An Interview with
Jenna Mills
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This month we will be talking with Jenna Mills. I discovered her writing with the Madonna Key series, having not read any of her works prior to that. But Veiled Legacy made me a fan and I’ve since been reading everything I can get my hands on that she’s written, past or present. 1. Congratulations on your newest release, Sins of the Storm, due out in September. I’ve been eager to read the story of the lost Robichaud relative, Camille, after the glimpse I got of her past. Can you tell us a little bit about the story? Absolutely! There’s definitely a lot going on in SINS, but at its core, it’s a reunion story. I’d toyed with the character premise for quite some time: the hero is the heroine’s older brother’s best friend. They’ve known each other forever. As kids, Cami had a mad crush on Jacques, but he never saw her as more than his best friend’s cute little sister. But then tragedy came into their lives, and the little girl with the freckles and pigtails turned into a hellion bent on self-destruction; not even Jacques could get through to her. They shared one hot night of passion before he embarked on his career with the Air Force, and the sins of the past caught up with her. (And no, it’s NOT a secret baby story!) Now, over a decade later, Camille and Jacques are back in Bayou d’Espere, and once again the crime that shattered their childhoods has them on a collision course… 2. This book is the conclusion of the Midnight Secrets trilogy. How did you feel about ending the collection? Do you have any plans to bring some of the characters back in future stories? It’s definitely a case of mixed feelings. I’ve been playing with the Robichaud family for several years now (since KILLING ME SOFTLY), and have really enjoyed watching the family evolve—and get into trouble! There are definitely more stories to tell – Uncle Edouard and Lena Mae, Alec and his estranged wife Tara, newly-freed, wrongly-convicted Jimmy and clinic doctor Collette – but as the family has grown and become more textured, it’s become increasingly difficult to fit their stories into current category lengths, which pretty much demand a tight focus on one relationship/one story at a time. However, the characters are still carrying on in my mind, so it’s entirely possible I’ll be revisiting them in the near future J 3. How difficult was it to write a trilogy that stemmed from a stand alone story but is not exactly connected to it. Was there a lot of struggle to make sure the mini series stood apart and individual from the previous book, yet still bring enough back to be back story? Picture me laughing here! You’ve zeroed right in on the most challenging aspect of this trilogy. KILLING ME SOFTLY (the single title) was already written when Harlequin asked me to carry the stories into a Romantic Suspense trilogy. I was sooo excited for the opportunity to continue torturing the characters, and yet as I began Midnight Secrets, I realized I may have backed some of my characters into too tight of a corner. Take Gabe and Evangeline, for instance. They had a fairly significant role in the single title, KILLING ME SOFTLY. It’s where they met, where they fell for each other—and where she betrayed him. So, flash forward to the beginning of their story, A LITTLE BIT GUILTY. They’re already in a very bad place….a place which, I’m hoping, thrilled readers of KMS. However, for readers unfamiliar with KMS, I was really challenged to bring them up to speed without stopping current action for a history lesson. And I also recognized that now matter how much I brought them up to speed, the story would never have the payoff for new readers that it would for KMS readers. So yes. It was a challenge! And I’m not sure I succeeded 100%. Sigh…. When I think trilogy and saga, I really like to wind the stories together. For me, that’s a more satisfactory reading experience. However, it sure does make it more difficult for each book to stand completely alone! 4. You have written stand alone novels, installments in a continuity series, and miniseries of your own. Which type of story would you say was the hardest to write? The easiest? Hardest to write…continuities, hands down. However, they can also be incredibly rewarding. I’ve participated in both author-generated continuities and publisher-generated—and both have theirs pros and cons. The real difficulty in a continuity is the amazing amount of synchronicity required among the authors, even on pesky details. For example, in my first continuity, A VERDICT OF LOVE, I made a key FBI agent my villain. However, when I was nearly finished with the book, I learned that another author, whose book would come out before mine, had made this fella into a swell guy. She’d given him a family and a point-of-view, and there was just no way the guy she created could have been my villain. So…we had to scramble, and fast. Fortunately, my writer pal Evelyn Vaughn had a book out between the two, and she kindly killed off the nice FBI agent for me, allowing my scumbag to step in. And then there’s the continuity I’m working on right now, part of the Thoroughbred Legacy story debuting next summer. There’s a mystery arc that begins in my book, with the investigation taking place in the following book. That author and I are having to work VERY closely to make sure the details line up—and make sense. We’ve definitely had a few days of banging our heads against the wall, because sometimes what we need for our story botches up the following story—not good. My favorite? That would have to be the stand-alone single title, which allowed me to explore multiple characters and plots, weaving them all tightly together by the end! 5. What was it that made you one day decide you were going to be a writer? Did you always know or was it a surprise to choose this career path? For me there was no decision. It’s the way I was born. I’ve always loved stories (especially gut-wrenching love