
I really like writing Supers. They're bigger than the other
category lines, which allow me a larger canvas, and my editor at
Harlequin is very good at what she does and is a dream to work with. But
I'm thrilled to be writing single titles at the same time. This medium allows me an even bigger canvas where I can really
open up and let it all go. I
can do things that are edgier, grittier, more intricate and generally
more suspenseful. I
really like historicals. But
publishers tend to buy the same thing over and over again with
historicals, which means there's more variety in contemporaries. I
would have to say that, right now, they are my first love.
LH:
Your new release, TAKING THE HEAT has an opening scene that is very
graphic; and the reader gets a real feel for the prison lifestyle. Did
you use your imagination on this scene or is it a result of research?
BN:
The opening scene comes directly from my imagination, but I did
take a tour of the Old Territorial Prison in Florence, Arizona, where
this book is set. The
people who showed me around down there were very helpful and
accommodating, and gave me a tour of Death Row, the Pauper's graveyard
(where those without friends or family are buried,) and the old-style
cellblocks where many movies have been filmed. The
prison is an amazing place. We
had to wear eye guards to protect against having one of the prisoners
shoot pins or other sharp objects at us (like with a homemade
blow-dart). I guess they try to infect the officers and guests in the
prison with HIV and other communicable diseases in this way. The
warden also showed me a display of the homemade weapons some prisoners
have made. One of particular interest was a rope made out of toilet
paper--amazing how sturdy it was! My
mother's best friends' daughter was murdered by her husband not long
ago, and he was sitting on death row when I went through. It felt very odd to *know* someone in that circumstance and
was, of course, very sad. He'd
taken a life and thrown his away, too, and he'd started out as a
pretty decent guy.
The
officer who showed me through the prison read the manuscript for
TAKING THE HEAT after I'd complete it, to double-check my research,
and gave me one of the best compliments I'd ever received. He
called me the day he opened my manuscript to tell me he couldn't put
it down. He said it was
one of the best books he'd ever read (and I *know* he's not a romance
reader--LOL).
LH:
In TAKING THE HEAT the heroine has an occupation not often written
about, that of a prison guard. What made you select this profession?
BN:
A friend of mind spent a weekend in prison not too long ago. He was a husband and father of five kids and an upstanding
citizen in the community (owns his own mortgage company). But there was a mix-up involving his brother and he was
charged with tampering with a federal witness when he tried to resolve
the issue. His telling of
his time in prison evoked the idea for this novel--that and a trip to
Arizona. While we were driving through the barren desert all the
details became clear to me. I also liked the contrast involved in a
prison guard vs. prisoner story. I
typically like to explore dramatic issues and moral dilemmas, such as
the heroine's dilemma between justice and mercy and whether or not to
trust her own instincts on the matter.
LH:
When the hero and heroine met, he had already been in prison for a
while yet you managed not to harden his character. Was this an easy
writing accomplishment?
BN: The
hero needed to be tough enough to be realistic, considering what he'd
suffered. Yet he needed
to have a soft heart beneath his crusty exterior to deserve the
heroine and make the reader fall in love with him. I think this was definitely a balancing act but part of what
made this story so much fun to write. It
was a bit like, "How would someone feel if..."
LH: You
will be giving readers a sequel, TAKING A RISK, shortly. Can you share with us when and where we will be able to read
this story; and can you tell us if the storyline includes characters
from TAKING THE HEAT?
BN:
TAKING A RISK is a month-long on-line serial that will be
posted (for free!) at eharlequin.com beginning February 24th. I
loved writing this serial because it gave me a chance to revisit the
secondary characters and spin their story.
LH:
When visiting your website, I notice that you encourage non-published
authors to email you. Can you share with us when you made the decision to become a
writer; and how long did it take to sell your first book?
BN:
I encourage everyone to e-mail me! I
love to hear from readers and writers alike. I
decided to become a writer when I caught my daycare provider drugging
my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I
was working as a loan officer. Once
I found the medicine in my baby's bottle, other things came to mind,
and the woman finally confessed. But
after that, I couldn't work. I
felt so guilty for not protecting my children more diligently. At the same time, my husband's housing development business
was failing, and we were losing our house and everything else. It
was a horrible time, a time of a lot of soul-searching. I
eventually decided that I needed to work out of the home because I
couldn't trust anyone with my children. Nothing
was worth risking them again. That's
when I decided to try my hand at writing. Of
course, it wasn't the quick fix I wanted it to be. My husband had to work out of his own financial troubles (and
has since started a much more successful Dish satellite
dealership--thank goodness), but after five years spent researching
and writing my first book, I finally sold OF NOBLE BIRTH to
HarperCollins. Fortunately, I sold a manuscript to Harlequin Superromance
right after that because I was orphaned at Harper when they purchased
Avon (before my book was ever released). Avon
didn't pick up my next manuscript, but Harlequin has bought everything
I've written since then, including thirteen Superromances, three
single titles and a novella.
LH:
What words of encouragement would you like to share with our readers
that have the writing bug?
BN: I've distilled this
down into its simplest form, just one word: believe!
LH:
You're giving away a free trip to readers that visit your website and
register.(http://www.brendanovak.com) What
a great idea. What made you decide to offer a getaway? When is the
drawing and how will the winners be notified?
BN:
I decided to do something special for TAKING THE HEAT because
my publisher likes it so well. For
the first time, they were willing to pay for advertising, etc., so I
wanted to do my part on the promotion end as well. The
drawing for the free trip to Europe (for two!) will be held on March
1, 2003, a month after TAKING THE HEAT is released. Now
I need to think of a cool contest to follow up with... Any ideas?
<G>
LH:
Not at this point, but I'm sure readers enjoying this interview will
come up with something very shortly. <G> What else can we
expect from Brenda Novak this year?
BN:
This is going to be a good year for me as far as releases go. I
have four books coming out over the next twelve-month period.
TAKING THE HEAT comes out in two weeks (February 1st), A HUSBAND OF
HER OWN, a Harlequin Superromance that follows A BABY OF HER OWN
(which was released last September) will be out in May.
SANCTUARY, the second book of a Superromance mini-series called The
Birth Place, will be out in October. And A FAMILY OF HER OWN,
which, of course, follows A HUSBAND OF HER OWN, will be out in January
2004. I've been busy but enjoying every minute of it.
LH:
Brenda, we are so happy to have you as one of our Authors Of The
Month. we are honored that you took the time to visit with us.
BN:
Thanks so much for including me on your site! I appreciate your
support.
(Click
here for a review of DEAR MAGGIE)
(Click
here for a review of TAKING THE HEAT)
(Click
here for a review of WE SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS)
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