RBL Presents!
Patti O'Shea





       



Oh how fun! I get to ask personal and nosy questions of one of our very own ReBeLs - author Patti O'shea! Patti writes excellent futuristic/fantasy paranormals. There are lots of adventure and wonderful characters in her stories. I'd love to dub her a "queen of sexual tension" - you definitely feel the connection by the time her h/h get around to the very hot love scenes! *G* Let's pester ... er ... meet Patti ...



Beaty: Hi Patti! How does it feel to be in the "hot seat"? Is this part of writing a chore you’d just like to go away? It can’t be too fun to stop your work-in-progress in order to answer nosy questions. *G*

Patti: Actually, Beaty, I enjoy interviews because they give me a chance to discuss my characters and their stories. There's nothing I love to talk about more and my coworkers have reached the point where their eyes glaze over as soon as I start. *S*

Beaty: Being that you are one of us - a ReBeL - we already know a bit about you. But I’m sure there must be some things we’re missing. Maybe a long time dream fantasy you haven’t yet written into a story? *VEG* We’ll probably have to wait for that. It’ll make it into one of your stories someday. *G* But we’d love to know more about you - the juicier the details, the better ...

Patti: I wish I had something juicy to share!

I live in a suburb of Minneapolis and have a degree in advertising copywriting from the University of Minnesota. I've never used it because, after graduation, I went to work for Northwest Airlines. I'm currently part of 757 Engineering, but I've also been part of other departments in Technical Operations as well as Finance.

I love to travel--or I did before it became so stressful to fly. (Airline employees only get on if there are seats available and flights have been full.) I've gone whale watching in Hawaii, and when I was in Alaska, I saw a humpback whale breach off the side of a catamaran. In Austria, I slid down a wooden railing to a lower level of a salt mine, and while I was in Germany, I went to the Dachau concentration camp. That was a sobering experience to put it mildly. I've seen the Tropic of Capricorn in Australia and walked around an island that was part of Papua New Guinea. I watched the cliff divers in Acapulco and I had lunch in White Horse in Canada's Yukon Territory. These are just a few of the things I've seen and done.

Let's see. I recently built a house while I was on deadline for ETERNAL NIGHTS. Good thing my dad was there to handle everything for me because I sure didn't have time. The week after I mailed the manuscript to my editor, I visited like half a dozen places to choose lights and flooring and other things. I have eight house galleries up at www.bugalootwo.com if anyone wants to look at pictures of the house being built.

It's really hard to talk about myself. I'm definitely better talking about my characters. *S*

Beaty: I know you love to travel. Do you use any of the exotic places you’ve been to help build your worlds?

Patti: Yes, I have and I never really thought I would. The Raft Cities in THE POWER OF TWO are based on Samarai Island in Papua New Guinea. It was a small island--I walked the circumference in about twenty minutes--and it had no industry, nothing really for the people to do to earn a living. At least this is what it was like when I was there. Poverty was rife and heartrending.

As I was writing, thinking about the Raft Cities, I wondered how the residents would earn money and I realized they had the same problem as the people of Samarai Island. The descriptions of the patchwork buildings and poverty are pretty much straight from my memory of my visit to Papua New Guinea.

I've also used less exotic locales like Venice Beach, California, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame for THROUGH A CRIMSON VEIL. I wanted Conor to walk through a seedy area that would still attract tourists and my visit there--at 11 p.m. at night--flashed back to me.

The book I'm writing now (the working title is IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR) is set in my hometown of Minneapolis and my characters travel to Los Angeles, so I'm using more places I've been and seen, although I guess Minnesota is as far from exotic as a person can get.

Beaty: We would love to hear the story of how you got your first book published. Was it a hard, painful journey? Or were you one of the lucky ones?

Patti: I was one of the lucky ones--at least with the first book.

After I finished the first draft of RAVYN'S FLIGHT, and revised and polished the first three chapters, I began entering contests put on by local chapters of the Romance Writers of America (RWA). The first contest I entered was in August 2001 and I found out in December that I'd won it. Not only that, but I needed to send my entire manuscript to the editor who'd been the final round judge. I contacted her, mailed it out on Dec 30th, and a week and a half later, I went to Hawaii. I knew how long the wait times are at publishers, so I didn't expect to hear anything while I was gone. I came back to two voice mail messages and an email asking me to contact this editor. The first message was dated two weeks to the day after the manuscript arrived in New York City. I made the sale three weeks after its arrival. That was pretty darn cool!

