Cheryl Holt
Interviewed by: Lauretta Pierce
A. I don't know if "inspired" is the word I would use. I write 2-3
novels
per year, and they're targeted to a specific women's audience -- those
who
enjoy a fast-paced, sexy, and fun love story. Because of my frantic
writing
pace, I don't have a lot of time to debate over the plot. I have to
develop
a situation where the heroine is in a desperate predicament, and the
hero --
who's absolutely wrong for her -- is the one who ends up saving her.
The plot choice has to be weighed against the reality that I'm
billed as
the international "Queen of Erotic Romance" so all of my books have to
be
incredibly sexy in tone, yet they're set in the early 1800s in Regency
Period England, which was a time where the typical female wouldn't
think of
jumping into a sexual affair. I have to pick a scenario where she can
be
immediately drawn into a sexual connundrum -- from the very first page
--
and it has to be a predicament that's believable to the reader. It's a
very
tricky balance.
In TOO WICKED TO WED, the heroine's brother has gambled away their
family's estate to a notorious villain and pirate who ultimately ends
up
being the hero. After the brother has lost all, he makes a last
desperate
bet to win back the estate, and he gambles away the only thing he has
left -- his sister's chastity -- and "she" loses. She's forced into a
situation where she's expected to become the lover of the hero for 30
days,
after which the brother can reclaim their home.
The heroine doesn't know the true terms of the wager, so the story
starts with her visiting the pirate/hero to explain that gambling is
wrong
and he can't seize her home simply because of a ludicrous bet. Of
course,
nothing is ever easy, and plans are always foiled, so after many wild
and
exciting twists and turns, the heroine ends up taming and claiming the
pirate/hero for her own.
A. My editor selected it. I don't ever pick my titles. My editor, in
consulation with the marketing and sales people at St. Martins Press,
decides on what the titles will be. It's an important marketing
decision,
having to do with product placement and cover design, and I typically
don't
have (or want to have) a say in how they're chosen. I'm simply not
very
good at thinking up titles. My editor is much better at it.
TOO WICKED TO WED is the 3rd book in a 3-book contract, and I call
them
my "TOO" books: TOO HOT TO HANDLE, TOO TEMPTING TO TOUCH, and TOO
WICKED TO
WED.
A. When I sat down to write TOO WICKED, I wanted to create a hero that
was
really macho, really loveable, and really, really hot. Although my
heros
are always very sexy and alpha, for several books in a row, I hadn't
felt
that they'd turned out as macho as I wanted them to be.
My fans' favorite book, out of all the ones I've written, is my '03
novel, COMPLETE ABANDON, and I wanted to shoot for a story that
contained
that sort of passion, heartbreak, and drama. I went back and outlined
it,
and I made lists of the traits that had made the hero and heroine so
beloved
by my readers, then I sat down and started to draft the hero and
heroine for
TOO WICKED.
The main thrust that made COMPLETE ABANDON so great was the fact
that
the hero and heroine were so disparate in their backgrounds and
personalities yet found true love anyway. I worked really hard to
create two
characters for TOO WICKED whose differences made it seem as if they
couldn't
possibly ever be together.
The hero, Luke Westmoreland, is the most macho, tough, and sexy
hero
I've ever created. He's dynamic, brave, and annoyingly smug, and his
antics
with the heroine are too delicious to be believed. I was so pleased
with
how he turned out, and I think he's the "best" hero I've ever done.
The secondary characters of Pat and Robert are very fun, and for
those
who haven't read the novel yet, I don't want to give away too much
about
them. I'll just say that I had "seen" both characters in my
imagination for
a long time, and I couldn't wait for the chance to work them into a
storyline. They both seemed to fit with the plot. I love the prospect
of
drafting a character who starts out as one type of person, and who
grows and
changes during the story to end up as a completely altered individual.
They
both fit that bill perfectly.
A. Although TOO WICKED was published in September '06, I wrote it over
the
summer and fall of '05, and I've written 3 books since then, so I don't
remember all the reasons I made the choices I did.
I will say that I have to constantly come up with new and
interesting
characters, and in light of how many stories I have to draft, it's
extremely
difficult to make every character fresh and new. My villains in
particular
have to be stunningly original and wicked. Not only am I known as the
"Queen of Erotic Romance," I'm also renowned as the "Queen of
Villains", so
each one has to be more wicked and more loathsome than the last.
When I was just starting to draft the heroine for TOO WICKED, I
could
"see" her brother so clearly in my mind. He was fussy and spoiled,
meticulous in his habits, and generally unbearable, and it just seemed
logical that he would be a prissy, effeminate gay man. Since he'd
wagered
away the heroine's chastity on the first page, it was only natural that
he
be the main villain, and it was an easy choice to make his gay partner
a
wicked accomplice. The world has never seen two gay men quite like
these!
