Lucy Monroe talks about her release, Deal With This.

What went Between the Sheets of this book?  Either what was happening in your life when you wrote it, or what was happening with the book as you wrote it.

Deal With This took a lot of extra research, including more than one trip to Canada to investigate the Vancouver B.C. film industry.  That was quite an adventure...nothing like going to Hollywood.  Studios in Vancouver are not set up for visitors or touring and getting information was a huge challenge.  I ended up interviewing a lot of people through some pretty interesting channels, including a very generous long time actor.  I had to leave my reclusive writer's gene at home for this trip though, let me tell you -- as I asked questions of anyone and everyone I came into contact with.  The teens were ready to duct tape my mouth shut after a while. LOL  They are so easily embarrassed at that age. ;-)

How long did it take to develop your characters for this book?

Jillian and Alan were both characters from previous books that I and a lot of readers wanted to see in their own story.  Jillian was originally introduced in The Real Deal, where her flamboyant, self-confident nature won her a lot of her own fans and caused me to get tons of reader letters asking for her story.  Alan was in Satisfaction Guaranteed as the newest Goddard Project agent as well as Beth's former fiancé.  Too fun!  So, you could say I had years to develop both characters and I think it shows in the story...how deeply I've come to know and love them both.

Why this story at this time?

Because it's right.  It's the story I need to tell right now and I’m very glad my editor agreed.  I love the secondary characters, the storyline and the setting...they're all just exactly what I wanted to explore at this moment in time.

Are you a visual writer?   Do you see scenes and characters in your head?   Or do you hear the characters voices?

Yes, absolutely.  I see and hear it all like it's a movie...and I try to recreate all of the nuances I experience in my head on the written page.

What are your thoughts on First Person verses Third Person?  Which is your preference?

I prefer to write third person because I want to get into more than one character's head.  That's just me...I'm nosy.  I want to know and express what each of them are thinking and feeling.

What is your re-writing and editing process?  Do you let anyone read your work in progress before it goes to your editor?

I write new pages on my DANA, transfer them to my laptop, print them – do a paper edit.  Enter the edits and then I'm done.  My husband reads my work in progress, but it's VERY rare that I let anyone else do so.

What is your opinion of critique groups?  Do you find them helpful?

I think they can be helpful, but they can also (with the best intentions in the world) be detrimental.  Critique groups, like any other aspect of the writing process, are very much a personal preference.  I prefer not to use them, but have known authors who found them very helpful.  I have also known authors that ended up unable to write because they lost their vision of their stories after submitting them to the perusal of others.  I think, if I were going to recommend use of critique group, it would be after a manuscript was finished, not during the initial creative process.  But again, that's the way *my* creative mind works.

What keeps you going and motivated when life throws you a curveball?

My faith.  My family.  Good friends.

Were you an avid reader as a child?  What did you like to read?

Absolutely.  I started reading when I was 4 years old and got caught scaling the bookcase in the living room to reach my mother's books on the top shelves.  I got in a lot of trouble for reading her Reader Digest condensed version of The Godfather.   When I got into school, I was in alt.  I read every single book in the library starting with A and moving to Z.  By the time I was in junior high, I'd discovered romance and read more of it than any other genre, though I continued to read lots and lots of other stuff.

Do you have time to read now?  What authors do you read?

I make time to read.  It's not an option for me.  It's very much part of who I am.  I have a huge list of autobuy authors - Lora Leigh, Dianne Castell, Lori Foster, Angela Knight, Christine Feehan, Jayne Ann Krentz, Sean Michael, Stephanie Vaughan, Kate Davies, Michelle Reid, Emma Darcy, to name just a few.

Who or what influenced you to write and what inspires your imagination?

I have always, always, ALWAYS told stories in my head.  My earliest memories were making up lives for the people I created in my imagination.  It was a very natural progression to take those stories and put them to paper – though certainly not one I expected. ?  My imagination is sparked by so many things – life!  You know?  Really...it's just everything.  I love to people watch, keep up on the news, read other books, both fiction and non-fiction.  Chatting with friends, family, readers...pretty much anyone.  It's all a source inspiration for my creativity.


© 2007 Interview by BetweenYourSheets.com

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