This month Kelley
and Debbie will be talking to
Pamela Palmer about her Esri
series, her career, and her
plans for the future. Thanks
Pamela for taking time out of
your busy schedule to chat with
us.
1. I
absolutely loved book 1,
The Dark Gate and
thought it was one of the most
original stories I had read in a
long time. Where did the idea
come from to have a land and
race like the Esri? And how did
you come up with the idea of all
of the gates, and one of them
being through a very well known
fountain in DC?
Hi Kelley and
Debbie! You two are so
wonderful. I’m glad you enjoyed
The Dark Gate!
I actually came up with the idea
of the Esri several years ago
when I stumbled upon a book of
ancient faerie beliefs, and got
to thinking, as I always do,
What if? What if there was
actually a kernel of truth in
those old legends? What if,
long, long ago, there really
were faeries in this world?
My logical mind promptly took
over and started firing off
questions. What happened to
them? Why were they here? Why
aren’t they here any more? How,
over the centuries, have the
original facts been twisted and
changed as original facts always
are? And, best of all, what
would I do if suddenly faced
with irrefutable fact that the
creatures at the heart of the
legends had returned? Creatures
that were not cute little
Tinkerbells or toymakers, but
man-sized, malevolent beings
bent on the enslavement of the
human race? The Dark Gate
pretty much took off from there.
The idea for the gates, in
particular the one lost gate,
came out of a need for an answer
to the question, “How did they
get into this world now when
they haven’t been back in
fifteen hundred years?” I
figured a lost gate made perfect
sense. Since much of the
traditional faerie lore comes
out of the British Isles and
northern Europe, this lost gate
needed to be far from there.
Since I live in the Washington,
D.C. area, my mind immediately
imagined it happening here. I
have to give credit for the idea
of using the Dupont Circle
Fountain to my good friend and
critique partner, Laurin Wittig.
2. Kaderil
the Dark… <sigh> Oh how I felt
for him and his plight. I love a
story about a redeemed villain.
Where did his story come from?
Did he just pop into your head
to tell his story or did you
have to browbeat him into
revealing his secret fears and
desires?
Browbeat Kaderil?
I’m brave, but I don’t think I’m
THAT brave. I’ve always loved
stories where the hero’s essence
and values are challenged by his
love for a woman he considers
‘the enemy’. A man, deeply
honorable at his core and
determined to do the right
thing, who slowly begins to
realize the ‘right thing’ might
not be what he thought it was.
Pretty much from the moment the
Esri were born, I knew Kaderil’s
story. And knew I had to tell
it.
3.
Dark Deceiver
is quite a bit darker in tone
than your previous book in
The Esri series. Did you
know when you started writing it
that it was going to be such a
dark story or did that surprise
you when you finished it?
Oh, honestly, I
hadn’t really thought of it as
darker than its predecessor, but
I guess I can see that. Kaderil
was in a dark place to begin
with and things went south for
him from there. But in answer to
your question, I do tend to
gravitate toward the dark and
intense, so as the story
unfolded for me, I wasn’t really
surprised by the direction it
took.
4. This
question goes hand in hand with
the previous questions…do you
outline your stories ahead of
time or do you start writing and
see where the characters lead
you?
My stories tend
to be fairly involved, so I have
to know certain things before I
get started. I need to
understand my characters and
know what kind of emotional
journeys they’re on. And I need
to know the big picture,
plot-wise -- the major turning
points. I’ll spend a couple
weeks brainstorming all this,
but once I start writing, I let
the characters take the lead.
5. Do you
have any great “behinds the
scenes” stories to share about
Dark Deceiver or
The Dark Gate?
Actually,
The Dark Gate was my
first published manuscript. I’d
entered it in RWA’s (Romance
Writers of America’s) 2006
Golden Heart contest for
unpublished fiction. The entries
were due in November 2005, but
soon after I entered it, I
embarked on a revision that
slowly turned into a major
rewrite. The end of March, I was
notified the manuscript was a
finalist, which meant several
editors would read the first 50
pages to rank it in the final
round. Several weeks later, when
I was three quarters of the way
through that rewrite, I received
a call from RWA. They’d received
a request from one of my editor
judges for the complete
manuscript. She wanted to know
if I had a more recent version
I’d like her to send than the
one I’d submitted in November.
Did I! Except it wasn’t done and
I had a flight scheduled for the
next day to spend the weekend
with my parents in Florida. This
was Wednesday. The lady at RWA
said she needed it by Monday. I
packed up my laptop, took it to
Florida with me, and spent that
weekend by my parents’ pool,
with pitchers of grapefruit
juice, rewriting the last
quarter of that book. A month
later, Ann Leslie Tuttle called
to offer me a contract.
6. The
world building of the Esri
series thoroughly fascinates me.
I know some authors keep
notebooks, draw maps, etc. to
keep it all straight. Your book
has such a wealth of new races,
legends and laws that govern the
world. How do you keep all of
the various details straight as
you are writing this series?
