The Story is About   +  space

Loretta Chase

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Which is why Lisle and Olivia find themselves in a gloomy Scottish castle inhabited by spiteful ghosts and craven murderers...and a shocking secret: the greatest peril of all may be burning within their own stubborn hearts.

Instead of the usual author interview, I, Olivia DeLucey Carsington –really the most interesting character brought to life in The Author’s many, many novels --have consented to act as Interviewer, bringing my perceptive intellect to the often boring, predictable -what? There’s only how much space allowed ?? Oh, alright then…. Let’s begin:

Your latest book, Last Night’s Scandal, features (the fascinating) Olivia and (the incredibly stubborn and annoying) Peregrine, who originally appeared as two children in Lord Perfect. You usually write about main characters who have a bit more life experience than these two. Why them? Why now? (Why not sooner?!)

How nicely you avoid saying that my heroines usually have a lot of miles on them. I’ll move past that. Why these characters? Well, first, it really came to me how little things have changed for women (and men) in that really important stage of finding out who you really are, what you like, what you want to make of your life—and not just in reaction to what your parents or society wants.

Olivia is rich, smart, and adventurous; society adores her (the newspapers reported on the rich and glamorous, then, too) even as they judge her for not just being average. Olivia isn’t ready to be average, and unfortunately, there aren’t nearly as many outlets for women’s creativity – like creating a clothing or perfume line, or being an actress, or… writing a book. If you were upper class, you got married, and your job was having children.

Peregrine has his own family issues—instead of his family wishing he would grow up and move out, he’s the only one with even one brain cell firing; has ‘moved out’ –to Egypt! (Almost far away enough to get away from his reality show of a family.) But they guilt him into ‘doing the right thing’.

Secondly—Olivia just would not shut up and stay in the background; I had to write her story just to get her out of my hair.

Was that really necessary? Could you tell readers a bit about my—I mean the-- story?

Last Night’s Scandal begins ten years after Peregrine and Olivia’s first adventure together. Though they’ve grown up, they’re still very much the people they were, and readers will notice parallels to the earlier story. As before, it starts in London. Peregrine is home for a visit—but his parents are still acting like adolescent drama queens, and he can’t wait to get away from them and go back to Egypt where he only has to deal with snakes, scorpions, plague, and murderous antiquities hunters.

This time, however, his parents are determined to keep him in England, which, as Olivia knows, will make him completely miserable. Since she’s having her own family problems, she manipulates the situation. As a result, they set off on a road trip, this time to Scotland, a place Peregrine hates – especially the bagpipes!

Rather than attempt a synopsis – which I’m horrible at and would be stupefying boring – I’ll invite readers to go to my website, where they’ll find a back-cover type summary as well as an excerpt.

Ok, back to the jaded, worn out—excuse me, more mature—characters. Were Peregrine and Olivia, being so much more vital and dynamic, more difficult for you to write?

It’s not very difficult for me because I’m so immature! The real problem was taking a pair of characters we meet as children; then working out the psychology of how they grow up, what they grow into, why they’re meant for each other, and how exactly their relationship evolves from friendship to love. I’m amazed it only took a mere four years to figure it out. (Olivia was very helpful, again.)

Thank you! Your heroines are so spirited, intelligent and independent. Do you set out to write them with a purpose or do they spring to life of their own accord?

They spring to life in my imagination. Those are the kinds of women who come to mind because those are the kind who appeal to me, who I wish I could be (who doesn’t like having the perfect comeback?!) , and the kind I think are right for my heroes. Women like strong, sexy, interesting heroes, men who are larger than life. It doesn’t seem fair to give that kind of hero anything less than a spirited, intelligent, independent woman. When he pushes, she should push back. In order to win her, he has to work at it. He has to prove he’s worthy of her. I try to create amazing men in my stories; they deserve amazing women – and vise versa

What is the most enjoyable part of writing a novel?

Dialogue. I love research, and the challenge of sliding it into the story unobtrusively. I love creating another world. If I can make myself laugh, that makes my day. But if I can make myself cry, that makes my day too.

How long does the research take on your novels?

A lot of time. I’m not sure what the proportion is, but it’s possible I spend as much time on research as on the story. Or it may be on third of the time is research and two-thirds is story.

Gads, I’m bored already. Name one eye-opening thing you learned from your book research.

Corsets of the late 18th and early 19th century are quite comfortable. It wasn’t until the development of metal grommets that women were able to compress their waists to the size of Scarlett O’Hara’s.

Which fictional character would you like to hang out with? (Besides the so-obvious one...)

Alice in Wonderland. I don’t know what medicine she was taking, but I want some.

And finally, what’s next for you, Loretta?

On the book front, I’m developing a new series, which will be set in England (mainly) in the 1830s and deals with three sisters from an aristocratic and thoroughly disreputable family (imagine distant cousins of yours, Olivia) who design fashion for the richest of the rich—and who use a combination of talent, imagination, wile and guile to try to catch the most important women as clients. It’s like Project Runway with corsets! The research is amazing – you think platforms are high now? In the 1500’s , women wore platforms over 12” tall; a cashmere shawl cost as much as a car.

—and don’t get me started on poufy sleeves.

The first book of the series starts out in Paris, during Longchamps, when the ultimate in high fashion is on display – this parade served as a sort of red carpet event. There will be fabulous clothes, gorgeous men and devious, ambitious women. The idea came while I was studying early 19th century women’s magazines, looking for ideas for a blog I do called Two Nerdy History Girls http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com) where historical novelist Susan Holloway Scott and I take readers behind the scenes of our books, to that dusty, spooky world of historical research we love so very much.

I love to share historical tidbits, advertisements, and samples of historical fashions The more I read the material the more intrigued I was by the women who made these clothes for the cream of society: the competition was intense and often unscrupulous. I loved the idea of my three designing women taking on the British aristocracy –and driving three unsuspecting gentlemen crazy!

Well, thank you for taking time out of your excruciatingly interesting life, Loretta. Now, if I could enquire about some of those dresses……

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