Since my late high school years, I've been interested in politics. My pacifist leanings made me want to understand how other countries and cultures work, how our policies affect the average citizen. The book I'm featuring today offers a fascinating glimpse into Iran in the 1970s. Author Anthony Roberts is here today to share some of his thoughts on writing.

Welcome to the blog, Anthony! Could you tell us a little bit about your book?
Thank you for inviting me,  Rachel. It's a pleasure to be here.

Sons of the Great Satan is framed around a teenage coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a cataclysmic event: Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979. I wanted to tell a compelling story that explored the revolution through intersecting story lines and multiple viewpoints. Most Americans of my generation think of Iran as the nation that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Few Americans knew the history of Iran or the reasons behind the revolution. It was my desire in Sons of the Great Satan to tell an epic character-driven tale of empire lost and show both the political upheaval as well as the personal tragedy.   

The 'Sons' of the title are the expatriate teenagers, like myself, who lived in Iran prior to the fall of the Shah, and of course, 'the Great Satan' is United States of America, the Shah's strongest Western ally. The book follows a number of characters and story lines through the revolution: Americans expatriates, Iranians on both sides of the struggle, innocents caught in the crossfire, a British journalist covering the unfolding events, major political leaders such as Shah Pahlavi, President Carter, and the Ayatollah Khomeini, and our main protagonists, Joey Andrews of Peligrosa, Texas and Farhad Zadeh or Tehran, Iran. It is through the friendship of Joey and Farhad that we experience the bloody revolution and the Shah's ultimate downfall. The bond between the Iranian boy, Farhad, and the American kid, Joey, comprise the moral center of the novel, and it's their story that pulls all the other threads together.

You actually lived in Iran during this upheaval. What led you to write your experiences as a novel instead of a memoir?
There are several reasons why I chose to write a historical fiction novel instead of a memoir. First, I wanted to tell a bigger story than what happened to me and my family during our years in  Tehran. The expatriate lifestyle is certainly a big part of Sons of the Great Satan, and draws on my experience, but I also wanted to delve into the politics of the revolution, both internally in Iran and through the major political players of the day. 

Secondly, my personal story in Iran ended in the fall of 1978 just as my senior year started. There was unrest in the country and many people were leaving, but it was still a couple of months before the forced evacuation of all American citizens from Iran. My mother, sister and I left Iran about 4 months before the Shah left on his 'vacation'. My father stayed until late February 1979, a month after the Shah's departure and two weeks after the triumphant return of Ayatollah Khomeini. My personal story ended in Iran as things began to fall apart, but before the evacuations and the Shah's departure, which were essential to my novel.

Lastly, I love grand epics. When I was a teenager in the Middle East, my mother was an avid James Michner fan, and I made my way through most of his catalog. There's plenty of time for reading when there's no television or radio. Movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Man Who Would Be King, Lonesome Dove- these films captivated my imagination. There's a lot of love for tragic heroes in Sons of the Great Satan,  as well as the human side of history.

How did your experiences shape the plot of Sons of the Great Satan?
I always planned on SOTGS being bigger than my personal story but there are many tie-ins. The most obvious is the 'Sons' themselves, which are composites of the guys I used to hang around with in Tehran. There is no one-to-one character correlation, but the camaraderie the boys share is the same. I've had a number of classmates read my book and there are many touchstones that ring true for those who were there. One of the dedications for the novel is the 'Class of '79, Tehran American School': my senior class that never graduated due to the fall of the Shah.

A number of incidents portrayed in the book draw on my experiences in Iran; such as the parties the boys attend, being a student at Tehran American School, camping trips, the drug use, the obsession with rock'n'roll, and in the later part of the book there's a riot that Joey witnesses that is based on one of my most vivid memories from my last summer in Iran.

A cornerstone element in the novel is the disintegrating relationship between Joey Andrews parents, Terry and Diane. My own parents separated in Iran and later divorced when we returned to the States. That created a lot of personal turmoil for the family but for a writer, I mean, c'mon - a revolution and a marriage dissolving in the process? From my earliest plans for the novel I knew that had to be a central part of the story. Now if I can just convince my parents that it's all fiction! As I told my father, "Terry Andrews is not you, Dad. He's me. In fact, everyone in the book is me!"  

