1.)
Do you use
pictures as inspiration at the start of a book?
I usually just have a vague picture in my mind. As I write, the
character resolves. He or she tells me who they are and I go back and add
description where needed. However, after they’ve resolved? I love using Google
images and finding them amongst the photos. In my new release, Primrose and
Promises, the cover art was supplied by the publisher, but I think they got
Sebastian exactly right. He’s dignified, reserved, lawyerly, and not terribly
hard on the eyes. He quick-starts Honoria’s heart, anyway.
2.)
What is
your favourite period drama?
Downton Abbey, even
though the romance was secondary to the period drama. Compared to the acceleration
in lifestyle we’ve experienced over the last 50 years, the beginning of the 20th
century wasn’t very different to the mid-1800s (during which the books in my Raised
All Wrong series are set.) In fact, I think the beginnings of the cultural
class revolution can be witnessed around 1860 when my stories take place. The
Victorian Age was a time of transition, but the beauty of the costuming and
landscapes, the elegance of appointments and manners, set a gorgeous backdrop
against which the characters can tell their tales. Victorian lords and ladies
still held the upper tier of Society in their gloved fingers, but laymen were
beginning to advance through their own efforts (wealth), and the industrial
revolution upset social orders in a variety of ways, just as it did in the
Gilded Age of Downton Abbey.
3.)
Are the
titles of your books important?
I am overjoyed with the use of alliteration, and titles with
alliterative words seem to pop into my head. Arabella’s Assistant. Primrose
and Promises. The Midnight Menace. Dangerous and Disguised
(which is free, by the way, if you sign up for my newsletter at
judylynnichkhanian.com – it is book 1 and ½ of the series). Within the
alliteration, I think the essence of the story is conveyed, and to my mind, that’s
the main purpose of a title. For instance, in Arabella’s Assistant,
Gabriel, Baron Brynley, offers to act as Lady Arabella’s assistant in her
translations of cuneiform. Without his offer, the two would not have managed
time alone, let alone commenced a romance of epic proportions. In Primrose
and Promises, Sebastian, Viscount Trelawney, courts Miss Phoebe Carmichael
through the colours of jellied plops (beans) emulating the stages of grief since
they are both in mourning. He ends his gifts with a pale pink plop – primrose flavoured
– and with it he makes the promise of Spring and a new life together. So, yes,
titles are important, but sometimes the book has to be read in order for the
reader to understand that importance.
4.)
If you’re
struggling with a scene or difficult character, what methods help you through
it?
I’m a pantser. I fly by the seat of my pants. I let the characters
decide what they want to do and when, because if I resist, I crash into a brick
wall. Since I write Historical Romance, I know I need a Happily-Ever-After, and
since I’m a closet optimist disguised as a depressive pessimist, all roads
naturally lead to happy endings. When I hit a wall, it usually means I haven’t listened
to the characters. Rather than give up or go back to the beginning, I jot down
a note (actual pen on paper) about what corrections need to be made during
edits, mark the page when realization struck, and continue to write with the
new storyline/character trait in mind. In other words, I soldier on. I don’t
stop writing, no matter how muddied or awful the story becomes for a while,
because it always, always resolves. I used to wonder why I believed so strongly
in characters telling their own story when I have to do at least ten rounds of
edits, but I’ve recently had an insight: the character does tell the tale, but
like getting to know anyone, the more the writer learns of him or her, the more
a writer can describe habits, smells, traits, and the like. Yes, first impressions
matter, but the depth of a relationship is built upon weeks, months, and years,
not just minutes.
5.)
Are you an
early bird or a night owl?
I am an early bird. Up at dawn, or before. Bed by eight. Yeah, I’m fun
at parties – not. On the other hand, sunrises are gorgeous and sunsets are
magical, and unless we’re in mid-summer, I manage to see most of both.
6.)
Who’s your
favourite author? Why?
