Lori Devoti, paranormal romance and urban fantasy author

Author of: Magic in His Kiss
Favorite Candy: any milk chocolate will do, but my particular preference is for M&M peanuts
Favorite Cartoon Character: Jane (Jane and the Dragon)
Super Power Most Covets: Remember in Bewitched, when Samantha wiggled her nose and wonderful things happened? I’d settle for just being able to clean my house with a nose twitch!

Q.) First tell us about the Magic trilogy and your latest release Magic in His Kiss.

S.A.) The Magic trilogy came about when I had an idea that involved the legend of King Arthur. That book turned into Midnight Magic. I gave the heroine two sisters, and thus a trilogy was born! Each of the sisters has a unique power or psychic gift. In Midnight Magic, Gwendolyn is the guardian of an ancient spell. In Twilight Magic, Emma is able to see visions in a pool of water.

Magic in His Kiss is the story of Nicole, the youngest sister. She’s spent several years in a convent awaiting an arranged marriage. Her Welsh uncle wants to prevent any marriage that bring England’s King Stephen any advantages, so he send Rhodri ap Daffyd, a bard and warrior, to fetch Nicole. Nicole isn’t the most cooperative lass. She can also hear the voices of spirits who haven’t yet passed on to the afterlife, which complicates her journey to Wales and her relationship with Rhodri.

Q.) Do you have any favorite type of hero or heroine to write?

S.A.) I like strong heroes who aren’t afraid to show their softer sides to the heroines. I like heroines who aren’t afraid to take charge when they believe they’re in the right. I like both to be decisive, self-confident and smart, with the exception of how utterly defenseless they are to each other.

Q.) Are you a plotter or a pantser? Character-driven or plot driven? Ever try to be the opposite? Do you have a set method you use when starting a book?

S.A.) I started out as a character-driven pantser. Over time, I’ve learned that a bit of pre-plotting isn’t a bad thing! I start out with characters and a situation and generally allow the characters to lead me where they want to go. The only difference is that I now write things down in a semi-organized fashion ahead of time, and pay a bit more attention to the plot. So I guess that makes me a bit of both.

Q.) What attracted you to the medieval period? Is there any other period or type of book you’d like to try?

S.A.) Would you believe my first book was set in 1864 America? Not much of a market for Civil War era books, so I turned to medieval because I really love soldiers in uniform and knights in shining armor. Those are also the historical eras I found most intriguing.

Q.) What is the smartest thing you’ve done so far as advancing either your writing or your writing career? What is something you wish you had done differently?

S.A.) I think the smartest thing I did was to find an agent who not only knew the romance market but with whom I personally clicked. She keeps me going during those periods when I’m ready to ditch writing and get a real job. The agent I have now is my second, and if I wish I’d done something differently, it would have been to fire my first agent long before I did. There’s truth to the saying that having a bad (read indifferent) agent is worse than having no agent at all.

Q.) Can you think of one day or event in your writing career that was really special? What made it special?

S.A.) The day I learned I made my first sale is at the top of my list. When I got off the phone I squealed so loud that I woke up my son (who was working third shift and trying to sleep), who then had to come downstairs to find out why his mother was screaming. I called everyone I knew (well, almost ;)), until my husband finally figured out that if he wanted supper he’d have to take me out. So he did. We had a lovely celebration!

Q.) What can readers expect to find in all your books—how do they know they are reading a book by Shari Anton (aside from the name on the cover, of course )?

S.A.) You’ll find a lush historical setting because I can’t keep myself from including any details I believe will take the reader back in time. I also truly believe romance readers are addicted to the feeling of falling in love, so I try hard to feed that addiction. Sometimes with humor. Sometimes with drama. No matter what their conflicts and obstacles are, by the end of the story the hero and heroine would walk through fire for the other.

Q.) What’s next?

S.A.) I currently have a Victorian era proposal sitting on a few editors’ desks. Everyone cross your fingers!

I posted it over at Shapeshifter Romance. It’s a fun one!

First, Dark Crusade is DONE! First draft, but still–done! It is going to be my longest Nocturne–still in the guideline limits, but a little longer than the others. Not counting prologues and epilogues that is. Those were added at my editor’s suggestion so they were never counted in my original numbers.

Now, I have to decide whose book to write next. Dark Crusade is a garm book, and it took on a bit of a dark fairy tale theme. It might be fun to stick with that theme. It also has a witch in it who, although I don’t spell it out in book, is Lusse’s sister. I plan on there being three of them and considered doing books with all of them. Then there are the characters that always show up in books who could have their own stories. In Dark Crusade it is a dragon. I haven’t done a dragon yet, but this one is a tad angry and he wants a witch’s heart to satisfy his need for revenge. He really should get the chance for that….

