As an author, one of my favorite things in the world is coming up with ideas for new stories.  I never know when they’ll hit me or where the inspiration might come from.  Sometimes it’s a song on the radio or something I see on TV.  Sometimes they just come out of the blue.  Whatever the case, I don’t question it, I just go with them & try to do them justice.

But when it comes to my October Brava release, THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I can’t take full credit for the ideas on the pages.  Instead, I must thank two very special people who are—sadly—no longer with us.

First is the late, great Kate Duffy, original Senior Editor of the Brava line.  You can imagine my delight when I discovered she was interested in my work, but since I didn’t have anything particularly suited for Brava, we had a couple of brainstorming conversations over the phone where we (or more to the point, I) tried to come up with an idea she liked & could get excited about.  Then one day, she said, “You know, I’d really like a Christmas vampire book.  Think you could come up with something like that?”  I remember that it was a Friday & that my response was something along the lines of, “Um…let me think about it.”

Now, I love vampires.  I had even written a sexy, funny vampire story way back when that had actually finaled in the Golden Heart competition three years in a row. (Yeah, it was that good, thankyouverymuch. )  Unfortunately, my timing—much like vampires themselves—sucked.  At that particular moment in publishing, paranormal was the kiss of death.  I couldn’t give that book away, even though just a few years later, paranormal started to become all the rage.  Of course, by then, I had sold other books & was busy fulfilling other contracts, so again—my luck & timing sucketh.  And even after Kate asked me to consider doing something with vampires, I couldn’t send her that book because A.) it didn’t have a whiff of Christmas anywhere in it, & B.) it would have needed some major overhauling.  (It’s true that I harbor dreams of selling it one day, but the overhauling would still be required. )

Which brings me to the second person to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS’s concept.  My best friend, Joanne Emrick, who also very sadly has passed away.  Joanne was a writer, too, with dreams of selling to Harlequin Presents.  But no matter what the idea or who it was targeted toward, she was the best plotting partner ever.  As soon as I got off the phone with Kate, I called Joanne & filled her in.  She suggested we get together the next day (Saturday) at our usual haunt to see what we could come up with.  So we did.  We were there when the restaurant opened & closed the place down, spending all day eating, drinking, & being very merry while we tried to come up with a Christmas vampire idea that would knock Kate’s socks off.  I don’t mind telling you that there were some very rough starts & stops.  And some of the ideas we came up with had us laughing out loud at how truly hideous they were.  But by the end of the night, I was ecstatic—& charged to get home & start putting together my proposal.

I worked on it all the next day (Sunday), & by Monday morning thought it was ready for public consumption.  First with my agent, who thankfully declared it “delightful.”  Then with Kate, who was probably more than a little surprised to hear from me again so soon.   But she loved it, thank goodness, & that is how THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS was born.

From there, things got a little bumpy, & circumstances on both ends kept my Christmas vampires from seeing the light of day (which they aren’t particularly fond of, anyway) for a while longer.  They’re here now, though, & I’m delighted to finally get the chance to share them with the world.

My only regret is that Kate & Joanne are no longer here to enjoy this moment with me.  But I’m sure they’re looking down from Heaven, grinning from ear to ear at the book they helped bring into existence.

I’m not really sharing anything new with you. If you’re a reader of Brava romances you already know this even if you don’t realize it…but for others who haven’t tried us out, I thought I’d share the truth about what separates Brava romances from the rest….

Nope — it’s not the sex.  To be honest, that was my first answer when I was asked to write a trilogy of historical romances for the Brava imprint by (the late and great) Kate Duffy. When she called me to talk about my trilogy, I explained that I didn’t think I could write erotic romance.

Well, if you knew Kate, you know it didn’t take her long to disabuse me of my mistaken perception and explain the REAL difference between Brava and other (historicals, in my case) romances.  And it’s helped me craft stronger stories….because….as Kate asked,

“If sex is a given, what else is going to make the story emotionally compelling and strong? If the questions of ‘will they’ or ‘won’t they’ or ‘when will they’ are taken away, what will hold the story and the conflict together?”