The greatest experience that shaped the novel was my love of the years I spent in Iran. I've been asked, "How can you love a country that drove you from its borders and then took your countrymen hostage?" There's no easy answer to that. My emotions toward Iran are complicated and filled with anger and resentment along with a loving nostalgia. Strong emotions like that might wreck havoc on your psychiatry bill, but they're great fodder for a novel. Outside of time travel, Sons of the Great Satan, was my chance to revisit that place and time if only in my imagination.

Do you have any other books in the works?
Yes, I have several project in process. I'm plotting a sequel to Sons of the Great Satan entitled The Will of God, which will cover the aftermath of the Islamic revolution and into the Iran/Iraq war. Many of the characters that survived Sons will make return appearances in the sequel.

I've also written three short stories and a novella compiled in Four Trails: A Quartet of Country Tales. You can download Four Trails for FREE at Smashwords.com. I'm currently writing a book of short stories which I describe as 'Gothic Redneck'. Each story in the book deals with a dead body. I should have the first draft of Dead'r Than Elvis completed within a couple of months.

And lastly, I'm plotting out a fantasy trilogy set in modern day Hawai'i. Imagine Lord of the Flies meets Lord of the Rings and you're almost there.  

What is the best advice you can give to writers?
Keep writing, but know why you're writing. Be true to your work, but don't be too defensive. As incredible as it seems, other people have good ideas too. You can accept those ideas or reject them, but it never hurts to hear them, and it just might help.

Thanks for stopping by, Anthony!

Anthony can be found on his blog, Facebook, and Twitter @YoBigTony!

Sons of the Great Satan can be found on Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe via email or Networked Blogs. You can even follow me on Twitter!

I'm trying this LinkedIn thing again. Check out my profile and let's get connected!

Whew, what a week! Finished up an editing job, attended a wedding (yay for the happy couple!), finished up the stack of Q&A forms for my wonderful, patient blog participants. Also learned that if you make a microwave s'more, it will not be exactly right. Yes, the chocolate will be melty. Yes, the graham crackers will remain pleasantly crunchy. But the marshmallow will turn chewy and tough. Almost like elastic. Sad.

The best news of all? I worked on the novel. The same one that's been stubbornly resisting for months. I think I finally broke through!

My year has been awesome so far, especially where writing is concerned. In 2011, I've received excellent feedback for my WIP through the Internet Writing Workshop and written over a hundred critiques (that's an estimate). Critiquing the work of other writersis always a privilege - it's basically a crash course in figuring out what works and what doesn't. I learn so much from critting. I've also made some great writing friends through IWW. I highly recommend joining IWW if you want to find a serious critique group. Critique Circle is another great resource.

I've been ghostwriting on a weekly basis for a wonderful client. I've also been editing books for Muse It Up Publishing, which continues to be a fantastic experience. This blog has taken off, and as I write this, I have a number of Q&A forms to create for new authors! I'm constantly following writers on Twitter in order to make friends and expand my network.

All those activities have left very little time for writing my novel. It's hard to choose between so many worthy activities. However, I took a vacation from IWW a few days ago to make time to finish my book. My goal is to have a polished first draft by the end of the year. It's definitely doable, as long as no gaping chasm opens up between my vision right now and where the book ends up going. I've been feeling the pull of my manuscript lately, calling me back to work on it. If you write, you know what I mean - that feeling of "I miss being in the same world as my characters. I have to write. I have to WRITE!"

It's just about halfway through the year. What are some of the adjustments or learning experiences you've had this year that will impact the next 6 months of your writing life? I'd love to hear from you!

Let’s welcome Karl Friedrich to the blog! His historical novel is titled Wings: A Novel of World War II Flygirls. It sounds fascinating!

Welcome to the blog, Karl! Could you tell us a little bit about your book?
Hello, Rachel. Thanks for inviting me.

Wings is about women who broke the rules and became heroes, despite the demands of a lot of men that they knock it off and act like everyone else. The women were WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots. Though civilians, their airplanes were military and the missions they flew were as dangerous as combat. Thirty-eight died.

