Interview With
Author
Stephanie Bond
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Good morning Stephanie and thank you for agreeing to this interview to
help launch our new category author section at ARR. You have long been a
favorite author of mine and I am pleased to be able to do this interview.
Thanks, Barbara, for your interest!
Q. What motivated you to become a writer and why did you choose romance,
specifically romantic comedy over other genres?
A. I grew up reading romance novels, so when I became interested in fiction
writing, I didn't consider writing anything else. I got into romantic
comedy almost accidentally. I'd been writing 'family drama' category
romance because I believed that's where my strengths were. Then I got the
chance to talk to a Harlequin editor and pitch her a story idea. It was
Brenda Chin in the Canada office. She listened to my pitch, and said,
"That sounds perfectly fine, but I'm really looking for comedy to launch a
new line at Harlequin--can you write comedy?" I lied and said I could,
then pitched her an idea from the top of my head, and she asked to see it!
Then I had to go home and write enough chapters to send to her. Strangely
enough, I discovered I had a flair for comedy, although I don't know if I
would have tried it if she hadn't challenged me to do so.
Q. I was looking back over your back list and you have written 17 novels and
2 interactives in only 5 short years. Does it seem like five years have
passed and how has your writing changed over the years?
A. Yes, to me, my writing career seems to have passed rather quickly,
although if I think hard, I can remember lulls. My writing HAS
changed--it's harder now! In the beginning, the story lines and
characters just rolled out. But after you've written a few books, it gets
harder and harder to come up with new twists, but still include the
elements that readers have responded to in their letters to me.
Q.Let's go back to the beginning if you will. Your first book was a Love &
Laughter title called Irresistible? Tell us how this book became your
first published novel.
A. Remember the 'fake' pitch I mentioned making to an editor earlier? That
story was Irresistible?!
Q. You also wrote books for the Loveswept line under the name Stephanie
Bancroft. These were some very endearing titles and some of my favorites.
Since the line is now out of business have the rights for these works come
back to you and are there any plans to rerelease them?
A. Thanks for the nice words about my three Loveswept titles. My first
Loveswept, Almost a Family (March 1997), was actually one of my favorite
books, and the only book I've released that wasn't a comedy. The other
two, License to Thrill (October 1997) and Your Wish is My Command
(February 1998), were a romantic mystery and a paranormal romance,
respectively. Yes, I do have the rights back to all three of those
romances, and hope to resell them one day for re-release.
Q. You now write for both the Harlequin Temptation and Harlequin Blaze lines.
What do you like best about writing for Harlequin?
A. I love the readers for the Harlequin lines because they are fantastically
loyal! And I have a great editor there, Brenda Chin. Plus, Harlequin has
allowed me to do some pretty innovative things in my stories, and in
special projects.
Q. Is there anything that you don't like about writing category books?
A. Well, it's no secret among writers that category books don't pay the
author nearly as well as most 'bigger' books. I know readers are
frustrated when their favorite category writers move into single title
books, but frankly, most writers make the move for plain old economics.
And most category books (excluding some special releases) aren't eligible
for some bestselling lists, such as the New York Times list, because the
price point (cost) is under a certain dollar value. That kind of thing
penalizes the author in terms of career recognition.
Q. When the Blaze line had their big launch 7 months ago, you were one of the
launch authors. How did you come to write for this line and do you find
there are many differences in writing a Blaze compared to a Temptation?
A. When the rumors that Harlequin was launching a new line was confirmed, my
editor came to me and said they wanted me to write one of the four launch
books to have some humor in the mix--I think they were trying to give
readers a taste of everything to let everyone know they could expect a
wide range of story lines in Blaze. To me, the biggest difference in
writing a Blaze versus a Temptation was having the extra pages to bring
out secondary characters, and to inject more 'mainstream' story elements.
For instance, in my book Two Sexy! (August 2001) the story is about a
schoolteacher who agrees to a short stint as a body double for a celebrity
sex kitten. The sex kitten needs a body double while she seeks
rehabilitation for substance abuse. That kind of story element would have
been harder to pull off in Temptation, but worked for Blaze.
Q. Let's talk about the interactive stories you have written for Harlequin
for a minute. I believe you wrote the first one, A Funny Thing Happened
On The Way To The Wedding, which they used when they launched their web
site. Who approached you to write this story and what kinds of challenges
did doing such a project pose?
A. The editor for eHarlequin is Malle Vallik. She was aware of my work for
the Love & Laughter line, and I had a book coming out in February 1999,
Club Cupid, that coincided with the launch of the eHarlequin website. She
asked me if I would be interested in starting a story, then giving
'readers' a chance to vote on the direction of the story, then write
another chapter, etc., and I thought it sounded like fun. It WAS fun, and
I think the first interactive novel went over really well.
Q. You have since written a second interactive, 50 Days to Choose A Husband,
which was a feature on the site from October 2001 thru December 2001.
