Avalon Books - Author! Author!


	Read some interviews from past editions:
		CJ Love August, 2009
		DeAnn Smallwood June, 2009
		V.S. Meszaros April, 2009
		Sue Gibson December, 2008
		Elisabeth Rose October, 2008
		Sherry Lynn Ferguson August, 2008
		S.J. Stewart June, 2008
		Zelda Benjamin April, 2008
		Shirley Marks December, 2007
		Donna Wright December, 2007
		Carolyn Brown August, 2007
		Roni Denholtz June, 2007
		Tara Randel April, 2007
		Sydell Voeller February, 2007
		Sheila Robins December, 2006
		Ann Holt October, 2006
		Cynthia Danielewski July, 2006
		Jane McBride Choate March, 2006
		Kathryn Meyer Griffith January, 2006
		Mel Taylor November, 2005
		Kathleen Fuller September, 2005
		Tracey J. Lyons July, 2005
		Ludima Gus Burton May, 2005
		Holly Jacobs March, 2005
		Sandra D. Bricker January, 2005
		Kathryn Quick November, 2004
		Cheri Jetton September, 2004
		Heather S. Webber July, 2004
		Karl Fieldhouse May, 2004
		Shelley Galloway March, 2004
		Ilsa Mayr January, 2004
		Kathy Carmichael November, 2003
		Dorothy P. O'Neill July, 2003
		Joani Ascher May, 2003
		Patricia DeGroot March, 2003
		Nancy J. Parra January, 2003
		Barbara Meyers November, 2002
		Christine Bush September, 2002
		Debby Mayne July, 2002
		Jean C. Gordon May, 2002
		Charles E. Friend March, 2002
		Norma Seely January, 2002
		Glen Ebisch November, 2001
		Gina Cresse September, 2001
		John Paxson July, 2001
		Terri Alcock May, 2001
		Clifford Blair March, 2001
		Amanda Harte January, 2001
		Kent Conwell November, 2000
		Carolyn Brown September, 2000
		Annette Mahon July, 2000
		Marjorie McGinley May, 2000
		Jack Lewis March, 2000
		Amanda Harte January, 2000
		Joyce and Jim Lavene November, 1999
	Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
		Loretta C. Rogers October, 2009


Author! Author!: February, 2009
Click an image to learn more about these books. An Interview with Nikki Poppen