I have an author friend who says that every author, no matter how charmed they might start out their career, is going to face a rough patch at some point. She was right and I hit it early. Selling my second book wasn't nearly as quick or as easy as the first one.

Beaty: Did you always want to write? And why choose romance? There may not be a more popular genre out there, but there are definitely some more prestigious. Not to me, of course! I’m an addicted romance reader! *G*

Patti: To answer the second question first, the reason I chose romance is those are the stories I have in my head. I remember playing Barbies with my friends and I had these long, involved romance scenes going on between my dolls. My friends would be done and waiting for me to finish so that we could do something else. *S*

As a young teenager, I went to the library and read everything that caught my interest, but if there wasn't a romance in the story, I'd create one in my head as I read. This worked really well until I read a mystery where my "heroine" turned out to be the killer. That ruined the book for me! Fortunately, it wasn't too long after that when I discovered the romance genre and was elated to finally find the kind of books I enjoyed the most.

My stories always seem to revolve around the hero and heroine and how they grow and change in order to find forever together. I hear the characters first, then I get the story that fits them as a couple, so I guess my brain is just geared toward male/female relationships.

I have a very eclectic range of interests and I've thought about becoming a lot of different things. I've wanted to be an archeologist, an astronomer, a marine biologist, a doctor and a host of other professions, but when I was fourteen, a friend started writing a novel, using our entire class as characters. I didn't like what she did with "me" and I asked her to change it--she wouldn't. That's when I decided to try writing my own story because I wanted to be the one in control. I didn't use real people, though--I had a hero and heroine right from the first book--and I soon found out that control is an illusion. It's my characters who are in charge and I'm just trying to keep up with them!

Anyway, when I was in high school, I decided I was too squeamish to be a doctor, so I turned my focus to my writing. Being a Capricorn and practical, I decided to become a journalist. (I'd read a beat up copy of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in junior high and was enthralled.) After taking the entry level classes, I switched to advertising copywriting because it was more creative. *S*

Beaty: I’ve read that you wrote another book after RAVYN’S FLIGHT but opted not to publish it. Was it a continuation of RAVYN’S FLIGHT? If so, will we ever get that part of the story? I can’t imagine the anguish of scrapping a year’s worth of work!

Patti: It was really tough to figuratively stick a year's worth of work under my bed and move on, but my editor wasn't enthusiastic about the book and wanted major revisions. If she'd been behind the story, I would have done them, but without support, it didn't seem worth the amount of work involved. And of course, with major revisions, it wouldn't necessarily be the story I wanted to tell.

This book was only very loosely connected to RAVYN'S FLIGHT. It was about the same civilization that colonized Jarved Nine and left the alien city behind. The setting was another planet, one more distant from Earth, and it took place farther in the future than RF did. The hero was considered a barbarian by the people who lived within the city walls, and no one was thrilled that I was revisiting an "old" futuristic romance convention instead of pursuing what I did in my near-future story with an h/h from Earth. The heroine patiently waited for her chance to oust the bad guy from control, which made her not appear kick-butt and strong like Ravyn. In my opinion, she had a core of steel to endure what she did until she was in a position to take charge, but it was definitely a quiet strength. Then there was the fact it was more character-driven than my other books and the suspense was bit uneven. I loved the characters, though, and I would have liked to share them.

Will it ever see the light of day? I don't know. At this point, I have no desire to go through and rewrite it in its entirety, which I'd have to do in order to sell it. I've moved on in my writing and want to focus on my new story ideas.

Beaty: Your second and third books were multiple author series stories. What new challenges does this type of story add to the writing process? Obviously you enjoyed those new challenges since you did it twice!

Patti: The biggest challenge writing in a multi-author series is all the coordination! Both the 2176 series and the Crimson City series had loops where we discussed things, and there was additional communication between individual authors on various points that affected both, but not the group as a whole.

