Delilah, thanks for being here! You’ve just released the latest in your vampire series, MY IMMORTAL KNIGHT: Uncovering Navarro. Can you tell us a little about that story?

 

I love this series and hope I’ll be inspired to write a few more episodes! Each story layers on the previous one to add more texture to the Underworld I’m building. In this story, I’m picking back up in Seattle, Washington where the series began with a character called Navarro, who has appeared several times in the series. This is the blurb for the book:

 

Sidney Coffey, Seattle’s “News at Nine” girl, uncovers the scoop of a lifetime and her ticket into “serious journalism”. The only problem is—without proof, no one’s going to believe the victims of recent gang killings are in fact “undead” and vampires! With her gut telling her there’s an even bigger story lurking beneath the surface, she decides to beard a reclusive vampire master in his den for an interview. But meeting the master only complicates things. For a woman with a voracious sexual appetite, the tall, dark and gloomy vamp proves an irresistible challenge.

 

When a reporter trespasses on his estate, Navarro is at first amused, then annoyed that the little baggage is close to putting together the pieces of a dangerous plot involving an old enemy and a group of murdered geneticists. To keep her safe, Navarro issues an invitation he won’t let her refuse.

 

Past:

 

When did you start thinking about becoming a writer and when? Did you take any writing courses?

When I was closing in on...ahem...a certain birthdate in 2000, I suffered my midlife crisis. I hated my day job, and knew I wanted to do something more with the rest of my life. I was always a reader, but found myself very dissatisfied with what I had been reading for the most part—the stories were too maudlin, the heroes not as strong as I would have liked, and overall—NOT SEXY ENOUGH! So I decided to try writing a romance myself and found myself hooked from the start (it really is an obsession!). I joined Romance Writers of America and attended a few conferences that talked about writing topics, but for the most part learned how to write by writing some really awful books first!

 

How did your writing career start?

I started writing with my sister, Elle James/Myla Jackson. Her descriptions sucked and my dialogue was flat—together, we thought we had it licked. But as we gained confidence as writers, we branched out on our own. Together, we wrote our first book in early 2000, but it wasn’t until early 2003 that I finally made my first sale to a publisher—Prisoner of Desire to Ellora’s Cave. Ellora’s Cave has since bought another thirteen stories from me, and I’m very happy to be writing exactly the sort of thing I love to read—sexy, paranormal and futuristic tales with strong, orgasm-inspiring heroes!!

 

Now:

 

What is the average time you spend in writing a book?

That’s a tough question. I can’t begin writing a story until I have the first scene or so in my head—kind of like an old-fashioned movie reel playing in my mind. Sometimes that day-dreaming phase can take a couple of weeks, so I like to start thinking about the next book I’m going to write before I finish the one I’m working on, because I don’t want a big break—but it does happen. Once I have that first scene in my head, it can take a week to get it right on paper. I have to have it as perfect as I can make it before I plow through the rest of the book. So the first scene can take a week or slightly more, but after that I can zoom through the rest of the book. I usually like to take about 45 days to write one of my category-length books, but I have written then in as fast as 18 days as well.

 

What does a regular working day writing look like?

Unfortunately, I have a day job. So writing happens during the hour of my lunch break and for a couple of hours at night during the week. I can easily spend eight hours on a Saturday or Sunday when I’m deep into a story. Now, that said—I spend a lot of time at my computer answering tons of e-mail from all my writing groups and fan groups. It’s a real time-eater, but so essential for getting my name out there and feeling connected to what the readers want. I gave up my computer games fetish, but still have to pry myself away from E-bay!

 

Do you plan before you write, write everything down in schemes?

It depends on the length and complexity of the story. The My Immortal Knight series was written without a plan—I just sat at the computer and let the characters lead me through the scenes. In longer works, I need a plan to get through that saggy middle of the story that most writers dread. Without a plan there, I’d mire in quicksand! So what I do is wait for the first part of the book to come to me (again, lots of daydreaming!). Then when I have what I think is a pretty clean start, I sit down and plot the remainder of the story, scene by scene—not that I ever follow my plan!

 

What is on your schedule right now? (busy writing new book, doing research, ..)

I’m in the doldrums right now. Not really doing anything that I’d call productive. I’m waiting for my muse to give me that crisp first scene for the book I need to work on next—the sequel to The Pleasure Bot. This weekend I’ll likely make myself sit in front of my computer and talk my way through a scene, just imagining the dialogue between my two main characters. Once I have a scene with sharp dialogue, I’ll “hang” the description and emotions around that framework. I like starting with the dialogue because when I get it down fast it flows and sounds more natural. I’m also working on revisions of a partial for a story that I’ll submit to one of the New York publishers.

 

You and your books:

 

Are your ideas or characters based on real persons?

Sometimes. And sometimes they are based on people I’d like to meet (most of my heroes are the latter!). My first heroine, Evena from Prisoner of Desire, was based on my daughter—same long auburn hair and slender, wiry build and bad temper. My second heroine, Emmy from All Hallows Heartbreaker, was based on me—her full figure, her worries about her weight—I guess her ditziness too! Quentin from Love Bites is Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer—only romanticized.

What book of yours means the most to you, took the longest, needed the most research?

The book that means the most to me? I guess there were two. When I wrote Love Bites to follow up All Hallows Heartbreaker, I proved to myself I could serialize a story and keep the voices for all those characters true to themselves and unique. That was a huge confidence builder. That the story is also one of the hottest I’ve written was an added bonus! The second story that means a lot to me was Frannie ’n’ the Private Dick. Comedy is tough. The first chapter of that story was complex and layered and funny, and required more research than you will ever know by reading it!

What are your favourite authors/books?

Gosh, I wish I could throw out an impressive list of erudite writers, but I’d be lying! I love reading romance. Julie Garwood, Joanna Lindsey, Linda Howard, and Pam Morsi are all favorites of mine. On my keeper shelf right now I have a copy of Jackson Rule by  Sharon Sala, Simple Jess by Pam Morsi, Saving Grace by  Julie Garwood, and Son of the Morning and Mckenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard. Something about each of the heroes in those stories touched me, aroused me, made them very hard to forget.

What is your favorite genre/theme? The bookgenres you like writing on are they the same genres as the books you like writing?

My favorite to write is not my favorite to read. Doesn’t that seem odd? I’ve never read Sherrilyn Kenyon, I read one Christine Feehan, and I never even heard of LKH until a month or so ago—but I adore writing my own vampire/were stories. I also write futuristics but don’t read them widely either!

Future:

 

Would you ever consider writing in another genre? If so, what genre(s) would that be?

I’ve written a little in almost every romance genre. I like contemporary comedies with a heavy dose of sensuality. I’m sure I’ll try my hand at getting something like that published. But they will definitely be on the wacky side. I also love time-travel—which everyone says is dead. But I have this story—already written—with a kick-ass heroine and an enthralling plot set in 12th century England. I just have to find a publisher to buy the darn thing.

Any future plans you would like to share with us?

I’ll be writing more books in the My Immortal Knight series. Probably another six or seven! I’ll write a sequel to The Pleasure Bot and the final installment in my Desire series this year. Beyond that I’m not sure what will be next. I’ll have to wait until Miss Muse visits again!

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.