stories), and I’ve always loved writing. In junior high and high school I was the girl who wrote the sappy poems that everyone passed around. I wrote short stories and sappy songs off and on as a teenager, as well. So when it came time for college, journalism seemed a natural choice. However, news editorial turned me off, so I ended up going the advertising route. I joined the business world and did the corporate thing for many years before the fiction writing bug hit again, shortly after reading Judith McNaught’s PARADISE. That was 1995, I think. After that I really dove into it headfirst, and because I was married but childless at the time, I had lots of time to devote to learning the craft. It took me 4-5 years and many atrocious manuscripts before I sold! 6. If someone were to ask what you felt to be your trademark in your writing, what would you say? Actually, I don’t know J Just recently I was at a dinner party and a friend kept introducing me to other guests by saying, “this is Jenna Mills…she’s my writer friend. You should read her books – they’re hot! She’s got these great sex scenes…” at which point my husband would suddenly vanish—and I would jab my elbow into her side J I don’t consider my writing hot, necessarily, but I love sexual tension, alpha males, strong women, and emotional resonance. 7. To date all of your novels have been romantic suspense. Do you see yourself continuing to write this genre or do you plan to branch out? What is it about the genre that so appeals to you? I think I’m pretty much a romantic suspense girl. For the continuity I’m currently working on, the story I was given wasn’t really a suspense. In fact, it read to me more like a Special Edition…or, if I were to take the hot route, a Temptation. But it all but paralyzed me. I kept working with it, until suddenly I morphed it into a mild suspense, and suddenly I was ready to write. For me, the biggest appeal of suspense is the ever-present thread of danger. Danger can make people do crazy things. Danger can strip away masks and bare the truth of who and what we are. Danger can make us take risks and chances. I’m not really into gore or high body counts, but a good solid sense of suspense…a cozy little mystery…twists and turns – those are the things that keep my fingers flying across the keyboard when I write. I always joke…so many of my friends have given up on the television show LOST because they have no idea where it’s going. I don’t either…but that’s why I adore the show! I like being led on a good chase…and hope to do the same with my readers J 8. If you had to think back and pinpoint who it was that inspired you to be a writer, who would you say? Would you say these same people have been most influential on your writing style? If not, then who? That’s a tough question. I’m not sure who really inspired me to become a writer, because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write. But it was the fabulous, late Celeste DeBlassis who first swept me away with her gorgeous prose and heart-breakingly complex stories. Then there was Judith McNaught. After stumbling across PERFECT, I devoured everything she wrote. That’s really when the bug bit. I was so stoked on her stories, I had to write my own. As to influencing my style…I’d say it’s a combination of Judith McNaught, Linda Howard, and Anne Stuart. 9. This is one of my favorite “signature” questions to ask in an interview. If you had to write a short paragraph about your writing to convince readers to give your books a shot, what would you tell them? Can I get back to you on that? No, seriously. That’s another terrific question…. I like to say my stories are about women on a mission and the men who get in their way J Characters who face impossible choices, who must chose between their hearts and their heads, what they want versus responsibilities, what’s easy versus what is right. Characters who are pushed to the edge, who sometimes fall and make the wrong choices. Who suffer the consequences. Characters who don’t give up, who keep fighting, who learn and grow—and find redemption—and each other—in the end. 10. Camille Fontenot has been deeply scarred by the events in her past which led up to the murder of her father and her subsequent disappearance? Was it difficult to write about a character wounded like she is? At first. Camille and I had a few stops and starts. When I first started writing her, she was coming across as somewhat broken, which just didn’t feel right. So I sat her down and interviewed her, and through that process discovered that she was one tough cookie, diligently glued back together…not broken! Once I got a handle on all that she’d done to “fix” herself and work toward the day that she exacted her own revenge, she was a BLAST to write. (I really don’t do the poor-me, victim-type character.) 11. Time to draw a couple comparisons… You are the mother of a young daughter yourself and in Veiled Legacy, your heroine Nadia has a young daughter. You were born and raised in Louisiana surrounded but the rich cultural legacy of the region and your Robichaud family is from the same area. So that brings me to ask… how much of Jenna do we find in your characters? You know, the very first book I wrote as an adult, (which is still under my bed!) was about a woman named Lauren, a graduate of Louisiana State University who had moved to Chicago (where my husband is from). There, her path crossed with her college sweetheart, redhot baseball pitcher Mark Lancaster. When I go back and read that story, I just laugh. Because there, in Lauren, is me. I really embued her with so much of me, all the way down to her grandmother who vowed she would not die before the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. Since that story, I consciously manage how much of me creeps into my stories. I do still prefer to play in Louisiana, as much because it’s an amazingly evocative state as because it’s a place I know like the back of my hand. (Presently, the continuity I’m working