Michelle Lauren

Today, I welcome Kensington author J.S. Hawley (IF YOU WERE MINE & COME WITH ME). She is here to chat with us about her writing process and upcoming projects.

Michelle Lauren: How did you come up with the ideas for Come with Me and If You Were Mine

J.S. Hawley: When I started writing Come with Me, my best friend had suggested I write a page a day. After awhile it was a few pages. Then a chapter a day. Soon I was well engrossed in the lives of these characters and realized I had no idea [about] the storyline except that I hoped they would end up together. There are about 200 single spaced pages that never made it into the final draft but that do chronicle other situations [the characters] went through and came out of putting them closer together.

When I formulated Jesse’s character I based her on myself, pulling the worst characteristics and blowing them out of proportion. My editor said she was ‘unredeemable’ and no one would like her. Lucky for me, I had a really great hero that didn’t care what my editor thought and, though my fans agreed with my editor, it reminded them that everyone can find someone.

I created Cloud Walker around a guy I once dated. An African American man with long wavy hair and nipple piercings with a great body and a passionate soul, I wanted my hero to have that hair, and that stoic personality. I wanted my own version of the guy I dated, and in romance novels the author can do that. So Cloud was both stoic and emotional, a patient man of few words and the ones he spoke were moving. He complimented her without her even knowing it; I think in the end that will be the type of romance I will have.

If You Were Mine was written under contract for a second book so I pulled the beginning from another novel I had started. However, the details were all wrong as far as my publisher was concerned. The original character had been an alcoholic and this is a complete no-no. (She was also a bit promiscuous – also a no-no.) In the original manuscript she had romantic intentions toward the assistant character who in the revised version is more like her little brother and marries her best friend.

I wasn’t as thrilled with this book because I didn’t get a feel for the characters or the story until well into the book. I also had a different editor, and the feel of my writing is significantly different than the first book. But what remains true is that the character of Jailyn is also another facet of my personality. She is what I imagine myself to appear to others. Casual, laid back, sarcastic, and somewhat too self-centered to allow anyone into her world but constantly working at making herself a better person by putting herself in other people’s shoes. For as much as I like Jesse’s hard-edged, no nonsense character, I also love Jailyn’s free-spirited, fun loving, no-worries personality.

ML: Did you find writing a series difficult?

J.S.: The two books are wholly unrelated. The only connection is Jailyn’s advertising firm is the firm that Utopia from Come with Me uses.

My historical (which isn’t contracted yet) has characters who are descendants of Jesse’s from Come with Me. Jesse’s mother is Cajun American from Louisiana. Her great (4 or 5 of those) grandmother is Delphine Glorious Beaumont, the Quadroon daughter of a duke from England. Upon his death, she is sent to his legitimate English family to make sure that they marry off his oldest daughter. Of course, Delphine is the eldest; however, no one knows she is the Duke’s daughter. The Duke has arranged for her marriage to a friend of his so that he may have the title and Delphine to take open possession of her monies without interference of the state.

Another contemporary I’m working on has reference to the business of Gideon, Jesse’s brother. I may very well revisit the cast of characters from Come with Me [because] readers have asked about Gideon and Naomi particularly. I may do two shorts and post them directly to my website.

I have started a series about fallen angels which is turning out to be a lot of fun. Each short is a different angel from a different part of the country: Las Vegas, New York and Atlanta.

ML: You received a lot of reader feedback to If You Were Mine. Do you take reader opinion and suggestions into consideration when approaching a new project?

J.S.: Yes, I do take reader feedback to heart. I wrote my first book without an editor, critique partner, friend or help in anyway whatsoever. I have nothing to depend on but my skills as a writer and my instinct. In the end, my readers become my editors. I post their notes to one document and hang it up on my computer screen.

If they say ‘too much back story’, I eliminate what isn’t needed. If another [reader] contradicts that statement then I compromise by breaking up the back-story and sprinkling it more naturally throughout the story. Readers become equally as passionate about the stories as the author. The editor looks at it with a critical, calculating eye taking in market trends and style.

An author treats it like a baby, reluctant to change anything but accept that what they’ve given birth to is perfect. A reader has questions; they demand answers; they read what they love and chances are they have read a lot of it. They are the experts. That they not only want to help me by taking the time to send me very detailed and specific notes but that, in the end, they promise to stick with me means I’m handling [this] the right way and that [is something] I value.

ML: What is the most challenging part of working with an editor?

J.S.: Deadlines. I’m a single mom who works a regular nine to five job, dates, goes on play dates and likes to sit on my porch and watch the world. I read a lot, have relatives I visit and go out and build snowmen instead of shoveling even when the kids aren’t around.

I always have [my editors] tack on three months to any date they give me and even then I’m usually about 30 days behind. I’m a procrastinator. Once the book is contracted, as far as I’m concerned it’s theirs. I edit and make the changes they request but the original I submitted is mine forever; they have the one they bought and I hope they are happy with it. Whenever I read the bound copy it’s like I haven’t seen it before because it’s about eight months from final edit to shelf, so I’ve had time away from the characters and into a new adventure. When I revisit it I’m like ‘dang I’m good.’ (LOL)

ML: What inspires you to write?

J.S.: My inspiration comes from other work that I read. I started out knowing I could write better than some of the books that were out there and wanting to write at least as well as some of the greats. Ultimately, every time I read a really well-written book I am inspired to do it myself. I’ve been reading other genres and subgenres of romance and have found a new style and voice for myself. I’m diving into the world of paranormal chick-lit and am having a blast. Two of my friends – Leanna Hieber and Isabo Kelly – both write fantasy/paranormal romance and I wanted to visit their worlds myself.

ML: How long have you been writing professionally?

