Interview/Giveaway with Lydia Dare

I'm excited and honored to welcome back Lydia Dare to my blog. Author of the Westfield Brothers/Wolves series. Their latest book The Taming of theWolf is now available in stores. Please give them a
warm welcome.  

Hi Lydia, Welcome to Anna's Book Blog! I'm glad to have here. To start off can you tell the readers a little about yourself?

Hi, Anna! Thanks for having us. We’re happy to be here. Since there are two of us who make up Lydia Dare, we’ll try to make it clear which one of us is talking, because we’re not similar in the least.

Lydia/Jodie – I’m Jodie and before Tammy and I teamed up, I was writing Regency Historical romance. So I bring that background into our partnership.

Lydia/Tammy – I’m Tammy and I was writing paranormal and contemporary romantic suspense.

The Taming of the Wolf is your latest release, can you tells us a little about it and the series?

Lydia/Jodie – We would love to! The Taming of the Wolf is what they call a “bridge” book. It connects the Westfield Brothers trilogy from this spring to a vampyre trilogy we have coming out next year. It is a standalone book, but if you read The Wolf Next Door, then you’ve already met our current hero and heroine. Dashiel Thorpe, Earl of Brimsworth, was the villain of the previous book and now he takes his turn as the hero, reformed of course. And the clairvoyant Caitrin Macleod has actually made appearances in two previous books, as a werewolf-hating witch. Hate might be a strong word, but she’ll have her hands full with a wolf of her own in this book.

Lydia/Tammy – The Taming of the Wolf was sooo much fun to write. I remember when the idea came to us. We had this perfectly flawed gentleman we’d cast as a troublemaker in The Wolf Next Door. And out of nowhere, we decided he could be redeemable. We had to figure out how, of course. But we did have a lot of fun turning this gentleman every reader probably hated into a loveable hero for the next book.

When you’re not writing, what kind of books do you like to read?

Lydia/Jodie – We don’t have a lot of spare time anymore. But when I get the chance to read something for pleasure (meaning not research) my first love is Regency Historicals. I’m a huge Sabrina Jeffries, Claudia Dain, Deb Marlowe and Liz Carlyle fan.

Lydia/Tammy – I have always loved to read Historicals. I like being removed from daily life and into a world where things are completely different. The fantastical intrigues me too. I love paranormals. (I’ll also admit that I like some heat, so I do (very often) pick up some steamy romances on my iPad.) I find that reading is necessary to my writing. It keeps the gears turning and keeps the mind open.

Since becoming published, what has been your favorite part of the process?

Lydia/Jodie – I love hearing from readers. I love it when someone takes the time to send Lydia an email or Facebook message about how much she enjoyed the latest book. It always brings a smile to my face and reminds me I don’t live in a vacuum.

Lydia/Tammy – The best part has probably been (for me) the contact with the readers. I love walking into a bookstore and seeing someone with one of our books in their hand. (I don’t stalk people, I swear it.) I love getting notes about how much people are in love with the heroes of the books. And I even like it when they tell me how much they hate a character, because it means they were invested enough to care.

What type of research did you do for the book/series?

Lydia/Jodie – I’ve researched the Regency era for so long, that a lot of that is second nature to me these days. I did buy a book on magickal ingredients, so I’d be more familiar with herbs, plants and stones our witches would likely use for - specific purposes.

Lydia/Tammy – My husband loves to tell people he helped me with the research for the hot parts (cough, cough). But he also likes to tell people he’s the man on the cover, too, and we know that’s not the truth. For me, I’m not 100% comfortable in the Regency era but Jodie lives there. So, if she started out a scene at Drury Lane and then sent it to me, I’d have to go and look up what Drury Lane was, what it looked like, etc, so I could have a clear mental picture and continue what she’d started.

What are 3 things that are "must haves" for you when you sit down to write a book?

Lydia/Jodie - (1) Peace and quiet. NO music, it drives me a little crazy when I’m trying to write. (2) Starbucks venti white chocolate mocha latte. (3) A goal for the day. How many pages/words do I need to get before I go to bed that night?

