Diane Whiteside Interview

I had the good fortune to chat with Diane Whiteside about her new books Bond of Blood, The Southern Devil and her book with Angela Knight called Captive Dreams. I hope you will enjoy the interview she did with me.

Diane Welcome to Deb's!

We are happy you could take time to chat with us.

First of all, please tell us a bit about yourself. Your family, background, etc.

I have the good fortune to come from a family of published writers and generations of frontiersmen. Personally, I’m a certified geek (with the university degrees to prove it) who turned to writing romances when a true story demanded that I give the lady a happier ending, by transforming it into a romance novel. Noticing my current lack of a husband to keep me in line, my Tibetan Terriers stepped up to the plate. They make sure that I do everything The Right Way, which means lots of dog walks and treats as often as possible.
You can find pictures of them at my website, www.DianeWhiteside.com

For our readers unfamiliar with your work, please tell us what kind of books you write.

I write western historicals for Brava and vampire romances – plus the occasional contemporary romance – for Berkley.

Tell us about your newest release September 2006) The Southern Devil. I was fortunate enough to read this book as an arc (advance reader copy) and I have to say I loved it! It was my first book by you and definitely won't be my last! Tell us how you came up with the idea for this story.

THE SOUTHERN DEVIL was inspired by a combination of a character – Morgan Evans – and a place, Rosedown Plantation. In THE IRISH DEVIL, Morgan went off to tell Paul Lennox, the villain, that he needed to start playing nice. Morgan was an extremely macho fellow and also quite the Southern gentleman – definitely someone who could easily accomplish the smooth gunplay this scene needed to end with. Yet, at the beginning, he froze at the sight of a glass of sherry and told me – very firmly! – that he wouldn’t drink the stuff until he could put Jessamyn Tyler in her place for having tied him up. There were entirely too many unpleasant memories associated with it.

I blinked. Who the heck was Jessamyn? Why had Morgan put up with being treated like that? Why hadn’t he taken his revenge before now? THE IRISH DEVIL wasn’t supposed to answer questions about him! I was completely at a loss and it took me two years to figure out who his lady was – and why she’d driven him crazy.

Rosedown Plantation is an incredibly beautiful plantation, which still has its original furnishings – even its original gardens and racetrack! Visiting it is pure, gentle joy. I understood immediately why the three sisters clung to it and refused to sell it, no matter what the cost to them personally. One of them loved and married a brilliant cotton planter who brought Rosedown into the 20th century, thus giving it enough time for another generation to save it forever.

When I put the two together – Morgan’s baffled passion for Jessamyn and Jessamyn’s stubborn loyalty to her family yet sensual link to her man – I had the bones of THE SOUTHERN DEVIL.

Most of your books that I have seen have been released in trade paperback format. Are all your books in this format? Will they ever be re-released as mass market? Sure hope so!

I must say that I too am hoping that one day my books will be re-released as mass market! I promise faithfully to make an announcement as soon as I hear anything.

You have another new release coming out in October 2006, BOND OF BLOOD, the first in a trilogy of Texas Vampires. Tell us about this trilogy. It sounds awesome!

BOND OF BLOOD introduces Don Rafael Perez, once a medieval Spanish knight but now the leader of Texas and Oklahoma’s vampires, and Grania O’Malley, a young wildlife veterinarian. He’s ruthless, arrogant – and haunted by nightmares from his past. He’s built a home in Texas and gathered a brotherhood of vampires, founded on feudal traditions, to both serve him and defend the local people. Madame Celeste, the vampire queen of New Orleans, declares all-out war on him and unleashes the one assassin he truly fears, who seeks to destroy him by finding a chink in his emotional armor – someone he can’t live without. Yet he can’t stay away Grania, even when he knows that showing his increasing attraction for her might get her killed.

