Welcome to Emily Bryan's guest blog

Welcome Ms. Emily Bryan to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Danny. I always love to visit with readers.

Did you always want to become a writer?

No, though I have always been a voracious reader. I took one creative writing course in college and my prof thought I was planning on a journalism major. Probably should have, in hindsight. But I was so in love with singing at the time, nothing would turn me from pursuing a music degree.

I think it’s important to follow your passion, realizing that those goals can change over time. This philosophy has led me to several different careers. My DH says it’s fine for me to change jobs, as long as I don’t change husbands! :)

What is the most, and the least interesting fact about writing?

The most fun part of writing is playing with my fictional world. Not that I have a “god complex” or anything, but in my story, I’m in absolute control. Whatever I want to happen will happen. (Well, maybe I do have a little bit of a ‘god complex!’)

The least interesting part of writing . . . hmmm. I’ll have to get back to you on that. I haven’t found one yet.

How did you celebrate your first release?

By going to my day job, as usual. At the time, I was a banker. My DH always said I enslaved people to debt by day and lust by night.

But I’m thrilled to report that I now write full-time so I really should develop some celebratory ritual for each release! What do you suggest?

What was it like to see your book in a bookstore?

You know that feeling in your stomach when you’ve reached the top of a tall roller coaster and you’re teetering on the pinnacle waiting for the bottom to drop out? It was just like that.

Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

Sorry, no. I just make life up as I go along.

How did your family react to fact that you also write romance novels?

My DH is very proud and seems to think my romance novels are a feather in his masculine cap (they are!). My mother has always been a serious romance fan and my best supporter (though she has some things to say about my covers if anyone cares to listen!)

Have your family read your books?

My DH reads my work. In fact, I usually read it aloud to him and he’s very helpful in making sure my guys have realistic guy-type thoughts and speech patterns. My mom hands out bookmarks to everyone she meets. My sisters, aunts and cousins are all wonderfully supportive. A few of my older nieces and nephews read and enjoy my work.

My daughters have not. Not because they think they’d be shocked at the sex scenes. It’s only the “ick” factor of knowing the sex scene was written by their mother.


Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you?

Oh, my! Yes! My nose is constantly in a book.

If so, who are some of your favorites?

MM Kaye, Mary Stewart, Madeline Hunter, Sherry Thomas, CL Wilson, Joy Nash, Shana Abe—there really isn’t enough room here to list them all.

Have any influenced your writing?

All of the above and more. If you read these writers, you’ll notice the common thread is lyricism. Their prose sings. That’s always my goal as well. If I can generate a few tingles, and not just in the love scenes, I’ve done my job.


Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example? Do you have living role models for your characters?

Thank you, Danny. I try to create characters that “breathe on their own.” My characters are with me even before I start writing. That’s one of my prerequisites. I have to spend some time with them, listening to their voices, figuring out who they are and what they want.

I wouldn’t say my characters take over my life, because as I mentioned earlier, I am the one in control. I will admit to growing attached to them and as I near the end of a manuscript, I tend to write more slowly. Perhaps that’s my way of delaying the inevitable goodbye. I like to imagine that my characters go on having adventures without me after the book is finished.

I borrow freely from real life in constructing my characters, but I always take bits and pieces from several sources—though my DH accuses me of borrowing from him to give to my heroes. (They do tend to be dark haired, dark-eyed devils.)

Where do you get the inspirations for your books?

Everywhere!

I use my experiences, travel, museums, research, music, art—even a trip on the Boston T might spark an idea. I never know where the idea for the next story will come from, but I know there are a million of them just waiting for me to find them hidden in a painting, or a soundtrack or a sunrise.


Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?

Not often. A love scene is no more (or less!) difficult to write than any other scene. I need to know what’s at stake, who has the most to lose, whose head I’ll be travelling in, and how this scene advances the story or deepens my characters. If the scene doesn’t seem to be working, I’ll try a different POV or setting. If it’s still not coming together, I have to ask if the time is right. I know I said before that I’m in charge, but if my characters don’t seem to be cooperating, I have to re-evaluate what’s come before. Perhaps it’s not time for them to “do the deed.”

Sometimes, people mistakenly think the love scenes are about the author’s sex life. Believe me, I have no complaints in that department, but I’m not being an exhibitionist when I write an explicit scene. A love scene is about my characters having sex. Or not. I’m not one to miss an opportunity for a relationship to advance or retreat through a “near miss” or interrupted tryst.


