Meet historical romance author Amanda L.V. Shalaby!

Today, I'm honored to have fellow historical romance author Amanda L.V. Shalaby as my guest. Her debut novel, Rhianna, was released on July 16, 2012 by Crimson Romance. Here's a taste:

Upon the unexpected death of her parents, the curate and his wife, the enigmatic Lord Guilford Kingsley arrives on her doorstep and offers to personally escort a mourning Rhianna Braden back to England from France, leaving behind her admirer Philippe who has just proposed. Shortly after Rhianna’s arrival at Kingsley Manor, family secrets and scandals begin to unfold that involve not only her deceased parents, but Rhianna herself.

Rhianna settles quickly into Kingsley Manor, finding pleasure in the company of Lord Kingsley and his twelve-year old daughter, Audra. Unable to decide if she is in love with Philippe, a count who offers wealth, position and a family who welcome her with open arms, she accepts a position as governess to precocious Audra, thus delaying her return to France and an answer to Philippe’s proposal.

As she continues to seek answers from both Kingsley Manor and her own heart, her uncommon beauty captures the attention of the dashing Lord Thayne Brighton of Ravensleigh, who Rhianna is certain, despite a mutual attraction, would never choose her over his wealthy intended. Meanwhile, Lady Lydia Kingsley suspects her husband’s attention to Rhianna has led to an affair between them, and things turn deadly when the truth of their relationship is discovered.

Eventually, Rhianna is forced to make a decision that will affect the rest of her life while discovering that some secrets are not meant to be kept.

 

You have such a lovely, lyrical quality to your writing. Do you have a music background? Or do you listen to music as you write?

Becky, thank you for such a beautiful compliment.  I do wish I could play the piano, but I didn’t appreciate the music lessons my mother thrust upon me as a young girl.  Her words, “You may wish to know how to play someday!” held no meaning for me early on, and I abandoned it as quickly as possible.  One day, I hope to take them up again.  In the meantime, I did enjoy listening to the classical masterpieces of Bach, Schubert, Vivaldi, and the like, during certain parts of Rhianna.

I know you are working on another novel at present. Tell us about it and when you project it will be ready to submit.

For those who have read Rhianna, they are familiar with a character by the name of Audra Kingsley.  She was only twelve years old in the pages of Rhianna, but she has since informed me that she is now sixteen and on her way to London to be presented at St. James.  Once a full-fledged member of Society, she intends to return to her hometown of Thornton, England and marry her childhood sweetheart.  But, as it turns out, there are some unscrupulous persons who have other plans for the heiress.

Audra’s story is about a third of the way completed, and I hope to have the first draft ready by fall.

What is your writing process? Do you outline your story first or do you just go with it?

The characters have almost always come first.  They have a tendency to whisper snippets of their stories to me at the most inconvenient times.  After that, I find myself writing down conversations between characters, often with no idea at what point in the story they take place.  After the first 20,000 words are written, the story in its entirety generally hits me in one fell swoop, and I will jot down a rough outline, just so I don’t forget anything. 

Do you have a good image of the physical characteristics of your hero/heroine when you are writing the story? Do you select the actors you’d like to have in the movie and build your story with them in mind?

Generally, I have a good idea what my characters look like, but I have never based them on real people or on the looks of actors/actresses.  I do have a contemporary romance that I’ve started working on, and after a few months, I did come across an actor that looked like my hero, but it was more coincidental, and I didn’t base my hero off the actor.

After Rhianna was completed, I set up a Pinterest board dedicated to the story, and I had some fun looking for actors who did have a resemblance to my characters.  The board mostly includes photos of the English landscape, drawing rooms, ball rooms, and a few other items that make an appearance in the novel.  It was fun to put together, and adds another element of bringing the story to life.

How do you take care of the research needed to write an historical?

Oh!  I have been researching 19^th Century England for fourteen years, and I have my own library of factual books that I have pored over!  I also had an opportunity to visit England, which was a great thrill for me, and something I hope to do again soon.

What authors have influenced you?

My greatest inspiration for my English historical stories remains the classics, especially Jane Austen.  Charlotte Brontë is a close second.

What’s the first romance you remember reading?

The first romance I read was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  A book I have read again and again over the years.

How can people get in touch with you? And buy your book?

You can find me in a variety of places, www.facebook.com/amandalvshalaby, www.twitter.com/amandashalaby and www.pinterest.com/amandalvshalaby among them.  But the best place to find me is at my WordPress site, www.amandalvshalaby.wordpress.com.  From there, you can learn more about me, my books, upcoming events and news, and links to buy Rhianna at the major ebook retailers.

