Interview with Robin T. Popp

To kick off my new blog contest, I have interviewed Romantic Times BOOKlovers Reviewer's Choice Nominee for best Vampire romance - Robin T. Popp.

DG:Did you always know you wanted to write; when did you begin?

RTP:As a child, I was not much of a reader until my mother introduced me to the Nancy Drew Mystery series, then I was hooked. First it was mystery stories, then science fiction and finally romances. I read everything I could get my hands on and the more I read, the more I wanted to write my own story. I dabbled in junior and senior high school, had a few poems and short stories published in school publications, and by the end of high school, the only thing I wanted to be when I "grew up" was an author. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to go about becoming one and when I started college, the idea seemed to be unrealistic, so I gave it up and pursued a course of study to get a "real" job. Twenty plus years later, in 1999, I was told about an organization of romance writers (the Romance Writers of America) and suddenly the dream I'd written off no longer seemed impossible. TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN (Dorchester, 2003) was my first attempt at writing a novel and I was lucky enough to sell it.


DG: What do you enjoy most about writing? What is the most frustrating?

RTP: I love plotting stories. Finding the exact plot twist or conflict resolution is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, there may be several pieces that look right and will fit into a hole, but the key is finding the exact one that should go there. I also enjoy revising a manuscript, finding a better turn of phrase, tightening the writing.

The most frustrating part of writing for me is kicking out that first draft. It is absolutely painful and I hate doing it. About the only way I can get through this part of the process is if I isolate myself with a cup of coffee, my pocket pc (laptop or desktop won't work) and my iPod, kick on some tunes and plow through whatever scene I can think of to write. Fortunately, I'm a plotter and work from an outline, so I don't have to write in chronological story order.


DG:What do you consider to be the key elements of a great story?

RTP: Fast pacing, lots of conflict, action and story twists, a great romance and a satisfying story resolution - oh, and a happy ending.


DG:What is your favorite genre to read?

RTP:I love reading romances because you can get a little bit of everything in one genre - action, adventure, science fiction, paranormal, mystery, thriller - you name it. Within the romance genre, my favorite subgenres are paranormal, suspense and historical. I'm not really into humorous romances, though I've read some I enjoy, and I don't particularly care for sweet romances.


DG:Which author(s) is your favorite? And who has most influenced your work?

RTP: There are so many authors I enjoy reading - Suzanne Brockman, Anne Stuart, Maggie Shayne, JR Ward, Charlaine Harris - the list goes on and on. The authors who have most influenced my work, however, are the authors I read growing up, most notably, Jayne Ann Krentz, Sharon Green, Barbara Cartland, Robert Heinlein, Piers Anthony and Anne McCaffrey.


DG: Can you tell us about your journey to publication?

RTP: I started working on my first novel in 1999. It was a science fiction romance, titled TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN. This is the novel on which I learned the craft of writing. In 2000, I had a chance to meet with a literary agent who felt I had talent but would never break into publishing with a sci-fi romance and I was encouraged to shelve TCTTS and try my hand at writing suspense. I spent about a year working on a suspense plot involving terrorists attacking the US, but when 9/11 occurred, I lost my passion for the storyline. So I pulled out TCTTS, dusted it off, made a few revisions and submitted it to various writing contests. To my delight, it did surprisingly well, finalling in twelve out of thirteen contests and placing first in half of those. Out of one of these contests came a request for the full manuscript. This was early 2002 and the book wasn't finished, so I spent the next several months writing. I finished it on October 28, mailed it off to Dorchester on October 30 and received The Call from Dorchester on November 6.


DG: Where did you get the idea for your Night Slayer series?