I keep lots and
lots of computer files that
aren’t nearly as well organized
as I’d like them to be. Before I
sit down to write the next book,
I go back and read the ones
before to get all the details
straight in my head. (And yes,
I’ve written three of them now,
and have a fourth under
contract!) One of these days,
I’m going to have to find a
better system!
7. This is
Kelley’s favorite “signature”
question to ask. If you had the
opportunity to convince people
to try your books with just a
couple sentences, what would you
tell them?
Great question,
Kelley. I guess what I’d have to
say is this: I love books that
are dark and intense, richly
romantic, and tell an
intriguing, other-worldly story.
That’s my goal
when I sit down to write every
book.
8. Do you
have any special routines or
rituals you go through upon
starting a new novel? How do you
celebrate finishing writing a
book?
Before I start
each new book I do a movie
marathon. Some romances, lots of
action adventure and darker
stuff, and a lot of paranormals.
It’s all part of filling the
creative well. When I finish a
book? I tell my husband he’s
taking me out to dinner!
9. Where is
your favorite place to write and
what does it look like?
My favorite
places to write, at the moment,
are the dining room table, and a
desk in my office that overlooks
the backyard. I write on a
laptop, so whenever I start
having trouble with a scene, or
trouble concentrating, I get up
and move. I’ve been known to
write on the sofa, the floor,
even the stairs if the mood
strikes.
10. What is
the average length of time for
you to complete a book, from
beginning to write the book to
actually seeing it in print in
the store?
I can write a
book in four or five months, or
less if I need to. When I
actually see it in print,
depends on the publishing
schedule. Typically, the entire
process, from inception to
shelf, takes about a year and a
half to two years.
11. I love to
hear about authors’ lives and
find out what they are like
behind the pen. What is a
typical “day in the life of
Pamela” like?
Well, at the
moment, my life is pretty much
writing, writing, and more
writing. And I mean that
literally. Not only am I writing
the Esri series for Silhouette
Nocturne, but I’ve also got a
new single title dark paranormal
romance series in the works for
Avon Books. Book 1 in the The
Feral Warriors series,
Desire Untamed, is
currently slated for release in
July 2009, with books 2 and 3
following in August 2009 and
September 2009. And, in case
that’s not enough, Berkley
contracted me to write a time
travel series for them under the
pseudonym, Pamela Montgomerie.
(My three publishers balked at
the thought of having to
schedule all my releases around
one another, and begged me to
take a second name.)
Sapphire Dream is
scheduled to be an August 2009
release for Berkley Sensation.
12. What
authors have influenced you? If
we were to peek on your shelves,
what authors would we find?
You’d find lots
of dark paranormal authors on my
shelves these days. My current
favorites are Nalini Singh, J.R.
Ward, Keri Arthur, and Kresley
Cole. But if I went back to the
authors who influenced me most,
I’d have to say Suzanne
Brockmann, Elizabeth Lowell,
Susan Elizabeth Phillips and
Nora Roberts. In my opinion,
four of the all-time greats.
13. What
sparked your desire to be a
writer? Was being an author
your first choice in career or
was this career path a surprise
for you?
I never had any
thoughts of being a writer until
one of my daydreams got too big
to keep in my head. At that
point in my life, I was already
married with two kids! No, my
initial plan was to be an
astronaut. Actually, I wanted to
be a starship captain, but NASA
was moving too slowly on the
whole ‘seeking out new worlds
and new civilizations’ thing, so
I wound up as an industrial
engineer for IBM before deciding
to be a stay-at-home mom. Soon
after, I realized what I really
wanted to do was create those
new worlds for myself, and
hopefully someday, share them
with readers.
14. What
advice would you give to an
aspiring writer?
Keep working,
keep writing, and don’t give up.
Honestly, it’s that simple. And
that hard.
15. Any
teasers you’d like to give us on
upcoming books in the Esri
series? And when can we look
forward to the next book, since
you KNOW we are anxious to read
it?
I’m delighted
you’re looking forward to it!
Book three of the Esri series,
tentatively titled Into
The Dark, is written,
but not yet scheduled for
release. Ex-Navy SEAL Charlie
Rand embarks on the most
dangerous mission of his career
when he dives through the gate
into Esria to try to rescue the
only person who knows how to
seal the gates, the Esrian
princess, Ilaria. But it’s his
guide and companion, Tarrys, who
turns out to be the true
revelation. And who ultimately
poses the greatest threat of
all. To his heart.
Thank you so much
Pamela for taking the time out
of your busy schedule to answer
our questions. Is there
anything you else you would like
to say in closing?
Thanks for the
opportunity to answer your
wonderful questions, Kelley and
Debbie! If anyone’s interested
in knowing more about my books
and my releases, please visit my
website
www.pamelapalmer.net. And be
sure to sign up for my
newsletter.
Have a wonderful
summer!
Pamela
Read reviews
of Pamela's books:
Debbie's reviews:
The Esri Book 1: The Dark Gate
The Esri Book 2: Dark Deceiver
Kelley's reviews:
The Esri Book 1: The Dark Gate
The Esri Book 2: Dark Deceiver
Interviewed by
Debbie and Kelley
June 2008
