Midnight Brew with Lori Devoti

Today's guest grew up in southern Missouri. She attended college at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a Bachelor of Journalism; however, she worked in advertising. Now twenty years later, she’s writes dark paranormal romances and urban fantasy novels with a little death and a lot of adventure. These days Lori lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, son, and her two dogs (a shepherd mix and a Siberian husky). The Midnight Moon Cafe proudly introduces you one of Silhouette Nocturne's finest paranormal authors, Lori Devoti. MMC: Welcome to the Midnight Moon Café, Lori. When did you first become interested in writing paranormal romances? Lori: I probably always had an interest. I was reading fantasy long before I discovered romance, but for some reason when I really started taking writing seriously my first idea for a romance was a contemporary. Probably because, like a lot of writers, I had to get a certain amount of “me” out. My first two books are set in the Missouri Ozarks where I grew up—there’s a lot of “me” in those pages. But almost immediately after that I started working on paranormal proposals. The biggest move for me was from light to dark—going paranormal was easy, changing tone was an effort. MMC: Since you’re pubbed in multiple genres, do you approach writing a paranormal romance any differently than contemporary romance? Lori: I’ve changed a lot since those first two books, and I’m not really working on much that isn’t paranormal now. So, this is hard to answer, but probably it would be in the surprise moment. In each of my paranormals there has been something that came out while I was writing the book that I didn’t plan on. I can feel it coming and frequently as it is, I’m thinking, “You aren’t going to do that, are you?’ then bam there it is. Since these surprises always have something fantastical about them this just doesn’t happen in a straight contemporary. (FYI in Unbound, it was the snake men.) MMC: Let's talk a little about world-building in the Hellhound series. How did you come up with your backstory for it? And how does that setting affect your main characters? Lori: My back story evolves as I write. I’m not even sure what all my back story is yet for the Unbound world. There are the nine worlds. They came directly from Norse myth. I made the hellhounds hunters and the garm protectors. Those personality traits actually came from dogs I’ve owned. Some breeds instinctively want to hunt/kill and others to guard—although they will kill to protect. That made sense to me for my alpha heroes. They are all definitely alpha, but they come at things differently. There are so many little pieces to the world that add up to the whole a lot of it came from myth and a lot just from my brain. As to how it affects my main characters, having other worlds to go to and beings from other worlds visiting this world is key. Wild Hunt will be the first book that doesn’t use a portal to travel to somewhere else (at least in a major way), but there is still a different world of sorts that Venge visits. MMC: Tell us a little about the first book on the Hellhound series, Unbound? Lori: Risk (the hero) is a hellhound bound to an immortal witch. She gathers up other witches and drains them of their powers to increase her own, and she uses hellhounds from her kennel to do this. However, when she sends Risk to retrieve a witch who he learns is half of a pair of twin witches, he sees an opportunity to escape her. My heroine (Kara) is searching for her sister who disappeared a few weeks earlier. She teams up with Risk thinking is he trying to help her, when in reality he wants to use her and her sister to free himself. Of course, his motives soon change. The book was really well received—which was a thrill for me. And it’s a finalist in three contests right now: Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Eppies, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Unfortunately it is also out of print—but you can still buy an e-version new. (And, of course, win one here!) MMC: Your latest story in the Hellhound series, Guardian's Keep, was released back in January from Silhouette Nocturne. Give us the scoop! Lori: I switched from hellhounds to garm in this one. It’s Kara’s sister’s story and Kol’s, the bartender/guardian in Unbound. Kelly (Kara’s sister) blames Kol for her friend’s death (in Unbound) and is watching Kol because of that and because of a case she has. (She’s a private investigator of sorts.) Kol is attracted to Kelly, but knows he can’t trust her. He’s also under pressure from the Garm Council to keep his portal safe (important to him without their interference too). So Kelly is trying to shut down his portal and Kol is trying to figure out if Kelly is involved in attacks on his portal. I like this one because I think it is more