What is your favorite book from the books that you have written so far? Who are your favorite hero and heroine, and why?

I can’t choose. It would be like admitting to having a favourite child.

I’ve lived in many different places, but I always try to make where I currently live my favourite. So I guess I would be safe in saying my current book is my favourite. One of the things I love about VEXING THE VISCOUNT is that I was able to meld my Emily Bryan light-hearted style with my darker dramatic Diana Groe voice. There are really two stories in VEXING THE VISCOUNT—Daisy and Lucian’s adventure in 1731 London and Caius and Deirdre in 405AD Londinium. The two stories are intertwined. Lucian has discovered an ancient Roman site on his family’s estate along with clues to a lost Roman treasure. Daisy is intent on helping him find it. The love story between Caius and Deirdre explains why the treasure went missing in the first place.

There is an excerpt of both stories on my website:
http://www.emilybryan.com/Vexing%20the%20Viscount.htm
http://www.emilybryan.com/Roman%20Forum.htm

And if anyone is curious about my dark side, please visit http://www.dianagroe.com .


Which book was the hardest to write and which the easiest?

Most recently I’ve been working on a Christmas novella. In December, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It came as a complete surprise. After successful surgery, I’m doing well (thank you to all who prayed for me!), but it interrupted my writing schedule pretty effectively for several weeks. So even though this was only a 30,000 word story, it was harder to finish than one of my 100,000 word manuscripts. But it’s a fun tale! A CHRISTMAS BALL will come out at the end of October. I’m joined by USA Today Bestseller Jennifer Ashley and Alissa Johnson. All our characters are attending the same Christmas Ball and YOU are invited too! I’ll be posting an excerpt soon. Sign up for my newsletter if you’d like to be notified!

Every story has its unique difficulties and smooth patches. Characters have a way of switching goals. Plots take unexpected turns. It’s all part of the adventure. I’m not sure I can point to one of my literary children and say it was easier than the others. Somehow, I think there needs to be a little blood, sweat and tears on the page or the story won’t be worth reading.

If you could change places with one character from your books, who would it be and why?

I’m intrigued by Isabella. She’s Daisy’s Great Aunt and she appears in both VEXING THE VISCOUNT and PLEASURING THE PIRATE. Isabella is a courtesan at the end of an illustrious career. She’s witty and perceptive and extremely intelligent. She’s Daisy’s Great Aunt and it’s her library our intrepid heroine raids to find Mlle. Blanche La Tour’s memoirs. Without that journal and Isabella’s help, Daisy wouldn’t have been able to convincingly masquerade as a ‘woman of pleasure’ or vex our viscount hero nearly so effectively.

But though Isabella is in a mentoring role in VEXING THE VISCOUNT, she’s led a fascinating life and we catch glimpses of it in this story. Since she first burst into PLEASURING THE PIRATE (and let me tell you, Isabella was one secondary character who kept threatening to steal the scene every chance she got!) readers have asked me when/if I’ll ever write Isabella’s story.

The answer is “Maybe.” Isabella is a hoot and I think there is something in all of us that wants more than anything to flout society and live or die by our own choices. But Isabella’s story would not be a romance. It couldn’t be. Isabella’s definition of “happily ever after” is as unconventional as she is.

If I ever dabbled in erotica, which doesn’t necessarily have HEA, Isabella would have to be the heroine.

If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?

Since I have a stage background (used to sing professional opera long ago!) I think it would be fascinating to go back to 1735 to visit Covent Garden when Handel was the music director and see the premier of his first opera there. Or travel back further and watch a Shakespeare debut in The Rose Theatre.

Do you listen to music while you are writing and if so what music is it?

Yes, I do. Music is both a source of inspiration for me and a signal to my family that I’m working and not to be disturbed unless the condo is on fire or there’s blood. Lots of blood.

I use movie soundtracks because they flow through a wide gamut of emotions to tell a musical tale. I choose ones with no lyrics to distract me. I wrote VEXING THE VISCOUNT while listening to the track from Shakespeare in Love. The music is playful and fun and achingly romantic with a few dark moments, which are happily resolved.

Just the way I like my stories.


If you could choose one of your books for a movie, which one would it be and who would you choose as the cast?

I’ve already seen them all as films on the private screen in my mind! But since VEXING THE VISCOUNT is due to hit the stores on Feb 24th, let’s cast that one.

