When did you first start writing?
I’ve been writing my whole life. Started getting serious about writing novels my junior year of high school and actively attempted to get published since about 1995. If anything I’m the poster child for sticking with something if you want it bad enough.
Where did the idea for Behind the Throne come from?
Laying on my couch around Christmastime staring at my tree. My ornament collection is pretty eclectic, and includes a lot of tatted snowflakes and shapes from my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mother. A diamond-shaped design caught my eye and next thing I knew the opening pages of the story unfolded in my head. The design is tattooed on Emmory’s cheek (and on my arm) and that scene has remained virtually unchanged through all the edits we’ve done to the book over the years.
Did you have to do any research in preparation for writing Behind the Throne?
Nope. I do my research on the fly as I’m writing. I just let the story tell itself and go back with whatever details are needed afterward.
*laughs* This is like asking a mother who her favorite child is. But since you’re forcing me to choose I’m going to have to say Emmory. His silent presence, excellent sarcasm, and unwavering loyalty often make me wish I’d written this book in third person so that I could share more of him with the reader than just what we see through Hail’s eyes.
What is one piece of information that you know about the story or characters that you loved but couldn’t fit into the book?
There’s quite a bit actually that I couldn’t fit anywhere because it happened outside of Hail’s eye/earshot and therefore just didn’t work in the format I’d set up for the story. Some of my favorites though are pieces between Emmory and Zin that I wrote early on in order to get a feel for their motivations.
Lastly, we have to ask: If you could be friends with any superhero, who would it be?
Captain Steve Rogers is my hero. If I could have the ability to hang with him and Agent Carter I’d be a happy woman.