How long have you been writing? What and/or who inspired you to write?  

I’ve been writing since as far back as I can remember, about seven years old. I can’t nail down any one inspiration for my writing, except that I’ve always loved to read and make up stories.

How do you come up with the premises for your books? Do you generally write paranormals or do you vary your genres? 

Most of my stories are character- rather than plot-driven so I usually come up with my characters first, sometimes just the name or an image of whom I want to write about. After this, I free-write until I come up with an appropriate what-if situation and premise to suit my characters. 

Out of my eight books currently available and the seven due for release in the coming months, all have some paranormal element except two (Dancing in the Dark, a contemporary romance, and Miles to Go, a YA romance). Among the paranormal books, my work falls under other sub-genres such as urban fantasy, contemporary/mainstream or AA-multi-cultural romance. Aside from these variations, I generally do write paranormals. 

I noticed that all the books I read feature at least one African-American or mixed race character.  Do you plan on continuing that trend, and if so why? 

I grew up and still live in one of the biggest melting pots in the world—New York City. As I’m African-American and mixed race <g> this trend, more than any other I’ve followed, comes from writing what I know and definitely will continue. I don’t really go into my books saying this character is going to be AA or this character is going to be Latino, or Caucasian. The characters are who they are, and I build the stories around who they are and what they are. My writing process is symbiotic in that each element feeds off of the other (the multi-culti character’s roots seeping into the story and driving the plot, and the plot moving where its multi-culti characters take it.).  

I also noticed that you tend to focus on psychic abilities and/or shapeshifting paranormal abilities.  Will that continue as well? 

All of my upcoming books feature characters with psychic abilities and/or shapeshifting paranormal abilities. At least for the next several books that I can see, the trend will continue—it’s what I love to read and it’s what I love to write. 

Your stories are billed as erotic romance.  From reading them, I feel you focus much more on the romance part than the erotic, although your love scenes are somewhat explicit, more so with language than with "the action."  Why have you chosen to write using adult language even though you emphasize the relationship between your protagonists?  Have you ever considered writing mainstream romance?  Why or why not? 

If the adult language and situation suits the character and plot, I use it. I don’t think because the work focuses on the relationship or romance that this precludes the use of adult language and situations or vice versa. I try to deal realistically with all aspects of my characters’ relationship, from the language, to the on-screen sex and the romance. Some of my characters and their thoughts are more raunchy and gritty than others. For example, Jason Makepeace, the cow boss in Spells Cast in Shadows grew up an orphan and drifting and living around hard-living rodeo cowboys. He’s chivalrous like cowboys of yore, and doesn’t curse at all when many of the other characters around him do. I continue this trend in Manifest Destiny. Evelyn Vega, the heroine in MD and a divorced tough-as-nails Wall Street broker and closet romantic, even teases Jason about his decided reticence and non-gritty language. 

I’ve never purposefully set out to write a mainstream romance, though mainstream elements are most assuredly prevalent in all of my work, some more than others. I have an upcoming erotic paranormal romance, Between Darkness and Daylight that’s very gritty and mainstream in its theme but that still focuses on the relationship and romance between the protagonists and has the required HEA. 

Your stories are wildly imaginative yet feature ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.  Who has been your favorite hero/heroine?  Why? 

Being called wildly imaginative is a great compliment, and I thank you, Leah! It’s hard to pick a favorite heroine as I love all of them. If pushed, I would have to say I love Genesis from Guardian Seductress because she is so take-charge and strong, yet has a sympathetic side that makes her a perfect balance of hard and soft heroine with a resilient personality to accomplish a difficult and sensitive task. For heroes, I’d have to chose EJ Vega from Beneath The Surface.  Although I think all of my heroes are hot and sexy, EJ is the first hero where I pushed the erotic envelope. To say he’s sexually adventurous would be an understatement. I also appreciate his flirtatious and fun-loving approach to life and his ability to recognize a good thing when it comes his way and go after it in Tabitha Lyons with a single-minded determination and seriousness. 

I enjoyed all of your books, but I loved Beneath the Surface best.  Is this part of a continuing series?  How did you come up with the idea of writing a matchmaking sister with psychic abilities who wanted to "fix up" her family and friends?   