The heroine, Sally Ketchum, is a student pilot who vows never again to let life make her a victim. But she no sooner starts her WASP training than powerful government forces suddenly and mysteriously want to destroy her. Her instructor, who couldn’t control an airplane if it were cemented to the ground, desperately wants to marry her. And the love of her life, whose qualities she’s decided are near-biblical, has a flaw, after all: he’s dead. Sally’s unbending determination to survive and have the life she dreams of is the driving force of the story.

What led you to write this book?
Failure! By that, I mean I’d written two other novels that I couldn’t sell, and someone said why don’t you write something that you know something about, like airplanes and the WASP. That was the light bulb moment.

When I was probably four or five years old, I was in my backyard in Tyler, TX, with my mother, and for some reason she started talking about World War II military organizations for women, like the WAAC and the WAVES. She mentioned the WASP, and suddenly I got the most vivid image of women with wings and stingers, buzzing about creating all kinds of havoc. That picture stuck with me, and so I’ve always been intrigued by the WASP. Also, I’m an amateur aviation historian; so the two subjects came together nicely.

How did you blend fictionalized elements with history?
That was easy. As I read histories that had been written by former WASP, I marked events that I thought were interesting with a yellow Sticky tab, onto which I wrote a few words that descried the event. So at the end of my research, I had a stack of books that sprouted Stickies. I chose the tabs that were the most interesting and that best fitted my general idea of the story I wanted to write. That was my “roadmap.” Then I created characters, which lead to interactions and a plot. But those Stickies were the pylons. The story always drove toward them. They are a big part of the glue that holds the story together. Most of the things that happen in this book really did happen to the WASP.

What challenges did writing about this era present? What was the most interesting thing you learned when writing Wings?
Thanks to the Internet, and the fact that I already knew quite a bit about our homeland history of the time and about airplanes, the research was pretty easy. But I hadn’t realized how badly the WASP were treated by the other half of the human race – men – or how gritty their determination was to withstand it all and keep flying. Talk about underdogs! These women did everything they were told to do: they flew airplanes that no man would fly – that weren’t fit to fly – and then they were kicked in the butt and thrown out like old dishwater. They were rightfully angry; and that anger still persists.

Many years ago I was in a restaurant with a buddy of mine and we were talking about my book, which at that time was still more of an idea than a real manuscript, and I could see that this elderly woman, who’d already knocked back a few glasses of wine, was listening to us. Suddenly she blew up! I mean, she came uncorked and started spewing venom about the army. That’s when we learned from her husband that she’d been a WASP. Let me tell you, that lady’s stinger still worked just fine!

What is your best advice on writing?
The same advice that everyone gives: keep trying, don’t give up. But I’ll add a couple of things. Once you’re well into the writing, hand some part of your manuscript to everyone; to strangers on the street, if you have to. I did that. More than one hundred women, many of whom I never met, got a look at my book as I was writing it. When they started asking for more (without any prompting—many of these were strangers, remember. Someone I knew had given it to someone they knew, and often then to someone else), I knew I was learning to write a novel. What I didn’t do was join a writing club. I didn’t care what would-be writers like me thought. I wanted feedback from readers who didn’t owe me anything.

Also, don’t become myopic. If your path isn’t getting you anywhere, try to find out why and find another path. If you have talent and skill and a story that readers want to read, chances are you’ll eventually succeed.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Karl!

Bio
Karl Friedrich is a former advertising and public relations writer and newspaper reporter. WINGS: A Novel of World War II Flygirls is his first published book. He lives in Camas, WA.

Karl Friedrich can be found on Twitter as Novelistguy and on Facebook as Karl Friedrich. His website is www.kfriedrich.com, where the first two chapters of Wings: A Novel of World War II Flygirls can be read, as well as a number of anecdotes about living in the Pacific Northwest. His email address is flygirlsauthor@gmail.com.

Wings: A Novel of World War II Flygirls is available from most bookstores.

Brent Robison is today's guest author! His book of short fiction is called The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility.

Welcome to the blog, Brent! Could you tell us a little bit about your book?
It's a collection of stories about ordinary folks like you and me, facing the challenges of love and loss, addiction, religion, family life, the ongoing striving for awareness. I subtitled the book "A Web of Stories" because its thirteen stories are linked in a variety of subtle ways. Some of the characters are central to more than story, or they play bit parts in the stories of others. Also, some of the stories are actually made up of smaller stories that may seem disparate but are connected by a nearly invisible thread.

