RS author Kendra Elliot interviews Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin
Today we have best-selling romantic suspense author Kendra Elliot (Buried is out now, and Alone arrives in January) chatting with fellow best-sellers Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin about their joint effort, Crash and Burn. Take it away, Kendra …
Kendra: I just finished reading Crash and Burn, a joint project from Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin. The book is two 150-page novellas, and each novella is written from the perspective of one of the private investigator partners, Krista Hart or Scarlet Moreno. Both authors created butt-kicking, fascinating female heroines, and each wrote a story that begs for more books from these characters. I was thrilled to pick their brains about this project.
How did you come up with the idea for a joint project? And why are you publishing it yourselves?
Allison: Laura and I had been talking about doing something together for a few years, but the timing wasn't right. When it was, we pretty much knew we wanted to write two strong female characters. We brainstormed a bit and came up with Moreno & Hart. As far as doing it ourselves, traditionally we're with two different publishers, and it would have been difficult to pitch the idea. Plus, it's not as long as our other books. It wouldn't work as well in print as digital.
Laura: We both really fell in love with this idea of a detective duo. The more we talked about it, the more I knew we had to write these two characters, Scarlet Moreno and Krista Hart.
Kendra: Why did you pick private investigators as a profession for your primary characters? Neither of you are from Los Angeles, correct? Why that location?
Allison: I lived in L.A. for three years, so I was comfortable writing about Southern California.
As far as private investigators — we wanted to give our characters the experience of law enforcement (hence, they have law enforcement backgrounds), but the flexibility of private investigation.
Laura: Yes, PIs have much more freedom than cops, which is great from a story-writing perspective. They can bend the rules, and they do!
Kendra: I noticed you both kept the same level of suspense, action, and romance in the two stories. How hard was it to collaborate and keep consistency in the two books?
Laura: Having read Allison's books, I'm very familiar with her story pacing. It fits well with mine, so that was never really an issue.
Allison: What Laura said. And we didn't really plan it out that way — I think we both naturally write with a similar rhythm, which made this project work so well.
Kendra: What did you do if the other author wrote something you couldn't stand? In other words, how did you handle disagreements?
Laura: We didn't have disagreements — just some story inconsistencies that had to be ironed out. We had talked through the characters, but I didn't really get to know Scarlet Moreno until I read Allison's story, and from there it was much easier to flesh out her role in my story.
Allison: I loved Laura's story from the beginning. I gave her some small notes. When she gave me notes on my story about how I portrayed Krista, which was inconsistent with her vision, it only took me five minutes to fix. Easy and painless.
Kendra: You both hint at a scandal that steers these former cops away from the LAPD and into private investigating. When will readers get the full story? How many books do you have planned for these women?
Allison: I definitely want to tell the story — though we don't know exactly what happened! (Note: Kendra's mouth drops open here.) For me, that's half the fun of writing a series, to have a secondary mystery that will eventually be solved. I have no idea how many books we'll write—we haven't thought that far ahead. I'd like to do a few — whether that's one more or 10 more, I don't know.
Laura: I'm loving these characters, and I can't wait to write their next episode! I'm especially interested to expand on the romantic sparks between Krista and her rival, R.J. Flynn.
Kendra: Laura, twice your heroine, Krista Hart, physically defends herself from and does a little damage of her own to some male jerks. How much fun to write are those action scenes?
Laura: I always enjoy the action scenes. For Krista, I learned all about tae kwon do so that she could go up against some bad guys much bigger than she is. Krista is a fun character to write because she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, whether it is mixing it up with an assailant or digging through a Dumpster to get information.
Kendra: Allison, I spent part of your story wondering if Scarlet Moreno would fall for the ex-con bartender. Will she someday have to choose between him and her romantic interest, Detective Alex Bishop?
Allison: No, Isaac isn't her type, though she likes him in a suspicious, I-don't-completely-trust-you type way. The real conflict will be with her ex-fiancé, Matt, a prosecutor, who didn't make an appearance in this story but I hope to bring in later. There are unresolved issues between them.
Kendra: Fast answer question time:
Last book you read:
Allison:Dead Suite by Wendy Roberts.
Laura:Voodoo River by Robert Crais.
Favorite vacation location:
Allison: Disneyland.
Laura: The beach.
Favorite dessert:
Allison: Tiramisu.
Laura: Chocolate anything.
If I'm not writing or reading, I'm …
Allison: Watching television or attending kids' sporting games.
Laura: Running kids around.
When and what is your next release after Crash and Burn?
Allison: I have two upcoming: Cold Snap, book seven in the Lucy Kincaid series, on Oct. 29, and then Notorious, the first book in a new hardcover thriller series, on April 8, 2014. Max Revere is an investigative reporter who will do anything to uncover the truth.
Laura: Next is Far Gone, which comes out in hardcover April 15. It's about an Austin police detective who goes to west Texas to save her brother from a criminal mastermind, then ends up getting involved with the FBI agent investigating the case. That book was an adventure to write, and I can't wait to share it with readers.
Kendra: Thanks, ladies! I wish you many sales!
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