Speaking of dragons, a friend of mine, Meagan Hatfield, just sold to Nocturne. Her series is going to be about…yes…dragons. No details on run date yet–but watch for it.

What else? Time for me to write a short story for the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance. I think I’m going to do something with a gargoyle. A short story is a great way to play with something new, and for some reason gargoyles have been calling me.

Also on the short story front, I may have one coming out soon with Mundania Press. Funny story. I wrote this story WAY back before I sold my first book. It was actually my first “sale.” I put sale in quotes because the sale was to Arabella the short-lived romantic short story magazine. When the magazine folded I got my rights back. A couple of years after that I decided to send it off to Mundania, just because and they contracted with me to do an e-version. But then it got lost somewhere. So, I contacted them again recently just to see what was happening (they were very nice and prompt in their reply) and it looks like they will be putting it out.

It is a weird story for me now. It is a historical–which I never wrote novel-length–and set in southern Missouri–my first two books were too. It plays with some old hill superstitions that I thought were quite fun. So, anyway, watch for it. I’ll let you know when I get word that it is out.

I’ve been a bad blogger, both here and on LiveJournal. I have no real excuse–except summer. Kids home and still writing to do.

Anyway, here are some random mind-boggling questions…

Why do children insist on asking you questions while you are in the shower–with the exhaust fan running? Why when you say “I can’t hear you.” do they simply yell louder? And why is whatever burning issue they need addressed always something like–”My computer game shut off.” Like you are going to leap from the shower, naked and dripping, to reboot or perhaps totally reprogram the annoying system?

How do you gain FOUR pounds when really you have not been that bad in your eating and you are hauling your ass out of bed at 5:20 a.m. four days a week to exercise? Not to mention the other one to two days you hook up the husky for a jog?

Why when you are “almost” done with a book, does your production slow instead of speed up? Shouldn’t you go faster when you can see the finish line?

Why did your dog decide to explode (blow coat) an extra time this year? Don’t dogs need SOME hair?

Why does DH hear perfectly when you say “Let’s buy…(insert electronic device).” but goes deaf in one ear (the one turned to you) when you explain the plan for him to take kids to camp so you can go on writing retreat? (Note: he is, however, able to still nod and even verbally agree with everything you say.)

Why am I not writing right now….?

Part One from YouTube

Part Two:

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Fav candy
Gummi bears–and not those squishy, pretending to have something to do with real fruit flavor junk you see at the grocery store, but the original ones. There’s a candy store in Hampton called Sanborn’s where I get mine.

Fav cartoon character
I don’t really have one. Maybe Ariel from the Little Mermaid–although I totally dig Ursula, too.

Super power most covets
You have to ask? Breathing underwater, of course.

Q.) First, tell us about Seaborn
C.H.) Seaborn is about the loss of control, the loss of freedom in two different forms and how it affects each character, how each of their stories flow together. Corina Lairsey has lost all physical control to someone else, and she goes from misery, fear, hopelessness to having to deal with her captor–deal with evil–in order to get her freedom back. Kassandra has extraordinary power, commands tides, does all this wonderful and scary stuff with the oceans, and at the same time, cannot ever be certain that any motive, direction, decision is really hers. She shares her soul with other powers, she’s been set up by others to be something she doesn’t want to be, she’s lost the ability to control her future. More concretely, Seaborn’s about people who have–long ago–been cursed to live off the ocean’s power. They don’t have to worry about pressure, drowning, temperature extremes. They’ve built cities, fought wars, lived down there for thousands of years. They look, for the most part, just like us on the surface. Kassandra’s grown up as far from the ocean as her grandfather, the king, could arrange–Nebraska. Now she’s ready to return, declaring war on her grandfather, ready to take back what is hers. Corina Lairsey isn’t from the sea–she’s from California, lives south of San Jose, but she’s taken by someone–something–that needs a body in a hurry, and Corina’s handy.

Q.) Do you consider Seaborn fantasy, urban fantasy or something else?
C.H.) Seaborn is definitely fantasy, probably urban fantasy, depending on your definition. If urban fantasy requires a contemporary setting, then certainly Seaborn applies. This is modern day New England, California, deep Atlantic. If urban fantasy requires a mythic foundation, then yes, because I have poured a lot into Seaborn from the myths of the Telkhines (Telchines) the original sorcerer inhabitants of Rhodes, protectors of gods, makers of fabulous gifts, ultimately betrayed, cursed, sent to the bottom of the sea. (more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telchines)

Q.) Why under the sea?
C.H.) I have been fascinated with the oceans, life the in oceans, the abyss, weather, waves, tides, everything saltwater since I was nine–that’s when I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up. (It didn’t work out. I’m a software engineer, but I’ve never lost my interest with the sea).