BOND OF FIRE, volume 2 in the Texas vampire trilogy, tells of Jean-Marie St. Just – Don Rafael’s chief diplomat and spy – and Hélène d’Agelet, a firestarter, long-time British secret agent, and Madame Celeste’s older sister. Jean-Marie fell in love with Hélène centuries ago but was forced to leave her. Now he must destroy Madame Celeste, in order to keep Don Rafael and the rest of his family safe. He also knows that he can never make a home in Texas with Hélène because of Don Rafael’s ban against non-native vampires. Madame Celeste believes that her far-too-honorable sister would never harm her and she can continue to work any evil she wants. Hélène must choose between the risks of loving Jean-Marie, which offers passion and a desperately uncertain future, or returning to the safety of her static prior life and letting someone else deal with whatever mischief her sister might be up to. But fate does not allow her to sit peacefully on the sidelines, while she makes up her mind. . .

In BOND OF DARKNESS, volume 3 in the Texas vampire trilogy, Ethan Templeton – Don Rafael’s military commander – must decide how far he can go to help his beloved lady Texas Ranger who’s working to solve a series of murders in Texas and Louisiana, which were first shown in BOND OF BLOOD. Only a mortal like her has a chance to catch the vicious vampire killer responsible. If she succeeds, she’ll almost surely die. But if he turns her into a vampire, Don Rafael will kill him for breaking one of his most fundamental laws. . .

The three books form a trilogy because Don Rafael because they tell of his growth, as he heals from his old wounds.

Tell us how you got started in your writing career. I understand that writing talent runs in your family and that you follow along several generations of writers. How long have you been writing and how did you get your start? Was becoming a published author something you have always wanted to do or did it evolve gradually?

While vacationing in Tombstone, I heard about a miner’s widow who entered a brothel to earn the money for a ticket home. The townsfolk were very proud that she successfully did so, rather than succumbing to the usual hazards of that trade. But I wanted a happier ending for her, in which she gained true love, not just survival. To tell a different version of her story meant learning how to tell a romance, which was nothing like the technical writing I did at my day job. But I was so driven by her story that I buckled down and learned how to write fiction. This was the “book of my heart” and it. became THE IRISH DEVIL

How long did it take you to be published and what was your first published work? When did it come out? How many books do you have out now? Are they all in print or do you have any that are only ebooks?

My first published work was THE HUNTER’S PREY: EROTIC TALES OF TEXAS VAMPIRES, which was published in 2001. It took me approximately year and a half to become published.
I have seven books and two novellas out now, all of which are in print.

How long does it take you to write a book? Does this include your research time?

It takes me approximately six months to write a book, which includes research and plotting time. Of course, I’m always doing research.

Is research something you enjoy doing? What kind of research do you do for your books? Do you use printed material or perhaps online sources? Do you use your travels in your research for the settings of your books and is this something you enjoy?

I love doing research and do it all the time. I use anything: printed material, online sources, observations of reenactors, interviews, anything. Traveling definitely inspires me and I like to do it as often as possible.

Are your books stand alone books or are they connected in anyway? If so, please tell us how.

The three Devil books – my western historicals from Brava – are standalone but are linked in characters and can be read in chronological order. THE IRISH DEVIL takes place in April 1871 in Arizona. THE RIVER DEVIL is set along the Missouri River during May of 1872. THE SOUTHERN DEVIL has a wider time span: Memphis in Christmas 1863, West Point in spring 1864, Memphis in 1865, the wild Kansas frontier of 1866, a Natchez wedding in 1869, and the Colorado Rockies in June 1872.

THE HUNTER’S PREY: EROTIC TALES OF TEXAS VAMPIRES is a collection of short stories, set in the same Texas vampire universe as BOND OF BLOOD. “Apex Predator,” the last story, is the prequel to BOND OF BLOOD and contains information that BOND OF BLOOD doesn’t.
THE SWITCH is my only contemporary and stands completely alone.

You had a book come out with Angela Knight in the last month, Captive Dreams. How did this project come about? Was this the first book you had written with her and was it your first paranormal? Will there be more? If so when?