What led you to write this book?
I'd been writing short stories for nearly twenty years and had published a number of them in literary journals. Along the way, I noticed that the characters I'd invented had begun lurking on the edges of each other's stories. But I wasn't sure what that meant. Then one day as I surveyed the whole array of stories and fragments, a complex web of faint shimmering lines seemed to materialize before my inner eye, like Indra's net. These people, like all of us in "real life," were connected by vectors of chance, coincidence, ephemeral glancing touches. Subtle influences were being exerted, life paths changed in seemingly tiny, but possibly powerful, ways. So it was that vision that propelled me to finish a couple more stories, make edits to others, and assemble all the scattered pieces into one unit. My hope is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that each story is also very strong on its own.

Could you share a few thoughts on the idea of the Holy Fool as seen in your stories?
I wrote a little about the Holy Fool on my blog for April Fool's Day. It's not necessarily a big theme in my book, but there are a few male characters who can be seen through that lens. They don't behave outrageously like many of the Holy Fool archetypes. Instead, they lead me by their own simple unconsciousness toward intuitive lessons: the blind leading the blind. They're friends for whom I feel a little pity and a lot of fondness. They are boys, not men, and they need my love. They embody my own inner fool, who teaches me how to be wise.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when creating The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility? How did you overcome it?
My biggest challenge was not in the writing, but in the publishing. The current marketplace is not friendly to collections of literary short stories, the least commercial genre in existence. After several rejections, I did receive a publishing contract from a small press, but the contract was, well... egregious was the word used by the Author's Guild lawyer I consulted. I asked for changes and their response was to retract their offer, no discussion. So I decided to self-publish. I enjoy the process of creating a book for Print On Demand, I'd done it a number of times already as a small regional publisher, so that was not a problem. The ongoing challenge is marketing the book, keeping awareness of it growing not disappearing: social networks, blogging, readings, etc. It often feels like there isn't enough time in the world to do it all. So I'm very grateful for this opportunity to be featured on your blog.

What is your best advice on writing?
Be true to yourself. Write what excites you, what you like to read, not what you think the market wants. And study the writer's craft with absolute dedication.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Brent!

Bio
Brent Robison emigrated west to east and is now rooted in the Catskill Mountains of New York state. His short stories have been published in print and online in over a dozen literary journals, and anthologized in When Last on the Mountain: the View from Writers Over 50. In addition, his work has won the Chronogram Short Fiction Contest, the Literal Latte Short Short Award, a Fiction Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, and a Pushcart Prize nomination. He is formerly the publisher and editor of a Hudson Valley regional literary annual, Prima Materia.

Brent Robison can be found on this blog: http://ultimate-indivisibility.com. He can also be found at Bliss Plot Press, Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.

The Principle of Ultimate Indivisibility is available at Lulu, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords, among other e-book stores.

You can even read one sample story on Kindle.

You might remember Steve Karmazenuk from an earlier post; I featured his sci-fi novel The Unearthing a while back. Fortunately for me (and you, my lucky readers!), Steve has returned with a full-length guest post on a topic that's near and dear to my heart - genre blending. He's even coined a cool new phrase for it. Thanks for the insights, Steve!

P.S. If any of my previous Q&A authors would like to write a guest post about anything writing-related, please feel free to shoot me an email! I'd love to hear your ideas.

Transgenreism and You!
by Steve Karmazenuk

Today we’re going to talk about Transgenreism, or writing across genres.  What is this strange-sounding practice, you may ask?  It is when a writer, who is best known for his or her work in a particular genre of fiction decides to write something completely outside the spectrum of their previous writing.

Imagine if you will, if horror novelist Stephen King suddenly decided to tell a coming-of-age story about four friends on a quest to see a dead body!  Or, imagine if legal thriller writer John Grisham decided to tell the semifictional story story of a childhood summer at the family farm in Arkansas.  Or what if thriller writer Greg Iles decided to write a science fiction story about a self-aware quantum computer?  Or if a budding science fiction author decided to tell the story of six friends hanging out and living life in college in the early 1990’s...hmm...

