Interview with Beth Cornelison

I’d like to welcome our guest today, Beth Cornelison. 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 THE BRIDE'S BODYGUARD. Can you tell us a little bit about your fabulous new book?

THE BRIDE'S BODYGUARD is the second book in my Silhouette Romantic Suspense series, The Bancroft Brides. This is the oldest sister Paige's book, and the story opens with Paige at the altar, marrying the man she's convinced herself is her perfect match, even though there are no sparks. But the ceremony is interrupted by armed men demanding that her fiancé turn over "the bead." When he refuses, the terrorists fire on her fiancé. Chaos erupts, and before she knows what's hit her, Paige is whisked out of the church by the best man and pursued by the terrorists. The best man, an ex-Navy SEAL hired by her fiancé as a bodyguard, helps keep her safe while they figure out what the bead is and why her fiancé and the terrorists think she has it. Of course, this ex-SEAL is smokin' hot and Paige's opposite in most every way, but the chemistry between them can't be denied!

Would you describe your book as a cozy, mystery, suspense, or thriller?

Mostly THE BRIDE'S BODYGUARD is category romance, but there is plenty of action and suspense, too. I'd call it romantic adventure/suspense.

What made you decide to write in this genre?

Because it is what I love to read. I love action/adventure and suspense and the idea that ordinary people can be put in extraordinary circumstances and rise to the occasion. If they also find romance along the way, all the better!

Where did you get your idea for this particular book?

I honestly don't remember specifics except that I wanted another bride-themed story for the Bancroft Brides trilogy, and I built the story using my favorite story hooks... heroine in jeopardy, forced proximity, and opposites attract.

Do you have all the key suspense/mystery elements thought out before you begin writing?

Not always. A lot of times I'm not sure who the bad guy is or how the good guys will save the day until I'm well into the story. I have to sketch out an outline for my editor but that outline has been known to change. The characters sometimes take over the story and tell it the way they think it should be!

Did you have to do a lot of research for the book? What are your favorite research books or sites?

I did a little research for this book but largely I use information I already had from previous research on other books. When a specific question came up, I'd Google it, but nothing needed extensive research. I love the scope of internet for research, not one specific site or book.

Which character did you like writing about the most, and why?

I think I liked writing the hero Gage McCall the most. Gage is haunted by his last mission in Iraq when things went terribly wrong. I love a tortured hero!

Tell us about how you develop your characters. Do you create character sheets, do interviews, that sort of thing? How does your research affect your character development?

I've been known to use a sort of character interview as I develop my book. Usually before I start a book I spend time thinking about who the characters are, what they want and why. I decide what happened to them to make them this way, what kind of family they have, how their childhood affected them, and decide how they will deal with the conflict I throw at them in the story. Creating my characters and inventing their backstories and personalities and quirks is like figuring out a puzzle to me. It's my favorite part of writing a book!

Do you have any authors that inspired you?

Lots! Too many to list them all but I love to read Linda Castillo, Karen Robards, Sandra Brown, Linda Howard, Lisa Gardner, Harlan Coben, Susan Wiggs and Susan Elizabeth Phillips (yes, I know the last two don't write suspense but I love the characters they create!)

What do you feel is the most effective promotion you have done for your book?

Promotion is such a mystery to me. I really can't tell what works and what doesn't. I really think it is a sum of all efforts. Building name recognition, writing good books, being visible at conferences and online all contribute to promoting an author.

What do we have to look forward next?

Several things are coming in the next few months. In November, PI DADDY'S PERSONAL MISSION, my contribution to the Coltons of Montana continuity series with SRS, hits the shelves. (Peter Walsh is investigating the murder of his father and finds romance with his son's teacher.) In January, the paperback edition of REYN'S REDEMPTION, a small town romantic suspense with Samhain Publishing is released. (A firefighter returns to his childhood home to confront the people who accused him of killing his mother and to find the real killer.) And in February, THE PRODIGAL BRIDE, the final book in the Bancroft Brides series comes out just in time for Valentines Day! (Youngest sister Zoey Bancroft is stranded, pregnant and penniless, in Las Vegas, but her best friend, Gage Powell, offers a solution...a marriage of convenience. But trouble follows Zoey home from Vegas, and her friendship with Gage is tested.)

Thanks, Beth!

To celebrate her book release, Beth is offering a free copy of THE CHRISTMAS STRANGER (The Bancroft Brides book 1 and a 2010 Rita finalist!) to one lucky commenter on today's blog. (Please check the blog Monday night to see if you won. Chances of winning determined by the number of entries.)

She will be around all day today. I'm sure some of you have questions or comments for her, so please ask away...

Bio:

Award winning author Beth Cornelison received her bachelor's degree in Public Relations from the University of Georgia. After working in public relations for about a year, she moved with her husband to Louisiana, where she decided to pursue her love of writing fiction.

