AccessRomance interviews author Janelle Denison.

AR: September brings the release of BORN TO BE WILDE, the 7th story in your "Wilde" series. How did you come up with the idea for the Wilde family? Did you plan to make it a series initially, or did the continuing saga grow organically over time?

Janelle: When Brava (My publisher at the time) contracted me for my first two single titles, I knew I wanted to write about three brothers. My purpose for choosing their last name of Wilde was to use it as a play on words in the title of each of their books, to connect each story and make readers aware that it was all part of the same series. During the course of writing those Wilde brother’s books, four Wilde cousins were introduced, and readers started asking for those stories, as well. All in all, the Wilde family has spanned seven books, with BORN TO BE WILDE (out on bookstore shelves NOW) telling the story of Joel Wilde, the lone bachelor of the family.

AR: The newest book is a full length novel, though some of the family's stories have been novellas. Do you prefer one format over the other? What are the challenges of each? Have readers said they like one length better than the other?

Janelle: The novellas are definitely easier and quicker to write, but they don’t allow me to delve too deeply into a storyline, or even the characters conflicts and issues. With novellas, everything tends to be more superficial, and judging by reader response, they really like the longer, single title format better in terms of really getting to know the characters. I have to agree. Writing the bigger books can be difficult and emotionally draining, but the end result is always worth the angst I go through writing the story!

AR: Which would you say is your favorite story, so far, in the Wilde series and why?

Janelle: Honestly, my absolute favorite story so far is Joel’s story in BORN TO BE WILDE. I truly think I grew as a writer with this book. The characters have so much depth and emotional ties - - more than I realized when I first writing the story. I’ve had readers and reviewers say it’s my best Wilde book yet. I hope everyone else who reads it thinks so, too!

AR: Do you have more Wilde books in the works? If not, what's up next from Janelle Denison?

Janelle: Well, there was only supposed to be 7 Wilde books, one story for each of the Wilde brothers, then the Wilde cousins. That 7th book, BORN TO BE WILDE, has been written and is just now hitting bookstore shelves. That should have been it for the Wilde series, but it seems like the Wilde books have taken on a life of their own. In BORN TO BE WILDE, you’ll be introduced to four of Joel’s ex-marine buddies, all of which work together at a security firm, and so the Wilde series will be spinning off into a new Wild series that isn’t about the Wilde family, yet you will see the Wilde characters throughout each of these new books. Because these new books are loosely related to the original Wilde’s, my publisher and I decided to keep “Wilde” in the title, but dropped the “e” to make it “Wild”, so readers would know that it was part of the series. I’m currently writing the first book in that new series, WILD FOR HIM, which will be out in the summer of 2008.

AR: You wrote several sweet romance for Harlequin Romance. Have you ever had the urge to do a similar story in a longer format?

Janelle: I find that my writing tends to lean towards the more sensual. I enjoyed writing the traditional, sweet romances at the time, which don’t include explicit love scenes, but there came a time when I had to decide which direction to take my career. Should I stay with the sweet, traditional romances, or continue writing the sexier stories? Well, I think you all know which direction I chose! I really enjoy exploring the physical aspect of my characters’ relationship, and can’t imagine not doing so! As for having the urge to write a longer, more traditional romance, I’d have to say no. I’m very happy writing sexy romances!

AR: What motivated you to make the transition from series romance (Harlequin Temptation & Blaze) to mainstream? Was that something you had planned to do or did it just happen, .i.e. you got the sort of offer that no author can refuse?

Janelle: I did not make the transition from series romance to mainstream single titles easily. I know a big part of me would have been very happy to continue writing category romances, because I knew my genre and there was a certain sense of comfort writing what I knew best. But when Kensington started publishing stories for their erotic romance line, Brava, I submitted a novella idea and they bought it. From there, they wanted more stories from me, and asked me to write single titles. Yikes! I took the plunge and signed a two-book contract to write two single title Bravas, the first of which became the first of my Wilde books, WILDE THING.

AR: I'm sure most of your readers know about your Plotmonkey plotting group. Can you give AR's visitors a bit of history of how that came to pass, how it operates, etc.?

Janelle: There are four of us in the Plotmonkey group. Myself, Carly Phillips, Julie Leto, and Leslie Kelly. We all started out writing for Harlequin Temptation, and over the years became friends. A few years ago (I think it’s been about 5-6 years) we decided to form a critique group with the four of us, and we all flew to Orlando, Florida for our first plotting weekend. Well, that’s all it took! We discovered that we all bring something different to the table during our plotting sessions – Carly and I are great at characterization, but not so great at plotting. On the other hand, Leslie and Julie are outstanding plotters and tend to need more help with their characterization. Us four are a really good match, and we have a blast every time we get together. We meet at least once or twice a year for a weekend plotting session (3-4 days). During that time, we plot, eat a lot of junk food, gossip, drink a few drinks, plot some more, talk about our careers, go sight seeing, plot some more, share career advice, eat more junk food, and make sure that by the end of our weekend we all walk away with new story ideas to write!

As for the name “Plotmonkeys”, we came up with that name when Carly bought us a “monkey” during our first plotting session together. He’s become our mascot. You can read more about Plotmonkeys at our blog: www.plotmonkeys.com

AR: How can your fans contact you?

Janelle: Fans can visit my website at www.janelledenison.com, or write to me at: . I also have a MySpace site at: http://www.myspace.com/janelledenison

Interviews Index > Janelle Denison (October 07)