Wednesday, September 26, 2007

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lauren Dane is a suburban mom with a salacious imagination that she’s put to good use with her writing. Her favorite thing is when people tell her that she doesn’t look like “someone who’d write those books.”

She lives in the Northwest with her husband and three very
rambunctious kids. She writes
everything from paranormals to
contemporary BDSM books and
develops terrible crushes on all of her heroes. To date, she’s contracted twenty-three novels and novellas.

Even though she lives in her head a lot, she does venture outside from time to time to collaborate with other authors, oh and to buy shoes too.

Visit her website at www.laurendane.com


INTERVIEW:

Why did you become a writer? Was it a dream of yours since you were younger or did the desire to write happen later in your life?
I’ve written on and off for most of my life, from a pretty early age but it never became something I seriously considered until 2004 when I was on bed rest with a high risk pregnancy. So I had a lot of time and my husband got me a second hand laptop and I wrote this book I’d been toying with in my head since the year before when I’d visited New Orleans. That book, Triad, was my first sale.

What do you love about being an author? Is there anything you dislike?
I love that I get to make up stories! I love that I can set loose all the stories in my head and tell them and even better, people seem to like it when I tell them. It used to be this, “wouldn’t it be great to be a writer?” thing and it’s a reality now. That’s amazing to me.

As for dislikes? Waiting. I hate the time after a manuscript is turned in before you hear back from the editor. Drives me nuts. But it’s a big part of this business and so I’ve just learned to deal with it and fill the time with another project.

How do you balance your personal and writing time?
I have three young children so my daytime hours are filled with mom stuff. They come first always but especially during the day. As for writing, I write every day except for a week or so each year when we go on vacation. Once the kids go to bed I write until about midnight or so. That’s work and my family is really good about respecting that time. Writing is a commitment in my life, I make the time for it. But none of us has the same schedule, we only have the life we have. I give it all I can every day I can.

How do you write? Do your characters come to you first or the plot or the world of the story?
Each book is different. Sometimes I have a really strong sense of the overall story and the characters slowly unveil themselves as I write. Normally though, the characters come first and then they give me their stories.

Generally, I’m a pantser. I like watching the story come to life as I write it. But as my career changes and grows heavier with deadlines, I have to use at least loose outlines so I can keep focused. Also, I sell on partial manuscripts now, which means I have to write a synopsis with the submission which serves as a great roadmap. I’m getting more used to it and I’m also able to have a lot of leeway within the framework of the outline to let the story go where it needs to but not let it gallop off into the sunset.

A world is something I build into the characters as well as the overarching story. I tend to be analytical about stuff and I like details. Sometimes my editors make me take stuff out, other times they love it. LOL.

What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write?
Let’s see: Paranormal (werewolves, vampires, witches, faeries), Urban Fantasy (post apocalyptic, dark erotic), Contemporary (romance, erotic romance, romantic suspense) and straight erotic contemporary. That’s so far, we’ll see what the future holds!

I just write the stories that resonate with me. Generally, no matter the genre, stories are about the characters so whether they’re on a spaceship or in Seattle fighting the werewolf mafia, it’s really about the characters and where they’re going and how they get there.

I think oftentimes, romance is a maligned genre but romance and interpersonal relationships are the perfect setting to tell compelling stories. Sometimes the most simple stories are compelling. I just want to grab a reader for a few hours and take her somewhere. I’m not out to change the world or win the Nobel prize. I want to write something interesting that has a minimum of clichés and stereotypes. I like to make people laugh.

What is the biggest misconception about being an author?
Back before I wrote I probably thought writers had it a lot easier than they do with respect to selling books. I also think many people pick up a book and think, “oh I could totally write this!” but it’s a lot harder than you think. Harder than I thought it was, that’s for sure. Even a bad book is hard to write.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
Well my poor husband has learned that everything he says and does is fair game and he often sees bits of our life in my books. I use people I know all the time. Good and bad. It’s fiction, so it’s not totally based on me or people I know, but there are aspects of my life and people in it in every single one of my books.

Out of all the characters that you've written, who is your favorite and why?
That’s so hard! Hmm. I’d have to say Rowan from Goddess With A Blade. A book I very much hope to sell. She’s hard and complicated but still human in a world where she’s has to be nearly inhuman to survive. She’s intelligent and writing her dialog is so much fun because she’s a smartass and very blunt. Nina from Enforcer is a very close second though.