What I think it boils down to one simple thing: all good writers are, at heart, storytellers.  We’re compelled to tell the stories we tell, the way we tell them.  Sometimes, we develop preferences for one specific genre over another.  Sometimes, we write “crossover” material and sometimes that’s just the story that wants us to tell it.

My own experiences with transgenreism have been eye-opening.  The eBook I thought would do well, Oh Well, Whatever, Never Mind, hasn’t, and the one that I thought would probably do okay, The Unearthing, has far exceeded my expectations. But of course, the transgenre experience doesn’t begin with book sales, but with writing.

So, let’s explore how it is that Never Mind came to be: I was pulled away from writing Through Darkness and Stars followup to The Unearthing and the second story in the science-fiction epic I’d been at work on, for (at that point) five years.  I was pulled from Darkness (which I’ll be releasing later this year) in order to work on this...intruder...an insistent, compelling thing that demanded my full attention, until it was done. 

The story of Never Mind presented itself to my writer’s mind not so much as a narrative, but rather as a thought experiment: a series of “I wonder if I could...” challenges that I felt compelled to accept and overcome.    Could I write something that WASN’T Sci-Fi?  Could I write with a convincing female voice?  Could I write for gay characters and sexual situations as well as straight?  Could I tell six different stories, simultaneously?  Could I tell those stories from six different points of view?  How far could I go just allowing the characters, themselves to dictate plot?  I started seeing the story in terms of cause and effect, instead of a voyage to a destination. 

Let me explain what I mean: Usually, when a writer writes, we tend to know (or want to know) where we want the story to go; we know the destination – or likely destination at least – and there are a few things we know we need to stop and do along the way.  Scenes we want our characters to be in, things we want them to say, places we want them to go.  Certainly, that was very much the case, when I wrote The Unearthing: When I wrote it, I had had a vision of the complete story already formed in my mind.  But with Never Mind I found not so much that I was planning out an itinerary, as much as I was jumping into a car with each character, screaming “ROAD TRIP!” as loud as I could and hitting their car-bong. 

Writing Never Mind was very educational.  I feel I truly perfected speaking through the voices of my characters, as I wrote this.  When I returned to work on Through Darkness and Stars, I found myself unsatisfied with how the characters of that one were portrayed.  So much so that I went back and re-read and revised The Unearthing, before going back and rewriting what I’d so far written, for Darkness.

Never Mind is a one-off; a unique story, in such that it is the only non-genre fiction I’ve ever written.  I’ve never intended it to be anything other than what it is.  Would I revisit the characters?  Possibly.  I won’t rule out any new stories for old friends.  However, I will remain open to whatever story the universe throws at me; I wouldn’t be much of a writer if I didn’t.

If you’d like to check out my work and judge for yourself how well I did, and if you’d like to compare and contrast the two stories, the links for both are below.  Right now you’re in luck; For the month of May I’ve lowered the prices on Unearthing and Never Mind to $0.99 on Amazon Kindle.  If you don’t have a Kindle, there are free Kindle apps for the PC, iPad, and most smartphones.

To read Oh Well, Whatever, Never Mind click here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RR13OY

And to read The Unearthing click here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RD7LGM

Ben Sussman is our guest today! His novel, The Four Horsemen, sounds fascinating. Check out what Ben has to share with us about building suspense. I've always found it very difficult to write a convincingly nerve-wracking scene... pulse-pounding adventure just isn't my forte. However, Ben's advice is germane to any genre!

Welcome to the blog, Ben! Could you tell us a little bit about your novel?
Thanks for having me, Rachel!  The Four Horsemen is a race-against-the-clock international thriller featuring Andie Sullivan.   As the world’s only “culturalist,” she is employed by corporations and wealthy individuals to break through the barriers with any culture around the globe. Now, she faces the most challenging and dangerous assignment of her career.

Hired by a ruthless businessman to infiltrate the mysterious tribe who serve as the protectors of the Four Horsemen’s ancient secret, Andie is plunged into a mysterious world where every answer only opens the door to more questions. With a shadowy government force and a brutal terrorist also vying for the Horsemen’s unfathomable power, Andie and her makeshift team must collect them all and unlock their mysteries before time runs out.  