Beneath The Surface is one of my favorite books, and I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, Leah! It is indeed the first book in a series called The Matchmaker.  When I initially created EJ and Angela (his older matchmaking sister), I didn’t actually have a series in mind, and Angela didn’t have as major a role in the story as she’s come to now. I didn’t see her specifically as a matchmaker as much as I saw a character and plot device to get the hero and heroine together. Once EJ and Tabitha got together, however, Angela’s job was done, and she was supposed to sink into the background. But she didn’t exactly see things this way, and decided not to take a back seat. Her story-line and involvement evolved as did the story and her abilities. This, and I needed at least one other gifted character who could keep up with and complement EJ, and add that paranormal spice to future stories. 

Spells Cast in Shadows was very "fairy-tale" like, complete with creatures, tragedy and the quintessential good v. evil plot line.  Do you enjoy fairy tales and will we see more of this type of story in the future from you? 

Inasmuch as all of my books have a HEA, I suppose I do enjoy fair tales—reading and writing them. I definitely enjoy crafting stories where good triumphs over evil, everyone gets their just deserts in the end, and characters grow and learn from their mistakes. Seth, the centaur-turned-man and Alyosha the Fair Elf from Spells Cast in Shadows are featured in Manifest Destiny: The Matchmaker 3, albeit in subordinate roles, so I wouldn’t discount my writing more of these “fairy-tale” like stories in the future <g>. 

Guardian Seductress was a thrilling adventure ride and Genesis was a great heroine!  She certainly could set gender role assumptions on their ears!  Was it hard to write such a strong female character and will the rest of the books in this series feature one as well? 

Thanks Leah! I’m glad you liked the story and heroine in Guardian Seductress! It wasn’t hard writing Genesis at all. I enjoyed stepping out of my element to write her. All of my heroines and heroes have a balance of strengths and weaknesses to begin with, and Genesis was no different. What did make her different, strong and so much fun to write was her ability to adapt, grow, change and show vulnerability. I think these abilities are major strengths in any character and are what made Genesis so unique and a great heroine. I stepped out of my element even more to write LaMia, the heroine in Predator’s Salvation. Talk about setting gender roles on their ears! As you know LaMia’s the villain from Guardian Seductress, all alpha female and a dark heroine in dire need of redemption. Mateo Diaz is the hero I’ve created to tame and rein her in. 

How do you develop your ideas; does the same thing inspire all your stories?  

I do a lot of free-writing, trying out different situations, histories and careers until something clicks. I like to know my characters, and have at least a premise and title before I even begin to write. Sometimes a news story, a quote, a line of dialogue or an episode of a favorite TV show will inspire an idea (my current work-in-progress, an urban fantasy novella, was inspired by an episode of the original Start Trek, complete with a logical and detached heroine who just doesn’t get human beings’ sense of humor). Sometimes a movie will inspire a story (I came up with the characters and story for Spells Cast in Shadows while walking home from a showing of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Tolkein’s characters are so rich and his story so epic I wanted to create something comparable and that would affect and stay with my readers the way the movie affected and stayed with me. I’m not sure if I succeeded, but if readers find Spells Cast in Shadows a fraction as entertaining and satisfying as I found Lord of The Rings, then I know I’ve done my job.

Have you always written romance? Is there any particular sub-genre of romance that interests you the most?  

I started out writing mainstream fiction, my first published piece a mainstream short story that actually was pretty tragic, with no HEA whatsoever. I have a few horror short stories like this too, stories with up-in-the-air, The-Lady-or-The-Tiger type endings that leave readers to come to their own conclusions about what happens with the characters after the curtain comes down. All of my novels, however, have been romances no matter what the sub-genre (paranormal, erotic, YA, urban). I really do like HEAs. The sub-genres may change to suit whatever characters I’m creating at the time. Right now, I’m working on a couple of books in my two series (The Matchmaker and Sisters of Emsharra), so they of course are dealing with paranormal and urban fantasy elements. I’m most interested in characters with psi abilities and shapeshifting at the moment.

What influenced you to get published?  

The desire to share my stories and be read by a wider audience than just myself and a few family members and friends.

How long did it take you to get your first book published? How is being published in electronic format different from being published in print? 

