Welcome to Rita Herron's guest blog

Welcome Ms. Rita Herron to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.


Did you always want to become a writer?

Yes! Books were an escape for me when I was a child, and I read everything I could get my hands on. My favorites were Pippi Longstocking and Trixie Belden. I actually wrote my first book, a mystery, long hand when I was twelve.
But I grew up in a rural, low-income family and had no idea I could actually make a living at writing, so I earned a teaching degree instead. While teaching kindergarten, my love of storytelling returned, and I decided to pursue my dream.


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

The most interesting part for me is that writing feeds my creativity. A bonus is that I can earn money while home in my pjs making up stories!
The least interesting part is editing; that’s a different process. But I want the book to be as clean and good as possible, so it’s a necessary evil. I usually write through the story, then put on an editor’s hat for a couple of weeks and force myself to analyze the writing, sentences, dialogue, scenes, plot, etc. and tweak it.

How did you celebrate your first release? Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

Hmm, I sold my first book on my son’s birthday so we had a special dinner. For releases and new contracts, my husband and I usually share a night out. Sometimes I treat myself to a shopping spree. And my critique partner and I always celebrate over dinner and wine or dessert. There are so many struggles in the writing/selling process that I believe an author has to celebrate every success, even the minor ones.
With the release of Dark Hunger, I’m having a blog party for readers, but my husband and I will definitely go out!

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

LOL. My family was shocked when I first announced I was going to write romance. I taught kindergarten (for a few years in a Baptist pre-school program,) and I had written several books for the Sweet Valley Kids series, so changing genres threw them for a loop. My brother even laughed at me (he didn’t think I’d ever publish).
That said, barring a little teasing, they’ve all been very supportive. Although my husband has never read my books (I think he’s afraid of seeing my dark side where I kill people, and he’s spooked by the paranormal – LOL), my oldest daughter has read some of my books, my twin sister reads all of them, and so does my mother. In fact, my mom wasn’t a reader before, but once she recovered from the fact that her daughter knew about sex (LOL), she became totally hooked on romance novels and now has a bookshelf overflowing with them.


Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?


Oh, yes, I’m an avid reader, although I don’t have as much time now as I’d like, and my TBR pile is a mile high.
Favorite authors: Stephanie Bond, Jennifer LaBrecque, Jennifer St. Giles, Jacquie D’Alessandro, Wendy Etherington, Wendy Wax, Haywood Smith, Delores Fossen, Mallory Kane, Beverly Barton, Lisa Jackson, Allison Brennan, and Debra Webb.
Two writers who most influenced me were Beverly Barton and Tami Hoag. Beverly writes fabulous sexy alpha men, and when I read Cry Wolf by Tami Hoag, I knew I wanted to write dark, gritty romantic suspense like her. My fabulous critique partner Stephanie Bond also helped me hone my writing skills!


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?

Call me crazy but yes, the characters come to life in my head – sometimes I feel like I eat, breathe and sleep them. I can close my eyes at times and hear their voices, and I act out scenes in my head, feeling their emotions as an actor would. I even walk around and talk out loud as if I’m the character while I’m working out dialogue.
An example: I’m currently working on a book for my Guardian Angel Investigations series for Harlequin Intrigue. In the story, the woman was told her baby died in a hospital fire eight years ago, but she believes her daughter might be alive. I found myself almost crying while I wrote the scene, because I could feel her emotions.
Some of my characters are based on living models, but most are a mixture of many people and their character traits. The little girl in the book I mentioned above is actually based on the daughter of a friend of mine who was born premature, and had vision problems. She was so tiny, had so many complications, and was hospitalized for months, but she was a fighter, and an inspiration!
In Dark Hunger, the voodoo priestess Shayla Larue was based on a voodoo priestess I met in New Orleans. The heroes, although darker in ways, were inspired by the character Cole Turner in the TV show Charmed. I wanted my heroes to be like him, part demonic, and to be struggling with their evil side.


Where do you get the inspirations for your books?

Ideas come from everywhere – news articles, magazines, people, books, TV, real life events around me. I’m also a folklore buff, so any type of local folklore, myths, and legends about unusual places or people triggers ideas and interesting elements for my stories.
The premise for Dark Hunger was triggered by the idea of mind control: what if someone could actually brainwash you into doing something like committing murder? There are so many stories about terrorists and suicide bombings that I wanted to play on that element, but use it in a different way. I decided that my demon had the power to bend people’s minds to his wills, so he was not only preying on innocents but using them to carry out mass killings.
I also wanted to complicate the case for the police and my hero. To spread the destruction, I envisioned him orchestrating three mass killings at the same time in three different cities.
Although that element changed slightly in the revision process because the editor felt it was more suspenseful to have the hero and heroine in a race against time to stop the 2nd and 3rd attacks.
I incorporated folklore from research I’d found and also legends I invented to add flavor to the series. You can read more about them on my website.


