Today at the Manor, we have author and former opera singer, Emily Bryan (aka Diana Groe.) (You'll have to share with us a bit how opera factored into the path that lead to your writing! )
Her latest release, VEXING THE VISCOUNT(Leisure, February 2009)is a delightful historical romance that drew me in with its quiet humor, its spunky, heroine and a hero to die for! I was up late last night reading VtV, much to Lord CM's dismay;)
But I simply could not put the book down until I saw how the card game came out! I snagged Emily in the parlor before she could run off to her next guest blog appearence!
Amanda: A juicy little story of a cat & mouse, I am riveted to see how "Vexing the Viscount" is going to play out in the end! I can see why you receive the stellar praise that you do about your characterization. Obviously, you take great care (and joy I imagine) in creating your characters. Can you tell us a bit about this story, what inspired it, and maybe introduce us to Daisy and Lucian? They are simply a delicious combo!!
Emily: First, thanks so much for having me here at Lust In Time. (Love that name!)
I do love discovering my characters. I say discovering because it’s almost as if I find them and we become acquainted before the story begins. (Writing is the only job where it’s ok to hear voices!) They start whispering their secrets to me and once I know who they are and what they desperately want, I can begin devising diabolical ways for them NOT to get it right away.
I already knew Daisy, since she was a one of my pirate hero’s orphaned nieces (PLEASURING THE PIRATE, Leisure Books, July 2008). She was such fun as a child, I knew she’d need her own story once she grew up.
Lucian is her exceedingly worthy counterpart. He’s a rarity—a nobleman who is not a rake. Lucian’s a real man with healthy desires, but he didn’t think it fair to take advantage of willing servant girls, isn’t ready to wed and hasn’t the ready cash to establish a relationship with a woman of pleasure.
Just because Lucian doesn’t want Daisy’s help finding the lost Roman treasure he’s seeking, doesn’t mean Daisy will take no for an answer. She embarks on an impersonation of a French courtesan with the help of a real courtesan’s very explicit memoirs. They may both be virgins at the start of the story, but they’re quick studies!
Amanda: You also received a special honor recently for another book! Congrats! Can you tell us a bit about the book and it's ("RT Reviewers Choice Best K.I.S.S.") hero, Trevelyn Deveridge (I love that name) and what makes him so "distracting" to the duchess?
Emily: My widowed duchess, Artemisia is an artist who’s expecting a new figure model for her next nude painting. Trev is Her Majesty’s spy, following the trail of the elusive Mr. Beddington to the Duchess of Southwycke’s door. When she mistakes him for her model, Trev decides to play the hand dealt him and plays along.
And let’s just say he is . . . highly inspirational in the nude.
Amanda: Where do you find your inspiration for your historicals? And what part of the creation process do you enjoy the most? (IE; the research, the characterization, the plotting,the writing, )
Emily: Often an object triggers the initial premise for my stories. For DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS, it was a little statue of a horse one of my daughters sculpted. For VEXING THE VISCOUNT, it was a museum with a whole room full of Roman lamps shaped like erect phalli. (Check out the excerpt from VEXING THE VISCOUNT at http://www.emilybryan.com/Vexing%20the%20Viscount.htm . Daisy finds Roman “artifacts” fascinating too!)
I love every part of the writing process. It’s a craft with so many layers, there’s always something new to learn.
Amanda: Do you use pictures, trips, or music in helping to create the setting or maintain your focus in the story?
Emily: Travel is my decadent indulgence. My DH and I have been to Europe many times for his job and while he worked, I played! Give me a museum, a castle, a cathedral or cobbled lane and I’m in heaven.
To help me with mood, I choose a soundtrack for my stories. The nice thing about using a movie soundtrack is that there are seldom lyrics to distract me, but I can count on a wide swing of emotions from the music. One of the first things I do when I start a new story is pick the music I’ll be listening to as I write. I have to love it, because I’ll be living with it for several months!
Amanda: Tell me, what’s next for Emily Bryan?
I just turned in the manuscript for my Christmas novella. It’ll be in A CHRISTMAS BALL, an anthology with USA Today BestSeller Jennifer Ashley, Alissa Johnson and me! All our characters are attending the same Christmas Ball and YOU are invited too. Look for it September 29th!
My next project is a story I’ll write to Rachmaninoff’s 3rd concerto (if you saw SHINE, you’ll remember this music as the “Rach 3”!). The story is still too amorphous to share the details, but I’m very excited about my new hero.
Thanks for having me here, Lust in Time. I’d love to offer a free copy of VEXING THE VISCOUNT to someone who leaves a comment or question here on your blog today!
Thank you Emily! Its been wonderful to meet you and we wish you all the best of success! I heartily endorse vying for your chance at receiving this wonderful romance! If you love fabulous characters, witty dialogue and sumptuous description wrapped up in a colorful historical era, you won't want to miss VEXING THE VISCOUNT!