The other challenge is that an author can't necessarily do what they want. For example, I wanted Mika and Conor in THROUGH A CRIMSON VEIL to be chased by two bands of demons instead of two duos. *S* Our editor, however, kept saying to hold the numbers of demons down and I had to slash the size of the groups involved.

Despite the things that are difficult about working on a multi-author series, they can also be a lot of fun. Normally, writing is such a solitary endeavor and this way there are others to share with and bounce thoughts off of. I did very much enjoy the experience and if the right project came along, I'd be happy to do it again.

Beaty: I once read a story about a writer who, during the writing process, had constant mental conversations with his current work-in-progress hero. This hero would stand with his hands on his hips and ask such things as, "Where do you think you’re going with that? I’m not going to do it!" It was a LOL moment for me. Does anything like that happen with you and your characters?

Patti: My characters rarely talk directly to me, although there have been times that I've sat them down and asked a few questions. *S* I usually get my information by eavesdropping on them. I hear them talking to each other and I hear their internal thoughts. If I feel like I don't know a character well enough from listening in on them, I have an extensive questionnaire that I use and start grilling them. *S*

I wish my characters would immediately tell me when I've gone the wrong direction! Instead, I go a little further in the story, then find myself at a screeching halt. I can't write anything else until I fix what the problem is, and sometimes that's not all that obvious to me. Wyatt did that to me in ETERNAL NIGHTS. I spun my wheels forever before I went back and changed the kiss he shared with Kendall from intentional to more accidental. Once that was done, the rest of the story flowed fairly easily.

Even though the hero and heroine of whatever book I'm writing torture me endlessly, the characters are my favorite part about writing and why I do it. But it's okay, I gleefully torment them in return, on the theory that since they're going to make me suffer, they should too. *S*

The other thing I find interesting is that my characters always show me at least one scene that happens after the close of the book. It never makes it into an epilogue or anything like that, but it's as if they're saying goodbye, thanks, and everything's working out between us. For example, I know Ravyn and Damon from RAVYN'S FLIGHT have three boys. I love these after-the-book moments!

Beaty: Oh! That's cool! I love the rarely shared moments, too. Speaking of characters - I love how alive your characters are! I think my favorite would have to be Mika from THROUGH A CRIMSON VEIL. She had so much fun "playing" Conor. Do you have a favorite character?

Patti: Thanks, Beaty, I'm glad you liked Mika! She was a lot of fun to work with, but she managed to surprise me many times with what came out of her mouth! She really kept me on my toes. Maybe, though, that's why I had enjoyed her so much.

I really don't have a favorite character; it's kind of like asking a mother which child is her favorite. I love all my characters for different reasons. If someone presses me to answer this question, I generally will choose the hero and heroine from the most recent book that I've finished. The hard work is done by then, but they're still fresh in my mind. My least favorite characters are always the ones I'm currently fighting with--I mean writing about. *S*

Beaty: Do your stories come to you in daydreams or night dreams? When I have a problem bothering me I just wake up with the solution. I think my subconscious works all night long!

Patti: I mostly get scenes, dialogue and character thoughts while I daydream. Sometimes, though, if I'm dealing with a particularly difficult issue that I'm not sure how to get around in the story, I'll ask that I be given the answer while I sleep. There are times it works. Like when I needed a story for the upcoming Crimson City anthology--I woke up and had a basic premise. And times it doesn't. When that happens, I go back to daydreaming. This is how I used to pass my time as a kid when I was bored, so maybe it's a conditioned response. *S*

Beaty: I have to say - as a reader - I love series more than stand-alone stories. I love getting further into the characters' heads. I enjoy watching them grow. There seems to be more of them now than there used to be. Is this a new trend? Is it something the readers are forcing? How much effect, if any, do the readers have on the story idea process?

Patti: I don't know if connected stories are a new trend because I remember reading them back in the 1990s. Nora Roberts has been doing trilogies for a while and category romance has had connected books for a long time--Suzanne Brockmann's SEALs or Rachel Lee's Conard County books are examples.

