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AN INTERVIEW WITH SHANNON MCKENNA
ROMANTIC-SUSPENSE AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIR
By Reese WitherforkTHE INTRODUCTION
Shannon McKenna: One Hell of a Writer
I first bought one of Shannon McKenna’s romantic suspense novels after being intruiged by the write-up on the back cover - I took the book home, stuffed my nose into it, and "OH MY GOD THIS WOMAN CAN WRITE" was all anyone heard from me for the next few days. Dishes piled up at chez-Witherfork, children went un-bathed, I re-directed my phone to the answering machine, and I, Reese Witherfork, was fully convinced that THIS is what romantic-suspence was meant to be. That was a few years ago, and I'm STILL convinced.
Shannon McKenna is the only writer whose books I auto-buy. Her stories are dark, dangerous, sexy, and utterly captivating; her plots are the kind that grab you by the throat and won’t let go; her writing is insanely beautiful, completely spellbinding. As for her heroes ... let me put it this way, one of her love scenes alone is worth the cost of the book (I am NOT bullshitting you here).
If you've already read her books, you'll need no convincing. I cannot possibly gush enough about this writer, but if you haven't read a Shannon McKenna book - do yourself a favor and pick one up. Trust me, you'll thank me later.
Shannon McKenna is originally from the United States, but she now lives in Southern Italy with her husband and their one year old daughter.
You can visit Shannon's website at http://www.shannonmckenna.com/.
THE INTERVIEW:
R.W. In your first novel-length book, "Behind Closed Doors," the hero was a security expert. He had a million different electronic gadgets - and you precisely described the function of each one. It would have taken me three years to do all that research! How did you do it?
S.M. All the research for Behind Closed Doors was done in two or three weeks, and all on the Internet. Since I live in a small town in Italy, I don't have any access to libraries or bookstores with books in English, so I found a gazillion sites with various incomprehensible technical information in them, and just manipulated it all until it sounded halfway plausible to me. I did find a really excellent site of a bug-sweeping firm that gave me lots of ideas. It was hard, though. I am not a techie.
R.W. Does living outside of the States effect the amount of publicity you can do for your books? A lot of writers give workshops, attend book signings, etc. which you're probably unable to do. Does your editor wish you'd move back?
S.M. Yes, it's true--I can't do any of that publicity stuff from over here in Italy, but I'll be quite honest--I'm just as glad. I'm quite a shy person. The idea of a book signing makes me queasy. The idea of a workshop, even worse! Imagine, me up there trying to act like I'm an expert. Pfft! I'm a rank beginner with terror in my heart every time I look at the blank page or the empty screen, cursor blinking . . .
Besides, people tell you such contradictory things about the real efficacy of all that publicity stuff--some say it helps, others say it's a waste of time better spent writing and the only worthwhile publicity is getting on TV or Oprah or some such. Who knows? Thankfully, for me, it's a moot point! I'd rather just hang out in my comfortable anonymity in Italy and send my books over the Atlantic to do their thing all on their own.
R.W. I read somewhere that the average Italian has seven wristwatches. Are Italians the most stylish people in the world? Can you describe for us some of the styles you’re seeing on the street this season?
S.M. I'm the last person one should ask about fashion, I'm afraid! I think you're dead right about wristwatches and Italians being stylish, but I am just so not myself, I am the despair of my in-laws. When I first got here, they would look at me in horror when I wanted to go out on the street in jogging shoes. As if I were going out in my underwear. It's Just Not Done. It's true--Italians spend gazillions on their clothes. And it's also true that they look just great, as a rule. They also tend to be really good looking. I don't know--those mediterranean genes, maybe.
When I first came here, I had all these loose baggy funky hippy girl clothes, and bit by bit, I realized that I had to adapt, and started getting rid of it all and getting more classy, form fitting stuff. Then I got pregnant--and had nothing at all to wear! Boy, did I feel silly. Now I'm nursing. And I still have nothing to wear. (sigh.) Clothes are a great trial to me. Living in Italy has taught me that dressing well is a full time job, and I only have time to dress my baby. I'm lucky if I get to comb my hair and brush my teeth! But I'm not whining, oh no, not me . . .
R.W. I'm really interested in the experience of expatriate writers. Do you find that a lack of constant exposure to the English language poses challenges to your writing? When searching for the right turn of phrase, do you ever find yourself coming up with Italian words rather than English?
