Monica writes sensual, emotional, unforgettable romance. She's won numerous awards including the 2015 GOLD MEDAL for FOREVER MINE in the International Book Awards, plus many more! Monica believes love can conquer all. She's of the opinion that every hero and heroine deserves a HEA (Happily Ever After), especially if she's writing the story... please welcome, Monica Burns!
Can you tell us a bit about you and how you got into writing?
Lord, that's a long story. So I'll make it as short as I can. I've been writing off and on since I was 9-years-old. By that I mean, I'd write short stories and the beginnings of novels that never got beyond five or six chapters. I even took a creative writing course at the University of Minnesota. That was a bust because the professor was a poetry lover, and I loathe poetry and cannot write it. It also didn't help that I'd mentioned to my mother that I'd written a story, and I was going to submit it. She said, "just be prepared for those pink slips." THAT was one of the worst things anyone has ever said to me. It was just devastating to have her say it as if I had no talent at all. It was a complete lack of support or encouragement. So I didn't write a word for ten years. I thought up stories, but never put them onto paper. I just kept hearing my mom's voice telling me I wasn't good enough to even try.
Then for some reason, I don't know why, I submitted to HQ in my 20s, certain I'd get a request for publication. When that rejection letter came, I shrugged and said, okay, "I guess Mom was right. I put too much stock into that 9-year-old telling me I had talent to tell a story. Why bother." At that point, life came into play. I got married, dealing with the MIL from hell (she still helps me create villains; she was that terrible a person). Then 1988, I unexpectedly lost my father and paternal grandfather within six months of each other. Other than my husband, they were the two most important men in my life. I was the prodigal child with my dad. I actually paved the way for my cousins and nieces/nephews to buck the system of living with someone out of wedlock, drinking like a fish (I was like Miriam in Raiders of the Lost Ark, able to drink most guys under the table.), smoking pot, and basically doing all the things that made parents of Gen Xers despair of their kids ever making something of themselves.
My father died in his sleep unexpectedly (he and Mom had just gotten back from a 2nd honeymoon in Tahiti and they'd gone dancing the night of his death. It was so sudden and profound, I like the rest of my family was devastated. Losing him brought on mass bouts of guilt and desolation. I couldn't function for more than a year. When I started to come out of my deep depression, I bought a computer, and I thought okay, now's the time to see if I've got any talent to write a good story. It wasn't. Life happened and my mother developed leukemia. I lived three hours away, so every weekend was spent going back and forth to spend time with her as we had no way of knowing how long she had. I tinkered some during the week, but I was also attending night school, I became pregnant with my youngest a few months before graduation. My mom at least got to see me graduate, but then died about 18 months later. Again I walked in a haze of devastation. I can't tell you what is worse, losing someone overnight or watching them waste away bit by bit. Now that I'm older and wiser, I realize that I was very, very lucky growing up. My family, despite the spats, and my mom saying those six dreaded words "wait until your father gets home," because you want the ground to open up beneath you because not even hell could be as unpleasant as your dad being angry with you. My dad never yelled, which probably made his anger worse. But even with all of that, my childhood prepared me for that time when I finally got my act together to write seriously with the goal of publication.
That happened in 2003, when I developed pneumonia, spent several days in the hospital, then six weeks at home resting. I was bored out of my mind. Nothing to watch on 135+ TV channels, and I was sick of reading stories that I actually dared to think I could have written better. So I sat down and wrote a book. I submitted it and got a rejection letter, but I've always been stubborn, and I thought FUCK THIS, I'm going for it. I know I can do it. So I wrote another book, I found RWA (Romance Writers of America), got into a critique group, and submitted my second book to contests. Always the same "close but no cigar," comments like "loved the story, but needs a lot of craft work." (did I mention I'm a slow learner and like to take shortcuts *grin*) So I started to focus on craft because clearly I had the ability to create a good story. I came up with a pen name because my real name is soooooo boring. I wanted something that would land me next to Amanda Quick as at the time our writing was similar, except I was beginning to write erotic romance. That's how I came up with the name Elysse Quicksilver. My degree is in PR/Marketing, so I've always thought about things like this. I submitted to a few agents and publishers, and while there were a few "nice writing, but not right for me" replies, nothing happened, and I began to despair again. I was about to stop writing, but my critique partners told me to keep trying. I don't remember why I thought about it, but when I was nine, I had always signed my name at the end of my stories with Monica Burns. So I decided to change my pen name. Within six months of creating my Monica website, I had one of the best agents representing me, a book contract with an ePub publisher, and I finaled in RWA's Golden Heart contest. So, with those under my belt, I thought, okay, maybe just maybe. About 12 months later, I sold five books to Berkley three paranormal "romantasy" type books (the Order of the Sicari, which won several major awards) as well as two historicals. Then the bottom fell out of both of those genres as contemporaries came to the forefront, and on top of that, my youngest developed some severe mental health issues. She inherited my bipolar, ADHD, and OCD disorders, only hers were far worse than mine, plus she was dealing with bullying in school. I had quit my day job and was trying to write something for Berkley, while dealing with suicide attempts and police visits coming to try and help us deal with behaviors that even by my childhood ones were extreme. I didn't have the strength to write regularly, and my creative well just wasn't bubbling much.