Lucian Ignacio de Castenello Beaumont, Viscount Rutland: Blessed with the dark good looks of his Italian countessa mother, Lucian is an eyeful. We need an actor with the sweetness of Colin Firth (Lucian is a virgin at the beginning of VEXING THE VISCOUNT), the grit and sexiness of Hugh Jackman and the body of Daniel Craig (Lucian’s been digging all summer at his Roman ruin excavation and the manual labor has left him breathtaking when he takes his shirt off!).

Daisy Drake: Her heart-shaped face is fine to look upon, but her chin is as sharp as her wit. Maybe Charlize Theron or Cameron Diaz. I like Drew Barrymore, too. She might be my first pick because she’s got a bit more vulnerability beneath her plucky exterior.

Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?

I just finished the Christmas novella and I’m in that very delicate time—the start of a new project. I’m toying with a couple ideas for my next historical and I’m looking for ways to add a paranormal twist. It seems everyone is doing it now.

This is a little problematic for me.

The romance market tends to have a “herd” attitude about some things and there is a stubborn streak in me that despises doing what’s expected. But let’s look at some of my choices.

Vampires don’t do it for me. I read Twilight trying to understand the draw. Can’t get around the whole “I vahnt to suck your blooood” thing. Even the idea of a ‘vegetarian’ vampire can’t erase the cold, no-heartbeat sense of “other-ness.” Not sexy to me (You’re free to explain why you disagree.) and I can’t think of a fresh way to make being undead funny.

Were-wolves (or were-anythings) are a bit more palatable to my mind because I love animals and the thought of transforming into one (especially something winged!) is potently fun. But this sub-genre has been done well and, to my mind, done to death. How many times can we re-tell Beauty and the Beast? Then there’s the whole bestiality thing that screams “not sexy” to me.

Magic has a definite allure. Is there a more powerful draw than the ability to control one’s circumstances by harnessing unseen power? But I’d have to be careful to be true to the historical period. There were times when being a witch was not as trendy as it is now. It was downright dangerous, so a historical setting might not work, given that I want to give my readers a laugh or two along the way.

I’m playing with the idea of psychic abilities. That seems to be something I could incorporate into a historical setting without compromising the historical feel of the story. A knack for seeing the future could be a double-edged gift. And a heroine or hero who misinterpreted their visions and tried in vain to change things could lead to both humour and adventure. One who only thought they had the gift might be even funnier, but we like our hero and heroine to be more self-aware (and more intelligent!) than that. Definitely something to consider for a secondary character.

I have a wonderful name for a ghost hero—Greydon Quinn (courtesy of a reader who entered my Pirate Name contest a few months ago). I’m considering a scenario that’s Heaven Can Wait meets Cyrano de Bergerac with a little Ghost Whisperer thrown in for good measure. And since things are still in a gelatinous stage, that’s all I’ll say about that!

But this gives you an idea of what goes through a writer’s mind when we begin something new. I have to develop a premise that moves me, whether it’s all the thing right now or not. I have to become acquainted with my characters. I have to create the world they live in with as much historical accuracy and inherent conflict as I can.

Nobel Prize Winner Linus Pauling said it best. “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”

Time for me to head back to the brainstorming woodshed.

Thanks again for having me here at LovesRomances&More! I’m thrilled to be able to give away a copy of VEXING THE VISCOUNT to someone who posts a comment or question today. And be sure to check back tomorrow to see if YOU are the lucky winner.

Here is the cover blurb of VEXING THE VISCOUNT:

Daisy Drake is leading a double life! By day, she's Lucian Beaumont's unwanted assistant and by night, she masquerades as the masked courtesan, Blanche La Tour, a Frenchwoman who agreed to give Lucian lessons in sensual love!

There's only one problem. Daisy speaks fluent French and can read ancient Latin without moving her lips, but she doesn't know the first thing about the pleasures of the flesh!

Good thing she has the real Blanch La Tour's very explicit memoirs for guidance.

Lucian Beaumont, Viscount Rutland, longs to see his family's standing returned to its glory days, before his father lost their fortune. And he thinks he can manage it, if he can only discover the hiding place of an ancient Roman payroll.

Daisy never forgot her girlhood fascination with Lucian, even though his father has a score to settle with her uncle. Now that they're all grown up, she's determined to help the viscount find his Roman treasure.

Whether he wants her help or not!