Author Interview and Giveaway - Jennifer Haymore

Today is May 21st which means it's my day in the A Hint of Wicked Blog Tour! If you're coming from another blog in the tour, welcome! If you're just stopping by, well, welcome to you to! A list of the participating blogs can be found under the interview and give away by one fabulous author, Jennifer Haymore!

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have Jennifer with us today. It took me only days to finish A Hint of Wicked and it's been calling to me, begging me to pick it up again. Seriously, when it comes out (June 1st) I highly suggest grabbing it off the shelf. It is definitely one of the best romances I have read this year. Okay, enough rambling. On to the good stuff!

Jennifer! So glad you could make it today! I know you're a busy lady, so I'll try to keep to only a few questions.

So tell us, how long have you been writing?

I started writing on my parents' boat when I was seven years old--we were sailing to Tahiti and there were no elementary schools in the middle of the Pacific. My mom was homeschooling me (should I say boat-schooling?), and, taskmaster that she was, she made me write a story a day. I thought that was the meanest, most unfair assignment ever. But when we ended up in Hawaii and I was back in real school, I found that I couldn't stop writing all the stories that were suddenly crowding my head.

Fast forward a few (cough--almost thirty--cough) years. I had been working on a story concept ever since high school, and I finally finished my "masterpiece" the same week my daughter was born. I joined a historical fiction critique group to learn how to form my book into something marketable. I quickly realized that book (which took place in Crete in 1400 B.C.) wasn't sellable in today's market, so I quickly wrote two more books. When my daughter was three, I signed with an agent. A few months later, I received "the call"--a publisher had made an offer on my third book!

Boat-schooling! I guess that's one way to do it! So, why Historical Romance? What do you like or dislike about writing in this genre?

There was an intensity to the past—the morals were stricter, the expectations more fierce, and double standards abounded. For example, thinking in terms of A HINT OF WICKED and marriage—once Sophie married Garrett—that’s it. Game over. Until one of their lives is over, there can be no other marriage. Hopefully they’ll be madly in love until the end of their days, because if they’re not…oops. Major, impossible-to-overcome problems ensue! I love huge life-and-death conflicts, and I love how seriously people in history approached concepts like honor and fealty. I also love the pageantry and the customs of the time.

I don't like it when I spend days researching one tiny little factoid that needs to be mentioned in one tiny sentence and, for the life of me, I can't find the answer! That drives me nuts. Otherwise, though, I really do love writing historicals.

A Hint of Wicked seemed (as far as my research allows) quite accurate. What kind of research goes into writing one of your books?

I am addicted to Google books (www.books.google.com). There’s nothing quite like a source written in the same time period you’re writing in. I now have an extensive, organized Google books library filled with books written in the early 19th century about everything from medicine to fashion to travel and architecture and cooking. The cure for opium overdose in A HINT OF WICKED is taken from these texts! Along with Google books, I make use of published historical texts on the period, Regency & other historical websites, horse experts, and fellow members of the Beau Monde chapter of Romance Writers of America, many of whom are experts on the period.

The most historically complex aspect of A HINT OF WICKED was the legal ramifications of a woman (an aristocratic woman, who’d be treated rather differently than a commoner) being married to two men at once. The English courts were extremely complicated and very fluid during this time period, marriage laws went through radical changes about ten years later, and there weren’t any exact precedents for this situation. I bought books on the topic of historical marriage, separation and divorce in England, and I contacted legal experts for advice. Still, it was a tremendous challenge to work it out.

If you couldn't tell, I absolutely adored A Hint of Wicked. What inspired you to write it?

Thanks so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

The core idea for A Hint of Wicked was my husband’s, but it has developed quite a bit from his original “vision,” which was of an enraged thought-to-be-dead husband catching his mourning wife in bed with another man. I latched on to that scenario and ran with it!

Did you have any setbacks or any difficulties when writing A Hint of Wicked? (POTENTIAL SPOILER: Highlight the second half of the paragraph below to see the rest of Jennifer's answer. If you don't want to read the potential spoiler, don't highlight it!)

I misinterpreted one of the legal ramifications of the Tristan/Sophie/Garrett problem early on. I thought that a seven-year absence of one of the parties of a marriage would nullify said marriage upon the return of the party. Uhh...not true! So in the first draft, Sophie and Garrett's marriage was nullified. But I realized I had to change it, so now Sophie and Tristan's marriage is the one that's null and void! That forced me to change the direction of things quite a bit.

What's your writing schedule or process like? Any special rituals to get the flow going?

I wake up, get the kids ready for school and take them. Come home, get coffee, go through emails. By then it’s usually around 10-10:30. I write like mad until I have to pick up my daughter from school at 12:45. But my really productive time is at night after the kids have gone to bed. Usually I leave the house, find an isolated corner in a bookstore café, turn on my iPod and get lost in the story. I’ll write until 10 or 11 (or until they kick me out of the café!) and then come home, fall into bed, and start over the next day.

Sounds like a tiring schedule, but we wouldn't have it any other way! Are there any sequels planned? Any other projects you are working on?

Yes! A TOUCH OF SCANDAL continues the story of some of the characters from A HINT OF WICKED. I'm expecting edits for that from my editor any day now. I'm chomping at the bit to get started on book three, currently untitled, which I hope will be about Lady Rebecca, Garrett's younger sister.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Cinnamon!

Thank you Jennifer!

Seriously, A Hint of Wicked is a definite must read. If you would like to win your very own copy, continue on to the contest below. Oh, and when I said "your," let's multiply that by five. Five lucky readers are going to win a copy of this amazing book thanks to the very generous Hatchette Book Group.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

How to win:

Pay attention, the rules may have changed.

You can do any or all of these to enter the giveaway but the one thing you have to do is leave me a comment about some aspect of the interview.

+1 - If you did, in fact, comment on the interview.
+5 - Comment on the review - A Hint of Wicked.
+2 - For following on Blogger (+1 additional if you already follow and for Twitter follows)
+3 - If you post a link to this on your blog (+1 additional for every other place you post about this).
+2 - If you refer someone
+1 - If you tell me who referred you.

Wow! Look at all those ways to get entries. Aside from leaving me links and such to go along with your entries (@cinnleigh on twitter), the only other thing I ask is that you keep all of your entries to one comment and leave some sort of contact info. Additional comments for reposting this later are fine.

This contest will end June 8th, 2009 at midnight Eastern. Make sure you come back and check to see who won. I won't guarantee to hunt winners down.

Sorry, but this contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.
We can't ship to PO Boxes so make sure you have an alternate mailing address.

The participating blogs are:

http://www.foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com/ - May 19
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com/ - May 19
http://ajourneyofbooks.blogspot.com/ - May 21
http://chicbookreviews.blogspot.com/ - May 22
http://www.findthetimetoread.blogspot.com/ - May 26
http://www.readingwithmonie.com/ - May 26
http://zensanity.blogspot.com/ - May 26
http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/ - May 27
http://yankeeromancereviewers.blogspot.com/ - May 28
http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset - May 28
http://confessionsofaromancebookaddict.wordpress.com/ - June 1 to 4
http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/ - June 1
http://www.morbid-romantic.net/ - June 2
http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/ - June 3
http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/ - June 3
http://thereviewfromhere.wordpress.com/ - June 4
http://www.thebookgirl.net/ - June 5
http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/ - June 6
http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/
http://www.alphaheroes.blogspot.com/