Midnight Brew: Lynda Hilburn

After writing nonfiction for the last 20 years, Ms. Lynda Hilburn began exploring my interest in paranormal fiction about two years ago. I especially enjoy vampire fiction and am in the midst of writing a contemporary paranormal w/romance elements. In addition to writing, I make my living as a Licensed Psychotherapist, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Professional Intuitive and Psychotherapy Group Facilitator, plus I teach for a local university, along with offering classes, workshops, and lectures on various topics as part of my private practice. The Midnight Moon Café has the pleasure to welcome Ms. Lynda Hilburn! MMC: Do you remember the first paranormal romance you ever read? LH: Well, that requires a longer answer! Prior to three years ago, I didn't know there was any such thing as paranormal romance. I'd been a paranormal fan since I was a kid, but I didn't know that romance came in that flavor! One day a student in a class I was teaching in my living room starting looking through my books and asked if I'd read a certain author (Laurell K. Hamilton). I'd never heard of her. My student said I had to read about the sexy vampire Jean-Claude. Yikes. Some people might not consider the Anita Blake books to be romance, but they are to me! Jean-Claude is still my favorite paranormal being. After reading LKH's books, I went hog wild and took out every paranormal romance my library had. Now I'm addicted! MMC: When did you first become interested in writing paranormal romance? LH: The answer to that follows from the one above. I started reading lots of paranormal romances and thought, hmmmm. I'll bet I could write one of those. Well, writing one myself turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. I'm still learning. My first completed manuscript (still unsold, but fingers crossed that the agent isn't using it to prop open his door) is a paranormal with romance elements. That's because the heroine can't choose between the two guys she's involved with at the end of the first book. MMC: Who influenced you the most in your writing? LH: Before writing fiction, I wrote/read nonfiction for years. Books like "Illusions," by Richard Bach, Carlos Casteneda's fantasy realism, lots of metaphysical books like the "Seth" material by Jane Roberts, and the crazy fiction of Tom Robbins. And I was heavily influenced by Anne Rice. And, of course, "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. MMC: How important is world building in your stories? LH: I tend to write contemporary stories, probably because I'm too lazy to create a unique world. I love writing about the nuances and quirkyness of our everyday world. And I like imposing something strange and weird on top of the "normal." MMC: How much time do you dedicate to research? LH: Not much. I tend to write about things I already know. But ask me that in a few years, after I've branched out beyond what my brain already has stored away! MMC: You do psychic consultations, besides reading the tarot and hypnotherapy. Does any of this filters into your stories? LH: Absolutely. All my stories (under my name, as opposed to my pen name) involve elements of the psychic/metaphysical. All my vampires are marvelous at trancework. I'm brainstorming a story (series?) about a psychic. I'll have to make her extraordinary, so we'll see what she wants to get into. All my characters are some aspect of me (for good or not!). This character will be able to do incredible things with her mind! MMC: In your opinion, what are the necessary elements for a good paranormal romance story? LH: Characters are everything for me. I'm much more concerned about the layers within and between people than I am about the outer environment. Maybe that's another reason I write contemporary. I don't want to have to worry about the outer world, so I can explore the characters' inner worlds. I'm not good at writing alpha males. I guess mine would be considered intellectual/alpha-ish beta males. Seems all the characters I write are cerebral. My alter ego is writing a novella where the characters started out being very active and ass-kicking, but - before the end of the first chapter - both of them started saying clever things. But a little ass kicking actually does go on (in between the sex sessions)! Or at least as much as any of my characters can do! MMC: What makes a vampire so appealing to the female readers? LH: All the vampire archetypes are powerful. I know the most about the archetype that appeals to me: the extraordinary male. The man who'll never be "ordinary," who'll never get a beer gut and sit around watching TV. The man who is magical. Who needs me so badly that he'll literally perish if I don't share my life's blood with him. My life force. Who could resist being needed that much? A man who can read my every mood, my every thought and emotion. (Of course, there is a downside to that!) Some of us like to fantasize about being overpowered. Captured and pierced (in lots of ways). Consumed. MMC: Where do you see the evolution of the paranormal sub-genre going? LH: Well, for me there's always been paranormal. It was adding romance to it that came as a surprise! I think vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, and other creepy crawlies will always be with us. Other creatures will emerge from the darkness, too, like the hunky dragon in "Witchling." MMC: I read "Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker" (I must admit I was drawn to the title), and it was hilarious. How did you come up with it? LH: Ah, that's sweet to say! I wrote the story for possible inclusion in an anthology (where they wanted the vampire to be the main character and to be slightly odd), which never happened. I tried and tried to sell the story, and publishers/editors mostly assumed it was a HEA romance and then were disappointed (which is putting it mildly in some cases) to find out it was a humor thing with no HEA. It originally had another name, but I thought I'd better think up something that actually represented what the story was about, and the style of the presentation. So I combined "diary" with "narcissistic" and "bloodsucker" and it seemed to work. I'll write more stories in Zara's universe one of these days soon. MMC: Your must recent story is "Trick or Treat." Tell us more about it. LH: That's a Hera St. Aubyn story. She writes much spicier/hotter than I do. That little story (she tells me) was the product of her twisted little mind. It was actually an attempt to write a HEA. She just couldn't do it. Or, at least, not exactly. She got all the way to the end and then had to pull the rug out. It's about the first meeting of Natasha and Victor in an old mansion. Clothing definitely gets torn off and passion happens! She also has a story coming out one of these days soon called "Vampire of my Dreams." She has a blurb up on her blog. MMC: Who is your sexiest hero to date and why? LH: I think it's the hero of my novel (the one hopefully not propping the agent's door open). He's an 800-year-old, gorgeous, blond vamp. Who owns a club in Denver (actually I based the idea of this club on a place that really exists.) He makes the heroine do all kinds of juicy things just by locking eyeballs with her. MMC: Let's say you've just landed a movie deal, and you get to pick the actor who'll play the hero from your latest book. Who would you pick? LH: I've been looking for photos to represent the hero mentioned above, and I can't find anyone who fills the bill yet. He has to have long, light blond hair and lovely turquoise eyes. Body to die for, of course. Wears a lot of designer leather. He appears to be about 30 in human years. I'll have to put my thinking cap on! In fact, maybe I'll ask your readers for suggestions! MMC: Do you have a newsletter, blog, or website where fans can read about you and your books? LH: Why, yes I do! Thanks for asking. My website has everything that I do (counseling, hypnotherapy, hypnotherapy CDs, tarot, email workshops, writing): http://www.LyndaHillburn.com/ My paranormal blog is called Paranormality Universe. Hera St. Aubyn has a blog, too: http://herastaubyn.blogspot.com/ If (I mean WHEN) I sell my novel, I'll get a separate website just for the books. Thank you Lynda for sharing your time with us! ********** Contest time! Ms. Hilburn has graciously offered two prizes for two lucky blog readers: 1. A free download of Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker 2. A brief, email Tarot reading. The person who wins the Tarot reading can email me with some questions and I'll answer them! How can you enter? Read on... Since Zara (the vampire) is into revenge in the book, answer the following question: Revenge is sweet (or so we hear). Have you ever fantasized about doing something awful to an ex or somebody else? What would you do to get even? Send your responses to Lynda at BoulderBoomer@aol.com. She'll pick two names, one for the free download of Diary of a Narcissistic Bloodsucker and one for the tarot reading.