What led you to write this book?
After a career as a screenwriter, I longed for the opportunity to be able to tell exactly the type of story that I wanted to.  I also wanted to translate the pacing and attention-grabbing action that movies possess into novel form.  It is something that I think very few books are able to achieve.

How do you maintain suspense? Any tricks you can share?
This is where I think my screenwriting background is of immense value.  It teaches you to write in short, quick bursts of action and dialogue and to constantly be moving the story along.  There is not one chapter in The Four Horsemen that does not contribute to the overall story, while also having enough entertainment within itself.  You always want to leave your reader wanting more and keep them turning the pages so they can’t wait to see what will happen next.

Why do you think the four horsemen are so fascinating?
They are ancient and mysterious, yet everyone has heard about them.  They allowed me the perfect chance to ask, “What if…?”, which I think is what many a good adventure is based upon.

What was the most important lesson you learned from writing this novel?
Keep the audience in mind, but always write for yourself.  It is you facing that keyboard alone in a room with nothing but a blank page staring back at you.  If you are unhappy with what you are writing, it will definitely show in the words that come out of you.  I would also advise not be afraid to tackle pure fiction.  People often say, “Write what you know.”  While that may work for some authors, the vast majority of storytellers are interested in a subject and then explore it to find the story.  So, another lesson – always be on the lookout for a new story.  You never know when one will pop up to reveal itself.

Thanks for stopping by, Ben!

Bio
A Los Angeles native, Ben Sussman departed the left coast on a writing scholarship to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts, he returned to Hollywood where he held positions at Creative Artists Agency, Paramount Pictures and Disney.

Returning to his first love of writing, Ben sold the screenplay FINISHING SCHOOL to Twentieth Century Fox/New Regency and wrote on assignment for Walt Disney Pictures & Touchstone Television. The Four Horsemen is his first novel.

He currently resides in Los Angeles and is working on a sequel to The Four Horsemen,as well as the first book in a new series.

Ben Sussman can be found on Facebook and on his website, http://www.bensussman.net/

The Four Horsemen is available at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Amazon.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe via email or Networked Blogs. You can even follow me on Twitter!

Danielle Raver is our special guest today. Her fantasy novel, Brother, Betrayed, features one of my favorite character types: the anti-hero! I’ve always found anti-heroes to be far more interesting than straight up good guys. They have a darkness inside – maybe it’s just a touch, maybe it’s a bucketload – that really opens up the potential for drama. A good guy might refuse to take part in shady dealings. An anti-hero wouldn’t think twice until it was over, and then he would have to deal with not only the consequences of his actions, but possibly guilt, as well. The more complicated the protagonist's emotions, the more involved readers will be! Let's see what Danielle has to say about her novel...

Welcome to the blog, Danielle! Could you tell us a little bit about your novel?
It is great to be here!

Brother, Betrayed is a dark, epic fantasy. Three princes must overcome an obscure prophecy that suggests that Syah, the youngest brother, will betray the others and seek the throne.

What led you to write this book?
My older brother and I started writing when we were children. He once told me that I was too much of a goody-two-shoes to ever write a good bad guy. I wrote this novel to prove him wrong.

How do you make scenes come to life for your readers?
I have to dream about them. The scenes play out in my head for weeks before I write them down. Whenever I sit down to add more to my book, I have to read the last chapter to get into the story again.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when writing Brother, Betrayed? How did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge I had was writing the battle scenes. They were very complicated. I don't understand warfare, so I enlisted help from several military minded acquaintances (my husband being one of them).

What is your best advice on writing?
My advice for writers would be to find a balance in getting some constructive feedback and following your own instincts. I have learned that you can't please everyone, and if you change your style to meet the tastes of all your critics then you will lose your originality. On the other hand, it is important to not write by yourself without getting any feedback from others. I was guilty of that for the first fifteen years of my writing, and when I finally decided to share it, I realized that I had been writing in a void.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Danielle!

Bio
Danielle Raver grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When she was a girl, she and her oldest brother used to sit at their father’s table and create stories, competing to see who could write the most. Eventually that game evolved into fantasy fiction writing, and Brother, Betrayed was the result.