That gave me lots to think about — and Kate was right (I know, I know!) — once the conflict doesn’t hinge on whether or not the hero and heroine will make love, all bets are off! The challenge is to create characters with incredibly strong conflicts – lots of really good reasons why they can’t be together, of why they should not and could not fall in love. Well, when I need to work on getting a really strong conflict as the heart of my stories I refer back to notes from two writing workshops I’ve taken to help me crystalize mine…one by Madeline Hunter and another by Delia Parr. Conflict is easy, these two wonderful, talented writers say, if you just do this…

Madeline says to give the heroine a goal, an unmutable goal, and then make the hero’s goal to not allow the heroine to accomplish hers. In other words – the heroine needs to do or get something and the hero must (MUST) stop her from doing or getting it. And neither the heroine’s need or the hero’s can be flimsy or easily-resolvable. Hmmmm….interesting idea of how to create conflict.

Delia suggested giving the hero the worst possible woman as the heroine. –someone completely the opposite of what he wants (or thinks he does!). I used this in an earlier book when I gave the handsome, tempting, womanizing hero who loved women and sex a heroine who was (disguised as) a nun! Just think of the possibilities?!

So as I was planning out my STORM trilogy for Brava, I decided to use a bit of both of those strategies — my heroes have been gifted and cursed by the Sith/Fae and the only person who can lift the curse and control the gift is a woman who is his enemy or whom he has betrayed! Oh, baby, baby, just think of the conflict!  The heroes’ very lives depend on their forging a relationship with people who would rather see them dead…or worse.

In A STORM OF PASSION, the heroine is hunting down the hero who she believes to be responsible for the massacre of her entire family…and he was!

In A STORM OF PLEASURE (being released next month) the heroine needs the hero to use his ability to hear the truth to save her brother from execution…and his words instead condemn him.

And, in MISTRESS OF THE STORM (coming in July 2011), the heroine needs to convince the hero to cooperate in order to save her younger sister…and he ends up betrothed to the younger sister.

None of those stories take or will take the easy way out — these are men and women who should not be together, who are enemies in many respects, people who can barely believe or trust the other and yet they do fall in love and they do get their happily-ever-after…because this is romance after all. But there are times in each of these stories when readers will have a moment or two of fear that maybe, maybe they won’t or can’t be together?

Well then, Bravas are about conflict and emotion and tension and great stories and characters. . . But don’t forget about the other part of Kate’s description — ‘if sex is a given’. So, yes, there is a heightened level of both physical and sexual tension in Brava romances! There will be love scenes, they may be often and they may be ‘strident’ as Kate told me, but they will be critical to both enhancing the story and deepening the conflict… Oh, yes, these books are sexy!

So, dear readers, if you’re looking for stories with great characters, strong conflicts and sexy scenes, Brava romances are right for you! I hope you’ll give us a try…and in a bit of shameless self-promotion, I will even suggest mine to you – A STORM OF PLEASURE hits the shelves and online in just about a month!

Alice Duffy (Kate Duffy’s mom) is making her Broadway debut at the age of 81. She was recently interviewed on The Today Show and we have the video for you here:

Recently, our fabulous Kate Duffy was interviewed by her sister Clare in a report on Amazon’s Kindle! — S. Day

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With even self-described “book people” embracing Amazon’s Kindle, the e-reader is poised to become the most popular gadget you don’t yet have. NBC’s Clare Duffy reports.

(see video below the cut…)

Yes, I, whose very apartment has been labeled the Bermuda Triangle of Technology, have embraced a little device called the kindle. I took six manuscripts home last weekend on my 3.5 oz. kindle.

I talk to it. I praise it. I call recharging the batteries – feeding the kindle. It goes everywhere with me. People start conversations with me on the bus about it and they all want to hold it. So, I reluctantly let them even though I know they are probably riddled with the plague.

Replace books? I don’t think so. Replace pounds of paper – you betcha. Plus the added blessing of knowing I will never be without something to read no matter where I am.

I was on the train once from Washington to NYC and I started to run out of book just north of Philadelphia. Really not good.

So one evening, there’s this woman on the bus who says the usual, “Is that the kindle? Do you like it? Can I hold it?” and I cooperated. Then she hands it back, looks at me pityingly and says, “This would never work for me, I am a Book Person.”

You and me both, doll face. And the kindle is a Book Person’s friend.