Orange Barrel Season

      If you live in any part of the country where the winters are long and harsh, you know what Orange Barrel Season is. It’s that short window of opportunity for road crews to take care of business. Every spring, as soon as the last threat of frost leaves, the orange barrels come out, cutting two lanes of traffic down to one, stretching on for miles in every direction. Crews rip up the old pavement which was full of potholes and not quite right, and smoothes it all out, ending with a fresh coat of asphalt or concrete, making every car glide smoothly along the road. By the time the first snowflakes fall, the orange barrels are picked up and put into storage until the following spring.

     I currently have a work in progress that has been hounding me for years. It’s a time travel, and I wrote it backwards to begin with, by sending my hero forward in time. Every contest I entered told me of my error, but yet I hesitated to rip it apart and redo it, since very little of what had been written would survive such a drastic rewrite.

     But this work wouldn’t leave me alone. It kept whispering to me, “Try it this way and see what happens.” I decided to follow the muse in my head and write just the first hundred pages, sending my heroine back in time, as everyone insisted was right and proper. I submitted it into a few contests and lo and behold, I placed third in one and first in another! When I returned from Nationals, having read “Save The Cat” while on the plane, this book whispered again. No, it didn’t whisper. It stomped its feet and demanded to be finished. I wrote a new beginning for it, which I unveiled yesterday at my Red Pen Fiction Writers Group, to decent reviews.

     Since this book is keeping me up at night, insisting to be written, I think I’m going to finally declare my study an Orange Barrel zone, and get to work on it, revising the first part and writing the second part. I’ll fill in the potholes, fix the not quite right sections and smooth it all out. I don’t think I’ll be able to take down the barrels by the time the leaves fall, but at least by then I’ll be well on my way to a finished product. I can’t wait.

Nationals Recap

I was at the RWA National Conference last week—the holy grail of our craft—breathing the same air as Nora Roberts, Stephanie Laurens, Julia Quinn, Jayne Anne Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips and more. I met people I’d been emailing to for months, especially my fellow Crimson Romance authors, and pitched to an agent and an editor, attended one workshop after another, wished I could clone myself so I could do more. Oh, and as an additional perk, I got to play for a day and went to Hearst Castle, up the California coast a couple of hours.

The Conference was the big reason for trekking across the country, and the highlight of the conference, for me anyway, was being able to partake in Michael Hauge’s workshop. If you haven’t yet heard him speak, I encourage you to find his calendar of speaking engagements and get yourself to one. It was that good. He takes the six-stage concept of screenwriting, made famous by Blake Snyder and Alexandra Sokoloff, and expands upon it in a most profound way. The main characters must journey, in these six stages, from their outer identity, which is the false self we present to the world, to their essence—what lies underneath their outer armor. Once they find the courage to embrace their essence, the characters, and your story, win.

One of the best things Michael Hauge said was at the very end of his talk. He said to set a goal for yourself and your career. It can be something as simple as writing five pages today, or something as complex as finding an agent. Whatever it is, fix the goal firmly in your mind and then fill in the following sentence:

I’ll do whatever it takes to _______________, just don’t ask me to _______________.

Don’t think about your answer too long, just jot down the first thing that comes to mind. I can guarantee you Identity will answer first. Look at your answer. Just don’t ask me to what? Identity answered something safe. Now, push your boundaries. Get to your Essence—the really scary answer. Only when you get to your own Essence will you be able to complete your journey. Profound.

Getting Ready For Nationals

I’m three days away from leaving Ohio and heading for sunny California. Mentally, at least, I’m packed and ready to go. I’ve gotten my WIP to the point I wanted it to be before I left—the flash first draft is finished. Now comes the editing part, and layering in more detail while I put sentences in their proper order rather than the way they came spilling out of my head. But I can work on that once I return home.

I just got word, though, that the agent I was to pitch to had to cancel out, due to a family emergency, which leaves me in a bit of a bind. Do I troll the pitch room for hours on Friday and Saturday, waiting for someone to get cold feet so I can jump in and take her place? Or do I instead go to the many great lectures that are available—so many remarkable ones that I wish I could clone myself so I could go to more than one at a time. I guess that’s what the recordings are for.

I’ve divided the summer in my head into two parts—before Nationals and after. My book was released July 2, so I’ve been scrambling around all month, posting blogs on other sites, getting interviewed by the local paper, seizing one opportunity after another to get a book review done. All the stuff that an author in today’s market must do. As I’ve said before, it’s been a steep learning curve. And seeing the results from my various efforts translated into sales and website hits has been even more remarkable. Now, though, I get some time off to soak up the creative juices of my fellow Crimson authors, as well as those of some highly esteemed romance authors like Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, Jayne Anne Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, to name just a few. I also get the added bonus of being able to spend time with my brother, pictured above, who happens to live in Anaheim.

