Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Thank you so much Ms. Compo, for taking the time out of your busy schedule, to do an interview with me.

Debbie. How long have you been a writer?

Charlotte. I have been writing since was about twelve years old. My first 'novel' was written in a composition book. It was called Western Flame and the hero was based on Michael Landon..with whom I was deeply in love after watching him as Little Joe Cartwright. I wrote my second 'novel' when I was sixteen. It was called The Great Giovanni and was written for my new love, Robert Vaughn whose tortured character of Lee in The Magnificent Seven thrilled me no end!

Debbie. How did you get started?

Charlotte. Professionally, with my first published novel, The Keeper of the Wind. I hawked the manuscript to several agents and publishers but no one was interested in a sword & sorcery romance adventure. Eventually, I went through a subsidy publisher...which turned out to be both a nightmare and a blessing in disguise. I believe I may well be the only person involved with that defunct company who actually received royalty checks and who has recouped all monies I paid out.

Debbie. How do you go about doing research for your books?

Charlotte. Most of my work has been built on my own imagination. The worlds I have created, the characters I've given birth to, and the casting of strange magic has come primarily from that imagination. I have incorporated certain myths and legends into my work, but primarily, what you read has sprang from my own creative processes. I read everything I could get my hands on pretaining to the occult and the paranormal when I was growing up. A lot of what I read stuck with me and I used that knowledge as a springboard.

Debbie. Is it very extensive?

Charlotte. To some degree, yes, since everything I read seems to be filed away in my subconscious. I draw from the memories, dreams and ovservations I have had as a reader. I don't actively go to a library and sit there and peruse volumes of reference material. Having the Internet and its myriad research capabilities at hand is great when you have a point of reference you want to look up or to clarify. There again: I don't sit in front of my monitor and hit research websites until I"m glassy-eyed. I go looking for what I need, note it and go back to my writing.

Debbie. Have you ever had a reader question any of your facts?

Charlotte. In just one book: IN THE WIND'S EYE which is a post-Civil War romance novel. I mentioned that the hero was looking at that insiduous little kudzu plant growing along the side of the road and a gentleman wrote to me to tell me that kudzu wasn't brought to the States until well into the 20th century. We changed kudzu to ivy. No big deal. He also brought up that there were no fire ants back then to torment my poor hero. Too bad about that one but as a Southerner who has suffered the horrible bites of those ungodly little pests many times, the fire ants remained in the story. Ironically enough, Rosemary Rogers used them in one of her post-Civil War books, too. I've often wondered if anyone called her on it.

Debbie. How many drafts do you do, of a book, before you send it to the publisher?

Charlotte. At least four, sometimes five. It depends on how happy I am with the end product. I don't always revise the entire manuscript but I will go back through it and revise words, phrases, paragraphs and, once or twice, a chapter or two until I am convinced the story is as tight as I can make it and I've pu lled every ounce of emotion out of the reader. Having fantastic editors like Tamara McHatton, Angie Evans, and Trace Edward Zaber makes my work easy. That don't let me get away with anything that isn't picture perfect. Tamara is especially concerned that I make readers cry copious tears during tragic scenes and slobber appropriately during intense love scenes. I am happy to oblige because she hasn't been proven wrong yet! :)

Debbie. What about writing gives you the most satisfaction?

Charlotte. Having readers write to tell you how much they enjoyed what you have written. I get fan mail every day and I always answer right away. I am thrilled to know someone has taken one of my characters to heart and are dying to read something else of mine. A good review will have me glowing for days on end. Just to know a reader or reviewer has taken something I was trying to say and understood it the way it was meant, is one of my greatest pleasures.

Debbie. What gives you the most headaches?

Charlotte. Not having my work available on the shelves of brick and mortar stores where readers can pick it up and take it home with them. Although I have a large fan base of readers who buy everything I write, that fan base is limited to people on the Internet who have heard of me. Word of mouth is great, but if your work isn't readily available, you are at a distinct disadvantage. If my novels were on bookstore shelves, I would be able to reach more people. It's not a question of making more money...although that would be nice. It is a question of having a wider spectrum of readers read what I have written. To me, that's more important that any award or any royalty check. I am more concerned with having my work enjoyed than buying a new car!

Debbie. I read in another interview, that you modeled several male characters in your books after actor Eric McCormick, of NBC's Will and Grace. Have you ever modeled any other characters after real people?

Charlotte. Other than Michael Landon and Robert Vaughn? You betcha! Every character I create is based on the work of an actor or actress whose work I have admired and whose acting abilities have impressed and entertained me. People like Doris Roberts, Cloris Leachman, Adrian Paul, James Earl Jones have inspired me to craft characters that embody some of the personal and professional traits of these thespians into the makeup of the character. Ironically, I've had fans write to tell me they pictured Adrian Paul as Kamerone Cree from BLOODWIND and Doris Roberts as Meggie Ruck for THE WINDKEEPER. It's nice to have a mental picture when you are reading. That makes the novel come alive in your mind

Debbie. From reading several of your books myself, I notice that you write more from the man's point of view, which isn't the norm in a typical romance. Is this a difficult thing for you to do and what dimension do you think it adds to your stories?

Charlotte. No, it isn't difficult at all. I've always been more interested in what the hero in a novel thinks and feels than the heroine. Writing a man's point of view from a female's perception adds more intensity to the mixture. It makes writing tortured heroes very easy since you know what you find touching so you can kiss his boo-boo and make it better. Most romance novels are told from the woman's POV and most of that deals with fashion and misunderstandings between her and the hero. That gets boring as all getout! I don't give a Diabolusian warthog's patootie what the heroine is wearing. I don't care about her hair, her breasts, her willowy limbs or her pouty lips...especially her pouty lips. I honestly believe GONE WITH THE WIND would have been a much more intense novel had it been written from Rhett's perspective. Even though I am a born and bred Southern woman, I found Scarlet insufferable! She's the kind of air-head that gives any female a bad rep! Give me the inner workings of the hero's mind any day because he moves the story along without all the inane trappings. His POV is generally crisp and to the point without the extraneous references to fashion.

