Smokescreen (35 page)
Authors: Meredith Fletcher and Vicki Hinze Doranna Durgin
Along the way, she’d be grateful. She had enjoyed some personal gains on this mission, too. She’d faced her guilt, her fear of fire, and reclaimed her life. She’d rediscovered the power of love to overcome even the greatest fear.
Those were pretty significant gains she never again wanted to forget—and since she had perfect recall, she wouldn’t.
Smiling to herself about that, she walked back to the Jeep and got in beside Ben. “I guess we’d better see about that leg.”
“Only if you’re through saving the world.”
“I am.” She sniffed. “For tonight.”
He laughed and rubbed her shoulder. “You amaze me, Darcy Clark.”
She tried not to, but she couldn’t help herself. She laughed with him. “Tell me that twenty years from now, and I might just believe it.”
“You got it.” He turned on the radio. “And that, you can commit to memory.”
“I will.” She already had. Darcy smiled. “Finally, a personal perk in having total recall.”
Everything you love about romance…
and more!
Please turn the page for Signature Select
™
Bonus Features.
Bonus Features:
Doranna Durgin
Meredith Fletcher
Vicki Hinze
Author’s Journal by Doranna Durgin
Six Tips To Improve Your Memory by Vicki Hinze
Cool Technology by Meredith Fletcher
CHECKMATE by Doranna Durgin
DOUBLE VISION by Vicki Hinze
BONUS FEATURES
Doranna Durgin
Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.
At the age of three, when I wrote and illustrated (and bound!) my first book. Or at the age of 12, when I wrote (and illustrated and bound) my first novel. After that, the words never stopped flowing. I did stop binding them, though.
At 12, I received my first rejection from Paramount (Hey, who knew you had to be agented? Or write in actual screenplay format?) and at 14 my first short-story rejection. At that point the adults in my world decided I was weird, and I went more underground with my writing (but never stopped or even slowed down). Finally, just out of college and living in a remote area where I couldn’t use my degree or indeed get any job at all (or even meet anyone for the first six
months…), I decided I’d try to publish again. Didn’t let anyone discourage me this time. Took a while, though!
Was there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story?
Not this time. Just a whole bunch of little things that came together into a whole with that synergistic power the muse sometimes wields.
What’s your writing routine?
I work on a page quota, seven days a week. Sometimes life happens instead, but not so often that you’d need all your fingers and toes to count the days per year. Usually I have music going in the background, but sometimes I need to quiet my brain and then I don’t. I write on a laptop in Rough Draft and pull it all together in Word Perfect. And I often burn scented candles (sugar cookie, yum!). What time of day I write depends on the weather, season and Other Things Going On. I use a recliner or I stand; I don’t sit at a desk. My only hard and fast rule—aside from that page quota!—is that I don’t actually hold myself to any particular routines. If I feel like doing something different—a different kind of music than ordinarily inspires me, two work sessions a day instead of one, etc.—then it’s no big deal. I know someone who has to have a dozen sharpened pencils at the desk (even when working at the computer). This is not me.
How do you research your stories?
Extensively. Overextensively. I get lost in research. I love the Web, I love my Internet community and their vast collection of knowledge, and I love research books.
Excuse me. Must go build another bookshelf now.
How do you develop your characters?
They develop themselves. That’s trite, I suppose, but I often don’t truly have a good handle on my characters until they’ve gone through a couple scenes and have a chance to play off each other and events. If I need to go back and tweak things to suit, then I do—because sometimes characters grow into something else than I expected (if I’m smart enough to pay attention). Even when I do have a character down cold at the start, I usually discover more about them as I go along.
I don’t do any of those exercises that one can do, involving index cards and character interviews and the like. I do stop and go off to ponder things now and then.
When you’re not writing, what are your favorite activities?
I have four dogs who are in training for various activities—one Cardigan Welsh corgi matriarch, two Cardigan agility dogs and a young beagle now in breed competition who’s starting agility basics; we all go to shows. I also have a Lipizzan
whom I ride dressage and who lives on the property. (Lots of pictures on my Web site, [www.doranna.net].) That pretty much keeps me busy!
What are your favorite kinds of vacations? Where do you like to travel?
