This week I have the
joy of talking with Seattle based author Kristine Cayne.
Award-winning author
Kristine Cayne is fascinated by the mysteries of human psychology—twisted
secrets, deep-seated beliefs, out-of-control desires. Add in high-stakes
scenarios and real-world villains, and you have a story worth writing, and
reading.
Kristine’s heroes and heroines
are pitted against each other by their radically opposing life experiences. By
overcoming their differences and finding common ground, they triumph over their
enemies and find true happiness in each other’s arms.
KC: I’m thrilled to be visiting the Inner Goddess blog today. It’s
always exciting to talk about my work, especially with someone who’s already
read it. LOL. Okay, I’m ready now. Fire those questions at me!
IG: You wrote in an anthology with a group
called The Rainy Day Writers. Did you come together for this project, or is it
an ongoing group? What others things do you do with this group?
KC: The
Rainy Day Writers is an ongoing group. The current group of six has been
together for about three years. We meet every couple weeks to read each other
scenes from our individual projects. Romance
in the Rain was our first anthology, but hopefully not our last.
IG: Many of our members are also writers.
How can they find writing groups to join? What should they look for in a group?
KC: If
they write romance, Romance Writers of America is a great place to start. In
addition to the national organization, RWA has chapters and special-interest
groups, both online and local, in many cities across the country. It’s a great
place to meet like-minded authors and then create your critique group, plotting
group, and so on. In terms of what to look for, you want people who will be
honest, but in a constructive way, and they should be people who will let you
tell the story your way and not try to take over and tell it their way. That’s
critical to letting your voice as a writer come out. If RWA isn’t an option for
you, another great place to find writer’s groups is Meetup.com.
IG: The Romance in the Rain anthology is
unique in that each author chose a different generation of the same family. Can
you talk about the generation you wrote, and if you worked in a bubble or in
conjunction with the others for continuity?
KC: We
had two requirements: first, the story had to at least partially take place in
Seattle; and second, the hero or heroine had to be a member of the Caldwell
family. Each writer chose their generation based on the time period they wanted
to write about. Because mine was an earthquake in an actual city, I placed mine
in the near future.
We
worked together very closely, reading each other’s stories and adjusting ours
based on what was happening in the other stories. We created the genealogical
charts as went along as a way to keep everyone in sync.
IG: Your Deadly Vices series looks at how
secrets from our past can affect our present and future. How do you create
these secrets: are they from the headlines or grow as you create the character?
KC: The
secrets start with the headlines and grow from there. For example, the idea for
Deadly Obsession sparked when I was
looking at a fan site for Gerard Butler and people were posting pictures and
talking about the times and places where they’d seen or met him. Some of this
seemed almost real time. It got me thinking about how easy it would be to use this
information to stalk a celebrity. Likewise, for Deadly Addiction, Native American issues are always in the news in
Canada, especially the ongoing chill between the provincial police and the
local Mohawks.
IG: Your latest novel Under His Command
examines what happens when a couple doesn't communicate, allowing guilt and
assumptions to create a wall. I like that you chose to look at an established
relationship (5years with a child) instead of an emerging relationship. Why did
you decide to go that direction?
KC: Under His Command
started with the story Aftershocks, which appears in the Romance in the Rain anthology. Because that story focuses on a
rescue that takes place during an earthquake, the hero and heroine needed to
have an already established relationship that was on the rocks in order to make
a romance story believable in those circumstances. Even though they achieve a
major breakthrough in Aftershocks and
admit that they love each other and want to fix their failing marriage, it was
clear to me that they had plenty of work ahead of them. Saying that something
needs to be fixed is different from actually fixing it. Thus Under His Command was born.
IG: The Hawaiian scenes in Under His Command
are beautiful! Are these real places you've visited or a great imagination?
KC: They
are definitely real places, but they are not places I’ve visited. As an author,
I need to be able to write about places all over the world, and to do so, if I
can’t get there myself, I rely on research. This includes talking to people who
live in those locations, watching videos, and looking at photos. All this
combined gives me a hopefully accurate feel for the setting. Diana Gabaldon
wrote Outlander, which is set in
mid-18th century Scotland, before ever setting foot in that country.
She did an amazing job of putting you there, and that was all through research.
IG: The Six-Alarm Sexy series begins with
the story Aftershocks in which Seattle is rocked by a destructive earthquake.
