An interview with Barbara Samuel

by Mary Jo

Barbara Samuel is one of the best respected authors in romance.  She’s written category (as Ruth Wind), single title contemporary, historicals, and paranormals of various types.  She has a shelf full of RITAs and twice had books named as RWA favorite books of the year.  In other words, Barbara rocks! 

She teaches online classes and her most recent women’s fiction, Madame Mirabou’s School of Love, was so wonderful that I not only reread it, but I’ve just booked a B&B to spend a few days in Manitou Springs, Colorado, where Madame Mirabou is set.  (See more of her work at www.barbarasamuel.com )

Barbara Samuel is also one of the authors in Dragon Lovers, along with Jo, Karen Harbaugh, and me.  Barbara, the other three novellas in the anthology are more or less historical, while “Dragon Feathers” has a contemporary setting.  Could you tell us something about how you came up with the idea?  What themes were you working with in the story?

BARBARA:  My roots are deep in the southwest, and when the dragon ideas came up, we were actually sitting in a cafe in Santa Fe, so I wanted to brainstorm something in that arena.  Qzecoatl is an Aztec god—a feathered serpent—and seemed perfect for my springboard.   Santa Fe is also one of my favorite spots, so it was an obvious choice of setting.

MJP: Except for your historicals, most of your books are set in your native Southwest.  Could you talk a little about how that sense of place colors your fiction?

BARBARA:  As a writer sense of place is absolutely key to the work—the stories arise from their settings, because I believe humans are shaped by their environment, physically and socially.  The southwest, with its dramatic mountains and skies and vast inland seas of prairie and desert, is a vivid landscape with a fascinating history and blend of cultures that I find absolutely fascinating.  It's a land that requires cleverness and integrity.  It will test you—all through the southwest are tales of the land calling someone, or chasing them away.

MJP: Your novellas all seem to be paranormal, so I presume you like these opportunities to play with magic and dragons.  Have you wanted to write longer paranormal books?

BARBARA:  I've always been a big reader of sf/f, from way way back—everything from Twilight Zone to Bradbury to Tales to Tremble By.  My scholastic book order was packed with fairy tales and ghost stories, and I collected ghost stories and reincarnation novels in particular.   I'd love to do a big juicy ghost and/or reincarnation tale, something dark and intensely romantic and over the top—I  think it would suit my voice.  But there are only so many hours in a day!

MJP: I know people who still yearn for more Barbara Samuel historicals.  What
did you like about writing them that was different from writing contemporaries?
Do you think you might ever do more?

BARBARA:  I'm a restless Gemini and can't stand to write the same thing all the time, so I seriously miss writing historicals and would happily have continued writing contemporaries and historicals forever. I felt that my brand of historical fell out of fashion for a bit, so I focused on other realms.  I'm thinking about doing more now that the pendulum is swinging again.  We'll see.

MJP:  Now for the more general questions.  How long have you been writing?

BARBARA: Since fifth grade.  I wrote five novels in spiral notebooks before I graduated from high school.   I've been publishing almost 18 years. (Wow--how did that happen?!)

MJP:  What was your first book, and how well do you think it characterizes your latest work?

BARBARA: My first published novel was Strangers On A Train, by Ruth Wind.  It was a Silhouette Special Edition about a classical music composer whose husband had committed suicide. She falls in love with a literary western writer who pens tales of the Native American west.....hmmm.   Yes, there's my theme: redemption. Rising from the ashes.  Every single book, even if I try not to do it.   Also, the musical angle and the animals.  There are animals, food, music and redemption in everything I write.

But we all do that.   Someone said we are all writing to answer a particular question about life.  Mine appears to be: how do people weather the trials of life? How do you rise after destruction or sorrow to find a triumphant life?

MJP: This is a theme that fascinates me also, Barbara.  This is probably why I’ve loved your books ever since a friend of mine said I had to read Ruth Wind.  I did, and she was right.  <G> 

What was the biggest mistake you made when you first began writing?

BARBARA:  Taking a pen name that was so wrong on so many levels!  Ruth is dated and the W makes you get on your knees to find it!

MJP:  Which book, if any, was the most difficult for you to write, and why?

BARBARA:   A Piece of Heaven, though I ended up loving it.  I wrote nearly 300 pages before I realized it wasn't a first person novel, and I needed the mosaic of all those viewpoints. (I think it ended up with six or seven narrators).   To this day, it remains one of my favorites, though, so I guess difficulty is not always an indication of how it will turn out.

MJP: What do you consider key elements of a great story?

BARBARA:  A sense of immersion and illumination.  I want to fall into a book and drown in it and never want to leave it.  It can be funny or intense or dark or terrifying, but I want to dive all the way in. When I'm writing, that's the experience I hope to offer my readers.

MJP:  Are there any trends you hope to see in romance in the next few years?

BARBARA:  It would be nice if there was more variety on a regular basis.  I love all kinds of stories, but it bugs me when all the publishers climb on one bandwagon—chick lit or vampires or babies & brides or whatever the flavor of the month is.  What if there is lots of variety all the time? Costume dramas and big sweeping historicals and vampires and babies (maybe not together) and medievals and ghosts and Regency and ---

Barring that, I would like to see that pendulum swing away toward dark historicals again. There have been some published all along, but that tends to be my taste, and I miss them.

MJP:  What is the best part about being a writer?  The most frustrating?

BARBARA:  The freedom and excitement.  The ups and down.

MJP:  What are you working on now?

BARBARA:  I just finished a big juicy foodie-sort of novel.  I had a blast with it.