J.S.: I was signed to my contract in March 2006. I submitted my work to Kensington for consideration in October 2005. I hadn’t made any other professional moves as far as having my writing published until that time.

ML: What do you enjoy most about writing romance?

J.S.: I love writing romance because the woman – no matter how difficult, stubborn, sarcastic, ditzy, uncoordinated, mouthy, stuck up, self-centered, rich, poor, silly, cantankerous, snide, happy, proud, beautiful, self-conscious, thin, thick, dark or light – manages to get the really incredible guy. It gives me hope in my life that some man can be there for me the way these heroes are there for these heroines I create.

It also lets the people closest to me in real life know how they’ve impacted my life. All my friends and family search through the books first looking for ‘themselves.’ They find little quotes and conversations we’ve had over the years or stories we’ve shared or a particular outfit they love seeing themselves in; then they call me up and gush. They also recognize my different boyfriends in each of the heroes. All of my exes have something special about them that made our relationship work for a time and I write and exploit that emotion so that my characters can have something longer lasting.

ML: Do you have any plans to branch into other genres of fiction?

J.S.: I’ve just discovered that romance has tons of sub-genres, so I never have to stop falling in love and having really great sex (even if it is only on paper). I have made three really great friends in the Romance Writers of America – New York City Chapter:

Patt Milhailoff – SINGLE HEART, SINGLE LOVE (Cerridwen Press)

Ring Dancer’s Destiny

Firebrand P.K. Eden, Reviewer’s Choice, Affaire De Couer

A Dream Deferred, A Joy Achieved

http://pattsnewsyreview.blogspot.com/

Leanna Heiber – Bestseller at Crescent Moon Press:
DARK NEST – a futuristic fantasy with a psychic punch
www.crescentmoonpress.com

Upcoming Release- Fall 2009 – Dorchester Publishing:
THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER – a ghostly Victorian Fantasy

- www.myspace.com/leannarenee
- www.leannareneehieber.com
- www.leannareneebooks.blogspot.com

Isabo Kelly – BONFIRE NIGHT ~ Ellora’s Cave, Oct 24 2007
LACHMUIRGHAN: HALI’S RESCUE ~ Samhain Publishing, Dec 7 2007
DESTINY’S SEDUCTION; THIEF’S DESIRE; MARSHALL’S GUARD ~ Cerridwen Press
THE HERON’S CALL ~ Samhain Publishing
www.isabokelly.com

These ladies are my cheering crowd and my heroes. Each of them is e-published many times over. Each of them writes in different subgenres of romance. Patt has teamed up with Kathye Quick for a fantasy, but Patt does historical and contemporary. She’s also written a deeply personal story in ‘Baby Papers’. Leanna has a thing for ghosties and ghoulies with a goth romantic flair. Isabo does this speculative fiction thing and fantasy with lots of hot romance.

Reading their work was an eye opener for me and an introduction into stuff I had no idea about, so I wanted in.

ML: Who are some of your favorite books to read for pleasure?

J.S.: I’ve recently gotten into the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I know I’m late but I’m enjoying it immensely. I also love Richelle Mead’s Succubus Series. [In it], the woman’s job is to have sex with men and steal their souls; is that a job or what?

I also love Gerry Bartlett’s series with Gloriana St. Clare. Her size 16 vampire is a hysterical relief from the dark, scrawny, broody, gloomy vamps trying to either save the world or destroy it that are flooding the shelves. I’m also into Dean Koontz’s new series Odd Thomas; he’s a weird little guy.

I like LaJill Hunt, Thomas Long (he writes urban soul/inspiration); Vanessa Miller (also urban inspiration); Dakota Knight (her book Sola is about an African American female assassin in the hood, it was so hot); Ashley & JaQuavis, and Leslie Esdalie (who gave a quote for my cover). I also love the dark side of Brandon Massey (he has books with my publisher that are paranormal and freaky) and enjoy Eric Jerome Dickey.

ML: Please tell us about some of your upcoming projects.

J.S.: I’ve been writing a few shorts while delving into the sub genres I mentioned before. I wrote a gothic short called “Tekeelah and Mark Enberg” that was part of Amazon shorts for six months, where an immortal couple tries to kill each other on their anniversary to no avail. They figure out that it is better to be in love even when ’til death do us part takes on an entirely new meaning.

Trying my hand at speculative fiction like my buddy Isabo, I have an apocalyptic earth story I just started a speculative fiction [project] with an omniscient being entitled “Kyl U.” The main character Kylyra is made up of the matter in the universe and she must kill an incubated manmade creation that will destroy most of the life forms in the universe if allowed to be born. However, one man Joren Cappa (he happens to look a lot like Lisa Bonet’s husband Jason Mamoa) has stopped her at a crucial moment from leveling his planet in order to kill what is right now ‘one egg.’ However, another people carry the egg off and now she has to track it and destroy it. Killing him and decimating this one galaxy doesn’t seem so bad, in order to do it – at least until he kisses her.

Now Patt is a hard act to follow but finally I made a witch that I really liked. In ‘Mother Nature’ I create Tethys Saber. One of the Titans. She gives birth to all of the entities in the universe but only with other immortals and after mating she must kill the father. Until she falls for a human and what they conceive is unknown but if the battle waged against them is any indication than this ‘incubate’ is one powerful little bugger.

I also have a story about a fallen angel that is written in first person chick lit style that is sprinkled with sex and humor. I attempted an urban fiction novel. 

I’m still writing contemporary (three in progress) and have a romantic mystery and one historical.

Ideally in these hard economic times I want to have a portfolio of work for my publisher to select from, as well as having completed manuscripts so I’m only editing under deadline and not actually writing.

Michelle Lauren: Thanks so much for chatting with us, J.S.