I’d like to welcome our guest today, Candace Havens. It’s a pleasure having you come visit us at Much Cheaper Than Therapy, where chocolate is plentiful and advice is free. So grab some chocolate and a lounge chair. Your therapy session has begun.
I understand you have a new release out called DRAGONS PREFER BLONDES Can you tell us a little bit about your fabulous new book?
Thanks so much for letting me hangout here. Let’s see, this one is about Alex Caruthers, who is a wealthy club owner, who also happens to be a Guardian Key. She is a warrior who protects our world from dragons. When a certain dragon sets his sights on her, she turns to the one man she can trust, Jake. He promises to be her “pretend” boyfriend to help out and Jake and Alex discover their relationship is not so make-believe after all.
DRAGONS PREFER BLONDES is a very interesting title. How did you arrive at that name?
LOL. I didn’t. My editor always comes up with my titles. She’s playing off of old movies and musicals. The first one was THE DEMON KING AND I.
What made you decide to write in this genre?
I’m fond of magic, and I love tough chicks. I think the paranormal genre sort of opens that book wide on what you can do. I love it.
Where did you get your idea for this particular book?
Alex is one of four sisters and the idea for this came from wanting to explore those sibling relationships. And this book in particular was about what do you do when all the odds are stacked against you in every part of your life.
What are your favorite paranormal research books or sites, and why?
Hmmm. I don’t know that I used any research sites for the paranormal side of things. These girls are all over the world, the universe for that matter, so I did a lot of research/Googling on travel destinations.
Which character did you like writing about the most, and why?
This is such a tough question. This is my third series, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. Besides Alex and Jake in this book, there’s a very interesting character Graves, I’d like to explore him more in another book. (Smile)
Tell us about how you develop your characters. Do you create character sheets, do interviews, that sort of thing? How does your research and/or world affect your character development?
I don’t do any kind of research. I’m panster (write by the seat of my pants) so I get to know my characters as the readers do. When I’m finished with that first draft, I’ll go back and make sure I have continuity with all of the characters.
How do you go about building your world if you use one? Do you use maps, charts or drawings?
I hadn’t done a lot of world building until this series. I’ve been keeping copious notes on what the different worlds look like, the people/creatures there, and I refer to those often.
Do you have any authors that inspired you?
In my early days Janet Evanovich, Laurell K. Hamilton and Nora Roberts. I’m a big fan of authors in general. Everyone inspires me now.
What do you feel is the most effective promotion you have done for your book?
Using the Internet, Twitter and Facebook. And I’ve been doing a big blog tour this time, and had a great response.
What do we have to look forward next?
My next book comes out Feb. 2010. It’s called Take Me If You Dare and it’s for the Harlequin Blaze line. It’s my first book for them, and it’s a romance with lots of intrigue. Fun stuff!
Thanks, Candace!
To celebrate her book release, Candace, is offering a free book of DRAGONS PREFER BLONDES to one lucky commenter on today's blog. She will be around all day today. I'm sure some of you have questions or comments for her, so please ask away...
Check out author’s website at http://www.candacehavens.com
Buy http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Prefer-Blondes-Candace-Havens/dp/0425227804.
21 comments:
Good Morning Candace. Thanks for joining us here today. How's the chocolate? Are there any scenes or characters that you or your editor decided to cut in the final book?
Hi Kim,
We didn't cut anything, but she made me add more with Alex and Jake. I'm glad she did. I love the scenes where they are together. :-)
Hi, Candace,
I'm a chaptermate of yours with Elements RWA and a member of your Write Right workshop. I enjoy your great writing lessons. I can't wait to read "Dragons Prefer Blondes." Cool title. I look forward to seeing you at the Literacy Signing at National.
Candace,
Thank you for stopping by MCTT.
I've seen you all over the web. You are definately doing a great job with your blog tours.
Congratulations on your sale to Harlequin Blaze!
Congratulations on becoming a Harlequin Blaze author!
Carolyn, hello! Thank you. Make sure you do come see me at the signing. I want to meet you! And make sure you remind me which Carolyn you are. :-) Because I will probably be in some kind of weird daze and then two hours later I'll go, OMG, that was CAROLYN! LOL.
Hi Tina, They can't say I didn't try. I maybe should have spread things out a little better. But I don't think anyone is going to forget me any time soon.LOL
Estella and Liana (I LOVE BOTH THOSE NAMES AND AM STEALING THEM FOR BOOKS). Thank you both. I'm very excited about the Blazes. Something very different for me. :-)
Yikes.. you must have wonder woman fingers to be able to do all this blogging on top of the writing. You mentioned exploring Graves in another book. Are there plans for more than the 4 sisters' books?
Hope your having fun with the blogging.
Congrats on the upcoming releases.
ioki_jo at hotmail dot com
what gave you the Ideal of dragons most people are doing vampires or werewolfs but you are doing dragons where did this ideal for you book come from?
from sasluvbooks@yahoo.com
Congrats on the new release. Thanks for taking the time to post today.
How many books are you planning for this series? And will you ever go back to the characters from the Bronwyn series?
Some authors are making their dragons hot and sexy, you decided to make yours scary and something to protect the world from. It's always good to have a twist and do something different from everyone else. I'm looking forward to reading Dragons Prefer Blondes to see how it all turns out.
Having fun on your blog tour Candace.
Dina
Love the title and excerpts, Candace. In a romance I like more scenes than not between the H/h.
Hi Candace~
I love that the titles are based on old movie names. This sounds like a really fun series and I am looking forward to reading them!
Stacey... I honestly can't remember how I came up with dragons. I do remember one day I had a notebook and was writing down mystical creatures. Fairies, dragon, sea creatures and demons were the first four on that list. :-) The list is a lot longer now. :-)
Donnas... I love anything to do with paranormal. I like being different. :-) I love vampires, and some day I might write a vamp book, but not any time soon. :-) I like knowing about other creatures.
If I get to do Mira, she is Alex and Gillian's sister in this series, she'll be dealing with fairies. But these fairies are different than what you will have seen before. :-)
I just started reading books with dragons as characters & I like them. "Dragons Prefer Blonds" looks like a good book.
megalon22 at yahoo dot com
Candace, I'm interested in the character, Graves (great name, by the way). Can you give us a hint about what we might expect from him in the future?
Margay
Hello Candace, how much input do you have on the covers of your books?
Margay, The character came to me and I just knew his name was Graves, then when I found out what he did for the fae world, I thought it was very cool how all of that came together. :-)
elnice, They show them to me and ask if I like them, but that's about it. Sometimes they'll ask about specific scenes I think might work, but my editor does more contributing to that than I do. I'm just lucky so far with the covers. :=)
Candace, I love it when stories or concepts/characters just fall into place like that!
Margay
Thank you again Kim.
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