Ingrid Weaver

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Military men are the hot new heroes of romantic fiction in these turbulent times. Ingrid Weaver's Eagle Squadron series for Silhouette Intimate Moments features an elite Army Special Forces unit which just happens to be made up of some of the hottest men to hit fiction since Suzanne Brockmann introduced her Navy SEALs.  Being an Army wife, I'm thrilled to see these soldiers in print.  Current events have brought our Armed Forces to the forefront of our national consciousness, and made military stories more timely and topical than ever before.  Recently, I dragged Ingrid away from her typewriter and television to ask her a few questions about writing in general and Eagle Squadron in particular.

Mellanie:  Please tell a little about yourself, your interests and hobbies, and how your writing led to publication.

Ingrid:    I live in southern Ontario with my husband and one of our sons.  When I'm not busy writing, I garden (all organic!) or knit ridiculously complicated sweaters.  Music is a big part of my life - I play the piano and enjoy listening to everything from Harry Connick Jr. to Metallica.  It isn't exactly life in the fast lane out here, it's more like a sight-seeing stroll along the shoulder of the road.

My dream of writing began with my love of reading and likely a good amount of innate laziness - once my youngest child started school, I thought it would be great to have a career that would allow me to work from home.  After all, I had a degree in English literature, I knew what I liked to read, so how hard could it be?  Hah.  I'm grateful now that I didn't know the answer to that question.  I wore out three manual typewriters and wrote eight complete manuscripts that were rejected before I sold my first book.

Mellanie:  What was it like when you got your first acceptance letter?  Did you do anything special or unusual to celebrate?

Ingrid:  That's one memory that is etched in my brain.  It was July '93 and we had just returned home from a holiday at our cottage up north - six hours in the car with three kids, a budgie [a small Australian parrot](in a cage!) and no air conditioning.  I was chugging a can of Sprite and staring at the bags that were strewn all over the hallway, trying to muster the energy to start on the mountain of laundry when the phone rang.  Silhouette Books wanted to buy TRUE BLUE.  Inside, I'm screaming and doing a wild victory dance around the laundry, but being a typical Canuck with the added curse of Nordic ancestors I said something restrained like, "Oh, that's nice.  Thank you."  The family didn't realize I was talking to an editor in New York until I got off the phone and started high-fiving everyone.

We didn't do anything special to celebrate that sale, but we did celebrate when I won a RITA Award for Best Romantic Suspense for ON THE WAY TO A WEDDING.  My husband met me at the airport with flowers and had champagne and chocolate waiting at home.

Mellanie:    I know that you're a cat lover, and have included cats in at least one of your other books.  Tell about your pets.  Will we see animals in your future books?

Ingrid:  Actually, I started out as a dog lover.  I was won over when we moved out here to the farm two years ago and I discovered a litter of orphaned kittens in our hayloft.  They were wobbly, starving little balls of fur so naturally it was love at first sight.  I found homes for two of them and kept the other pair.  Tom, the feistiest, wandered off last year but Junior still considers this his home.  We also have a dainty black female named Spot (adopted from the local animal shelter) who prowls the house for mice at night and is my writing buddy during the day.  Our budgie does a great job mimicking her meow - it drives her crazy.

I do include animals in my stories occasionally because they're usually excellent judges of character and they have a good random-mischief factor.  I'm often tempted to put more animals in my books, but they present the same kind of plotting challenges as children.  Just like in real life, someone always has to be there to take care of them.

Mellanie:  In another of your books, you had a heroine who could not have children.    Was there any special inspiration for that plot point?

Ingrid:  In FUGITIVE HEARTS, Dana's inability to have children was an integral part of the plot.  It gave her decision to be a children's author a degree of poignancy and illustrated the strength of her character in accepting and dealing with her loss.  I tend to give many of my characters similar problems, something major that can't be magically corrected by the end of the book.  To me, this makes them more human and easier to identify with, since most of us must deal with some degree of handicap in our lives.

Mellanie:  What led you to write military stories?  Do you have a military background?  What special challenges have you found, writing about the Eagle Squadron?

Ingrid:  Most of my heroes were connected to law enforcement until I created ex navy SEAL Quinn Keelor for WHAT THE BABY KNEW.  For that book, I wanted a hero who was tougher than a cop and it appeared that a SEAL would be a good choice.  It was while I was doing research for that book that I learned about the elite soldiers of the army's Special Forces.  I thought, "Whoa, these guys are amazing!  Why hasn't anyone written about them?"  That's what inspired me to do a series around the secretive hostage rescue teams of Delta Force.