I’d love to see all sorts of places—Australia, South America, Europe, our very own national parks—but I don’t travel well at all (this is an understatement), so for the most part I see tiny bits of the world through nearby dog shows or convention locations. As for actual vacations…define those for me again?
Meredith Fletcher
Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.
I’ve wanted to write since I was in third grade. My fourth-and fifth-grade teachers often caught me working on stories during class. Instead of chastising me (I was fortunate to be an A and B student in spite of my extracurricular activities in the classroom!), those teachers read the stories to the class. I’ve written on a regular basis, mostly for myself and to learn the craft, then had the opportunity to begin my career with Harlequin. I’ve got several more books and novellas in me that are dying to come out!
Was there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story?
I love tech. Sweet and simple, I know, but I really do. I’m constantly fascinated with the computerized world we live in (which most people never seem to notice, or just take for granted), with the medical reconstruction that physicians can do, and with the resiliency of the human body and spirit.
What’s your writing routine?
I write every spare minute I have. Usually early in the day and late at night are best for me. I’m active and like to do things with the rest of my day.
How do you research your stories?
Usually I have an idea and jot it down, kind of get the feel of it. Once the characters and action hook me (which means I can’t stop thinking about the story!), I begin preliminary research. I read every chance I get, and I’ve got a mutant ability to remember a lot of what I’ve read and definitely where I read it. When I do intensive research, I begin with children’s books. They’re absolutely the best for getting the biggest amount of information in a short span of time. Tech books even have a glossary! And books about people and places have tons of photographs! They’re amazing! It’s a wonder more kids aren’t brainiacs. After I have the basics down, I decide where I need to invest most of my time. Rather than studying a particular field, I study parts of a field as they apply to the story I want to write. Or a certain area in a country. Then I look over my notes and see if my additional information lends itself to changes or developments in the characters or plot sequences.
How do you develop your characters?
I start by figuring them out. What do they want? What experiences have they had that will make a mark on the story I’m trying to tell? What is her greatest fear? Once that’s done, I audition them on the page by writing scenes that may or may not make it into the story I’m writing. I write lots
of dialogue. I have to hear them to truly “get” them. Once I have them down, I start over and write the story from beginning to end.
When you’re not writing, what are your favorite activities?
Love reading. Love research. Love gardening (it gives me something to do with my hands while my mind is sorting out a knotty problem!). I love to travel. I’m an amateur photographer, cutting-edge tech whiz, and hobby borrower (if I see someone doing something I think is interesting, I do it, too, till I learn it or get bored).
What are your favorite kinds of vacations? Where do you like to travel?
I love the impromptu vacation, the one when you just get in the car and go. I’ve found more delightful out-of-the-way places and people in this manner than any “planned” vacation. Structure is all right to get you there—sometimes (even that I find arguable!)—but I like to throw the itinerary out the window and go exploring. Caves are awesome. Every time I vacation where there’s a cave, I go see it. I don’t know what that says about me, and probably I don’t want to know. I love going to the Yucatán Peninsula. There’s something about the history of the place, the slow and easy manner of the days, the quick light showers that scatter baby crabs across the beach
and vanish just minutes later and the cool blue of the water that is just so relaxing.
Do you have a favorite book or film?
The Princess Bride,
in both book and film. I just love it when Westley says, “As you wish.” Both mediums are such a delight.
Any last words to your readers?
Happy reading! And if I write something you like, or you have questions, please contact me at [email protected]. I hope to have a Web page up soon. I’m still working on that.
Vicki Hinze
Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.
In 1984 my mother introduced me to romance novels. In particular, to Harlequin Presents
®
. After the first novel, I was hooked. Trouble was I read faster than they were printed. But since I enjoyed those novels so much, I began looking at other romances—Harlequin Superromance, Silhouette Special Edition. I loved the positive roles of women in them, and the heroines’ ethics in dealing with so many of the challenges we all face with family and friends and work/home.
Like many others, I read hundreds of these books. I’d fill a tall kitchen trash bag with them and then ship them to my mother to donate and share with her friends. We were living in Illinois and the weather turned foul. Snow, ice, freezing rain. My husband, a military officer, was away again, and so the kids and I were limping along as military families do. The simple truth is I loved the books so much I wanted to write one. And so I did. It was awful! A heartwarming story, but buried in a tomb of mechanical errors so deep, the story was lost. So I wrote another. And another.