As she grew up, she continued to write. She spent her free time escaping into Miscia, her fantasy world. She says that her characters were “…a part of my life as my family and friends. I dream of scenes, and they haunt me until I can write them out.” Her next book Flight Moon, is a sequel to Brother, Betrayed. It takes place two generations in the future.

Danielle is a teacher and the mother of two baby boys. Besides writing, she loves drawing, reading the classics, studying foreign languages, and attempting to garden. She adores romantic paintings, classical and folk music, lasagna, and cheesecake, and she always makes a wish at 11:11. She lives in Alabama with her children and her husband, Jason.

Danielle Raver can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog, http://danielleraverauthor.blogspot.com/.

Brother, Betrayed is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

I'm so glad to have Anna James as the newest guest on the blog! Her novel, Guilty as Charged, is a romance novel with a dark twist.
.
Welcome to the blog, Anna! Could you tell us a little bit about your novel?
Guilty As Charged is the first book in the Bradford Sisters Trilogy. Nicole Bradford has had the responsibility of raising her two sisters since their parents died in a tragic accident seven years ago. Now her sisters are all grown up. She can finally concentrate on a life of her own.

Max Paradis is returning home after two long years away. He left to escape the pain of a bitter divorce. He’s back because he misses his family and friends. It’s time to start over. Passion ignites between Nicole and Max the second they lay eyes on each other.

Nicole is sweet and loving and everything that Max is looking for. But when a secret from her past is revealed, will she be found innocent or is she guilty as charged?

What led you to write this book?
I had this idea for a story about a woman who had a secret in her past that she didn’t want anyone to know about. As the idea mulled around in my brain, I asked myself a series of questions: What would happen if suddenly, years later when she had finally made something of herself and she had a man in her life that she loved, her past came back to haunt her? What if someone who knew all about her shameful past blackmailed her? What would she do? And what would happen if her secret actually came to light? Would her lover understand? Would her family disown her? The story grew from the answer to those questions.

How did you create a strong emotional payoff in Guilty as Charged ?
The hero of the story, Max Paradis, has emotional baggage from his past. He thought his ex-wife was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman and they’d be together forever. He finds out, after they marry, she was only after him for his money and didn’t really love him at all. He’d made a complete fool of himself. How could he have been so wrong about her?

Now, two years after his bitter, painful divorce, Max meets Nicole. Once again he thinks he’s found his true love, and, miracle of miracles, she feels the same way about him. But Nicole has a secret in her past and once again Max finds that the woman he loves is not what he thought her to be. All of the old insecurities from his past come back to haunt him.

The emotional payoff comes at the end when Max decides if Nicole is innocent or guilty as charged.

What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book, and how did you overcome it?
With respect to Guilty As Charged, my biggest challenge was finding a secret for Nicole’s past that I could weave a story around. It needed to be plausible and traumatic enough to Nicole that she never wanted the secret to come to light, but I also needed be able to resolve the situation in the end. I went through several scenarios in my mind before I settled on the secret I selected. Once I had that, the story fell into place.

Another challenge came when I decided to write stories about Nicole’s sisters, Natalie and Kate. I needed to make sure I developed the beginnings of a story line for each of those books while maintaining the plot of Guilty As Charged.

I think the readers will enjoy the story I have created, but, in the end, they will determine if I successfully overcame my challenges.

What is your best advice on writing?
Believe in yourself and in your writing and never give up, no matter how many times you get rejected.

Bio
I was born in Connecticut and lived there until I was nine years old. My family and I spent the next eleven years living in Williamsville, a suburb just outside of Buffalo, NY. I returned to Connecticut after receiving my associates degree in Engineering Science and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I continue to live in Connecticut with my husband and children. I am a romantic at heart and enjoy reading and writing romance novels.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Anna!

Anna James can be found on her website, Facebook, and Manic Readers.
Guilty as Charged is available at Sugar and Spice Press.
Amazon – not available until after 4/23/2011
All Romance - not available until after 4/23/2011

Upcoming Books:
Coming Home – Available April 23, 2011 Melange-Books
To Love and Trust Again – Available January 2012 Melange-Books

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe via email or Networked Blogs. You can even follow me on Twitter!