Connie: Welcome, Mary! I’m so glad to have the opportunity to visit with you! I’ve a few questions about My Lord Beast to ask as well as others on various topics. But before we get to them, would you tell me a bit about yourself, what you’re working on now?

Mary: Hi, Connie, and thanks for this time we have to discuss writing and reading the books we love.

I’ve been writing seriously for about ten years now, and I live on an idyllic horse farm in Ohio. We raised our kids here and home schooled them because there was no college prep program in our area. It was a wonderful experience to know them as well as we did before they all went off to school.

Right now, I’m working on Ram’s and Caroline’s story, as well as a fantasy set in ancient Greece. But Ram’s story is heating ups so fast that I’m spending most of my time on that. I’m finding that Ram had a much harder childhood than I’d ever imagined for him when I began the book.

His problems make him even more heroic to me, but because of them, he’s having a very difficult time figuring out whether he’s good enough for Caroline, and how to act with her. All this is happening while he has to foil Victorian era terrorists in their attempt to murder his half-brother, the King of a small but wealthy country near India.

Connie: Funny how the depth of the character's grow when really tapped into, isn't it? I can't wait for Ram and Caroline's story!

I’ve read My Lord Beast and absolutely loved it! It’s such a tightly woven story. How did the writing of it go? I mean with the intricacies of the story did you have to weave and manipulate the scenes here and there or did everything fall into place?

Mary: I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. I did a lot of re-writing with My Lord Beast. I think this is because the farther I got into the book, the better I knew the characters. So then I had to go back in the story and see where I needed to set up a scene that underscored their emotional reactions leading to their actions further down the line.

Connie: Your dedication to the character's emotions and actions is very evident in MLB and I, for one, appreciate your efforts.

Research is very important with most any book. I would think there was much research to be done with My Lord Beast what with Ram’s knowledge of medicines and the court system to name a couple things. How much time went in to researching MLB?

Mary: I spent many hours reading about early Victorian England, and was lucky enough to visit Parliament with an acquaintance who worked there for an MP. So she gave me a wonderful sense of the history of that august body.

And I was lucky with the medical research—two of my kids are doctors, so I picked their brains on how Aubrey could recover from such a bad case of Malaria. Then I had to find a special medicine for him. Thank heavens for the Net! I got that bit from a medical article on line.

The best part about research is that it often gives me fun plot ideas. Early in the plotting of MLB, I read an article about the exceptional sound of a Guarneri violin that made me realize how much Lilias, who feared being unmasked as a poor servant at Aubrey’s house party, would risk to play one.

Connie: Is research something you enjoy?

Mary: I love it. Learning about different time periods, and some of the great thinkers and artists of those times makes writing come alive for me. I can picture the sounds and sights and scents of a time and place, and try to describe them.

Connie: Your descriptions of sounds, sights, and scents are very vibrant in MLB. Very much alive, which leads me to say Mary, your style and voice are fantastically unique. I’ve found it very hard to describe except to say that when reading MLB it took very few words on your part to vividly paint the picture, thoughts, and actions. I was awed as an aspiring author.

You say your prose is "sort of old fashioned". Why do you say that?

Mary: I’m thrilled you like the way I write. That’s the most wonderful compliment, Connie. Again, whatever clarity I have comes from constant rewriting.

As to thinking my prose is old-fashioned: I grew up reading Alcott, Austen, Dickens, Tolstoy, etc. I loved their stories, and I became very familiar with their writing styles. I think I find writing historical romance so much fun because it feels comfortable and natural.

Connie: You mentioned that you’ve started on Ram and Caroline’s story - though I already knew that! (characters from MLB). But you’re also at work on one of your romance fantasies. Is that right? Do you work on more than one book at a time? Are you outlining one while writing another, or researching one while writing another?

