Stephanie’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2012)

Stephanie’s comments from the Ask Stephanie Laurens - September 27, 2012 group.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by. Loved your questions! Thanks for participating and making my first Goodreads chat so enjoyable.

Happy reading!

Rosalina wrote: "Are you still here ms stephanie...
Im sooo in love with your book, i prefer printed book than e book...
Although i have thousands of them...
Thank you for writing :-)
Love from Indonesia"

Hi, Rosalina - waving. Thanks for stopping by.

Adisty wrote: "Hi Mrs.Laurens.. Thanks for the awesome answer. It was fun to read yours. I have another question. What are your biggest dream of wishes toward your writing career and life itself?"

Hi, Adisty - that's not easy to answer, because as you go through life the goal-posts change. Right now, I would say that the one thing I'd most like is to be able to keep writing as much as I am.

Michelle wrote: "Hi Stephanie! Love your books. Thanks for sharing your talent. My question is ... have you always been a writer? Growing up were you the kid who was always writing stories to share with family and ..."

Hi, Michelle - I was always a storyteller. I can't remember a time even as a very small child when I didn't have a story revolving in my brain. But I never really made much attempt to write them down, even though some were really long and involved - as in hours' worth of story I could have told. I didn't start as a storywriter until I ran out of books to read.

Wendy wrote: "Hi Stephanie, I just want to tell you I absolutely love your books and think I have read them all. I recently read Where the Heart Leads and Loved it. Will there be more Barnaby and Penelope stor..."

Hi, Wendy! Yes, indeed! The next two Barnaby Adair books (with Penelope, Stokes and Griselda - incidentally, all of them make appearances in Henrietta's book as well) will be released in 2014.

#2 is Heathcote Montague's story, and #3 is the redemption of Malcolm Sinclair.

And there's a #4 to come later, too.

Lauren wrote: "Hi Mrs Laurens,

Greetings from Modern Day rural Cambridgeshire! Have you ever worked out where the line between Viscount Debenham's estates near Peterborough & Devil's estate is? Are they neighbou..."

Hi, Lauren - yes, I do know where the estates are, but they are not neighboring. Can't remember the exact location off the top of my head, but Debenham's estate is to the north of Somersham Place.

Ladyice wrote: "but the green girl in me says go digital! How do you feel about being 'published' or being 'e-published'? Does it mean more to you to have a physical book in your hand after you finish the manuscript?. "

When it comes to books...knowing as I do all the chemical processes, let alone the energy that goes into printed copies...I have to do to the green side. I use an iPad (because I can have all the stores on it via apps). As an author, I suppose having a physical copy is nice, but I'd prefer the world got its priorities right and understood the issues around printing books, and so moved to digital. And as an author, the most wonderful thing about digital books is they can be (should be) accessible from anywhere in the world. Eventually, they will be. So yes, count me on the prefer-digital side of the divide, although living in Australia, I still have to get some books in print (imported from US or UK, so just think of the unnecessary energy going in transport) because said must-read books are not (yet) being made available in digital here.

Ladyice wrote: "Hello from Upstate NY! I have spent so many nights over the years reading your books, can I jut say ...YOU'RE THE BEST! Have you read the Game of Thrones series yet by George R.R. Martin?... ..."

The first four of the GOT series are sitting on my bedside table, waiting...

Soon,, soon.

Robert wrote: "Firstly, I'd like to tell you that I enjoy reading your novels, and they're truly amazing. However, I was wondering do you have a large male fan-base that you're aware of or is it mostly a female f..."

Hi, Robert - you are not alone. I think I run at somewhere around 15% male readership, but that's something of a guess. In the UK, most of the male readers who have contacted me are historians, or retirees who are attracted to the adventures, but happily read through the romance, too.

In the US, my male readers are more varied, from mid-20s to retirees. Interestingly, I get a lot of ex-servicemen (ex-warriors) who seem to appreciate and relate to my male characters and several have commented that through reading my books they can then see what it is in their behavior that most irks the females in their lives - and more importantly, why. So they gain insight into how women think through my female characters.

I've more widely heard that smart guys in their mid-20s specifically read romance novels to get a better idea of how women think and what women really want - which I for one think should be encouraged!

Laura wrote: "Hello !!!!! I've read most of your books and the one thing that I keep noticing is the modern themes that keep coming up. Honestly its what I think seperates your books from others. The time may b... I would like to know if you, after deciding your hero/heroine, take a look at what is going on in our world/time now and try to apply it to world of Regency London? "

Hi, Laura - very insightful question! But it's actually the other way around. I write what would have happened in Regency England, but I'm very aware of the resonances that exist between that period and our own in terms of romance.

