Ask the Author: Lisa Marie Rice
Answered Questions (14)
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi Daniela! I am from the United States, but I live in Italy.
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi Dorsey! Sorry for the late reply! A brand new Men of Midnight novel will be coming your way on May 26th. It's called Midnight Fever and I can't wait for everyone to read it.
Lisa Marie Rice
Hello, Donna! Sorry it's taken me so long to answer. I only just saw the question. I'm not certain of the model's name, but I can always ask my wonderful cover designer if she knows his name. :)
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi Kat Kat! I sort of took a departure with Jack, but remember--I gave a glimpse of a young Jack. All my heroes--you meet them when they are mature men who understand life and understand the value of a good woman. When Jack was such a cad, he was 20 years old. When we NEXT meet him, he has known sorrow and tragedy and he understands and appreciates Summer.
thanks for writing!
thanks for writing!
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi, Lely! Sorry for the delay in answering--I've been writing so much that I forgot to check my questions. You know, Lely, as I was writing him, I thought--wow. Yannis would make a great hero! So yes, some time in the future there will probably be a Yannis story! thanks for writing!
Lisa Marie Rice
So glad you enjoyed Midnight Fire! There may be a Nick book in the future. I've got a few things planned. :)
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi, Erica! I'll definitely be checking in with the other couples. I've got some plans for novellas. Which couple in particular are you interested in? :)
Lisa Marie Rice
Hi Gail!
If you are interesting in writing, in getting rid of those ideas in your head by putting them to paper (or screen), there are several steps to take. But step one, the basis of it all, is reading. If you want to write, you read. You read voraciously, as if your life depended on it. You read before going to sleep, you read in the bathroom, on the bus, waiting for the waitperson to bring you coffee. You read at stoplights and at work when no one is looking.
Before, you read for story. Now you start reading for technique. Go look at your bookshelves and take down books that have moved you, that have made you laugh and made you cry. You read them straight through, probably fast. Now go back and read with a critical eye. Where exactly were you moved? And what was it? The dialogue? The plot? The quality of the writing? All three?
Copy out the sections that you found thrilling and drill down. Then pull your focus back out and look at the pacing. Many good novels are divided into three acts, just like movies. Did you find that with the books that touched your heart? Was there a Black Moment when all seemed to be lost? Did the protagonists triumph in the end? How?
The characters--how do they grow? How do they shed their past and move into the future?
Did you know that books have beats, just like music? Moments of tension, moments when the tension is released. Major beats with the main protagonists, minor beats with the secondary characters.
Study the books that you have loved in your life and you will gain an appreciation for the art of the men and women who created them and you will begin to see that the ideas in your head are starting to take shape!
Good luck! Lisa Marie Rice
If you are interesting in writing, in getting rid of those ideas in your head by putting them to paper (or screen), there are several steps to take. But step one, the basis of it all, is reading. If you want to write, you read. You read voraciously, as if your life depended on it. You read before going to sleep, you read in the bathroom, on the bus, waiting for the waitperson to bring you coffee. You read at stoplights and at work when no one is looking.
Before, you read for story. Now you start reading for technique. Go look at your bookshelves and take down books that have moved you, that have made you laugh and made you cry. You read them straight through, probably fast. Now go back and read with a critical eye. Where exactly were you moved? And what was it? The dialogue? The plot? The quality of the writing? All three?
Copy out the sections that you found thrilling and drill down. Then pull your focus back out and look at the pacing. Many good novels are divided into three acts, just like movies. Did you find that with the books that touched your heart? Was there a Black Moment when all seemed to be lost? Did the protagonists triumph in the end? How?
The characters--how do they grow? How do they shed their past and move into the future?
Did you know that books have beats, just like music? Moments of tension, moments when the tension is released. Major beats with the main protagonists, minor beats with the secondary characters.
Study the books that you have loved in your life and you will gain an appreciation for the art of the men and women who created them and you will begin to see that the ideas in your head are starting to take shape!
Good luck! Lisa Marie Rice
Lisa Marie Rice
Oh man. If I knew how to conquer writer's block I would be rich. Writer's block is many things but above all it is a disease of decision-making. When you cannot decide what path your characters must take in order to fulfill their destiny. Because there is only ONE PATH. One way for the book to work, and you have to find it, no matter what. But the absolute cure for writer's block? An advancing deadline.
Lisa Marie Rice
The commute and the dress code. From my bedroom to my study and sweats. In my previous job/life, I travelled constantly. Rain or shine, fog or strikes, I had to be in that city on time, whether I had to crawl there or not. I love staying home, I love working hard but working my own hours and I love being able to wear comfortable things in the comfort of my own home. And I get to write about hot guys and sizzling sex. Best job ever!!
Lisa Marie Rice
Write write write. Read read read. You need to be a compulsive reader. You need to have read so many books that you have the concept of story embedded in your DNA. And then you have to write compulsively. They say you have to write a million words before you can start writing well. Being a professional writer is not for the faint of heart!
Lisa Marie Rice
I am currently working on MIDNIGHT SECRETS, the 6th Midnight book. Isabel Lawton and Joe Harris are both damaged souls who must face danger together before they can heal.
Lisa Marie Rice
I have been inventing stories in my head for about as long as I can remember. I can distinctly remember creating stories when I was 7 or 8. Luckily, writing novels is about the only profession where if you have voices in your head, but you write them down and publish them, they won't institutionalize you. My books get started when the hero and heroine start forming in my mind. They are the bits of grit around which things accumulate until they turn into pearls (I hope). Once I have my characters in my head, I know more or less what challenges they must face to show their true inner strength and to be able to fall in love. I absolutely need for my hero to admire my heroine and vice versa. I need for both of them to show courage and grace. And once I have my characters in my head, I HAVE to write about them, write their story. they are real to me and they won't get their happily ever after until I write the book!
Lisa Marie Rice
I knew I wanted a woman on the run vibe, but I also knew I wanted the woman to be smart and resourceful. The fall of communism has been in the news recently because it is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I worked in Berlin a lot in the 1980s and the Wall was a palpable symbol of the horrors on the other side. I remember exulting when it fell. I'd been thinking about how people have sort of forgotten about the threat of nuclear bombs these past few years because there are many other things to be scared about but the Bomb? That's the Big Kahuna, the extinction-level event that hasn't happened yet, but still could. We should still be worried about nuclear bombs. I'd been reading articles about former Soviet scientists relocating to the West. I wanted a woman who'd had many names, many identities and I wanted a guy who was absolutely certain about who he was.
There. that's an inside look at a writer's brain. Inside our heads are bits of newspaper articles read a long time ago, the story of a friend of a friend of a friend that has lingered for a long time, how would a man feel who'd lost his entire family on 9/11, what would be the psychology of a woman who grew up under the Witness Protection Program. Voilà! MIDNIGHT PROMISES was born.
There. that's an inside look at a writer's brain. Inside our heads are bits of newspaper articles read a long time ago, the story of a friend of a friend of a friend that has lingered for a long time, how would a man feel who'd lost his entire family on 9/11, what would be the psychology of a woman who grew up under the Witness Protection Program. Voilà! MIDNIGHT PROMISES was born.
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