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April 22, 2006

True Publishing Story: Don't Look Down

It's like a True Hollywood Story, only without interviewing Jenny's gardener's former lover.

Jenny: So Bob and I are writing our next book, Agnes and the Hitman. We started the same way we started Don't Look Down: I picked a heroine and he picked a hero. This time I picked a food writer because my cousin Russ is an award-winning, internationally known food writer (Russ Parsons of the LA Times, she said proudly) and he could tell me anything I needed to know about Agnes's career, thus shortening the research process and giving me more time to talk with Russ. Bob picked a hitman. Because. So that gave us Agnes and the Hitman (who is Shane, just Shane, no last name, Bob's a romantic).

Jenny (cont'd): Then we needed a plot--this is the part that always trips me up--so we went with our standard plan and gave them a common antagonist. Which has since changed about six times which is also standard for us. It's always been something vaguely to do with the mob though. We set it in Cincinnati since we set Don't Look Down in Savannah and it was my turn to have the book set close to home. Then Bob moved it to Savannah again. Evidently Crusie-Mayers are set in Savannah. I'm dealing with this. Originally Agnes was writing a book called Mob Food. Now that she's living in Savannah, it's called Southern Mob Food. Originally Shane was going to be a hitman hired to kill her. Then we realized that would be a bad start to a relationship. Yes, we have no idea of what we're doing. That's why they call it Creative Writing, folks.

Bob: There are several reasons we're setting things here in the low country. One is I do a lot of the action and I have to walk the terrain to feel the action. Another is it's a lot more eccentric here than in Ohio. I'm sorry. It just is. We're kind of inventing our own place for Agnes: Beauford County and the town of Wilkes. (Sort of like Faulkner and his own place). We're mixing a lot of really interesting topics: Food. A wedding. The Mob. A hitman. A heroine under a lot of stress trying to make it on her own. A hero who has been doing something he's starting to really have questions about. I think it's going to have a lot more gender conflict and play than DON'T LOOK DOWN, our Romantic Adventure, He Wrote/She Wrote, Crusie/Mayer (sorry, leaving on book tour tomorrow and have to stay in practice) had.

Well, thanks so much Jenny and Bob for hanging out with us this month! We loved having you! And as this is their last blog, this is also the blog in which we announce our winners! Getting a signed copy of Don't Look Down are:

Christy Hawkes, of Tremonton, UT
Joan Roberts, of Irving, TX
Rebecca Rohan, of Williamsville, NY
Wendy Robertson, of Apopka, FL

Congratulations, winners! And thanks again to Jenny and Bob for hanging out with us this month!

Posted by Lani at 6:51 AM | Comments (7)

Comments

Posted by: Sheri at April 22, 2006 9:39 AM

Posted by: Alesia Holliday at April 22, 2006 4:40 PM

Posted by: Rebecca at April 22, 2006 6:52 PM

Posted by: Gladys Wentzel at April 22, 2006 9:06 PM

Posted by: Michelle C at April 24, 2006 2:28 AM

Posted by: Wendy at April 25, 2006 6:20 AM

Posted by: Christy Hawkes at April 30, 2006 2:52 PM