on is set in Australia…and giving me much angst!) As for my characters, I think the main trait they share with me is stubbornness and goal-orientation—and a love of animals. You’ll see a lot of cats and dogs in my stories. I think all of my pets have made cameos, from Bonnie & Clyde in WHEN NIGHT FALLS to Simon in A LITTLE BIT GUILTY. (Oddly and sadly, Simon sat by my computer every day while I wrote GUILTY…and then died quite suddenly shortly after I finished the story. You’ll see it’s dedicated to him.) 12. And speaking of Nadia…. I admit to having been a little concerned about the resolution of her story in Veiled Legacy due to the fact that her hero was married already. But it all worked out beautifully. Did you have any qualms about writing a story about such a sensitive issue? I did. I know readers can be touchy about married men—and so am I! But I also loved the complexity it gave these two characters, an element of the forbidden that allowed me to show how much Josh loved Nadia in a nonconventional manner. Normally, lovemaking is used to show this kind of coming together of a man and woman. But with Josh and Nadia, it was his refusal to make her his mistress again that showed the true depth of his love for her. He loved her enough to do the honorable thing, even though they both very much wanted to consummate J For me, it was emotionally satisfying. 13. How much advance plotting goes into your writing process? Do you plan everything out ahead of the time or do you just start writing and see where your characters lead you? A little of both! I prepare a detailed outline that charts the main conflicts and goals of a story, turning points, resolution, etc. Then I start writing. Oddly, the very first paragraph is often the most challenging for me! But once my characters take off, they tend to take over and lead the way. I’ve learned to “let go” of my outline and see where the story takes me, because it’s ALWAYS a whole lot more interesting! For example, in WHEN NIGHT FALLS, I wrote the whole story with no idea who the villain was—or rather, thinking I knew, but finding out at the end that I was dead wrong! 14. You sound like such a busy woman with your family and other responsibilities in addition to your writing. How do you work out your schedule to balance your family life and your professional life as a writer? Picture me smiling here…. My writing life was a whole lot more simple before my daughter, but I wouldn’t trade life as it is now for life as it was then for anything in the world. I’ve just had to learn to do things differently. It was one thing when my daughter took lovely, daily naps. But now that she doesn’t….aiyee yi yi. I’ve had to get structured and disciplined. I write when she is in school (2 days/week last year; 3 days/week this year) and on weekends. I have weekly page goals. Whatever is left by the weekend, I get done. Often this means sequestering myself in my office while my husband is in charge of the 3-year old…which can lead to some hysterical outcomes, such as a crew cut for our new kitten and a duck pond in the bathroom sink, consisting of entire bottles of shampoo, hand soap, lotion, detangling spray, and powder – my husband hasn’t quite “got it” yet that with little ones in the house, quiet is DANGEROUS! Anyway. Writing is just more structured now…which is why I’m so embarrassingly late with this interview. Mea culpa. 15. Your characters come to life in your books. I know I was immediately drawn into the stories of the Robichauds, especially Gabe’s. He worked his way into my affections from just a couple glimpses I got of him in The Perfect Stranger and before I even read his story A Little Bit Guilty. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example? Yes, yes, and yes. It’s why I don’t really do horror and gore…I just can’t let myself go into those dark places anymore. When I work on a book, I think on it all the time, while I’m exercising, driving on the freeway, showering… You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve called my husband into the bathroom while I’m showering to have him jot some notes down for me! And I deliberately ‘seed’ my dreams. Gabe was definitely a character who took over…beginning with his role in KILLING ME SOFTLY. Other characters who’ve really resonated with me are Tori in THE COP NEXT DOOR, Miranda in THE PERFECT TARGET and Savannah in KILLNG ME SOFTLY. And as peculiar as it sounds, I’ve actually learned and grown as a person/woman from some of my heroines. The stronger I make them, the stronger I become. 16. Can you tell us about your other books coming out soon? What do you have in the works? Can you give us any teasers? Right now I’m deeply involved with a new continuity, Thoroughbred Legacy, which explores the bonds of family and the international love affair with horse racing. My story, book 9, is a reunited lovers story set in Australia, and it follows the fall-out of a horrific barn fire at my hero’s ranch in the Upper Hunter Valley. After my heroine nearly ruined my hero 6 years before, their love affair should have been over. But when she walks back into his life as he stands on the threshold of losing everything…they’re both about to learn what really matters. And after that….it’s hard to say what you’ll see next. I’ve got several women’s fiction stories eating at me, focusing on mother-daughter relationships (go figure!), as well as an ultra cool metaphysical trilogy that marries the TV show LOST with the principles of THE SECRET. Then there’s the cool romsusp adventure set in Mexico that married ALIAS to SURVIVOR…and a possibly straight suspense/thriller that I’m sworn to secrecy about! None of these are written or sold….but they are where I plan to focus my attentions next. Wish me luck! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with me about your latest works, Jenna! Visit Jenna's website! Read reviews of Jenna's books: Reviewed by
Kelley: Reviewed by
Debbie: Reviewed by
Marilyn:
Interviewed by Kelley |