Once I return from the trip, though, it’s right back into the fray. My second book is to be released sometime in December, so edits will hit my desk along about October. I’m waiting to hear on another book that I have out for consideration. They promised me they’d get back by mid-August, so, if all goes well, that one will be in production soon too. And there’s that pesky little problem of finding an agent, which I had hoped to get resolved at RWA.

When I was working in the corporate world every day, my life wasn’t this hectic. And this is way more fun. I’m finally following my dad’s advice about employment—find something you like to do and it’ll never be a job for you.

Meet modern-day storyteller Nikkie Locke

If he’d lived, Woody Guthrie would be 100 today. I know this because I attended an Arlo Guthrie and family concert honoring his father. One of the things Arlo said about his father that stuck with me was that Woody never considered himself a singer. Rather, he was a storyteller. And, in his lifetime, he wrote over 3,000 stories.

Today, I’m pleased to host Nikkie Locke on my blog. She’s a modern day storyteller, and her debut novel, Unbound, will be released July 16. Let’s find out a bit more about her, shall we?

Becky: Tell us a little about your book.

Nikkie: Unbound is a romantic suspense novel set in the small, fictional town of Hartsville. It’s a story about a couple whose relationship is just taking off when she becomes a target for a stalker. I really love both of these characters. Payten is independent, strong willed, and just a little bit unsure of herself when it comes to men, especially Dean. Dean is laid back, patient, and reliable. On the other hand, he has horrible nightmares about a past tragedy that he won’t share.

Becky: The book sounds edge-of-your-seat exciting. Is it based on any life experiences?

Nikkie: I took all those things that creep me out- a strange call with nobody on the other end, the fear of the dark outside the window, the itch at the back of your neck when you think someone’s watching- and expanded on it. Thankfully, I’ve never had a cause for those fears.

Becky: I love the names of your pets, and also the names of your characters. How do you decide on the names? Is it a long, complicated process, or do the characters (and pets) let you know their names pretty quickly?

Nikkie: Thanks! I have a post about naming characters on my blog. Usually, I hound friends and family for names and check out the baby name book until I find something that fits the growing character in my head. That usually isn’t too bad. Changing the name after the book’s written is a challenge though!

As for naming pets, it’s generally the same. For those of you who don’t know, I have a cat named Athena and a dog named Perseus. Athena (also known as Ani) arrived half-starved and bloody in the middle of winter. She was spunky and just a little bit wild. She bites. She’s also sneaky. After a week, Gramma and I decided on Athena, after the Goddess of War and Wisdom.

Perseus (also known as Percy) was not named after Percy Jackson, no matter what my little sister thinks. He’s a dog my father rescued and brought to me to take care of until “we find him a home.” Yeah right. That worked. Dad knows I’m a sucker. My younger brother and I had been watching Clash of the Titans when they arrived. We briefly considered renaming him Cerberus after the first night he barked all night long (he’s terrified of turtles), but Perseus just fits.

Becky: You indicated you have a love for action movies with vampires, werewolves and zombies. Any plans to write a paranormal? Maybe a paranormal suspense?

Nikkie: I would LOVE to write a paranormal novel. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, dragons, elves, goblins, imps, fairies, harpies… The list goes on and on. Those kinds of possibilities are endless. I’d love to create a world where they’re real. I’m working on it, but right now, my focus is my suspense novels.

PS I have a kick ass goblin scene. They freak me out!

Becky: Tell us about your process to publication. You indicated it had been a long road.

Nikkie: I queried dozens of agents and publishing companies. It’s challenging to catch the attention of someone who reads hundreds of similar letters a week with only a few short paragraphs. My last semester of college was spent working on a novel during the morning, researching/querying agents and publishers after lunch, and in class during the evening. It was brutal.

A year later, I stumbled onto a call for submissions from Crimson Romance. I talked the opportunity over with my mother and decided to submit. Less than a month later, I’d signed my contract. I spent weeks after randomly squealing in delight and babbling about my book to whoever would listen.

Becky: How long have you been writing?

Nikkie: I’ve been working on one novel or another since I was thirteen years old. I just turned twenty-three.

Becky: Is this your first book sale? Do you have others under the bed, waiting to come to light?

Nikkie: Unbound is the first book I’ve completed. The first book I wrote, at thirteen, will never see the light of day. It no longer even exists on paper, thank goodness. It was very, very awful.

The novel I worked on before Unbound is almost completed with less than twenty pages at the end unfinished. I stopped though. The story felt wrong. The characters from that novel actually appear in Unbound, and I hope to write their story one day. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to be saved from that first book except the characters.

