Bulletproof Bodyguard by Kay Thomas
Recently I sat down with Kay Thomas to talk about her newest release, Bulletproof Bodyguard. Bulletproof Bodyguard is your third release, and it's an exciting premise. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea?
Bulletproof Bodyguard is about a young, widowed mother who is forced to help with a casino robbery on the Mississippi coast when her three-year-old son is kidnapped by 'guests' staying at her bed and breakfast. Her only hope is an undercover cop with a troubled past who must choose between saving his career and saving her child.
It's hard to believe that you're a "debut author"--your work is so polished. I have to ask: are you a plotter or a "pantser?"
Thanks, I appreciate your saying that. I am a pantser, who is working hard at becoming more of a plotter. I used to write myself into corners being a pure pantser, but selling on proposal has helped me in that area quite a bit. I like to know where I'm going, but I don't like to plan so much of the story out that I know everything before I start writing.
How difficult is it to weave together the romance and suspense in your books? One reviewer mentioned that you "let the romance build naturally" and I noticed the same thing.
I love to write very compressed timelines with a ticking clock. (As a writer this keeps me focused on making every scene count.)
For me that combination keeps the suspense tighter and the emotions of the characters rawer and much closer to the surface. My hero and heroine don't have time to dissect their feelings (like we do in real life.) They simply react and respond to circumstances around them. That lack of time for the characters to analyze the relationship, combined with the ticking clock is what I believe keeps the sexual tension building. For the reader, my hope is this "urgency" keeps one turning the pages and wanting to find out what happens next.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Would you have done anything differently on your path to publication?
Be Persistent- no matter what happens. You have to keep writing and submitting to get published, so don't stop doing either one.
Submitting your work to new places is the best way I know to get over a rejection, so when you get one of those dreaded letters (or emails), submit that work somewhere else before the end of the week. Preferably before the end of the day!
This is an extraordinarily subjective business. It just takes one "yes" to get your foot in the door.
I noticed that Better Than Bulletproof garnered a RT nomination for Reviewer's Choice Best First Series Romance. And this is in addition to a four-star review from RT and a nod from Barbara Vey of Publishers Weekly.
I'm still pinching myself over everything that's happened. As a debut author, 2009 was filled with many exciting firsts and people have been extraordinarily good to me--reviewers, bloggers, other authors. .
Exciting to think that Bulletproof Bodyguard is an April release. Are you heading to any conferences to promote the book, or guest-blogging?
I'm going to RWA in Nashville in July and I'll be at the Juke Joint Festival in my hometown of Clarksdale Mississippi, April 17th.
I'm guest blogging at the Romance Bandits on April 2nd and doing an online book club and other events over the next few weeks. Please visit my website for more details at www.KayThomas.net
What's next for you and your Bulletproof novels?
My next book is due to my editor at Intrigue in September with a release date for 2011. It's tentatively titled Bulletproof Hearts.
I love to write very compressed timelines with a ticking clock. (As a writer this keeps me focused on making every scene count.)For me that combination keeps the suspense tighter and the emotions of the characters rawer and much closer to the surface. My hero and heroine don't have time to dissect their feelings (like we do in real life.) They simply react and respond to circumstances around them. That lack of time for the characters to analyze the relationship, combined with the ticking clock is what I believe keeps the sexual tension building. For the reader, my hope is this "urgency" keeps one turning the pages and wanting to find out what happens next.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? Would you have done anything differently on your path to publication?
Be Persistent- no matter what happens. You have to keep writing and submitting to get published, so don't stop doing either one.
Submitting your work to new places is the best way I know to get over a rejection, so when you get one of those dreaded letters (or emails), submit that work somewhere else before the end of the week. Preferably before the end of the day!
This is an extraordinarily subjective business. It just takes one "yes" to get your foot in the door.
I noticed that Better Than Bulletproof garnered a RT nomination for Reviewer's Choice Best First Series Romance. And this is in addition to a four-star review from RT and a nod from Barbara Vey of Publishers Weekly.
I'm still pinching myself over everything that's happened. As a debut author, 2009 was filled with many exciting firsts and people have been extraordinarily good to me--reviewers, bloggers, other authors. .
Exciting to think that Bulletproof Bodyguard is an April release. Are you heading to any conferences to promote the book, or guest-blogging?
I'm going to RWA in Nashville in July and I'll be at the Juke Joint Festival in my hometown of Clarksdale Mississippi, April 17th.
I'm guest blogging at the Romance Bandits on April 2nd and doing an online book club and other events over the next few weeks. Please visit my website for more details at www.KayThomas.net
What's next for you and your Bulletproof novels?
My next book is due to my editor at Intrigue in September with a release date for 2011. It's tentatively titled Bulletproof Hearts.
Mary Kennedy is a clinical psychologist in private practice and the author of The Talk Radio Mysteries. She lives on the east coast with her husband and eight neurotic cats. The cats have resisted all her efforts to psychoanalyze them, but she remains optimistic.
ThrillerFest
ITW's annual celebration of the thriller world is the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals.
For 2011, we’ll be back in the heart of New York in July with the ThrillerFest conference including CraftFest and AgentFest.
ThrillerFest VI will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
The dates will be July 6-9, 2011.
More information to follow.
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