urban fantasy in flavor and I love Kol. He is a bit of a smart ass. And there are fun beings—trolls, dark elves, dwarves, etc. MMC: What challenges did you face in the process of writing “Guardian's Keep”? Lori: Kelly was a stinker to write. I knew she would hit some readers wrong. Writing a strong woman is really hard. Kelly is one half of a pair of perhaps the strongest witches in my world, and she is trained in various forms of combat. If she had been a male character with this background, no one would have questioned when he went off on his own, but with a woman it’s different. She also has a non-trusting nature. Both of these things made writing her tricky. I had to soften her without taking away who she was. MMC: What’s your favorite aspect of the book? Lori: Lyngvi, hands down. I love that place. And I love the feil—who were, by the way, one of those things totally out of my brain. 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 and why? Lori: I am REALLY bad at this. I just don’t think this way. I don’t really visualize my characters a lot—although I did think of Risk in Unbound as being much more of a Viking than the model on the cover. The guy on the cover of Guardian’s Keep was great—except he needed blue eyes and maybe darker skin. MMC: What do you think is the key writing a truly memorable story? Lori: Emotion. You have to care about the characters which means they have to care about something—intensely. MMC: How about future releases, can you give us a preview? Lori: I have a June release, Wild Hunt. It is Venge’s (Risk’s son in Unbound) story. I think it may be my favorite so far because it has a lot of emotion, and some great new strong female characters (Valkyries and Norn). In December I have a vampire novella coming out in Nocturne’s Holiday with a Vampire anthology. The other author is Merline Lovelace. MMC: What keeps you writing day after day? Lori: I don’t know…I like the flexibility and I like writing, most of the time. I have to admit there are days it is a real struggle, but as other authors besides me have said, HAVING written is fabulous. I love that. And I adore getting fan mail or finding people talking about me (in a good way) on a blog or board. I feel a bit like a peeping Thomas, but it’s like Peanut M&Ms—if the bag (Internet) is open, you just can’t stop yourself… MMC: When not writing, how do you relax? Lori: I am a big reality TV addict. I love shows like Project Runway, Top Chef and America’s Next Top Model. (The idea for my second romantic comedy actually came from watching a reality TV show.) I also love to read (duh), and spin class. I lift weights too. MMC: What would you say are your three passions in life? Lori: The usual, family, dogs, etc. Actually, someone once called me a rebel without a cause because I can get fired up about anything. I think I’ve mellowed some in my old age though… MMC: What's something that your readers may not know about you? Lori: I’ll give you three. I can do the splits. My favorite color is red, and my favorite beer is Moose Drool. MMC: Do you have a favorite food/beverage/music do you always have on hand while you're writing? Lori: Not really—food is more of a break for me, although I do drink tea by the gallon, seriously. Ozarks girl, remember? Have to have my tea—brewed, none of that fountain stuff. MMC: Do you have a newsletter, blog, or website where fans can read about you and your books? Lori: I have a newsletter that I pretty much only send out right before a release, a blog and a web site. I’m also on every social network known to writers (okay, probably not, but it feels that way.) The first three you can all find at this link (then navigate around some) http://www.loridevoti.com And my favorite of the social networks are Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/loridevoti and Myspace http://www.myspace.com/loridevoti Thanks for being with us today! -------------- Contest Time!!! How would you like to win a copy of one of Ms. Devoti's Hellbound books. Ms. Devoti is giving away a copy of "Unbound." Risk Leidolf was a hellhound--a legendary, otherworldly creature who was both man and beast. For centuries, he'd been bound to do the bidding of a cruel witch queen. But after being ordered to destroy novice witch Kara Shane, the man within him rebelled. And the beast within him was held at bay--for now. Fiercely drawn to each other, Risk and Kara soon formed a passionate alliance as they set out to find her missing sibling--and the key to his salvation. For the power unleashed by the twin witches could free him from the witch queen's bondage. But that freedom came at a steep price. For the fierce battle would put more than one soul at stake--and two hearts on the line! Read excerpt. Here's how you can win. A winner will be chosen among those who post a comment here. This contest ends today at midnight, so hurry!