It’s been a while since I published that first book, but from finished manuscript to acceptance I’d say it took a few to several months for New Life Incognita to see publication. That’s one of the major differences between e- and print publishing (or at least it was), the response time and speed of publication from acceptance. Since e-publishing has become so popular, and a viable avenue for aspiring authors, this has changed, so much so in some cases that some e-publishers are taking as long as print publishers to respond to queries. Another difference, in my experience, is the personal time and attention e-publishers give to their projects and authors, and the input the author is allowed in the overall process (editing, cover art, etc.). But maybe I’ve just been lucky this way.

Often a writer's first book is the toughest to write. Was this true for you? If it wasn't the first, which one was the most difficult to write? The easiest?  

I think the first book I wrote was easy because I was writing for fun and, initially, without an eye towards publication. These books I wrote before acquiring a publishing contract (and thus acquiring and writing under deadlines and other various stressors) were the easiest books I’ve written. The most difficult book to write was my sixth and upcoming book Eternal Designs. It took me a couple of years to finish this one, whereas I usually can finish a book from premise to end in about 4-6 months. The first book I ever published and not necessarily wrote was a joy to work on and I completed it in about 4 months. I didn’t decide to submit it until it was already completed and I participated in a Submit-or-Die challenge that one of my listserves was running. By then I’d seen a call for submissions from a new e-publisher that specialized in paranormal romance and “outside-the-box storylines and characters”, and thought New Life Incognita was a perfect match. The easiest book so far was Beneath The Surface. It was my first erotic romance, and I finished it in about two months. I took only two-and-a-half-weeks to finish my upcoming paranormal urban fantasy Predator’s Salvation, Sisters of Emsharra 2, but it’s technically only a novella, running at about 35,000 words. The characters and premise from Guardian Seductress were still fresh in my mind, so it was easy to jump back into and re-immerse myself in the Sisters’ world.

Do you usually outline your stories before you write them, or do you "go with the flow"?  

I usually go with the flow. I’ll have at least a premise before I start writing, and I may have a few basic prompts written out for the first couple of scenes and chapters. I don’t outline much more than this before I write, but I do like to have an idea of the story’s ending by the time I start so I know where I’m going. The rest of the book is a discovery process and journey to the ending. 

Your characters come to life in your books. Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you give an example? 

I’m glad my characters came to life for you, Leah, and yes, I feel each of them as if they’re real live people for as long as I’m writing them. If you count making me jump out of shower and running to my bedroom/office dripping wet to jot down a scene or piece of dialogue before I lose it as taking over a part of my life, then yes, my characters to take over a part of my life. Not to mention those sleepless nights where I stay up into the wee hours writing just one more scene, or finishing just one more chapter.

Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you?  If so, who are some of your favorites?  

Oh yes, I’m an avid reader of all sorts of fiction! Most of my favorite books are romances, but my tastes are pretty eclectic as a rule. Some of my favorite authors are (in no particular order, love ‘em all): Tina Wainscott, Octavia E. Butler, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jaci Burton, Joey W. Hill, Sage Burnett, Shannon McKenna, Lori Foster, Erin McCarthy, Elisa Adams, Lucy Monroe, Poppy Z. Brite, Stephen King, Nancy Kress… 

Have any of your favorite authors influenced your writing?

Tina Wainscott’s On The Way To Heaven was the inspiration behind my first published novel New Life Incognita, a New Age paranormal urban fantasy romance (psychic/reincarnation/wiccan). I admire the late sci-fi author Octavia E. Butler’s inventiveness, realism and multi-dimensional characters. Her world-building and controversial and provocative story-telling are all something I aspire to.

Has anything influenced you from movies or television?  

I know I mentioned Star Trek and LOTR earlier, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, to name a few favorite TV shows that influenced my love of paranormal and magic. One of my earlier published books is a djinni romance, albeit the hero is a bit of a removal from Jeannie. Actually, Kane from Desert Dreams is decidedly more bossy and demanding than most genies I’ve ever come across in my reading and TV/movie-watching, and not very subservient when it comes to his mistress, Therese Hunter <g>.

Do you find it difficult at times to write love/sex scenes? 

Over the years, and once I realized it was okay to keep the bedroom door open and show my characters together, I’ve grown to love writing love/sex scenes. It does get difficult sometimes being creative and not repeating the same old synonyms for putting slot A into slot B, but I enjoy the challenge of trying to be inventive and keep the sex scenes fresh between my heroines and heroes.