Q.) What kind of research did you have to do to make characters who can live underwater feel real?
C.H.) A lot, mostly spread out over years. I don’t really go into the source or explanation of the powers in the story, except where it’s relevant, but I did spend considerable time researching what’s remotely possible underwater and how it could be accomplished. I began writing about Kassandra in 2003, trying to fit the constraints (people who live in the ocean but don’t look much different from us) with reality–and I think fantasy writers have to in order to make the setting, motives believable. I also think that worldbuilding isn’t for the reader, it’s not for the author to dump onto the page. The real purpose of worldbuilding–all those exercises an author does to construct a believable world, the culture, politics, the way magic works–is to allow the author to write comfortably in that world. I’ve blogged about some of my research at SaltwaterWitch.com, including an essay on hearing underwater.

Q.) Seaborn tells the story of two females, Kassandra and Corina Lairsey. To you, whose story is it? Or is it both of theirs?
C.H.) It’s both, with Corina’s story starting and finishing with Seaborn, and Kassandra’s continuing into the sequel, Sea Throne (expect it sometime in 2009). I have also completed a “prequel” to Seaborn that goes back five years before the events of Seaborn. This one’s a YA, and is under consideration with another publisher.
The whole story is Kassandra’s, this book–Seaborn, then next–Sea Throne, and a prequel that is currently under consideration.

Q.) Your publisher Juno Books specializes in fantasy featuring strong female characters. Why did you choose to have female protagonists? What makes them strong?
C.H.) I started writing about Kassandra in 2003, and I got into a groove with female protagonists–and it’s still going. For me, strength is about self-reliance and will and refusing to act against principles. I don’t dwell a lot on physical strength in my stories. My characters are as strong as they need to be, and I can’t think of a case where any challenge was won by muscular strength. I love internal struggles. Many of Kassandra’s battles are with herself or the others inside her. Corina’s storyline is very similar.

Q.) How long have you been writing? Can you tell us anything about your road to publication. How long? Mistakes you realize now or tips for people starting out?
C.H.) I’ve been writing fiction, poetry, songs, since I was a teenager. My mother was an actress, artist, wrote fiction and non-fiction, and I always knew I wanted to write as well. It took a long time, but it’s been somewhere in my mind–back and front–all along. I’ve done the most and learned the most in the last five years, writing continuously, short fiction (first story to get past an editor was Diminisher of Peace in 2005, appeared in The Harrow, and I think I made enough to buy lunch). Seaborn is my first sale of novel length fiction, a little over a year ago. I’ve completed two more novels since then, including Sea Throne, the sequel to Seaborn. Mistakes? Make them all is my advice, try everything, fail, get back to putting stuff on the page. I know I haven’t made every mistake, but I’ve done things like misspell editor names, magazine title names, asking editors, agents too soon if they’ve had time to read my story, sent out crap manuscripts–but I think there’s a lot to be learned from making them and learning. It’s also very likely that I’m a slow learner. As far as tips, there are things I didn’t realize a few years ago, like the importance of conventions, the social side of writing. If you’re not going to your local SF/F convention–or better the major ones, you should.

Q.) Are you a plotter or pantser? Character driven or plot driven? Ever try to be the opposite? Do you have a set method you use when starting a book?
C.H.) More panster than plotter. I just need to know where to go. Plotting too much takes the edge, the uncertainty, the fun out of the writing–so I don’t try to be the opposite. I usually begin with an idea and the characters flow out of that, not the other way around, unless you consider a character with a particular problem as the idea (I do). I’ve just finished my fourth novel (fourth worth publishing) and in every case I have started with an idea (explore revenge, different ways the loss of freedom can be played out). I’ll write three or four chapters, then I’ll write the ending–or something close to it. That’s my destination. I have a beginning and I know where to go. I can write a 130,000 words in that gap.

Q.) Any new projects on the horizon? What would you like to try next?
C.H.) Two novel length projects. One is another Seaborn story, but set in the past. Another’s a YA fantasy with cooking and food magic.

Q.) Who do you enjoy reading? If someone were to compare your books to anyone else’s what author would you most likely be compare to? Why?
C.H.) I love Connie Willis, Neil Gaiman, Caitlin Kiernan, Lois Bujold, many more that, but I’d put these four up as major modern writer influences, and I’d love to be compared with any of them. Why? Widely different styles, settings, senses of humor, all coming from different directions, but they’re all storytellers.

Q.) Where can readers find Seaborn? How about you (on the Web?)
C.H.) Seaborn is available (end of July) anywhere you get books, at all the major chain stores (Barnes & Noble), smaller retailers like Pandemonium in Cambridge–or your local bookshop. You can get it online at all the usual places, Amazon.com, through Book Sense.

Find out more about Seaborn and sequels at www.SaltwaterWitch.com. I also blog on writing, art, everything else, at http://theophrast.us . I’m on Facebook, and I have pages, links, profiles all over.