A. The Duke of Roswell, Harold Westmoreland, is actually a much-hated
character of mine, and many of my long-time fans will recognize him
from
some of my very first novels when I was just at the beginning of my
career.
His legitimate and illegitimate children have appeared in several of my
books.
He's so self-centered, omnipotent, and arrogant, that he's one of
my
all-time favorite characters. He has no redeeming qualities, and he's
so
imperious that he's oblivious to how his awful behavior affects those
around
him. He's so detached from the problems of the masses, and he has no
conscience. Readers always hate him, so he's a fun character to use.
A. I write very fast. I write the first draft of a novel from
beginning to
end, so that I have the entire story down on paper, then I begin
editing. I
can now do a rough draft in about 25 days, then I spend a couple more
months
tightening it up and making it shorter. Mostly, it involves cutting
out
unneeded words, so that I can make the story race along and keep
readers
whipping through the pages. It takes me 4 1/2 to 5 months to do an
entire
novel from first word to last edit.
A. My next novel, SECRET FANTASY, will be out in March '07. It's
another
story about a heroine in a dire situation. She's the poor relative,
living
with her terrible aunt and a cousin who is a rich heiress. The hero is
a
Viscount who's flat broke, and searching for a rich bride to marry. He
comes to visit, in the hopes of marrying the cousin/heiress, but of
course,
he falls passionately in love with the heroine, who is poor and can
never be
his bride.
As with all my novels, it's a heart-wrenching story of love and
betrayal.
A. It's a strange kind of fame. It's not like being a movie star,
where
you walk into a restaurant and everybody knows who you are. It's a
very
anonymous type of celebrity. And on the writing end of it, my being a
bestselling author doesn't really seem to be any different than when I
was
first starting out -- except that I'm actually making money at it now!
People imagine a novelist's life as being very glamourous and
public,
but the reality is the same as it was from the first day I was a
budding
novelist and decided I'd try to write commercial fiction. I get up in
the
morning, and spend 10-12 hours per day sitting (alone) in my office and
writing on my computer. It's a very quiet, private, isolated
existence, and
a novelist has to be very self-motiviated and able to respond to big
deadlines without prompting or nagging from others to get an enormous
project done on time.
I spend months getting a manuscript as perfect as I can make it,
then I
send it to NY to people I hardly know, and 10 months later, it's a book
I
see in stores. Then, I'll receive fan letters from exotic places like
Pakistan and Singapore. It's very cool and very odd. And, of course,
by
the time the book is released, I've written another novel or two, so
the one
that's out on store shelves hardly seems like something I did.
It's a bizarre way to make a living, but I like working on my own,
setting my own hours, and being my own boss, so it's a great career for
me.
A. I'm a very lucky novelist in that I can say I'm "always" working on
another novel -- and on ones for which I'm being paid! I have great
sales
numbers, an increasing fan base, and lots of support from my publisher,
so
I've been writing under various contracts -- without interruption --
for
many years. I'm 2/3rds of the way through my latest 3-book contract,
in
what I've called my "FANTASY" series. The first, SECRET FANTASY, will
be
out in the spring. I just finished the second (yesterday!), which is
due in
NY in January. It's called, FORBIDDEN FANTASY. By March, I have to
plot
out the 3rd one, that's been titled, DOUBLE FANTASY, and it's due in NY
in
July of '07. Then, it's time to contract again.
I also just moved to Hollywood, so that my teenaged son can pursue
his
dream of becoming a movie star, so I'm taking classes in screenwriting
and
planning to do my first script this spring in between novels. Also,
I'm
currently developing a tv pilot proposal that would feature my son as
the
star, and we'll be marketing it to various producers.
I'm very lucky to have been blessed with all these writing
opportunities, but they're coming to me after many years of practice
and
hard work.
A. I don't have "messages" in my books. I write them purely as
entertainment. They're the sorts of books you take on an airplane, on
vacation, or to the beach. They're fun, and fast, and fantasy, where
the
good guys get what they deserve and the bad guys get what they deserve,
too.
There's always a happy ending which -- in this day and age -- we could
use a
lot more of. My "message" to readers is: pick up a copy, relax, read
my
page-turner, and enjoy!
TOO WICKED TO WED
December 25, 2006
Q. Who came up with the name for the title of this
book?
Q. Luke, Helen, Robert and Pat all shared similar
attributes. Would you explain to the readers how you
came about the complexities of their characters?
Q. How did you come about the idea to have Archie and
Adrian's characters to be gay?
Q. How did you come about the Duke's character?
Q. How long did it take you to write "TOO WICKED TO
WED?"
Q. Would you give the readers a brief synopsis of your
next book SECRET FANTASY?
Q. How does it feel to be a USA TODAY BESTSELLING
AUTHOR?
Q. How you currently working on another novel?
Q. What message would you like readers to receive
from reading "TOO WICKED TO WED?"