This month I have the opportunity of talking with Diane Whiteside, author of The Irish Devil, The River Devil and many other lovely and exciting stories. Be sure to visit her website
www.dianewhiteside.com to see what she has in store for us. TRRC is proud to have her as an Author of the Month. This is what she had to say:
Thia: How did you become a writer?
Diane: My family has a long tradition of being writers. My grandfather, uncle and cousin are all published authors. I did technical writing for a long time.
Thia: What led you to romantica and erotica stories?
Diane: While vacationing in Tombstone, I heard about a miner’s widow who entered a brothel to earn the money for a ticket home. The townsfolk were very proud that she successfully did so, rather than succumbing to the usual hazards of that trade. But I wanted a happier ending for her, in which she gained true love, rather than just surviving. To tell a different version of her story meant learning how to tell romantica and erotica stories, since at least part of it would have to be set in the brothel. I’d read such stories before but as a technical writer, I’d never thought of telling them. Still, I buckled down and gradually learned how until eventually that story became THE IRISH DEVIL. You should have seen me jumping for joy when I finally held the completed book in my hand.
Thia: What is the best part of the writing experience for you?
Diane: Spending time with readers and other writers – and knowing I’m not insane for hearing people’s voices inside my head.
Thia: What do you do when you are not writing? Both professional and for fun?
Diane: I design computer systems for the federal government, including write their specifications and document them. For fun, I travel, garden, and get run ragged by my Tibetan Terrier.
Thia: Do you relay any real life experiences into your stories or are they strictly your imagination?
Diane: Every story is a mix of real-life, imagination and research but the proportions always vary. Some stories are almost totally from my imagination (like Captive Dreams) but some stories are very much drawn from my own life.
Thia: You have given us some very dominant, strong-willed men in your stories. Is it hard to find their perfect match?
Diane: Suzanne Brockmann once said in a workshop that she tries to make her heroines into the hero’s nightmare. The big advantage is that when the hero and heroine come together, they’ve solved their personal problems and they’re stronger together for that. They have to be equally strong or they couldn’t make the other face their issues so completely.
Thia: You have done a lot of excellent research for your stories. Is there a particular manner in which you perform research? Do you enjoy that aspect?
Diane: I love doing research and I’ll do it any time, any place, anywhere. Interviews, reading, observation, even touching, tasting, and smelling things. I’m utterly shameless about it. In fact, last Saturday night, I was asking a bartender some questions with my date’s help.
Thia: If you were reading a book for fun, who would it be written by and what would it be about?
Diane: My dream book to be reading for fun would be one of the remaining MacKenzie-Blackthorne books by Elizabeth Lowell. Oh, to be reading Utah’s story at last! I love her romantic suspense stories. And then there’s Linda Howard and Angela Knight and Mary Jo Putney and Lois McMasters Bujold and so many other wonderful writers.
Thia: You write in a variety of genres (paranormal, historical, contemporary). Which do you like best? Or rather, which is your preferred genre?
Diane: As you’ve already guessed, I love world-building and research so I particularly enjoy writing in paranormal and historical. Whenever I write a contemporary, the story is a gift, rather than a planned event.
Thia: What do you have in store for readers following The River Devil?
Diane: “The Seduction of Mrs. Rutledge” in NOT JUST FOR TONIGHT is a Civil War novella about a Union cavalryman who needs to seduce his own wife and uses military tactics, of course. It’ll be out in August 2005. After that, an expanded version of my erotic contemporary, THE SWITCH, will be released by Berkley in January 2006.
Thia: Morgan Evans seems to be right up your alley as a hero and played a prominent role in both The Irish Devil and The River Devil. Will he get his happily ever after with the mysterious lady in the carriage?
Diane: Morgan definitely gets his happily ever after with the mysterious lady. (As if he’d let me get away with anything less!) It’ll happen in THE SOUTHERN DEVIL, which is scheduled to be published in summer 2006.
Thia: What is next on the agenda for you as far as books to be published?
Diane: My next big project is my Texas vampire series, which is a mix of science fiction romance and romantic suspense. THE HUNTER’S PREY, a collection of erotic short stories told by the ladies who encounter these gentlemen, will be released by Berkley in February 2006. BOND OF BLOOD, the first volume of the Texas Vampire trilogy, centers on Don Rafael Perez, formerly a 13th-century Spanish knight and now the all-powerful vampire patron of Texas. His perfect mate is Grania O’Malley, a wildlife veterinarian who insists on treating him as a science project, not a potential lover. It’s scheduled to be published in October 2006.
Thia: Is there any inspiration you would like to give to readers and aspiring writers?
Diane: Read and write what you love, not what fashion dictates.
(Click here for a review
of THE RIVER DEVIL)
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