Oooh, sounds wonderful!  I’ve read some of your writing on food, and it’s so delicious it makes me want to eat the page. <g>  In fact, I just printed a spinach soup recipe off your blog, www.awriterafoot.com

Thanks so much for visiting us, Barbara.  Dragons Forever!

Mary Jo

Comments

[Jo Beverley]

Jo here. Welcome to Word Wenches, Barbara!

I'm a big fan, too, of course and I love the way your characters have real and powerful things to deal with, and yet the stories are never heavy.Your story in Dragon Lovers is so full of sensory pleasures.

I'll pose another question. Is there any sort of fiction you'd love to try but haven't found the time yet?

You're very hard working, too!

Jo

[Nina P]

Good Morning, Mary Jo. Great interview. Excellent questions.

Hello Barbara! Welcome to Word Wenches. I'm really looking forward to DRAGON LOVERS. (It has been on pre-order at Amazon for what seems like forever.)

If I may, I'd like to throw a few questions into the soup pot.

First, why do you write? What propelled you past the fear of exposing your work (if you had that fear) and into the choice to "send it in"?

Second, I too, prefer to read and write darker novels. I believe this comes out of who I am and the driving theme behind my work (though I’m adapting to the market :-)). Considering the somewhat cynical nature and paranormal mindedness of generation entering the workforce, do you think the market will grow? Or do such things not affect the publishing market?

Finally, I’ve not read any of your work and I’m dying for something both romantic and dark. (With all of Wenches books read, I’ve been on a Heyer kick here of late.) Which of your books would you recommend?

Thanks,
Nina

[Barbara]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm so happy to see our beautiful book on the shelves--we have so much fun with these novellas it's just sinful.

Great question, Jo. I haven't written any straight fantasy, though I'm sure I'd love it.

Nina, very rich comments, thanks. Let me do my best to answer them with as much intelligence....

Getting past fear of exposure was not my problem. I deeply wanted to see my work bound and printed and on the libaray shelves (in the card catalogue!) so my drive was to that end. For writers who might have that fear of exposure, I'd say to try doing it in smaller bits in safe settings--first by showing it to someone you're fairly sure will have tastes close to yours, then branching out. Or take a pen name and pretend it isn't you!

I do think darker work is showing up again, probably in response to a world reality that's challenging. Paranormals have returned to the roots of alpha males and extreme stakes, so I like to think that will show up more in other historicals, too. They've been there right along, of course, but not in huge numbers.

A suggestion of a dark and romantic book of mine? My personal favorite is NIGHT OF FIRE (not to be confused with Karen's Night Fires! :)), which has an awful cover, but is quite juicy and dark and intensely romantic. In medievals, one of my favs is HEART OF A KNIGHT.

Barbara

[Joelle]

At last, I could post again... Impossible to join for more than 10 days !!!!
THANKS May Jo for this interview with the great Barbara Samuel. "A piece of heaven" is my fav from her... What a lovely and moving story !

Love from JOELLE

[Nina P]

Thank you, Barbara, for the wonderful answers.

I'm definitely of the mind to take a pen name and pretending I'm somebody else. It's probably the only thing that will keep me from wearing a permanent blush.

I checked out NIGHT OF FIRE on Amazon. Wow! Is there a way I can purchase the book so you can get the credit or must I buy used?

[Patricia Rice]

Barbara, so wonderful to have you here! Like MJ, I scarf up all your books. The visual and aural sensations you imprint on your prose are as good as a movie screen for me. I don't have any questions, just wanted to say hey!

[Karen W.]

Barbara, I'm a "squealing fangirl" when it comes to your books since you're one of my favorite writers. I enjoyed the interview and as always, look forward to your next book!

[Janga]

I finally found Dragon Lovers at Barnes & Noble. Yeah!

I am both a Barbara Samuel and a Ruth Wind fan and have been for years. Context is important to me, and I can count on your books always to have substance and context. No Place Like Home and In the Midnight Rain are among my all-time favorites.

My question: how do you always manage to grab your readers by their heartstrings?

[Sherrie Holmes]

Hi, Barbara. When Faery Magic came out umpteen million years ago, I spent the whole day with Karen Harbaugh at a book signing in Tacoma, WA. We had a blast. She sat at the table and smiled, pen poised, while another friend and I roamed the bookstore, snagging unsuspecting browsers and dragging them over to Karen's table. Sort of the wrestling tag-team method of booksignings! *g*

I look forward to reading Dragon Magic, with the same old gang of authors! Enjoyed your interview very much!

[Maggie Robinson]

Barbara, I just checked out your sites and am enticed to look for you in bookstores. Even your blog is compelling (and it's made me sooo hungry). Thank you for the WW interview.

[maryjoputney]

From MJP, trying again to see if Typepad will let me post:

Joelle, I'm glad your computer has allowed you to come back!

Nina, you could have fun with a pseudonym--you can invent the author-character and wear dramatic hats and generally be someone else. :)

And Barbara, I hope you answer Janga's question about how you so efficiently grab the heart strings! I want to know how you do that, too.

Thanks again for visiting--

Mary Jo

[Barbara]

I am so sorry to drop out of sight yesterday! I spilled a few drops of coffee on my keyboard, and it was just enough to gum it all up.

So, hoping better late than never...

Nina, the historicals are all OOP, so don't feel badly about buying it through a used seller. If your taste runs at all to women's fiction or contemporaries, there are highly emotional stories in print in my books from Ballantine.

Hi, Janga! Not a bit of a tough question there! :) I think I like stories that are very emotional, so the strong emotional angle is always part of my set up. It helps that survivors and redemption are my theme--renewal is always emotional.

Maggie, I hope you'll try one and find it to your taste. heh heh

Thanks again for allowing me to visit! Please come visit me anytime, all of you.

Barbara