I don't have a military background, so I relied on research in order to include authentic details in the "Eagle Squadron" stories.  Of course, in reality, there would be little opportunity for romance during the life-and-death scenario of an actual military mission, so I had to take some artistic liberties when it came to plotting the books.  Still, I discovered that the seven Army Values were tailor-made to the character of a hero: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal courage (forming the acronym LDRSHIP - this was on the Fort Bragg website.)  I tried to ensure the heroes of all three books reflected these values. 

Mellanie:  How are current events affecting your writing?

Ingrid:  A person would have to live in a cave not to be affected by the current events.  The war in Iraq is a jarring reminder of how fragile life is, and how vulnerable our civilization is.  In particular, now that my recent books have made me more familiar with the military, I feel more connected with the images I see on the news.  I'm finding it extremely difficult to shut out the news and focus on my work.

Mellanie:  In your two Eagle Squadron books, you've used fictitious locations.  How did you come to that decision?  Did that free your imagination?

Ingrid:  Using fictitious locations definitely frees the imagination.  It allows a writer to concentrate on the story and shape the setting to fit the narrative rather than the other way around.

Mellanie:  Now, I could be wrong, but the Flynn on the cover of SEVEN DAYS TO FOREVER doesn't look like the Flynn I picture in my head (who looks more like Mel Gibson, to me, based on your description).  Who was your inspiration for Flynn?  Do you picture particular people in your head as you're writing, to keep your characters "real", or are they a little more nebulous than that? 

Ingrid:  Ah, the mysteries of cover art.  With Silhouette, while writers can make suggestions, the art department makes the final decision so the cover often differs from what's inside the book.  But I seldom picture a specific face when I create a character - I "see" the character's inner self more than the outer.  And I recognize them through how they behave, how they interact with the other characters in the book and how they make me feel.  It's similar to how we picture people we're close to, like the members of our family.  We don't catalogue their features or their coloring each time we think of them - we've internalized them to the point that we simply see the essence of the person.

Mellanie:  Eagle Squadron was originally intended to be a trilogy.  Any chance the series will be extended?  Would that interest you, or do you think you'll want to veer off in yet another direction?

Ingrid:  “Eagle Squadron" is indeed a trilogy.  The third book, AIM FOR THE HEART, will be on sale November 2003 and features Captain Sarah Fox, the honorary female member of the team.  I especially enjoyed doing Sarah's story, since she's such an intelligent, take-charge woman - it was great to show that a heroine could be feminine and still kick butt.

As far as different directions, I've already taken a detour.  My next book, which will be out in April 2004, is part of the "Family Secrets" continuity series from Silhouette.  THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY is about Gideon Falkner, a genetically engineered genius who is kidnapped as a child and raised to be a criminal mastermind.  The book is structured around a mystery/suspense storyline, but it's also a very emotional story, dealing with the hero's journey toward self-discovery and redemption.  Because of Gideon's ongoing inner battle between good and evil, he was a fascinating (and challenging!) character to write.

Mellanie:  What goals do you have for your writing future?  What stories are you still bursting to tell?

Ingrid:  I love writing romantic suspense, whatever the setting or the characters, but I also enjoyed the paranormal stories I wrote for Berkley/Jove.  I think it's important to approach each new project with the same excitement as the first.

Mellanie:  What character or book do you wish you had written?

Ingrid:  Oh, that's an interesting question.  There is a particular scene from one of Laura Kinsale's books that I wish I had written.  Because of a stroke, the hero can't express himself verbally so he picks up kittens and gently puts them on the heroine's hair and shoulders to demonstrate his tender feelings toward her.  I love that scene!

Mellanie:  Regarding your writing career, what character or book are you most proud of, so far?

INGRID:    One book springs to mind: THE WOLF AND THE WOMAN'S TOUCH.  I wrote it during a difficult time in my life and because of that I poured a tremendous amount of emotion into it.  It was an intense experience, and I'm very proud of the result.

Mellanie:  What does writing mean to you?

Ingrid:  Oh, that's another interesting question.  There are easier ways to earn a living, but I love what I do.  Creating people and worlds in my head, and then finding the right words to express what I envision is a rush.  And when I hear that what I've written has struck a chord in someone I don't even know, it gives me a kind of deep satisfaction that money can't buy.

(Click here for a review of SEVEN DAYS TO FOREVER)

(Click here for a review of EYE OF THE BEHOLDER)

(Click here for a review of FUGITIVE HEARTS)

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