RTP: I didn't want to get pigeonholed as a futuristic romance writer and told my agent I wanted to try my hand at writing a vampire story. She encouraged me to try and so I started working on plots, only to realize that every plot idea I came up with had already been done - and done well - by someone else. I turned to the internet to research vampires in hopes of finding out something new and different. In was in the midst of doing this research that I discovered the legendary creature known as El Chupacabra. I'd never read a story with el chupacabra and like those puzzle pieces I mentioned before, this just felt right. The Changelings in the Night Slayer series are the product of a compromise, actually. I wanted a classic vampire hero and my editor didn't want a vampire hero at all, so I invented the Changeling (half-vampire, half-human) as a compromise. It was a character that both my editor and I liked even more than our original ideas.


DG: Dirk Adams is a complex and intriguing character; could you tell us a little about his development?

RTP:I have to laugh when I think of Dirk. He was supposed to be like the guys in the red shirt on the original Star Trek episodes killed off in the first 15 minutes of the show. I introduced Dirk with every intention of killing him off in the next scene, but the minute he walked onto the page, I liked him. He as a man's man, but with a sense of humor and hidden emotional depths that come out a little in OUT OF THE NIGHT, but even more so in SEDUCED BY THE NIGHT. Orphaned as a child, always in trouble with the law as a teenager, Dirk learned early in life not to show his feelings or get too attached to anything. He knows all too well that life is temporary, so he grabs the good times while he can. When he first meets the heroine of SEDUCED, he knows instantly thLOL this is the woman he wants and he'll do anything to protect her. Granted, his behavior tends to be a little Darwinian, but that is because he learned early on that the key to survival lies in being the toughest.


DG: Can you give us a sneak preview of what reader's can expect from Dirk's stories?

RTP: Dirk is the kind of man who has learned to make the most out of life's challenges and because he doesn't expect much out of life, he doesn't really know what he wants, until he sees her. The minute he sees Bethany, he knows that he'll do anything to protect her. He hates that she's engaged to another man, especially one he doesn'’t consider worthy. He hates even more that when she discovers his true nature, she'll want nothing to do with him. The chances of a happy ending for him are small, but he'll still do whatever it takes to protect Beth from the vampires stalking her. Dirk's story is full of action, hopefully a few story twists and of course, a happy ending.

DG: What made you choose to write in this genre?

RTP: I love reading vampires stories.


DG: Please tell us about the projects you are currently working on.

RTP: Wow! Let's see. Right now I'm finishing the third Night Slayer story - TEMPTED IN THE NIGHT. It's scheduled for release in January 2007. This is Detective John Boehler's story - we met him in OUT OF THE NIGHT and then again in SEDUCED BY THE NIGHT. I'm also working on the fourth Night Slayer book, which takes the story to England and a branch of Admiral Winslow's family.

Also, I just finished a short story - GRAPES OF RAFE - in the anthology, BEWITCHED, BOTHERED & BEVAMPYRED, SEASON 2: FANGS AGAIN. This is a collection of short stories following the antics of a paranormal cast of characters first introduced in BEWITCHED, BOTHERED & BEVAMPYRED, SEASON 2. All author proceeds for these books goes to a designated charity. For BBB2: FANGS AGAIN, the proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Research. Some of the other authors contributing work to these stories are Kathy Caskie, Mary Janice Davidson, Susan Grant, Terey Ramin and Michelle Rowan.
The other project I'm working on is a new four-book Fantasy series by Dorchester - the IMMORTALS. I'm doing this project with series creator Jennifer Ashley and author Joy Nash. The four books follow each of four Immortal brothers striving to save the world from total destruction from a Demon and an insane Immortal bent on destroying the balance of living and death magic.


DG: Where can readers find your novel, and how can they contact you?

RTP: My current releases can be found at most bookstores. Earlier books can be special ordered. All of my books can be ordered from Amazon.com or you can go to my website and order from there. Also, I love to hear from my readers and you can email me from my website as well. www.robintpopp.com


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I hope you enjoyed the interview. From today through Thursday, everyone that responds to the blog this week will be entered for the chance to win the first in Robin's Night Slayer series - OUT OF THE NIGHT! Winner will be drawn on Friday.