TERRI BRISBIN
A three-time RWA RITA® finalist, Terri, a married mother of three young men, has been writing romance fiction since 1995 and has had 18 historical and paranormal romances published since then. She's now working on more romance novels, novellas and short stories for release in 2010 and 2011 from Harlequin Historical Romances and Kensington Brava.
Welcome, Terri,
Please start off by telling us about yourself; where you were born.Did you live any place that appears in your books?
I was born and grew up in Southern NJ. I used a couple of local towns as locations in my first book, a time-travel romance, and the hero and heroine traveled back to medieval Scotland from suburban NJ
Is there anything about your life that would surprise most people?
That I'm a mild-mannered dental hygienist by day and exciting romance author by night?
What kind of jobs did you have before you began writing? Were any “strange”?
I have been a dental hygienist for more than 33 years -- is that a strange job? I still am one!
Please tell us about the stories you write.
I like to write highly-emotional, compelling romances that are set in medieval Scotland and England. My stories do tend to be very character-driven, with very real, very flawed heroes and heroines who find redemption through the power of the love they discover with each other.
What are some of the ups and downs you have encountered before becoming published?
I'm not sure if I suffered ups-and-downs -- I was prepared to spend years learning my craft and the industry and paying my dues before expecting publishing success. I'd spent enough years in my other profession to learn that success doesn't usually happen overnight or without a lot of learning and effort and networking and being prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they happen. My first very informal, unscientific survey of all the published authors attending my first local chapter meeting revealed that the average number of manuscripts completed and submitted before being published was 5-6, so I was not going to allow myself to be disappointed before I'd written six romance novels and submitted them.
I was completely surprised to sell my second complete manuscript!
What do you think is the key to a memorable romantic story?
I think the key is make it emotional and to build strong conflicts that don't make it easy for the hero and heroine to find love.
Where do you get your story ideas?
EVERYWHERE!! From other stories I write, from things I read (books, articles, research, history, etc), from other characters, by playing the what-if game with myself when I come upon an intriguing situation or character.
Which stories have been your favorites to write?
THE KING'S MISTRESS was my favorite to write -- because the heroine was so very un-Harlequin Historical in that she was the Henry II's mistress and known by all to be still in love with him in spite of being tossed aside. Most medieval heroines are innocents, virgins, noblewomen of unimpeachable character...so Marguerite was fun to write and I simply fell in love with Orrick as she did!
Which character have you had the most fun creating?
Rurik who appeared first in TAMING THE HIGHLANDER and then had his own story in SURRENDER TO THE HIGHLANDER is my favorite character -- but I didn't create him. He simply appeared in TAMING, making a pass at the laird's wife and I loved him.
Which character have you had the hardest time creating?
Actually, I don't create most of my characters -- they simply come to me and tell me their stories and I write them down. Other than a few secondary and incidental characters, they are already real to me.
How many hours a week do you spend writing?
It depends -- during most weeks, writing is hit or miss for me. But during the last few weeks before my deadline, I can write 12-15 hours a day and even pull a few all-nighters to finish the book on time.
What challenges do you face in your writing endeavors?
See above -- the way I write -- headlong, deadline binges of writing is not how I'd like to write, but it is how I write....it's the biggest challenge I have in writing.
Do you believe a writer should follow the current market trend in order to make a sale?
I think that if a writer is seeking commercial success and wants to earn money from her work, then she needs to keep an eye on the market while writing stories that speak to her and allow her to tell the stories she needs to tell. If a writer can write a story in a genre or sub-genre that is popular and selling well, then why not? But chasing trends usually results in being too late to catch them!
What is the best advice you've received in your career.
The best advice was to keep writing! No matter what's going on, don't sit around waiting for industry professionals to get back to you, keep writing. And, keep reading across the market so you can see what's working with various publishers. And keep writing!
Some well established authors have voiced their dissension about the e-book revolution. What is your take on this booming industry?
I don't think there is dissension about ebooks, there is discussion and disagreement about quality of work in various formats and whether original content released in digital formats can be commercially-successful for a majority of authors. Will readers buy other than original erotic romance/erotica in digital format in large enough quantities to make it possible for authors to be commercially-successful? Will authors, other than erotic romance/erotica authors, be able to make a living selling only digital editions of their work?
Right now, I don't think so. And the most popular ebooks, the fastest, largest growing segment of the market, are digital editions of print-published books....for already known and popular authors not for unknown, new authors without an established readership. Yes, ebook sales are rising fast, but they are moving from zero up, so any increase right now is significant. I think it will take a bit of time to see how it will all play out and I'm glad that all of my books are available in both print and digital editions.
How many manuscripts did you submit before you were offered a contract, and have any of those rejected stories been published since?
As I mentioned before, it was my second manuscript that sold. I have sold several other novels that were rejected along the way since that first sale to other publishers, but not the first, still unpublished manuscript....which is simply not saleable for SOOOOOO many reasons.
Have any of your titles been translated into other languages?
Yes!! I am very excited that my books have been translated and sold in Italian, French, German, Japanese, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Greek and Thai! They've also been sold in English in Great Britain and Australia, too.
Some authors live and die by reviews. How do you deal with reviews, good or bad?
I enjoy good reviews and vent with friends or ignore bad ones....But I realize that each review is simply one person's opinion and some readers/reviewers 'get' what I'm trying to accomplish in my work and others don't.....but as long as my publishers keep buying books from me, I'm happy.
What's next for you?
I'm in the middle of two contracts -- I've just turned in the second of my Kensington Brava trilogy which is scheduled for an October 2010 release and am about to write the third in my Harlequin Historical 'Knights of Brittany' trilogy. I have four books out this year:PLEASURABLY UNDONE!, an anthology of short stories from Harlequin Historical (these are previous ebooks released in print for the first time!) is out in April; UNDONE, an anthology from Kensington Brava is out in May; THE MERCENARY'S BRIDE, from Harlequin Historicals is out in July and A STORM OF PLEASURE from Kensington Brava in October. A busy year for me!
Where can readers find you?
(http://www.terribrisbin.com)
Your parting shot—
Just a word of thanks to Helen for doing this and I hope readers will give me a try!
Thank you, Terri.
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