Which is why most successful Regency-historical romances involve members of the aristocracy. During the period from early 1800s to late 1830s, the aristocracy went from marrying for reasons that never had anything to do with love (dynastic, or for status or managing wealth) in and up to the late 1790s, to in the Regency having love-matches become quite the vogue, even among the nobility (possibly in reaction to the Romantic movement among artists from the late 1790s). So by the Regency period, for the first time, both men and women had to face the questions: Do I marry for love? Or do I marry for other reasons? Or do I not marry at all? In the period I write in, all three were real options, and they weren't options the characters' parents had had to face. For the aristocracy, this was new and unchartered waters. So in the Regency it's easy to focus on those questions, and as you point out, there's no distraction from the intrusions of modern life. Yet those questions are exactly the same questions readers of today face in their love lives.

This is really the answer to why, of all the historical time periods, the Regency works so well for romance authors and readers alike.

Nora wrote: "hey stephanie thank you for your amazing novels they are the best i'm a massive fann !!! i just wanted to know will you ever or are you planning to try to write any contemporary novels ? plus before you began writing who did you used to read for ? and what made you bold enough to publish you books ?."

Hi, Nora - re your other questions, as you've noted, I've answered them already in replies above. But to these last -

Re contemporary novels - possibly, one never knows. I do have several series outlined, but whether they'll ever get to the top of my "to write next" list is an unanswerable question :)

Re who did I read before I started to write? Same as I read now, but even more Regency-set romance in those days. That was always my favorite go-to-genre, but as I write it now, I read less of that and more of the other genres I mentioned in an answer above.

Re what made me bold enough to publish my books? LOL - I really don't know! I just never considered sending a book to a publisher as "bold." What else was I to do with it? No, stop laughing - I'm being literal. It was there, the book I wrote because I ran out of Regency-set romances to read, sitting as a stack of computer paper taking up space on my desk, and I thought it was OK, so...I sent it off, and after minor revisions, that became my first published book. I never had any internal hurdle to overcome - if it was a book, and I thought it was, then it might as well get submitted because what else did you do with a book? Perhaps it was because there was nothing riding on it - I hadn't written it to be published. I'd written it to entertain me, and it had, and after that it was toss it in the trash, or submit it. So I (quite literally) shrugged, and did the latter. That book is Tangled Reins, still selling after more than 20 years - and that, I admit, makes me smile.

Sherri wrote: "Thank-you for your wonderful stories. Your novels are greatly appreciated and they make my lunchtime at work (Monday through Friday) much brighter! The question I have is when you are mapping out your ideas for a book, which comes first - the characters or the plot? Do you build a plot around characters or do you create characters that flesh out and move a plot?"

Hi, Sherri - usually it's the characters that come first for me, but I only start weaving a story in my head (usually years before I actually get to write it) once I have the initiating incident (the action that throws the characters together and starts the story rolling). As I let my stories evolve more or less organically, driven by the characters, with the villain opposing them, then I have to have both characters as well as plot to get going. But once I have those three things - two principal characters and the inciting incident - the rest just flows.

Mandy wrote: "Hi Stephanie !!
I love all of your beautiful novels, but do you ever wish you could go back and re-write any of them ?
If so which ones and why ?
Also what different genre's of books do you like to unwind and escape into ? ."

Hi, Mandy - no, I've never wished to go back and rewrite any of my books. Once they're done, they're done, and that's it. I've always got plenty more stories lining up to be written, and I'd rather go on with those...and I have to admit I'm not sure I see what the attraction or need to rewrite books that readers are still buying and enjoying is.

But as to what genres I read, it's all genre fiction, but a fairly wide net - romance, especially paranormal/fantasy, romantic suspense, some contemporary and historical as well, plus crime - mostly police procedurals or detective novels or mysteries - and straight fantasy, too.

Stephanie wrote: "Ms. Laurens,
I am new convert, your name caught my attention :-) when I was looking for a new author to try out, after picking up 'Brekenridge to the Resue' I have been hooked.
My question is, what drew you to this particular time period of history to write about? Do you have any plans to write any other novels outside of the current time period???"

Hi, Stephanie - I was interested in the Georgian-to-Regency periods long before I wrote my first book. I'd read heaps of other, mostly UK-pubbed, Georgian/Regency romances, and already had an appreciation of why that particular period worked so well for romances (because of the particularly strong resonance with modern times/modern issues, which I'll comment on in reply to another question later). When I came to write that first book, I didn't even stop to think which time period to set it in - I actually wrote that book because I was desperate as a reader for another Regency-set romance, and didn't have one available, so I sat down and wrote one.

As for plans for other time periods - some of the Cynsters to come will necessarily be in the Victorian era. Other than that, yes, I have plans further, much further, down the road for a series set in the 1920s, but I have decided that it will best suit me as an author to write at least 1 if not 2 books per year still set in the era I love best, so there will always be other books, other series set in the expanded Regency period I prefer (1810 to 1837) coming out every year.

