Please join me in welcoming contemporary romance author Marie Force. Recently the Smart Bitches asked if the contemporary is dead. If Ms. Force’s book LINE OF SCRIMMAGE is anything to go by, the contemporary is most certainly alive and stealing hearts in every direction. I loved Line of Scrimmage and cannot recommend it enough. Long live the contemporary!
Ciara: Line of Scrimmage is about giving love a second chance. What are the challenges and benefits of writing this type of story, as opposed to a story where the hero and heroine fall in love for the first time?
Marie: This is a great question! For me, it was much more challenging to write a “reunion” romance in which my characters had a decade worth of history between them than a straight romance where boy and girl meet on page one and go forth together. The benefits were lots of rich history to create and tap into. The challenge was to weave their backstory cleverly into the plot while resisting the urge to say too much about their past at the very beginning. I was about three chapters into the book when I realized that this plot presented some unique challenges in that regard.
Ciara: Whose point of view was more challenging to write: Ryan’s or Susannah’s?
Marie: Susannah’s for sure. Ryan was such a treat to write. He was funny and larger than life and full of passion. While he turned out to be more complex than he originally seemed, everything that came out of his mouth entertained me. She was a cooler customer, more reserved and less obvious in her emotions. I also found it challenging to show what it would be like to be married to a superstar, having not had that experience myself. It was important to me that she had gone to great lengths to carve out a whole new life for herself without Ryan so that when he comes back on the scene she has so much at stake.
Ciara: Did you use any writing tools in constructing Ryan and Susannah’s characters, such as character interviews or collages?
Marie: I don’t use writing tools. I’m a card-carrying “pantser.” I make it up as I go along, discovering new things about my characters as they reveal themselves to me through the plot. For “Line of Scrimmage,” I started with a basic premise: boots dropping in a fancy foyer during a dinner party. I knew the boots weren’t welcome but didn’t know why. The rest unfolded from there.
Ciara: What was the first romance novel you read and how old were you?
Marie: My first romance novel was probably something by Danielle Steel when I was 12 or 13. I was a huge fan of her early work and two of her books really stayed with me after I read them—Perfect Stranger and Season of Passion. I just loved them and read them over and over again. I later shifted my affections to Nora Roberts, who is my favorite all-time author.
Ciara: If you were stranded on a desert island and could choose six books to be stranded with, what would they be?
Marie: The next “In Death” installment by J.D. Robb, and then I’d want you to surprise me with two romantic suspense (plenty of romance please), a good contemporary, and two barn-burning erotica.
Ciara: If you were stranded on a desert island and could choose six heroes from literature and film to be stranded with, who would they be?
Marie: #1 would definitely be Roarke from the In Death books! Sigh… the hair, the money, the bod. Yum. If I knew that Richard Gere’s Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman would pick me up in a Lotus I might be tempted to give prostitution a whirl (just kidding). Fr. Ralph from The Thorn Birds movie used to make my heart pound as did Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music. Also, get me Kevin Costner from Bull Durham and Dr. McDreamy. I may be shallow, but I’ll be well tended on my island, and it’s always good to have a couple of billionaires, a priest, a naval officer, a baseball player, and a neurosurgeon in the stable since you just never know when you might need one of them.
Ciara: What was your path to publishing? When did you get “the call”?
Marie: Ahh, my path to publishing was long and winding. I wrote six books before “Line of Scrimmage,” all of which I love passionately and hope to see published some day—along with the four and a half I’ve written since. The third book I wrote, “Same Time Sunday,” will be published in the spring. I got the call on Sept. 27, 2007 when I was watching the season premier of Gray’s Anatomy with my cousin. We did so much celebrating, we had to watch Gray’s on TiVO.
Ciara: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Marie: The number one thing I tell aspiring authors is that they can never, ever give up. No matter how ugly the rejections, no matter how many rejections, no matter what—the minute you give up you’ve given in. My mantra pre-publication was simple: the only thing I know for sure is that if I give up it will never happen. I also encourage them to want it with every fiber of their being. Don’t talk about writing, WRITE. Make use of every available minute—on Thanksgiving, you’ve got at least four hours to write while the turkey cooks. After the kids open their gifts on Christmas? You’re good for two uninterrupted hours. This kind of focus involves a lot of sacrifice. For one thing, I’m a lot less social than I used to be. I just don’t have time for a big social life on top of a full-time job, two kids, a husband, house, dog, extended family, AND a writing career that got much more demanding than I ever imagined post-sale. But the sacrifices are definitely worth the thrill of holding my book in my hands, of seeing it on bookstore shelves, and of signing copies for my family and friends.
Ciara: Pick one: Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice or Casablanca?
Marie: Um, none of the above? Since they were all movies, can I add option four, The Sound of Music, my all-time favorite movie? The singing nun, the tragically sad Captain, the motherless children, the music, the Baroness, the mountains, and Mother Superior. Who could ask for anything more?
Ciara: You grew up in The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Pick one: Awful Awful or Coffee Cabinet? (and did you ever drink three Awful Awfuls in a row and get the forth one free?)
Marie: Oh God, no! That would put me in a lactose coma! LOL! I’m impressed that not only do you know the longest name of the smallest state, but you’re also aware of our secret shame—that many of our residents can and do drink four gut-busting Awful Awfuls in one sitting! Are you a one-time Rhode Islander? It’s my own personal secret shame that I don’t like coffee-flavored drinks—almost as treasonous around here as being a NY Yankees fan, which I am most definitely NOT. GO RED SOX! There’s always next year.
Ciara: You don’t like coffee-flavored drinks and they still let you live there??? My mother is from Rhode Island and my grandparents lived there. Growing up it was my goal to one day drink three Awful Awfuls and get the forth one free, as my mother did when she was a little girl. Sadly the Newport Creamery closed before I could accomplish that feat. I have a bottle of Eclipse Coffee Syrup in my fridge. (You’ll Smack your lips…)
Thank you so much for joining us!
Marie’s excellent book LINE OF SCRIMMAGE is in stores now. Her next book, SAME TIME SUNDAY, debuts Spring 2009.
A Baltimore prosecutor set to begin the biggest trial of his career and a hair stylist with a dysfunctional family meet in the airport on their way to visit their significant others in Florida. After they each endure a disastrous weekend, they meet up again on the flight home, striking up an unlikely friendship that leads to love.
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Forget the candy, today is all about the costumes. Oh! the Costumes! I planned my outfit a year in advance. At right, I am Superwoman and my cousin is Tinkerbelle at age 4 or 5. Other memorable years: Peter Pan, a genie, a two-headed monster (with my cousin), a valkyrie (and my brother went as a viking), Cleo-catra (based on the egyptian cat goddess Bast and the queen Cleopatra), a fairy princess (wasn’t everybody?), Lucy from the book Dracula.
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