If you were writing a script for the big screen, who would you want to act in your movie?
What a fun question! Gerard Butler so I could act all the bedroom scenes with him. Oh, or Clive Owen for the same reasons. I don’t think my husband would be pleased though. In all, I think there are a lot of talented actors out there, they don’t always get the parts they should though. I’d just want people who could give the characters their soul on screen.

What would you want readers to take away from your books?
Just a sense of having been transported for a few hours. I hope they like my writing of course, and I hope they see the connection between my characters on the page.

Do you have any advice for beginning writers in regards to writing a book?
Do it. Don’t make excuses. Don’t complain about your lack of time. Stop wasting energy on finding reasons not to write. If you want to write, do it. Five minutes every three days? An hour a day? Whatever. It has to have a place of importance and commitment in your life or you won’t succeed. You can never publish a book you don’t finish.

Who are your favorite authors?
Margaret Atwood, Kim Harrison, Megan Hart, Anya Bast, Lilith Saintcrow, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Linda Howard, Richard Morgan, Liz Maverick and William Gibson

What are you reading right now?
Richard Morgan’s Thirteen
Sasha White’s Trouble
Patti O’Shea’s The Midnight Hour


ABOUT THE BOOK:

This book is a spinoff of the Witches Knot series, but can be read alone.

BLURB:

Mei is a Warrior for the Balance. She stands between good and evil. So when her boss tells her she's got to head to Tir na nOg to help the Fae she is most displeased. Mei's mother Aine, the queen of the Fae, betrayed and exiled her millennia ago. Or so she's been led to believe.

But Aine was misled by her own sister, and suddenly everything Mei has thought was true for thousands of years falls down around her ears as she looks up to see the face of her husband. Her first husband, a man she'd thought was dead.

Jayce MacTavish is surprised to find that his wife, thought millennia dead, is alive, but his joy is tempered by the realization that she's got another mate.

Mei, Card and Jayce must find a way to be together as three while a threat from the Dark Fae and a new enemy darkens the horizon.


EXCERPT:

Jayce came into the room and stood there, watching Mei as she looked out the windows over the expansive gardens. So beautiful, his woman. Complicated, exasperating, strong, courageous and irascible. Intractable even. But he’d give his last breath for her. He loved her so much that his chest ached with the fullness of it.

He knew they had to deal with this threat. It was her job, his, Card’s. Their destiny and fate. But he hated it beyond bearing that she had to risk herself. It seemed a whole lot of unfair that a woman who’d suffered so much couldn’t just take a holiday and leave the world saving to others.

“I can feel you,” she murmured without turning to face him. “Not just your emotions, although I can feel those loud and clear. But your physical presence. I can almost feel the beat of your heart. I loved you before, of course. So much. With that bloom of youth and the certainty of absolute invincibility. I was shocked when they told me you’d died. I didn’t believe it for the longest time. The belief that you’d be waiting for me when I got back to Tir na nOg was all that got me through many a day. Years. Centuries. I can still remember Eire’s face when she told me you’d died in your first year at Carthau. My ears began to ring. Funny.” She sighed. “And then they sent me away and I had nothing. No one. But your memory has always been here.”

In the reflection of the window glass he saw her press the heel of her hand to her chest, over her heart.

“But now I see you, older and wiser, more hardened by life, and I realize that my love for you now is a million times that of the young Fae I was when we left for Sareem that day. I look at you, a man, battle-tough and yet still so good inside, and I count my blessings. I know it’s hard for you, not knowing everything. I know it’s hard when you see that Card knows more about those years. I’m sorry for that. I want to be more open with you because you’re so important to me. I want you to know you can ask me things. I can’t promise I’ll be able to talk about them right when you ask but I’ll do my very best to be open with you. I don’t want you hurt.”

A sob caught in her throat and he felt it tighten his gut. With purpose, he strode to her, his clothes falling away as he reached her.

One touch of his fingertips against her shoulder and hers disappeared as well, leaving her nude, the sun streaming through the glass making her skin look dusted with gold.

“You’re a miracle to me, Mei,” he murmured as his lips brushed over her neck. “The first time was amazing enough but to have you back now, after all you’ve endured—it’s a gift I simply can’t stop thanking the heavens for.”


Threat of Darkness by Lauren Dane
ISBN #9781419910517
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Release Date: July 2007
Genre: Menage a trois/Fantasy
$5.95 from Ellora's Cave


Purchase Threat of Darkness by Lauren Dane HERE!!!