Ash wrote: "Hello, HUGE fan by the way
"a secret love" was the first book I ever read from cover to cover in one week, and after that I wanted more. so I guess I owe it to you that I'm addicted to reading....I'm working on something now,and I just want to know if you have any tips on writing and if you ever got bored with writing? and how do you know if there are too much or too little details or even dialogues?."

First, if you get bored with writing, you won't be writing anything worth reading. The first reader a writer has to capture is themselves.

As for all the rest, if you're writing what you love to read (which you should be) and you find it (details, dialogue) entertaining and just right...then it is. Write for yourself first, then let the readers decide if they, too, enjoy what you've produced.

Sounds simple, right? Sadly, it is, and that's the one thing beginning writers rarely accept. Good luck!

Joan wrote: "Hi and thanks for the invite! I look forward to the discussion. I love your books and can't wait to see what your plans for future stories are. ~j"

Hi, Joan - waving. Thanks for stopping by. As for plans for future works, see the various answers above, especially in response to Flora.

Kit★ wrote: "Hello, thanks for the invite! I'm pretty new to your novels, having only read a few, but some of us in the Romance Lovers for the Challenge-Impaired group have been doing buddy-reads of the Cynster.. One thing that has caught some attention is the heroes' reluctance to come out and say "I love you." Devil didn't even say it at all, nor Richard, though they do things to show they love their women. Is there any particular reason for them not saying it, or does it just happen to come out that way when you're writing? ."

Hi, Kit - that refusal to admit out aloud "I love you" - that reluctance to saying the L-word aloud, is a classic characteristic of the super-alpha-warrior-male. It's not that they don't love, but quite the opposite. It's that they feel love so powerfully, and understand it and themselves well enough to see it - or admitting it out aloud - as admitting to a huge vulnerability. Which no warrior is going to readily do, and the more powerfully they love, the less likely it is that they will say it out aloud. They'll search for and find every possible way to communicate the fact without stating it. Which is what Devil and Richard do.

I don't try to massage my characters into being politically correct - I don't think putting words into such characters' mouths is in any way useful but would rather destroy the character. And there's also the reality - which I know modern readers are very attuned to - that actions truly do speak louder than words, and when it comes to the word "love" - just uttering it is worthless if the feeling isn't there behind it. So I have no difficulty with my characters never saying the words, just as long as it's beyond obvious that the true sentiment is there.

Angela wrote: "Hi Stephanie! Luv your writing and all of your books:-)
I adore all the Cynster men but in particular, Devil! My question to you is, Out of all of your characters, who is your favorite hero? heroine?"

Hi, Angela - see my reply to Cherish above, but the short answer is that I don't have a favorite hero or heroine as I'm always fully engaged with the pair I'm writing now.

Angela wrote: "Ok I'll probably read this one because I've read just about all of your books and I love historical fiction. For this new novel will the formula change a bit? I mean will I guess what will happen..."

Hi, Angela - yours is one question I really can't answer, because all your reactions are really up to you. I can't tell how any individual reader is going to react to anything I write.

But your question touches on a very important point, which I can best describe by pointing to the closest alternative to reading genre fiction - which is watching a popular movie. With the movie, the writer/screenwriter is the creative talent, and creates the story and script, and the production crew - director, actors, photographer, sound people, animation specialists, etc - are the interpretative talents. The interpretive talents bring the writer's words to life. The audience just sits and the experience is delivered to them - in watching a movie, the audience doesn't need to do anything but drink it all in and enjoy.

But genre fiction novels - essentially the same sort of story as a movie - demand significantly more input from the audience/reader. With genre fiction novels, the writer/author is again the creative talent, but the readers themselves are the interpretive talent. You take our words and bring them to life in your head, using your imagination.

No more than a screenwriter can influence how an actor delivers a critical line can an author influence what a reader makes of the author's words.

Which, of course, is why a site like Goodreads works, because while many readers will experience any given book in largely similar ways, some readers will have widely different experiences of the same book. But that also means neither I nor any author can ever tell any given reader whether or not they'll like a particular book. The correct response always is: you'll have to read it and see :).

Ki wrote: "Hi Stephanie. I love all of your books! I definitely love how you work all of your characters from the Bastion, Cynsters, Black Cobra, novellas, anthologies to appear in each others' books.
So my question is, How do you decide on who should appear in who's book?"

Hi, Ki - which secondary characters come into any book is determined by the plot. That's the only reason they can be in someone else's story, so it's really not something I have to think about all that much. I get to the point of one of the main characters needing to do something, and in their head I look around, and ask as anyone would: who do I know who can help me with this? Likewise, with characters like Helena or LadyO, you know that if a certain type of story is running anywhere near them, they are going to put in their oar, regardless of what the principal characters might wish! But that again is the plot dictating - if you run such a story with such characters in such a place/world inhabited by these others - which of those others is going to want their say?