Please help me welcome the author of THE ORIGINAL SINNERS series Ms. Tiffany Reisz. I am so excited that she has dropped by today to share about her latest release, THE SIREN. So, Let us jump right in and enjoy the ride.
While chowing down on my favorite veggie lover’s pizza I was flipping through one of several of my RT Book Reviews magazines. I came across the fabulous fun article by Liz French, Stephanie Klose, Faygie Levy and Elissa Petruzzi titled “Legacy of Love.” In short, the article explained about how the market might be changing but romance, which I agree whole heartedly, is forever. Tiffany, my curious readers and I would love to know your thoughts on what you believe are the “Legacy of Love.”
I have a book called 20 Master Plots. The author contends that every work of fiction in history can fall into one of these twenty categories. I think twenty is overstating the matter. There are only two types of stories out there – tragedies and comedies. From ancient times through the Renaissance, if a story ended in death, it was a tragedy. If it ended in a marriage, it was a comedy. I’m of this mind. Humanity wants tragedies or comedies. Romances novels are the legacy of Shakespeare’s comedies. These two types of stories have existed since the beginning of storytelling. They are as natural to the human imagination as breathing. They’ll endure until the end of time.
I am addicted to THE SIREN, Tiffany. This story is WOW-worthy. Bringing the heat and hooking readers’ imagination from the first moment. In THE SIREN you give readers powerful emotional characters with a gripping story that makes had this reader hating to put it down when I finished. Can you tell us more about it?
The Siren is the middle book of what I plan to be an octology (eight books). The Siren is book number five in the chronology. You’ll have three sequels to The Siren (The Angel comes out mid-September) and four prequels. I raise a lot of questions and issues in The Siren that you won’t fully understand until the final book is written. I think if you have a character whose problems can be solved in one book or by falling in love, you probably don’t have a very interesting character. Falling in love is the beginning of the trials and adventures. The Siren deals with the stuff romance novels don’t touch – break-ups, failed romances, falling in love with someone you truly should not be with and can’t be with. My books are messier than romance novels, which is probably why everyone tells me how realistic the characters seem.
Is there any part of your personality that bleeds into your characters while you write?
Oh yeah. Nora Sutherlin is my alter-id. If I looked like her and could get away with what she gets away with, I totally would. I splinter myself when I write a put a sliver of my interests and personality into all the characters. Every writer does.
Did you have Nora Sutherlin’s full character arc in mind when you started The Original Sinnersseries? Did you know what would happen to her in the end?
I don’t think any writer knows everything about a character when she starts writing. Nora slowly started to show herself to me over draft after draft of The Siren. Her wild past, her hopes and dreams, her enduring love for her ex-lover that no one but Nora understands…she became so real to me that I knew she couldn’t be contained in one book. So it became two books…then three…then eight…
What inspired you to write THE SIREN?
The actor Jason Isaacs inspired The Siren. Had a huge celebrity crush on him. I thought he’d look beyond gorgeous with a black silk blindfold on and his hands tied behind his back. I had this image in my mind of him and knew I had to write the book where I figured out how he got tied up, who tied him up, and why.
What inspired you to write erotic contemporary romance?
I don’t writer erotic contemporary romances. I write romantic erotica. Or maybe erotic women’s fiction. Or maybe literary friction, as Nora calls it. But these aren’t romance novels so if someone wants a tidy Happy-Ever-After at the end of each book, they better read elsewhere. Nora’s a pirate, she’s a rogue and a wayfarer. She’s not going to settle down easy IF she ever settles down at all
Okay, I want to give a warm welcome to, Nora Sutherlin and Zachary Easton. I know you two are very busy. I appreciate that you took time from your busy schedule to stop by. I promise to make this as quick and as painless as possible. =)
Nora: Painless? Now I’m disappointed.
What was your first impression when you met Zachary, Nora? Zachary, what was yours upon meeting Nora?
Nora: When I first saw Zach I wanted to bite him.
Zach: When I first saw Nora, I wanted to run for my life.
Nora: Because you knew I wanted to bite you.
Zach: That was part of it.
Nora: All of it.
Zach: Fine, all of it.
Nora, name the one thing about Zachary that you believe won your heart over.
Nora: He loved my book. Loved it enough to tear it apart and force me to make it better. I’m his writer/slave for eternity.
Zachary name one fascinating thing about Nora? Do you believe that your time working with Nora changed your outlook on love?
Zach: I can’t begin to only pick one thing about Nora I found fascinating. Everything about her is fascinating. But I’ve never before edited a writer who took criticism so well. The woman is unbreakable. As for love…from Nora I learned it’s worth facing your deepest fears to be with the person you love.
Nora and Zachary, you two are a fascinating pair.=) If you could turn back time-- would you?
Nora: No regrets.
Zach: What she said. All the mistakes I made brought me to this place in my life. The lessons hurt but I learned them too well.
Nora, what was one of your biggest fears about working with Zachary?
Nora: That he wouldn’t think I was good enough even when the book was finished.
Zachary, were you concerned at all about taking on Nora as a client?
Zach: Utterly. I thought she would ruin my sterling reputation.
Nora: I did ruin your sterling reputation, Zach.
Zach: I really don’t miss it.
Do you, Nora and Zachary believe that love conquers all?
Nora: No. Love can only get you so far. Some people, no matter how much they love each other, simply can’t make it work.
Zach: But love, if you let it, can take your farther than you ever dreamed.
Now back to Tiffany.
How did you mark the occasion of finally finishing THE SIREN?
I got my eyebrow pierced.
What do you hope readers walk away with after reading THE SIREN?
I hope they realize that the world is a more interesting place with people like my characters in it. And that love is too messy and complicated to be confined to just one book, just one heart.
You’re clearly very busy. What do you do in your limited spare time? Are you reading anything right now? Any reading recommendations while we wait until your next release?
In my spare time, I hang out with my boyfriend Andrew Shaffer who wrote The Fifty Shames of Earl Grey. I read, I nap, I bite Andrew when he least expects it. Right now I’m reading a book on the history of roller derby. It’s for research!
Tiffany, please share with desperate readers where they can connect with you in cyber world. =)
I’m on Twitter all the time. So is my clinically depressed kitteh Honeytoast. I’m @tiffanyreisz and Honeytoast is @HoneytoastReads. Yes, my cat is book reviewer.
Tiffany, you rocked RCJR eZine blog and its readers. Thank you so much for stopping by to dish about your Harlequin erotic contemporary romance release THE SIREN.
Spank you!