Mary: I’m trying something new this time—to write two at once, and I’m a third of the way through a sequel to The Moon Runners, a fantasy set in ancient Greece. The goddess Artemis plays a role in this sequel as she did in The Moon Runners. The heroine’s an "ill-luck" princess, a small, paltry thing compared to her super-hero mother, a great athlete and war leader. So she has to overcome her lack of confidence before she can save her world, and each trial only makes her stronger and wiser. I’m really rooting for her.

But usually, I try to plot one out when I’m halfway through another. Plotting can be done in the evening, or when waiting at the dentist’s office, or being a passenger in a car. So it’s a time I let my mind free with a pen and notebook.

Connie: To keep all the characters straight and in the right books. Hats off to you, Mary!

There are many heroine characters out there that come across as being rude, hateful, manipulative, and nasty to fellow characters. Lilias was strong yet compassionate, vulnerable yet spirited. How were you able to walk that line and not let Lilias fall into the trap of taking up of those traits as she evolved? ( I think sometimes authors think a heroine can’t be both, it’s either one or the other) Did you keep the same thing in mind with Aubrey?

Mary: I had an easy time with Lilias, because she’s just the sort of person I’d like to be if I were wiser and stronger. She really lives by the axiom that knowledge is power. I knew that she would resent her father’s seeming indifference, and her grandfather’s pride—not to mention Aubrey’s upsetting behavior—but she has a forgiving heart. The key was that she was always open and understanding once she realized why they’d acted as they did.

Which is why she tried so hard to figure out why Aubrey said and did the things that hurt her. As soon as she’d worked it out, she insisted on telling him about it, and helping him to see that he could trust her to love him.

As for Aubrey—given his illness, nightmares, flashbacks, and his fear that he really was a beast, he had reason to be edgy and difficult and downright insulting when he felt that fate was crushing him into the ground But he also had to feel compassion and responsibility for Lilias, as well as a powerful emotion he preferred to view as lust, when in reality, he was falling hard from almost the beginning.

Connie: Mary, I’d love to talk about MLB all day, but will restrain myself. Tell me about your other books.

What appealed to you enough to write these stories? What did you want to say? What did you want the reader to come away with?

Mary: My first print book, Heart of Fire, was just plain fun—a clash of cultures between a mysterious and beautiful slave and a dedicated king from a small European Country directly in the line of Napoleon’s army. The slave saves the king from an assassination attempt. In gratitude, he takes her home with him to make her into a "lady". Little does he know she’s a princess in disguise, from a hidden, magical kingdom. She’s on the run from the man who killed her parents, and wants to kill her. I was simply letting my imagination run free in Heart of Fire, and I wanted readers to enjoy the ride.

With The Moon Runners, I was writing a story about two star-crossed lovers—Atalante, a strong but vulnerable princess. And Melanion, a prince caught in a web of opposing vows—to save his mother’s country from his father’s intention to conquer it, and to do so without harming a hair on his father’s head.

But because The Moon Runners is a "fantasy with a strong love story" rather than a straight romance, it could be a "bigger" book. I wanted to explore many types of love—the love of fathers for children, even if that love was imperfect, the giddy joy of young love, the love of country, friends, and honor, and a love that defied death, itself. I wanted to write about faith in a world where the gods sometimes confuse and hurt their champions, and I wanted to explore the concept of personal redemption that is a result of suffering in order to save a world. Fantasy gives you a broad enough canvas to include all those things. I hope that those who read the book will find some of these themes thoughtful and moving.

Connie: On your website you talk about control of your characters, how you’d lost it. How they often react in a totally different way than you’d anticipated and expected. Is this with each book and each character?

Mary: I think it’s true. I always write a detailed outline, but partway through the book, the characters take hold.

In MLB, Lilias’s appearance in London via the gypsy cart was something I hadn’t thought up in the outline. Nor was Aubrey’s reasonable, satisfying, and, I think, typically male solution to getting valuable information out of a puzzle chest.

