Meet Lara Temple - Part 2

1  I hope you enjoyed the first part of the interview with  Harlequin Historical author Lara King.

Today she's back to  answer the  second set of my questions - and talk about her experience with the So You Think You Can Write Contest  

        Don't forget to answer Lara's question in the comments to be in with a chance of winning a copy of one of her great books.

         Once again - thanks for joining me on my blog, Lara!

          You submitted  Lord Crayle’s Secret World for the So You Think You Can Write contest 2014.  What was that experience like?

That was truly an amazing experience! It was my mother’s idea in the first place to finally dust off one of the stories I had written and do something about the unspoken dream. It was one of those what-the-hell-let’s-just-do-it moments and quite frankly I never thought anything would come of it. When I received the email saying I made it to the top 25, I was so shocked I can still remember my cheeks tingling. For a moment I just didn’t believe it. I had read many of the other submissions and I thought there were so many wonderful ideas I didn’t allow myself to hope too much. Then they called to say I had made it to the top 10 and the real shocker came when they actually said they were interested in the book. That was pure joy!

2.         Did you have to do a lot of revising on the original submission?

I did actually. The original story was way too long (almost twice the length of Harlequin Historicals) and had a lot of historic and political detail in it that just didn’t fit the genre. I also had to intensify the emotional conflict, which was much more fun than the brutal chopping I had to do on the length. So it was quite an education but luckily I have an amazing editor who often sees the trees through my forest and she really helped shine light on what worked and what didn’t. It was a difficult but an invaluable process. I wrote the second book with much of what I had learned in mind so it needed less revisions, and the third was even smoother. Like everything else, writing is both an art and a craft and I spend a lot of time honing the craft part. In that sense I’m glad I had to really slog through revisions the first time round.

3.       What was it like to receive ‘the call’?

It was already exciting to have Harlequin interested in a manuscript in the first place, but I knew at any point during the revisions they could say ‘thank you, but no thank you’ so when my editor actually called me directly I was still so ready for rejection my brain was in such serious delay that the words ‘two book contract’ sort of floated around for a few blank seconds before making a very thumping and joyous landing. I don’t quite recall what I said (other than ‘Yes!’) but I don’t think

 it showed any sign of intelligence…I remember clutching my tea mug very hard!

4.       Your second book, The Reluctant Viscount, is published this month– can you tell us something about this new novel?

The Reluctant Viscount is about the impact of betrayal, the scarring it causes, and the possibility of redemption that comes from learning to trust (and love) again. Adam is betrayed first by a spoiled beauty who uses him to capture a wealthy husband and then by his family and community. Ten years later he returns, wealthy, titled, cynical, and determined to have nothing to do with the people who rejected him. Alyssa was barely eighteen but secretly in love with Adam when the drama unfolded. In the decade that passed she has managed to shake her wild and eccentric upbringing to become a very proper young woman. But when Adam is framed for murder she has to risk everything by entering a sham engagement. Luckily they find that trusting each other has unforeseen and, in the end, quite happy consequences.

5.       Is Alyssa another unconventional heroine?

Alyssa is an unconventional heroine trying very hard to be conventional. I liked the way Adam and Alyssa start out on opposite ends of the respectability spectrum and then swing radically to the other end of it before both each finding a happier middle through their relationship. The idea that love and acceptance can help each other find emotional fulfilment and equilibrium is an important theme for me.

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6.       Finally, what are you working on now? Can we hope to see another new Lara Temple on sale soon?

I just finished my third book and am doing revisions (though I don’t have a publication d

ate yet), and am almost done with number four (she says hopefully). They are both strong and sexy but one is set in London and is about emotional scars caused by loss and guilt (and about a Duke and a pug named Marmaduke) and the fourth is set in the peninsular wars and is about conflicting loyalties and choosing to love (soldier vs. spy). And in each case I am so happy with my hero and heroine – I always have a hard moment handing them over to be loved or (possibly) hated by others.  And in between I am still reveling in the fact that this is now my job – I still can’t quite believe it.

Lara's  Question for giveaways   - Please post your answer in the comments to be in with a chance for a giveaway of one of Lara's books.

Both Sari and Alyssa are not your run of the mill regency misses. History is full of unconventional heroines and I am always on the lookout for real life examples – do you have a favorite unconventional historical heroine?