Angela Knight and I were talking about our favorite fictional heroes and we started wondering what they’d really be like, given the way they’ve been tormented and yet they’re so sexy. What would we do if one of our favorite heroes suddenly appeared in the flesh before us – run from them or toward them? We both stared at each and yelled, more or less simultaneously, that we wanted to write the book. CAPTIVE DREAMS was the result and we had tons of fun writing it.
THE HUNTER’S PREY was my first paranormal, though.

I’d like to write more pure fantasies, like CAPTIVE DREAMS, and I’m mulling over some ideas.
Tell us what you have in the works now. Anything ready to come out soon? Hope so!
“Red Skies at Night” in UNLEASHED – to be published in December 2006 – is also set in the Texas vampire universe. Don Rafael makes a brief appearance but it’s not part of the Texas vampire trilogy.

I’m currently working on THE NORTHERN DEVIL, which is Lucas Grainger’s story. Lucas walked into THE SOUTHERN DEVIL and demanded his own book. Actually, he rode down Raton Pass – a very steep, rocky pass – into Trinidad, an extraordinarily tough town. He received a series of letters from his family – which he shrugged off, might I add – but he charged into a saloon to rescue an old friend, a half-breed Indian scout. Then he informed me that he’d taken a vow never to get married. What could I do but plunk him down into a situation in which he had to get married to a woman that he’d fall hopelessly in love with? It’s due to be published in summer 2007.

After that, I get to write BOND OF FIRE and BOND OF DARKNESS one after another. Since they’re so tightly linked in plot and character, I’m thrilled! I’ll be able to stay sane.

What kind of writer are you? A plotter and outliner who sticks strictly to that outline or are you more casual in your writing style? Do your characters ever take off in directions you hadn't planned? If so, what does that do to your story?

I’m a plotter – but if my characters take off in their own direction, I’ll go with them. The story is about them; it’s not a straitjacket that I built to hold them.

What was your reaction to seeing your first book on the store shelves? Hope you had a grand celebration!

THE IRISH DEVIL, the “book of my heart,” was also my first book that I saw on store shelves. I bounced and beamed – and the bookseller rushed over and made me autograph every single copy. It was a wonderful midnight trip to the bookstore, after a very long business trip.
What do you do for fun? Do you have hobbies or collections that you like to indulge in?
I have a lovely small garden, not enough books no matter how many I own, and my beloved Tibetan Terriers.

Are you a big reader? Who are some of your favorite authors or books? Any particular genre that you favor over another?

Lots and lots of historicals, plus romantic suspense, science fiction/fantasy. Jo Beverly, Mary Jo Putney, Roberta Gellis, Georgette Heyer, Emma Holly, Elizabeth Lowell, J.R.R. Tolkien, Angela Knight, Zane Gray – the list goes on and on!

Do you have a favorite style to write? Is one genre easier for you to write than another? How about stories in anthologies? Do you find the shorter format easier or harder to deal with?

I like switching between historicals and paranormal because it keeps each of them fresh. I suspect I’d burn out very quickly if I had to write one or the other all the time. I rarely come up with ideas for contemporaries so I think of them as gifts. I enjoy writing novellas and would like to write more.

Give us an example of a typical day in your life. Do you try to keep to a specific writing schedule? Any particular thing you like to indulge in after a hard day? Comfort food, good book, movie, etc.?

I work a 40-50 week at my day job. When that’s added to my writing schedule, it makes for a 70-hour work week. I try to write 3 hours every day, 7 days a week, plus 6 hours a day at least one day of the weekend.

My favorite indulgence after a hard day is time with my family and friends.

If you had one piece of advice to give to a new writer, what would it be?

Read what you love, not what fashion dictates.

Diane, thanks so much for stopping by to visit and share a part of your life with us. Continued good luck in your writing career! Please come back and visit with us soon!

Check back soon for an interview with Angela Knight. If you have any comments or questions for Diane, please let us know. I am sure she will be happy to stop by and blog with us.