How long have you been writing and how long did it take to get published?
	I have been writing forever, since I was in 4th grade. I even wrote in my scrap book at the age of 10 that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. But I didn’t write a complete book until 2003. I have never sold my first manuscript but I did sell my second manuscript, a regency called The Dowager’s Wager, to Avalon in 2005 three days after my third baby was born. It was a pretty exciting week. That book turned into a three book set and that three book set turned into another three book set for Avalon. Roughly, by 2010 I’ll have 6 books out with Avalon.
How do you name your characters?
	I love names. I read name books a lot and I always have a list of ‘cool names’ going for quick reference. I also read ‘cultural’ lists of names so the names are somewhat historically and culturally accurate for the setting and time period. One of the hardest times I’ve had coming up with names was for the heroines in Newport Summer and The Madcap. because Victorian era names in America really have certain ring to them and they’re not typically names that have made a come back recently. And personally, I thought a lot of the names that would be right for the period sounded a bit stodgy and too grandmotherly (Daisy, Beatrice, Lily) so I really hunted around. You can get good research on when names were popular and if they were in likely use during certain time periods.
Where do you get ideas for plots?
	Reading history books and listening to the news. I like to find correlations in the news that parallel events that happened a few centuries ago. For instance, I’ve long been interested in how governments quietly sell arms to rebels in pivotal nations so I made that the center of the plot for The Earl’s Forbidden Ward. The hero is charged with tracking down a list of British businessmen who are willing to supply arms to a group of Russian rebels in exchange for water rights in Turkey once the new government comes to power. In terms of history, I adore foreign policy and hold minors in both political science and history, so it is fun for me to read about lesser known eras of history and find obscure issues. Right now I’m really into British foreign policy in eastern Europe around 1825-1835 so that’s become a back drop for several of my upcoming stories.
How did you start writing?
	I was a weird little kid who liked Neil Diamond music and ballad songs like Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler. You have to remember I was a kid when people had 8 track tapes. So I’d listen to story songs like that and start coming up with stories. I had piles of ongoing sagas in my desk drawer in my room. I could sit and write for hours. Then in 4th and 5th grade I attended the Young Authors Conference the sponsored in our area and I got to go to workshops about the writing process and share some of my own stories which was very encouraging. I even met one of my best and longest friends at a conference when I was thirteen. He still writes and I still write but now I write romance and he writes scholarly papers about the Hebrew language. But we both have three kids now and our families visit almost every summer when they come to visit.
What’s the hardest part of writing?
	Finding time! I heard John Saul speak a few years back and he said, ‘every day, do something for your writing.’ That keeps writing on the front burner of your priorities and it really works for me. I have a very disciplined schedule and I have learned to protect that time with zeal. Since signing with Avalon in 2005, I have also signed for several books at Harlequin Historicals under a different name. By 2010 I will have over 12 books out plus e-books. I average 3 books a year plus revisions, publicity, and research time. Writing has become my other full time job. Friday afternoons at 12:00 I am done teaching at the college where I head the communication studies department and where I am currently up for tenure. Friday thru Sunday is all about writing. I write a chapter a day. My chapters are 15 pages long and it usually takes about 3 hours. Weekend afternoons are for writing. During the week, I get up at 5:00 and do research, update my blogs and web pages, answer writing based e-mail and take care of writing business before getting the kids up for school at 7:30 and getting us out the door for the day at 8:30. I take drafts of chapters and research articles to read on the elliptical trainer when I work out at the Y during the week. This way, even Monday thru Thursday when I can’t write big chapters I am doing something for my writing. But I have also learned to say ‘no thank you’ to activities that start to eat into those times. Kids swim meets get priority of course and I end up losing a Saturday here and there but other things I say no to like weekend shopping trips with girlfriends or afternoon movie matinees.
What can you tell us about your latest book for Avalon?
	The latest book is due out Feb. 2009. It’s called Newport Summer and it takes place in the summer of 1888. I wanted to do a English Lord/American Heiress piece for awhile so I enjoyed this immensely. But I didn’t want to do the American heiress in London bit so the hero is English and he comes to Newport on a last roll of the proverbial dice. He must marry money in order to save his estate. The heroine doesn’t want to marry and she’s very aware that heiresses are supposed to marry. She wants to play the piano professionally and study at a conservatory. The two get together and conspire to fake a courtship while she teaches him how to make money the American way so he can escape a loveless marriage and she can be free to study music at the end of the summer. But of course, they fall in love instead. The cover on this book is lovely and it’s a fun story.
Are you working on anything else for Avalon?
	I have two more Victorian era books that go with Newport Summer. The Mad Cap is finished and features Marianne and Alasdair. Marianne is an unconventional heiress from San Francisco who gets snubbed by New York Society and decides to show them all by going to England and snaring herself a title. She’s a bit impetuous and she forgets that a husband actually comes with that title, so her decision becomes a bit overwhelming for her. Alasdair is expected to marry a traditional English girl so Marianne isn’t exactly what he’s supposed to bring home to Mother. Of course, he’s friends with the hero in Newport Summer so we’ll get to catch up with Audrey and Gannon in this story too. The Third book is called The Carlton Club and will be an adventure about a woman who infiltrates the bastions of male club life in late 1800s England. It’s in the works, but we won’t see it for awhile.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
	Or for anyone wanting to submit to Avalon? They mean it about the no sex part. I did pretty well with the first two books in terms of keeping the sensuality toned down but I had a heck of a time with The Romany Heiress, the last book in the first three book series. I had little questionable pieces everywhere. Certainly there were no flagrant scenes, not even after they got married, which was tough. This was the first book I’d done where I had the hero and heroine get married halfway through instead of at the end. Poor Faith had to send me two pages of revisions, 90% of which were “that’s too sexy.” One of the scenes I had to alter had the heroine in the bath contemplating her wedding in a few hours and her thoughts drifted to the wedding night—well suffice it to say, her thoughts don’t drift there any more.