Becky: Who is your sexiest man alive, other than your own Prince Charming?

Nikkie: Like many of the ladies who have answered this question for my blog, I’m having trouble picking just one… If I can’t choose my own, I think I’m going with Gerard Butler. He acts, he sings, he’s funny, and he’s drop dead gorgeous. Have you seen him in a kilt? Have you heard that voice? That accent? Whew. Yeah, I’m going with Gerard.

Becky: You refer on your website to your mother, in rather humorous, loving terms. Tell us about your relationship with her.

Nikkie: My mom is awesome. She rocks. She’s the glue that holds my family together. She is incredibly supportive of my father, my young siblings, me, and even my Prince Charming. On occasion, she has been known to brag more about Prince Charming in conversation than me. I let it slide though. I know I’m her favorite. I think… She pushes us to do our best and reach for our dreams. She also calls on my days off fifteen times “just to chat.” You cannot sleep in around that woman.

Becky: You went to school at Missouri State University. Did you grow up in Missouri? Have you ever lived in any other state? Done any traveling outside the US?

Nikkie: I attended Missouri State University for my Bachelor’s degree. After less than a year out of college, I’m back. Please hold the perpetual student jokes. I’ve heard them. :)

I was born in Missouri and grew up here in a small town. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Becky: How does one connect with you?

Website: http://nikkielocke.weebly.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NikkieLocke

Here’s a picture of Nikkie. A lovely young lady, wouldn’t you agree? And, at 23, she’s one of the youngest of the Crimson Romance authors. Which gives her plenty of time to catch up to Woody. Only 2,999 more to go, Nikkie!

Mary's Alter Ego

Most of you by now know that I have a puppy-mill rescue dog named Mary. She’s been very slow to reveal herself to me—she has trust issues, as you can well imagine. But sometime around the anniversary of the day she came into my life, something clicked between us, and she’s been allowing me to see more and more of what makes her tick.

A few months ago, I made the transition from writer to author when I signed with Crimson Romance. The following weeks were intense and hectic, between setting up a website and other social media, plus all the rounds of edits. Oh yeah, and then there was that pesky day job. I’d find myself sitting in front of my computer for hours on end. Mary often had to use her outside voice to break through the writer’s fog and make me realize it had been four hours since I’d let her outside.

The other day, I was working on my WIP. Finally able to be creative again, I was eager to work, but a bit rusty, since I’d been doing everything but writing for a couple weeks. I’d write a chapter and print it out, curious to see if it became any less sucky when I looked at it in print rather than on the screen. I read through the work out loud, with Mary as my audience. No, if anything, it sucked even more. I balled up the pages one at a time, and tossed them in the direction of the wastebasket. Finally, I got back in the groove, and the next few hours were blissfully spent with my heroine, whom I love dearly, in 1856 St. Louis.

When I finally came back to the present and went looking for Mary, I found a trail of paper in the living room. While I wasn’t looking, she came into my study and grabbed the sheets of my dismal chapter one by one, and shredded them on my rug. I smiled as I realized Mary had torn my work apart, just like an editor would have done. I decided to experiment with something.

I have pens all over my house, since you never know when inspiration will strike. On an almost daily basis, one or more pens will crash to the floor from an overloaded table. If I’m not quick to pick them up, Mary will grab them and start chewing. This time, I intentionally laid three pens on the floor—two with blue ink and one with red. Without hesitation, Mary picked up the red one triumphantly and returned to her blanket with her prize. Which was all the proof I needed. In a former life, Mary was an editor with a publishing house!

Release Day--The Reluctant Debutante

It's finally here. The release of my debut novel. After the first rush of giddiness as I signed my first-ever contract with Crimson Romance, I settled into round after round of edits, scurried to get this website up and running, not to mention all the other social media, arranged my own blog tour, and had interviews with the local paper. It was such a whirlwind that I despaired of ever catching up.

I gave myself the luxury of a day off from the job that helps me buy groceries (I wouldn't be able to concentrate on it anyway), worked a bit on my WIP, and keep checking hits to my website and my Amazon ranking (wildly inaccurate, according to everyone, but I check anyway.) The WIP is languishing due to my lack of concentration, so I think I'll pull on my work gloves and chain saw up the large oak branch that fell into my yard last night. At least I'll be able to see some productivity that way.

I'll pretend the fireworks on the Fourth are in honor of my release. And I'm being taken out to dinner tonight by two of my favorite people. Oh, and I have a book on Amazon, sandwiched between Julia Quinn and Nora Roberts. Life doesn't get much sweeter.