This one is a bit longer than the first. Did this one prove more
difficult than the first to write? Who came up with the story idea? Did
it turn out the way you had thought or did the voters throw you a few
surprises by the way they voted?
A. Malle Vallik once again approached me about a writing an interactive
novel--her vision was sort of 'Survivor meets Who Wants to Marry a
Millionaire?' Basically, the heroine of the story is bequeathed a million
dollars by a reclusive neighbor she cared for, if she marries within 50
days. The woman's friends and family came up with a list of ten 'husband
candidates.' Each week the reader found out more about the men, and voted
'off' a candidate. This story was harder than the first because my
challenge was how to 'present' all the men each week in short segments,
while revealing more and more about their character. It was clear from
the beginning which two or three guys the readers preferred, so that
wasn't a surprise. I won't give away the ending in case readers want to
check it out. They can still access 50 Days to Choose a Husband through
the 'On-line Reads' page at www.eHarlequin.com, or through my website,
www.stephaniebond.com.
Q. One of the reasons that I love your books so much is that you write such
fun secondary characters. Many of these characters appear in several books
and they always seem to provide additional comedic situations for your
stories. Which of them has been the most popluar as far as reader
response goes?
A. My first book, Irresistible? garnered a lot of reader response; they loved
the secondary character, a gay man named Manny. So much so, in fact, that
Manny has been a recurring character in my books!
Q. Which book has been the most successful as far as sales and or awards go?
A. As far as awards go, my most successful book was It Takes a Rebel
(Temptation, February 2000). That book was voted one of the top ten
favorite books of the year by the members of Romance Writers of America,
and it won an RWA RITA Award of Excellence. Sales wise, my best-seller
was probably the Blaze launch book, Two Sexy! But a lot of that credit
goes to Harlequin for featuring that book cover in their steamy ads in
Glamour, Cosmo, and other magazine to promote the Blaze line.
Q. If I remember right "Too Hot To Sleep" generated a lot of reader and
industry response for your steamy sexy scenes and it was one of the books
that was said to "push the envelope" as far as romance books in general.
What was your response to all of the press concerning this book?
A. I truly thought the Romantic Times reviewer who sparked the controversey
by proclaiming my book Too Hot to Sleep (Temptation, July 2000)
'offensive' simply hadn't read the book! The story is about a woman who
thinks she's dialing her boyfriend to spice up their love life with phone
sex, but had programmed the wrong number into her phone and has
'encounters' with another man, unbeknownst to her. Anyone looking for
erotica here frankly will be disappointed--it's just a funny, sexy book
with a great love story and a happy ending. Readers seemed to agree since
the backlash of the horrible review put in on the Waldenbook's list!
Q. Like several category authors you have branched out into single titles
with the release of Our Husband (November 2000) and Got Your Number
(October 2001) in the last couple of years. These stories in my opinion
reflect a new direction in your writing as they were more
suspenseful/mystery oriented than your category books. What are the
challenges of writing a longer book and was the new direction something
that was intentional from the start or was this just where the book took
you?
A. The challenges of writing a single title for me is the larger scope of the
story to accommodate the longer length. A longer book calls for more
character growth, and more plot to hang the story on. For me, it has
allowed me to explore female friendships in addition to delivering a
romance for the reader. There are stories that are just too big for the
page-constraints of a category romance, and the larger format that is on
the shelf longer has helped me reach new readers. I didn't start out
writing category with the intention of using it as a 'stepping stone' to
bigger books; I'm grateful for the opportunities to write both types of
books.
Q. Which are harder to write for you the love scenes or the rest of the book?
A. Definitely the rest of the book, which hopefully leads up to those great
love scenes!
Q.Which of your books is your favorite at this moment in time and why?
A. Our Husband (October 2000) is my favorite to-date because it represented
such a milestone for me personally. I learned a lot as a writer during
the development of that book, and gained confidence in my ability as a
storyteller.
Q. Could you please tell our readers a bit about your upcoming releases?
Single title as well as category.
A. My next book is another romantic comedy murder mystery from St. Martin's
Press called I Think I Love You (July 2002). It's about three sisters who
share everything in their closets . . . including the skeletons! My next
story with Harlequin will be out in January 2003, a flirtatious
Valentine's anthology called Behind the Red Doors, with Vicki Lewis
Thompson and Leslie Kelly. The stories are connected, and are about an
upscale lingerie, jewelry, and perfume store called Red Doors. Great
stuff! Readers can keep checking my website for covers and excerpts.
Stephanie Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and
let the readers get to know more about you and your wonderful books.
Happy 5th anniversery and may you have many more years ahead bringing us
the books we love to read and the happy endings we can't live without.
Thank YOU, Barb!
A Romance Review
Copyright @ 2001-2004 A Romance Review All Rights Reserved.
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