Debbie. The Windlegends books have been classified as a 'saga' rather than a 'series'. How do you define the difference and will there be more 'Wind' books in the future?

Charlotte. Yes, there will be more WindLegends books. The difference to me beween a saga and a series is that the saga continues the legend of the McGregor/Wynth families in a specific timeline. You are going from Point A to Point G of what is happening to the characters. I define a series as a group of books that may have the same characters but each story is different and does not necessarily carry on the original premise of the book. It isn't necessary a continuation of the storyline.

Debbie. How do you begin a new book? Does inspiration strike you in the middle of the night?

Charlotte. Does it ever! That's why I keep a voice activated tape recorder by my bed. The entire WindLegends Saga sprang from recurring dreams of the hero. The book practically wrote inside as I slept. Some times something as innculous as a word will set my creative juices to flowing. A news broadcaster when I was living near Pensacola was talking about an 'evil scent' in the air around a plant. In my mind, I heard 'evil sent'. I began to think about something evil being sent to you, arriving unannounced at your door, coming in unbidden and staying around to wreck havoc on your life. From there, I began thinking about the kind of person who would personify something evil and it was a natural progression to demon. From those mental twistings and turnings came Syntian Cree, the incubus from NIGHTWIND. My books start in just about the same sequence: I perceive a situation between the hero and heroine and I begin beuilding on that situation. I collect bits and pieces of dialogue in my "HE SAID/SHE SAID book...yes, it actually exists...and start crafting scenes from there. Most of my work begins from snatches of dialogue that comes to me at the strangest times. My dearly abused husband, Buddha Belly, has conditioned himself not to flinch when...while driving through dangerous traffic...his wife grabs pen and paper and begins scribbling like mad. He knows my Muse...Seannie McCool...is whispering in my ear again.

Debbie. How did you get started in the e-book industry? Do you personally feel that the e-publishing industry will someday take the place or exceed the popularity of paperbacks? Are there any aspects of e-books that differ from paperbacks?

Charlotte. From conception to sale, everything that happens to an e-book can happen right on the INternet and in plain view of as many people as will take the time to look for it. You can query a publisher, zip off a manuscript, sign a contract, and download the finished product in a tenth of the time it takes for a traditionally published novel to hit a publisher's slush pile. The most significant difference is you can write the books of your heart, get them published despite the fact they cross genres, have them read by people dying for something other than cookie-cutter stuff that has been around since Adam slapped on the fig leaf, and have your work available for as long as there is recorded time. Even if your e-publisher goes out of business, most e-authors can move on to another e-publisher and his/her work will never go 'out of print' like traditionally published authors' work does. Sending out reviews is easier, too, since most reputable reviewers accept ARCs...advanced review copies...via email attachment. There is absolute joy in having your book available at the swirl of a mouse to a reader in Asia in the dead of night during a blizzard without having that reader walk out of their house. In the length of time it would have taken for that reader to go to Amazon, look up your book, order it and have it sent to them, the e-book could have been read and the reader downloading another of the author's work. That, to me, is priceless.

Debbie. Have you ever written a book thinking, "They will never go for this one?"

Charlotte. No. I figure if someone is willing to give my paranormal books a try, they are already in a mindset that will have suspended disbelief. I want to entertain my reader but not have them sitting there trying to decide if a Reaper can actually impregnate an Earth woman. When I read, I don't read to analyze the story. I read to be entertained. I am gambling on my readers being of the same opinion. If someone is reading a book to find the scientific mistakes, to ponder the consequences of interspecies breeding or question the feeding habits of shapeshifting vampires, that reader has a little too much time on his or her hands.

Debbie. You have written over 30 books, received numerous awards, and have been interviewed by many people. Is there anything that still eludes you thus far?

Charlotte. It all goes back to garnering as many readers as I can to embrace my work. Te more the merrier. Having my work made into a movie or two would be nice, as well. I've signed contracts for German and Spanish rights as well as audio rights to eleven of my novels. Those same books are with a Hollywood producer at the moment. Nothing may come of it, but then again: Every reader who takes a look at my work is one more reader who might be entertained by it and enjoy it.

Debbie. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

Charlotte.Don't let your family get in the way of your writing. For the most part, they won't understand the driving need you have to write in the first place. Under the guise of 'helping' you, they will caution that it is very hard to break into this business. While that is true, it does happen every day and is a lot easier to do if you are e-published. On the average, neither will your family readily or graciously accept you sitting at a keyboard and writing when you need to. They will demand your attention and your presense. They can't even begin to understand how important this is to you. Some may even belittle your attempts and give you THAT LOOK that says you are a fool. Just remember that most of the crap you will suffer at the hands of your well-meaning family when it comes to your writing is based on jealousy. Jealousy that you are able to do what you do. Jealousy that they can't. Jealousy that you might actually make a success of your writing and move beyond their ability to cope with that success. Jealosy that you are better at something than they are. Take it in stride. Everyone is entitled to a dream of their own. If yours is writing, I wish you the peace and understanding with which to do it.

Well, this has been a very interesting interview,. Thank you again, Charlee, for talking with me. Everyone at A Romance Review.com, wish you success on all of your future projects.

A Romance Review