In The Moon Runners, two important secondary characters I hadn’t even originally thought of as more than sidekicks fight, fall in love, and end by having one of the more meaningful scenes in the book.

And in Heart of Fire, my heroine’s introduction to Mozart—her country outlawed all Outlander music because it aroused unruly emotions that might lead to unruly acts—was never part of the outline. And it was one of the scenes I most enjoyed writing with that book.

Connie: And you say you follow the characters lead and let them do what came naturally to them. Is there something a character did that surprised you that you would have never thought they’d do when you initially created them?

Mary: Oh, yes. For instance, in MLB, I really didn’t expect that Ram would shoot Aubrey to keep him quiet so he could recover from a deadly case of Malaria. I was definitely surprised at the end of that scene. That’s when I knew that Ram was a very complicated, mysterious guy, and he needed to be more a part of Aubrey’s story than I’d ever planned.

When this happens I get the most powerful sense of delight. I must look like a crazy woman, staring at the keys as I write double time, and hooting with delight when I’ve come to the end. If hope if the characters surprise me, they’ll surprise readers, too.

Connie: Isn't it a great feeling though, to be so into it, your characters are so into you that they really do throw such wonderful curves?!

You have a gorgeous space to write, does it inspire you or sometimes distract you?

Mary: It’s wonderful—green and gold all day long, slowly deepening into twilight. I get up after a long scene when I’ve poured a lot of myself into the work, and make myself a cup of tea or coffee and stare out the window and think for a little while. It gives me time and serenity to switch gears into the next scene.

Connie: And what’s your writing day like? Any set routine or schedule?

Mary: Yup. In summer, I work outside in the morning and write all afternoon. I’m lucky to have a husband who’s (mostly) understanding about quick, dull dinners. In winter, it’s just the opposite. I write all morning and work outside or in the house in the afternoon. But I’d still love more hours in the day to just write.

Connie: The hours seem to melt away when one's on the computer doing what one loves to do!

OK, Mary. I’ve got to move on, though I’m reluctant to do so. Let’s get to know you a bit better.

Is there a particular question or comment from a reader that sticks in your mind/that you’ve never forgotten?

Mary: My favorite comment right now is one that a reader on the MLB page on Amazon.com gave me. It’s something like this: "The thinking woman’s guilty pleasure without the guilt."

Connie: She hit it right on the mark.

You’re stranded on a desert island...who would be best at finding/building shelter and foraging for food? You or your husband?

Mary: My husband would definitely build the shelter—he built our home (I was just the helper) over a period of years, and it’s my favorite place in the world. I’d do the foraging—I’ve got the best taste buds!

Connie: Is there a particular author or two from decades or centuries past you’d like to meet? What would you say or ask him/her?

Mary: Oh, yes. Dorothy Dunnett, the incredible author of the The Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolo. What would I say? "How did you do that?"

Connie: You’re going to a costume ball. Who or what will you and your husband go as? Why did you pick those costumes?

Mary: Oddly enough, I think we’d probably go as Lilias and Aubrey. I must confess that I’ve got a rotten sense of direction. And I stole my husband’s advice to me for Aubrey to give to Lilias.

Connie: And what was that?

Mary: When I'd walked out of a hotel room where we'd stayed for three days and turned the wrong way once again to find the elevator, he said, "Whenever you come out of a hotel room, turn the opposite direction from the way you're sure is correct." It was such perfect advice for me and, of course, Lillias!

Connie: She needed that advice!

What four words would your husband use to describe you, Mary?

Mary: Warm, intuitive, imaginative, obsessed (on the days that dinner is an hour late AGAIN due to that one tricky scene).

Connie: On that note I’ll say good-bye and thank you so much. I enjoyed myself immensely. Before I let you go, though, is there anything I forgot to ask that you’d like the readers and fans to know?

Mary: Just a very big thank-you to you, Connie, for the wonderful questions, and to all readers of romance and fantasy, equal gratitude for reading this interview.

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Author's Interviews