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

Oh, evil question! I’m not much of a morning person, so usually write love scenes in the evening. I also have to get into the characters’ heads and build the scene up from emotion. The build up adds depth to the scene so it just doesn’t feel like rote sex; that’s boring. Also, a glass of wine and music helps set the mood!

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


The 2nd Intrigue I wrote, HER EYEWITNESS, was one favorite, because I loved the premise. In the book, the hero, cop, receives a corneal transplant and starts seeing visions of the murder of the donor’s eyes.
I also enjoyed writing A BREATH AWAY because I based the killer’s MO on Native American folklore and research – the killer carved a whistle out of bone and left with the victims. LAST KISS GOODBYE is at the top of the list, because the southern setting, the junkyard and kudzu are such reminders of my youth.
The Demonborn series is also a favorite, because it was fun to weave the paranormal, romance and suspense together. The men are my favorite heroes, especially Quinton, because of their internal struggle; they’re so alpha yet Quinton has a wicked sense of humor that I thought was sexy.
I liked writing Clarissa King in INSATIABLE DESIRE, the first book in the series, because she was so tortured and could hear ghosts. Although she knew she might be ridiculed by the police for her ability, she had to do the right thing by going to them anyway. That took courage.


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

INSATIABLE DESIRE was probably the most difficult, because I was setting up the paranormal world and writing such a dark hero that I was worried about crossing the line and making him unlikeable.


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

I’m not sure I’d change places with any of them because I torture them so much!
But I did write a few romantic comedies a while back, and if I had to choose, I’d be Maddie Summers in MARRY ME, MADDIE. She was funny, charming, sweet, sassy and totally loveable. She also had older brothers who were overly protective but to die for!


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

I’d like to meet William Shakespeare because he was an amazing writer and such a big influence on literature.


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

Yes, I love music of all kinds, especially blues and rock. Favorites are Bruce Springsteen, David Cooke, Adam Lambert, Marc Broussard, James Blunt, Johnny Lange, Ray LaMontagne, and David Gray.

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

I’d love to see DARK HUNGER as a movie because it’s creepy, fast-paced, has a sexy tough hero, and an interesting setting and premise.
I’ve envisioned David Gray’s song One With the Birds as the opening soundtrack. I pictured Alex O’Loughlin (TV show Moonlighting) or Jason Behr (Max from the TV show Roswell) as Quinton. I’d also love to see Annabelle played by Shirl Appleby (Liz from TV shot Roswell.) In fact, I thought the chemistry between Jason Behr and Shirl Appleby was so sexy that I’d love to see them together again.


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


I have a lot of projects in the works. Currently I’m writing the third book in my Guardian Angel Investigations series from Harlequin Intrigue. I’m also working on a paranormal YA series idea, ideas for a new romantic suspense trilogy, and a paranormal romantic suspense screenplay.
All this while I’m waiting on revisions from my editor for the last book in the Demonborn trilogy, FORBIDDEN PASSION, featuring the third Valtrez brother Dante, which will be out April 2010!



Big congrats to your newest release, Dark Hunger, the next book in your great Demon born series. You tell us something about the series and what inspired you to write Paranormals?

The series is complex with a lot of layers, but basically about the struggle between good and evil within the heroes as they fight demonic crimes. It’s also very much a romance about how love can conquer all!
I became infatuated with paranormal as a child when watching television shows like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock, The Outer Limits and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. In the last few years, I’ve sprinkled paranormal elements into my romantic suspense books. Blending the paranormal with my typical dark, gritty romantic suspense just seemed a natural fit. Originally my idea was to write a series about a woman who solved mysteries by talking to ghosts, but before I sent the idea to my agent, the show MEDIUM was advertised, so I had to rethink my premise.
Then the idea for heroes who were part demonic (part good, part evil) struck me and the stories flowed from there!

I hope you enjoy DARK HUNGER and fall in love with the Demonborn!

Happy Reading!


Rita Herron


Contest:

Only lucky winner will receive a copy of Insatiable Desire & Dark Hunger plus a T-Shirt. So stop by and say hello to Rita or ask her something about her books