Lydia/Tammy – Quiet is a must. I can’t write in a windstorm. And my house is usually a windstorm, since I have boys who range from 15 to 6. I also need a clear picture of what’s going on and where the scene needs to go. Jodie’s very character driven while I’m very plot driven. (It seems to work for us. J). I also need an endless supply of Diet Dr. Pepper and ice to crunch. Yes, I’m one of those dreadful ice chompers, and I can’t write without it.

First off, thank you for writing a Regency series involving werewolves. Ever since I read Ronda Thompson's Wild Wulf's of London, I've been looking for something just as great... and that's definitely your series. When writing your series did you read any other Regency books containing werewolves or just werewolf stories that inspired you?

Lydia/Jodie – Tammy reads everything. I stick to my era of choice. In fact, she like to tease me and says I live in the 19th Century. Should I openly admit that I’ve never read a paranormal romance? I guess, it’s too late to say otherwise, right? Everything I read is firmly grounded in the Regency.

Lydia/Tammy – I read everything. I do try to steer clear of topics we’re writing about, though. I want our ideas to be ours, and not influenced by what I’ve read. So, if we’re writing vampyres, I don’t read vamps. If we’re writing werewolves, I might read straight Regency. I don’t think there’s a book or series that inspired our stories. At least, we hope they’re very different from what anyone else has written.

Most readers are fully aware that Lydia Dare is actually two people, I'm just curious how you came up with your writing name?

Lydia/Jodie – Well, Anna, I like to joke that it was easier naming my child. Back then, only two of us had to agree. But where Lydia was concerned, Tammy and I had to agree. We had input from our wonderful agent. We also needed to have the publisher agree. I always liked Lydia as it was Elizabeth Bennet’s silly younger sister and we agreed on that name fairly easily. The last name on the other hand took a lot more work.

Lydia/Tammy – I remember we bought about five domain names as we tried to pick. Every time we settled on something (which is nearly impossible since Jodie and I are so different), someone would say it didn’t work. “Nope, it’s too hard to spell.” “No, it’s too much like my other author.” “No. I hate that name.” So, we finally settled on Lydia Dare, and we joke that she’s the Lydia and I’m the Dare.

Being a writing duo, what is your writing time like?

Lydia/Jodie – Well, it depends on what else is going on and how close the current deadline is. Usually we trade off on a daily basis. And we shoot for 1500 words or so.

Lydia/Tammy – I know my time is spent editing when I get the pages from Jodie and familiarizing myself with what the characters did while she had them. Then I dive in and try to put them in a new situation. It’s fun writing with a partner because you never know what’ll happen when the pages are gone.

What is up next? Will you continue with this series or move on to something else?

Lydia/Jodie – We have a Regency Vampyre trilogy that will hit shelves next spring.

Lydia/Tammy – And we hope we’re going to write a few more Lycan books after that. We’ll see!

THE TAMING OF THE WOLF 

BY LYDIA DARE

IN STORES NOVEMBER 2010

A fresh and imaginative world of noble werewolves, each of whom encounters nearly insurmountable problems in his quest to live a normal life among England’s Regency society.

Dashiel Thorpe has grown up with the sobriquet “The monster of Eynsford.” Each full moon, when he turns into a wild beast, he has been chained to the wall to protect those around him. He has never before encountered a creature like himself, until he goes to visit his university friend and encounters a family of Lycans living just next door.

When the full moon turns the pack of them into wolves, Dashiel’s feral ways bring him to near-disaster, and when he bites Caitrin McLeod he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that could lead to his ultimate destruction.

Banished to Scotland to find a mentor and get trained in how to be a proper werewolf, Dashiel must also find Caitrin and persuade her that she’s his only chance for salvation…

About the Author

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

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GIVEAWAY:

Thanks to Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of The Taming of the Wolf to giveaway. To enter leave a comment along with your email address.  Open to U.S. & Canada.  The winners will be announced November 16th.