Have you ever suffered from "writer's block"?  If so, what did you do to get out of it?
 

Shhh, that’s a dirty term we don’t like to mention around here. I haven’t suffered in a long time (deadlines help keep me on track. I can’t afford to have “writer’s block” when I’ve got these hanging over my head). Now I just go through brief periods of inactivity between books, but they don’t last very long before I start another book. I’m a big proponent of free-writing and it helps me get most of my books started. 

Do you ever expect your books to become popular? If so, what need do you expect your books to fulfill for readers?  

I’d certainly like to think my books have what it takes to catch on and be popular, yes. I think my books definitely fulfill the need for readers who want to escape in intriguing and exciting worlds, engaging, colorful characters and innovative and realistic storylines. Beyond this, I just want readers to enjoy my work and be compelled to come back for more and more for as long as I’m writing. 

Can you give us a brief synopsis of your upcoming material?  

In my September 2006 release, Predator’s Salvation: Sisters of Emsharra 2, embittered after her exile from Emsharra, LaMia Enlil meets her match in orphan empath Mateo Diaz, whom she kidnaps and falls in love with. But can he forgive her for causing the deaths of his family years ago? http://www.sirenpub.com  

In my October 2006 release, Terms of Surrender: The Matchmaker 2 competitive advertising execs Nick and Slany have much more to worry about than just the branding campaign they have to work on for Everwell bank. A serial killer is on the loose at DMT, Inc. and thinks that Slany Breeze will be a perfect candidate for his special "training program".  http://www.sirenpub.com   

My November 2006 release, In Plain Sight follows Dara Kelly and Samantha Taylor who should not have died, but did. And now both women are on the trail of two men – one an abusive, cheating husband-turned-killer, the other a rival bounty hunter whom will not be bested by any woman. Each woman will have her revenge, but at what cost to Caution Foster, the man they both love? http://www.sirenpub.com  

In my December 2006 release, Between Darkness and Daylight, high school social worker Zane Youngblood wants to save the world one child at a time. His nephew and charge is a troubled and grieving teen looking for a savior wherever he can find them. Reluctant psychic, Nova Foxx, wants only to save them both. Somewhere between darkness and daylight they will all find and save each other. http://www.sirenpub.com  

In Eternal Designs, an erotic paranormal romance due early 2007, Gale Sinclair is a marriage counselor who has broken the cardinal rule of psychotherapy and fallen in love with one of his clients. Dying in a head-on collision and returning to life in the body of Zoelle Sutherland's estranged husband turns out to be the least of his worries. http://www.sirenpub.com  

In Manifest Destiny: The Matchmaker 3 due in mid-2007, older city slicker Evelyn Vega receives a two-week vacation package to a dude ranch as a birthday gift. Her arrival at Freeborn Ranch incites younger cowboy Jason Makepeace’s temper but, more importantly, spurs his late-blooming fey gifts into action. Evelyn thinks the gorgeous cow boss will be the perfect vacation fling, but gets more than she bargained for when she realizes that Jason has wife, kids and picket-fence written all over him. http://www.sirenpub.com  

Are you working on anything else right now and if so, can you tell us about it?  

I’m laying the groundwork now for another story in the Sisters of Emsharra series for an anthology, but the writing is still in its early stages and I can’t mention much more than this.

Any final advice to aspiring authors? 

Nothing particularly profound or new except, don’t give up your dreams. And one more thing that I’ve found inspiring and helpful when I sometimes get so overwhelmed with balancing the day job with the business side of writing and the creative process: “If He brought you to it, He’ll bring you through it.”  

Do you have anything to add? 

Readers interested in sampling some of my work, learning more about me, my publishers, and/or purchasing my books, may visit these websites and blogs:

http://www.graciecmckeever.com

http://www.sirenpub.com

http://www.awe-struck.net

http://www.fictionwise.com

http://www.myspace.com/graciecmckeever

http://www.blog.myspace.com/graciecmckeever

http://sirenauthors.blogspot.com/

At this time, I’d like to send out my thanks to Love Romances for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself and my work. I’d also like to give a special thanks to you, Leah, for taking the time to conduct such a well-thought and enjoyable interview! I appreciate the wonderful experience your thoroughness provided!