The continued publishing of connected books is definitely a response to reader reaction, but I think that authors play a role too. When we're writing, there are secondary characters that intrigue us too. I had that happen with IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR. In chapter two, there's a scene between the heroine and her sister and I knew then I wanted to write the sister's story. Her situation was fascinating to me and the dynamics between the two women engaged my interest as well. I proposed it as a two book series, but as I've been writing, I've met more characters that interest me. At some point, I'll look more closely at them and see if they have a story to tell.

Of course, I want readers to love my stories, but when I'm writing, I'm completely focused on the characters. I write by listening to them. Sometimes they take me in a totally different direction from the one I expected, but whenever I don't pick up on their change of course, I grind to a screeching halt until I do it their way. There are times it's frustrating, times I wish the hero and heroine would just cooperate a little (that means do things my way), but it's their story and they're always right. I become so close to my characters while I'm writing that when they leave, it's actually painful. Kind of like having your best friends move halfway across the country. Sure, you'll keep in touch, but after a while, they'll drift away. It leaves me sad and it's one of the reasons why I read my books when they come out. I want to revisit with my friends. *S*

Beaty: One of my favorite questions! What’s next on the horizon? I have heard rumors that we’re returning to the planet explored in RAVYN’S FLIGHT. AND that RAVYN’S FLIGHT will be reissued! You also mentioned that you’re doing another story in the Crimson City series. How soon before we can expect them in our hot little hands?!?!?

Patti: The reprint of RAVYN'S FLIGHT will be available August 1, 2006, the same date that ETERNAL NIGHTS is released.

ETERNAL NIGHTS takes place two years after the epilogue of RAVYN'S FLIGHT and introduces a hero and heroine who weren't in the first book, Wyatt Montgomery and Kendall Thomas. Kendall joined the army to pay for college and is stationed on Jarved Nine to help the archeologists studying the Old City. Wyatt is with Western Alliance Special Operations and is assigned to the security detail on the planet. He's fallen for Kendall, but she wants to remain friends only. When they're trapped inside the temple by antiquities smugglers, he sees his chance to show her how he feels and he takes it.

I heard from a lot of readers who wanted to see Alex and Stacey's story (they were the secondary couple in RF). Their romance reaches a conclusion in ETERNAL NIGHTS as well. There's action and adventure, but the focus is definitely on the relationships in this book.

There's going to be a Crimson City anthology coming out early in 2007! It's tentatively titled SHARDS OF CRIMSON and all five authors from the original series will have a story in the book. I plan to write about Kimi Noguchi (Mika's cousin) and Nicodemus (Mika's demon half brother). It turns out Kimi is a very powerful magic user and there's a dark demon after her because of that. She calls on Nic to protect her, but discovers that he's not necessarily as safe as she believed.

I'm also working on a paranormal romance for Tor that I'm very excited about! The short blurb I've been using for this book is:

When a troubleshooter for a society of magic users rescues a private investigator from a dark spell, she finds more than an ally as she battles her former mentor IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR.

The title will probably change before it comes out, so I'm trying not to become attached to it. This book has one of the most wounded heroines I've ever written. Ryne is very alone, and then Deke comes along and turns her world upside down. I've loved watching them as I've progressed through the story.

Beaty: Every time I do an interview, I ask the author to allow me to pose a question to one of her characters. If you’d allow it, I’d love to talk to Mika.

"Mika, how is Conor’s reemergence into life coming along? Does he still require you to torture him once in a while?" *G*

Mika: Conor will tell you that I torture him as a sport, but he does have a tendency to move slowly. When that happens, what can I do except nudge him along? It's not like I enjoy it. Well, okay, I do, but so does Conor even if he does grump about it. Personally, I think he grumbles on purpose because he knows that tone makes me want to jump him.

It's not easy for him to change, though, I understand this. He's managed to become friendly with Marc Hayes, and McCabe is adjusting to assorted members of the Noguchi clan descending on us from time to time. Poor Conor. I think my dad makes him uneasy, though he denies this vehemently. The male ego is a wonderful thing--it makes them so easy to tease.



I'd LOVE to be a fly on the wall for some of these torture sessions. *G* Thanks, Patti, for spending some time with us. See you on the board!


~Beaty~


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