Since that time, she has won numerous honors for her work including a final in the Rita contest sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. She made her first sale to Silhouette Intimate Moments in June 2004 and has gone on to sell many more books to Silhouette. She has also published with Five Star Expressions, Samhain Publishing, and Sourcebooks.

Beth has presented workshops across the country to numerous chapter meetings, conferences, online classes and book clubs. Beth Cornelison lives in Louisiana with her husband, one son and a fluctuating number of cats who think they are people.

Check out author’s website at http://www.bethcornelison.com/

Buy http://www.amazon.com/Brides-Bodyguard-Silhouette-Romantic-Suspense/dp/0373277008/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284850352&sr=1-6

Writing What You Know

Writing What You Know
by Theresa Meyers of Blue Moon Communications



Writers are often encouraged to write what they know. But sometimes that advice may seem more detrimental than constructive, especially if you are writing a genre that you have no way of getting practical experience in, such as paranormal or erotica. Let's face it most of us aren't like to go out there and try drinking blood just because we want to write about vampires. The good news is you don't have to.

The advice is actually still sound. Making it work for you is really all about how you look at and apply the adage.

Even in paranormals full of were creatures, shape shifters, faeries and the like, we can still apply what we know. We know feelings. We know how we would react if someone threatened a loved one, betrayed us or challenged us. We know how it feels to be sad, angry, elated, loved. We know how to make decisions and how to figure out what the consequences might logically be for those choices. All of this applies directly to our characters no matter what genre you write in.

When writing description, think about the character. Put yourself in his or her shoes. Don't just describe the scene. Describe it as if you were your character. His or her experiences, past, occupation, gender and so much more about who they uniquely are will color how they see a scene and how they judge that experience. For instance, it rains heavily, flooding the streets. A woman might stare up at her roof and notices the drip and thinks, "Oh, no, how am I ever going to hire someone to repair that?" A man might look up at that same leak and think "Where's a pan?" (she's thinking long term solutions and options, he's thinking short term and what can be done right this minute.) The child might think "Hey, maybe I won't have school tomorrow." and the roof repair guy is thinking "This is great. Maybe my phone will ring with work." Everyone experiences the storm differently. So will your character.

Even with seemingly stock characters, there's more than meets the eye to their way of seeing the world. In my latest book from Silhouette Nocturne, Salvation of the Damned, I have a vampire. Now I could have made him like every other stock vampire you've likely met, but, since he was my hero, I wanted him to be a little different.

Raphael doesn't have any problem with drinking blood or sacrificing mortals as necessary to stave off the virus that threatens to kill off all vampires. What he does have a problem with is his past. He once fell in love with someone he allowed to be sacrificed to save his kind. He's never forgotten it and has sworn never to repeat it. (By not falling in love, he thinks he's solved this.) But when he comes up against a woman who is the reincarnation of his lost love, he knows he's in the same place all over again, forced to make the same horrible decision.

For any other vampire it would have been a no-brainer, sacrifice the human, we all live. For Raphael it's all tangled up in his past, his thousand years of hellish half-existence afterward and his vows to himself not to repeat it. It just means more than a simple decision to him because he can't just die to escape it. He's immortal, so he knows he's going to live with the consequences of his actions forever.

Do you see how much more it impacts him?

I've never been a vampire. I never plan on being one. But I can still take what I know of the human experience, of life, loss, love, pain, hope and use what I know to make my characters real for my readers. So can you.

Don't get stuck thinking about what you can't write or don't know. Take what you do know and write.




Check out Theresa's book at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/5B56074A-750A-44AC-BA1A-91BAF74FF317/10/126/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=CD5ECBC6-DA95-4F70-A392-F07EFEF95032




Kim Watters

Harlequin 60th Anniversary

Cool 60th-anniversary celebration from Harlequin -- you can download any or all of the following books for free!

You can link to www.HarlequinCelebrates.com

The titles are available as a PDF and in all eBook formats, as a Stanza App for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and at all the online retailers like Sony, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise.com,
eReader.com, etc.

The 16 free books (one for every series) will be available throughout 2009.

The free books:
Harlequin American Romance, Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren
Harlequin Blaze, Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly
Harlequin Historical, His Lady Mistress by Elizabeth Rolls
Harlequin Intrigue, Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels
Harlequin Presents, Price of Passion by Susan Napier
Harlequin Romance, The Bride’s Baby by Liz Fielding
Harlequin Superromance, Snowbound by Janice Kay Johnson
Silhouette Desire, Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child
Silhouette Nocturne, Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf
Silhouette Romantic Suspense, Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace
Silhouette Special Edition, Dancing in the Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne
Love Inspired, A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight
Love Inspired Historical, Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart
Love Inspired Suspense, Hide in Plain Sight by Marta Perry
Kimani Romance, Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson
Nascar, Speed Dating by Nancy Warren

Happy Reading

Kim Watters