Access Romance - Interviews

Interviews Index > Carly Phillips (April 05)

AccessRomance interviews author Carly Phillips.

AR: April is the reissue of your first published book BRAZEN. Tell us a little about the book and what the reissue means to you.

Carly: The reissue of BRAZEN means a lot to me and not just because it’s my first ever published book. BRAZEN is about firsts for me in so many other ways: my first foray into the “Hot” books; it was about me finding myself as a writer; about me gaining confidence too. That the book sold was icing. Fantastic icing! But BRAZEN showed me what I was meant to write. It also introduced Carly Phillips to readers, and for that I’ll be forever grateful. BRAZEN’s orignal cover is/was one of my all time favorites. I loved everything about it, and they got my hero and heroine down perfectly!

Way back in about 1996 my husband and I took a trip to Arizona. It was my first time there, and I fell in love with the state! Something about being there inspired me (maybe it was the lack of humidity and good hair days, I don’t know!) but I came up with the concept for BRAZEN on that trip. My heroine’s car breaks down on the side of the road, and she stumbles into this small bar, meets the sexy bartender and the rest is history, LOL. The original title was WEEKEND LOVER because the story originally took place in one weekend. It was later extended to a week for “get to know you time” between the hero and heroine. My oldest daughter, who was about five at the time, asked if the story was about people who loved weekends, and of course I said yes! Samantha and Mac just loved what they did on that weekend a lot more than I’d admit to a little girl!

So I hope you can see why the book has a special place in my heart and always will. The new cover is fantastic, too; it’s bright blue and gorgeous, but I still miss the old Temptation cover. Maybe I’m also nostalgic because the Temptation line is ending this year, and I for one will be so sad to see it go. I’m proud to have had this story as a part of Harlequin Temptation.

Also ... Somehow the stars aligned, and in Life & Style Magazine last week, there was a picture of Teri Hatcher of Desperate Housewives fame and a blurb about her devouring a romance novel. Beside her photo was a picture of the original cover of BRAZEN and beneath it said, “maybe she’d like this one!” How lucky can a writer get!

AR: You tend to write connected books that share the same family members. Is that a market demand or a creative one?

Carly: Hmmm. Good question. I suppose it started as a creative one. In Simply Sinful, the story of Kayla Luck, her sister’s story was begging to be told – and I asked my editor and she said "I don’t’ think so." I can’t remember why at the time. So I finished Simply Sinful and turned it in, and my editor called and said, "You know you have to write Catherine’s story." I laughed, and then I got to writing. The reader response was great, and I learned that connecting stories can bring readers back for more. So it ended up being market driven; however, if I write someone’s story, I’m going to have to love them if I’m going to live with them for 400 pages, so it’s creative first!

AR: Do you plan to continue to develop connected series? If so, have you already come up with your next one to follow the Costas sisters and the Hot Zone series? Or do you completely finish one series before beginning to work on another?

Carly: I do plan to develop connected series. At this point in time, I am writing two new books a year, one hardcover and one paperback. I am not sure what my hardcovers will consist of. I’m still percolating on those ideas. But The Hot Zone (Hot Stuff, Hot Number 8/05 and Hot Item) are connected, and I’m finishing that series now. I definitely have my next paperback connected trilogy ready to go in my mind! Normally I write one paperback, then a hardcover, so I am alternating between stories/families, but right now after finishing Hot Number out this summer, I dove right into Hot Item while the characters were fresh.

AR: And speaking of work habits, you're writing hardcovers and mass market both for HQN? How do you balance the differences in what you write between hardcover and mass market?

Carly: I am definitely struggling with that concept right now. I guess that is another reason I am writing Hot Item now, so I can think long and hard on what I want to do with my next hardcover since it’s unconnected to any other book. It’s starting fresh and I want to make sure I go in the right direction. I always want to give readers a Carly Phillips story – meaning sexy and fun – but I’m working on what I think the distinctions are. Honestly, the audiences tend to be different when they purchase a book. Hardcover and paperback readers aren’t always the same, and so I can do what comes naturally and be comfortable knowing I’m giving readers the best story I can. This happens to be a subject that’s giving me a lot of thinking time lately, so it’s funny you should ask! When it comes down to it, I’ll write from the heart and hope that readers are happy with that!

Interviews Index > Carly Phillips (April 05)