When we finally got my daughter fairly stable, Amazon opened up self-publishing, and I started writing again a little faster, but had to take on freelance work to survive. Life has never been normal for me, I'm a survivor or rape, had breast cancer, heart problems, and a small stroke this past April, but I'm fighting hard to write faster. Not doing too bad at that, as my second book this year is a holiday romance coming out this October, and I'm plotting a dragon romantasy series right now. THAT I'm excited about. But if there's one thing I love it's writing paranormal because the real world is nasty enough, and if I can write my own world to escape into where good triumphs over evil and my heroes are honorable and justice is won, I'm there front and center. As Joseph Campbell says, Find your bliss, and I have. I write what I want, and I'm good at it. It doesn't get any better than that, because escape from any problems that arise is always close at hand.
Wow, as usual, I can never keep my short stories short. My biggest fear is that this reads like an angst-ridden, whinny heroine. Oh wait, I own that title, along with pit-bull stubbornness, and being a survivor. THAT I can tell you, or I wouldn't still be writing. Aren't you sorry you asked?
Did you always know you wanted to be an author?
Yes, well at least since I was nine. In fact, as I shared already, I picked out my pen name, Monica Burns, when I was nine. Although I might not have written all my stories down, I've told stories all my life. I have dreams about stories and when I wake up I remember them. Still remember one in particular from when I was ten. That one still lingers strong in my head. I suppose I should consider writing that story. But it's pretty personal. But yeah, I've always wanted to and always have been a writer. I'll do it until the day I die, just hope I don't leave anything unfinished. That's my biggest fear.
If you could have dinner with any character from your book, who would you choose?
Oy, I wouldn't mind having dinner with all my heroes and heroines. I love them all. Some more than others, so this is a super tough question to answer, but of all my heroes I would have to say Nicholas Thornhill, Earl of Guildford is my number one pick, and so close on his heels that he's punching Nicholas in the back is Lysander Condellaire. Nicholas is my hero in Forever Mine, which is a time travel/reincarnation novel that's won a number of awards, and is a reader favorite. Nicholas is arrogant, passionate, loves with his whole being, and is just dreamy.
Lysander is the hero of Assassin's Heart, and he's a tortured hero. He's been physically and emotionally scarred by his father who's the top evil guy on the enemy side of the story. One side of his face looks like a fallen angel who's been burned in the fires of hell, and the other half is that of a beautiful angel. Lysander is from a long line of ancient Roman heroes, and he has telekinetic and telepathic powers, and he's been deemed the savior of the Sicari people. Something he doesn't want to be, but as the reincarnated hero Maximus who was the supreme leader of the Sicari in ancient Rome, he's pretty much out of luck when it comes to stepping up to the plate and doing what needs to be done. He's one of those reluctant heroes, who resists love all the way, but his heroine, Phaedra, isn't about to let him off the hook.
And if I had to pick any of my heroines, Cleopatra is like Secretariat in the Belmont, she's so far out in front of the other heroines. I love the other ladies, but Cleo, is the woman I want to be, and she has a lot of the same qualities I do, including her mouth which will beat a sailor's any day of the week (I'm notorious for my fucks), she's loyal, passionate, loves her heritage of being Italian (me too), and pulls no punches with her friends when they need a kick in the ass. She's also drop dead gorgeous (she lacks Sicari special skills). I'm talking Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her beauty kind of silky dark hair, body that is like Monica Bellucci where wearing a skin-tight dress that rides up almost to her ass with fuck-me stiletto's, and an attitude of I don't give a fuck what you think kind of confidence. She truly is one of my greatest creations. I often think I was Veektor Frunckensteen (sorry channeling Mel Brooks there) when I was writing her.
Do you have any specific writing rituals?
I used to write to music, and occasionally still do, but tunes I like now are filled with vocals (Nessum Dorma, The Story, Hymne a l'Amour, Non, je ne regrette rien, Flowers, and The Story), so it's hard to concentrate because I want to sing-along. I do have a morning ritual where I get up and do all the things I can out of the way so I can write for several hours. I have to write in a La-Z-Boy chair due to back issues, and I often get so immersed, I forget to get up and walk around. I also write most days between 5-3am or later, depending on what I'm working on. 10pm to 6am are quiet hours. Everyone's in bed, and the quiet helps my concentration.
Can you give us a hint about any current or future projects you’re excited about?
No comments:
Post a Comment