S.M. You bet, it's a problem. I'm about to buy myself some satellite TV just to I can try and keep current with the evolving language -- the English spoken in America nine years ago, when I left for Italy, is really different now, believe it or not! And yes, your English does erode, when you speak another language all the time. The solution would be to read read read all the time, as well as non-dubbed movies. God, who has the time, with a baby? I'll probably keep my English alive for the next few years by listening to DVD's of Sesame Street.(sigh)
R.W. Your books are full of seriously steamy love scenes. When people say things like “I just skip over the love scenes in romance novels,” do you believe them? (I don’t)
S.M. Well, it depends on how well they're written! I confess, there are some that I skip. For me, the litmus test for a love scene is that it has to be incredibly important to both of the characters. Absolutely charged with urgency and significance. A huge, huge big deal to them. I'm repeating myself, I know, but for me, that's what works, and that's what's essential. If I don't feel it, I usually not only skip the love scene--I stop reading the book. But if I do feel it, I love delicious love scenes. My current favorite is Diane Gabaldon's OUTLANDER series. What fabulous, fabulous love scenes she writes, and her hero and heroine have already been married for thirty years! Whoa! They know how to keep the flame burning.
R.W. You write primarily in the the contemporary/romantic-suspense sub-genres. Could you ever see yourself doing something entirely different, like a western, or a chick-lit, or, say, a sweet?
S.M. Well, hmmm. That's a tough one. I sort of fell into writing suspense. I never thought I would be doing that when I started writing. I very much doubt that I would ever write sweet, because I like steamy love scenes way too much. I may not always want to write as over-the-top sensual as I am right now, but who knows? Westerns, chick-lit, don't think so . . . though I sure did adore Elizabeth Lowell's ONLY series, and would love to write something along those lines someday. What I think might be really, super-fun someday would be paranormal or fantasy romances. I dream of doing stuff like that. World building. Magic. Telepathy. Yum.
R.W. Which celebrities are your current favorites? Do you ever model you characters on movie stars?
S.M. Yes, I do sometimes think of movie stars, so I can describe the characters with more sensual detail. For my current wip,I was thinking--for the heroine, a cross between Jennifer Garner and Angelina Jolie. For the hero, a cross between Johnny Depp and Olivier Martinez, who are both just To Die For.
I saw the film "Traffic" around the time I wrote Behind Closed Doors, and Benicio Del Torro was totally my Seth. Oh, the sexy bags under that man's eyes. (R.W. I heart Benicio too, Shannon). And for Connor, well, I couldn't stop thinking of the Michael Biehn character in The Terminator, the earnest and desperate young soldier from the future who comes back to save the clueless heroine from the evil cyborg. God, I loved that guy. He was so righteous. And so intense. I go for that.
R.W. Do you have a totem celebrity (that's a celebrity who people say you look like)? I think you strongly resemble the singer from Evanescence, but I can also see some Shannon Doherty or Rose McGowan in there, too.
S.M. Me? A movie star that looks like me? Never occurred to me. Gosh. Now I have to go see what those three celebrities that you named look like. I'm not familiar with them. But I'm kind of out of touch in terms of North American pop culture, being in exile across the pond.
R.W. What are you currently working on?
S.M. Well, I just finished up another romantic suspense novel entitled HOT NIGHT, which comes out next October, and as soon as the holiday craziness and traveling is over, I'll be launching into Sean McCloud's as yet untitled story! I can't wait to see what mischief he gets up to. He's such a devilish guy.
R.W. Does a romance writer need to be an expert on the subject of love?
S.M. An expert on the subject of love? Wow, what a provocative question! I would feel very presumptuous to call myself an expert on the subject of love. But then again, I suppose that depends on what exactly you mean by love. I believe that the entire reason we all exist on this earth is so that we can all become more expert in the subject of love! Ideally, anyway.
I will say, however, that I think that a romance writer needs to really believe that true love is possible, because romance novels--both reading them and writing them--are all about keeping that hope alive. There have been times in my life when I used romance novels very much like antidepressants. I absolutely had to have them. And they worked. Those women who wrote them were, I guess, experts in the subject of love, because their good energy helped me and nourished me and gave me a lift when I desperately needed it. That's what I hope my books can do for readers. Sometimes I get a note from someone telling me my book worked for them in this way--and that's so exciting and gratifying to me. It means it worked. I'm on the right track.
©Reese Witherfork 2005