They were awful, too. Not that it stopped me from submitting them, I’m sorry to say. And I got the most kind rejection letters from editors who
had to be pulling out their hair at trying to read them. Finally, one of those dear souls who is still with Harlequin today, wrote: “Vicki, if you’re really serious about writing, why not take a course?”
Notice that by this time, we were on a first-name basis—which should have been much to my shame, but wasn’t. I was too driven to write books to have decent judgment. But I bless her for making that suggestion most days of my life. (Can’t be expected to on the days I’m fighting for every word that goes on the page. But “most days” is an excellent average!) Anyway, I took her advice and took a course. And another. And another. And I kept writing. Fifteen books and I have no idea how many partial books. My problem, by this time, wasn’t that my stories were still mired in those tombs, it was that my books didn’t fit anywhere on a bookshelf. Simply put, I wrote odd stories: contemporary novels that read like historicals, time-travel novels (before there were time-travels in romance), and reincarnation stories (before there were paranormal romances). I was just a couple years ahead of myself. But I loved them all.
That’s always been my criteria in writing a book. I must love it. Totally and completely and without reservation. However, after having written 15 books, I also wanted one that someone other than me, a dear friend, my mother and the editor who rejected it would read! So I invested in
studying the market, and I discovered a new line where a type of story I loved would fit. That line was Silhouette Shadows
®
.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to pieces. I wrote the entire book, which became known as
Mind Reader,
and sent it in to my agent. She was doubtful because the heroine in the novel was an empath and that sort of thing wasn’t being done. So she agreed to send it to Silhouette Shadows
®
but was very clear that if it didn’t sell there, she just didn’t have another publisher to send it to that would be open to a heroine who was an empath. I said okay, and held my breath. Okay, truth is, I prayed, too. A lot.
Two weeks later, I got “the” call. An editor wanted to buy it—but not for Silhouette Shadows
®
, for Intimate Moments!
I’m laughing at myself here. Because I was so thrilled—(after six years and all those books, wouldn’t you be?)—I told the editor it had been my goal for many years to write for Harlequin.
Today, that doesn’t seem like such a bad slip. But then it was a horrible one. Silhouette was under the Harlequin umbrella but they were competitors in those days. (
Open floor and suck me down!
)
The editor understood, bless her, and I survived it—if with a red face for a long time. But I learned that day that while you might not hit the target you’re aiming at, you well might hit the one
next to it. So I’ve imagined a row of targets rather than one when I write, and I stick only to one rule: Love the book. Totally and completely and without reservation.
So far, it’s working out.
Is there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story?
A person and a thing inspired this story, actually.
My dad had a photographic memory, which was an asset in many ways, but it made living with those who had an imperfect memory challenging for him at times. He was empathetic, as well, which created special challenges for him, particularly when in crowds or large groups of people. At times, he’d grow so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sensory input, he would get wicked migraines. I wanted to do a novel that expressed understanding of those challenges and the extra effort required to live a “normal” life when you’re enduring them.
The thing that inspired this story is the national focus on our borders and the conflict between retaining that openness and the terrorist vulnerabilities that come with it. It is, to say the least, a delicate balance. One that is, at times, doomed to swing too far to either side, but also one by our very nature we are obligated to continue to attempt.
What’s your writing routine?
The truth is I don’t really have one. I believe that if you lock yourself into doing anything—especially something you love—one way, then it becomes easy to convince yourself that this one way you’ve defined is the only way to do it. Life has too many interruptions and detours for that! My writing hours vary. The way I go about writing a novel varies. Everything about the process and fitting writing into my life varies. Often, I’ll start my writing day at 2:00 a.m. Other days, I start at 10:00 p.m. This makes it sound as if I lack discipline, but the truth is, I usually write until I either fall asleep at my desk or I get stiff-shouldered because I’ve been at it far too long. I write everywhere—in the park, in the backyard, in my recliner, at my desk. But when I get stuck, I always go to the kitchen table. My father once told me that 99% of genius is created at a kitchen table. So I’ve always done that—gone there when stuck. It’s always worked.