I can’t name a favourite, as I’ve many, especially the Wild Rose Press’s
authors I’ve come to know and adore. The talent within this publishing house is
amazing, and usually makes me feel small by comparison. Pick up any book, and
it’s a winner. I can say I think my writing style was informed by Amanda Quick,
who manages to mix a little suspense in with wonderful storylines and
intelligent heroines. There’s always a bit of passion, but it doesn’t take over
the relationship. There’s emotion, but it’s not the “swallow-you-up-whinging”
kind of self-flagellation and Ophelia dramatics. And Quick’s heroes, just like
mine, recognize the heroine’s worth early in the story.
7.)
Do you
have a pet peeve?
Whistling. I hate whistling with a passion I reserve only for bullying.
I’ve yet to write a villain who whistles because all whistlers flee rather than
risk telling me their tale, but I’m sure a rotter is going to appear any day
now. Ugh. Even though I like my villains to have passed up the chance to be
decent people, I’m afraid The Whistler is also going to have sins down to his
ankles and vileness up to balding head. And, yes. The Whistler is going to be
bald. Call it a writer’s liberty.
8.)
Can you
tell me a little about your next project?
I am working on Book Three of the Raised All Wrong series. It’s
going to feature Alistair Crawley, Lord Shilling, head of The Office (the queen’s
secret organization of protectors – for queen and country) and a plump redhead,
Miss Marjorie Plimpton, with whom he has already fallen infatuated. Marjorie is
Honoria’s best friend (The Midnight Menace), and Alistair is… married. I
don’t know how it happened. I just wrote in the wife. Where did she come from?
It’s not clear – she just appeared. I certainly didn’t want her there. She’s
confusing matters, although I know they have been estranged. She is going to
either die before anything transpires between Alistair and Marjorie, or
Alistair will discover the marriage was a sham from the start. I’m betting on
the latter, but I’m waiting to see what the computer keys tell me. I do know
Veritas, a secret organization of rabid Assyriologists, will factor into the
suspense, and The Office, as always, will foil the threat for at least a little
while. How Alistair and Marjorie marry, how he obtains the title, still require
a bit of uncovering, but in Primrose and Promises (a part of the Wild
Rose Press’s Jelly Beans and Spring Things collection, and a crossover
to the Raised All Wrong world) they are already wed and titled. I’ll
keep you posted… thanks for reading!
Blurb for Primrose and Promises: When Sebastian Edgars, the newly
minted Viscount Trelawney, meets the woman of his dreams, the ground shifts
beneath his feet. Unfortunately, she has just buried her father and is required
to mourn for a year. Though the rules say he cannot court her, he can’t abide
her absence, and so he does the only thing he can think to do: he disguises
himself as a servant in her home so they might come to know each other better.
Miss Phoebe Carmichael has decided she will never marry. Wealthy and
impatient, when she meets Sebastian everything in her calms. He understands her
grief and how spring’s promise will lead her back to life again.
As secret organiations and mad Assyriologists battle, the two fall in
love. Will their love prove strong enough to overcome societal norms and those
set against their union?
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/m2eGKd (Arabella’s Assistant) https://books2read.com/u/mgPezK (Primrose and Promises). The
Midnight Menace – coming soon.
Author
Website:
judylynnichkhanian.com
Author
Bio: Judy is a
sort-of-retired litigation attorney, a current homemaker with a propensity to
ignore any and all domestic chores, and the mother of an outrageously comedic
young man and a fur-baby named Chocolate-the-Dog, so named because he thinks
he’s a cat.
Judy
has been writing since she first learned to read and has stories constantly
going through her head. With a passionate interest in archaeology, most
especially alternative archeology, she sill hopes to one day uncover the true
history of the world.
As a
graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Art History, when she
ventures away from books, it is to find the nearest art museum or purveyor of
High Tea. She has lived in four states in France and she currently makes her
home in North Carolina, which she loves, except for the bugs, snakes, and
humidity.
Visit
her at www.judylynnichkhanian.com for excerpts and information, tall tales and
small ones.