Why create this scenario rather than use one of the many real events in
California?
KC: First
off, all the stories in Romance in the
Rain had to be set in Seattle. Secondly, Seattle has had many earthquakes,
including the Nisqually quake in the 90s, which damaged the King County
Courthouse where the heroine works. We keep waiting for “the big one” that
scientists assure us could happen any day. If you use a real event, you’re
limited to what actually happened, unless you’re writing an alternate history. In
Aftershocks, the type of destruction
and the location in which it occurs are based on the predictions scientists
have made for future big quakes in Seattle. (See here for an in-depth report on
the risks: http://bit.ly/XhsOmR)
IG: What is next for Six-Alarm Sexy fans?
KC: The
next book in the series is Everything
Bared, which is Dani and William’s story. The series is based on kink; each
couple expresses it in their own unique way. I’m trying to release Everything Bared in early summer.
IG: What is next for Deadly Vices fans?
KC: The
next Deadly Vices book is Kaden’s story, called Deadly Betrayal. Kaden returns to Afghanistan to help the doctor
who saved his life and to investigate the ambush that led to his injury and
honorable discharge from the military.
IG: What is coming up for Kristine Cayne
fans?
KC: In
March, I’ll be participating in several blog hops, where I’ll be giving away my
new Six-Alarm Sexy t-shirts! Be sure to visit my blog at http://kristinecayne.blogspot.com.
For my fans, I also have a free romantic suspense story available, called Guns ‘N’ Tulips, on Smashwords, iTunes,
Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and All Romance eBooks. Hopefully, it will be free on
Amazon soon as well. Enjoy!
Thank
you, Kristine, for coming in today. I loved
learning more about you, your books, and the wonderful city of Seattle. (Who knew it had real earthquakes?) And I can’t wait to see how Dani takes the
starch out of William!!! And don't forget to download her free book Guns 'N' Tulips!
You can find Kristine Cayne at any of these links:
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/KristineCayneAuthor)
Twitter (http://twitter.com/KristineCayne)
or Website (http://www.kristinecayne.com)
Her books are available at:
Kristine is giving away the
anthology Romance in the Rain, which includes the story Aftershocks, book 1 of
the Six-Alarm Sexy series. To win this
book, post your answer to the question in the comments below. Be sure to provide an email contact so we can
let you know you won. Contest runs until
Feb. 23, 2013, midnight CST.
Jamie
and Erica take their honeymoon in Hawaii.
Where do you think is the perfect honeymoon destination?
I think a perfect honeymoon destination is anywhere there is hardly any people around so you can focus on each other. I think a B&B in TX somewhere would be perfect. Loved Under His Command and Aftershocks.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Kathy! I'm really happy that you're enjoying the Six-Alarm Sexy series so far. :)
DeleteI love your books and can't wait for Everything Bared. I already have all your books so don't enter me. Just wanted to stop by and say Hi. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy! I'm thrilled that you stopped by to say "Hi!" I hope to have Everything Bared ready by summer. Stay tuned!
DeleteYou have a lot going on! Wow! I'm inspired and love the idea of the Rainy Day Writers.
ReplyDeleteKim Hornsby
Kim - I met this wonderful group of women at the exact time that I needed them. It's a been a pleasure to see how we've all progressed in our respective careers both individually and together. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteI think a perfect honeymoon would be an over water bungalow in Tahiti! It is pretty isolated but lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for talking about your writing process and for blogging for us!
I've seen photos of those. Wow! They look amazing and a great place to have a honeymoon!
DeleteI would have to have plumbing and electricity and room service. I would love to return to Italy, perhaps Florence. Prague would be nice. I like old world architecture and art. Outdoor cafe's.
ReplyDeleteLauralee - I visited Torino in the north of Italy a few times and I loved it! I hope I get a chance to return and explore the rest of the country. I've never been to Prague, but it does sound beautiful. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteAwesome interview!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Bella! It was great fun to answer such targeted questions. Thank you for stopping by and commenting. :)
DeleteI never had a honeymoon but I would love to go to St Lucia!!
ReplyDeleteSt. Lucia sounds like a divine place to have a honeymoon, Amber!
DeleteCongratulations to Bella Juarez!!!! You have won Romancing in the Rain, the anthology featuring Aftershocks by Kristine Cayne.
ReplyDeleteYay!!!
Delete