AccessRomance interviews author JoAnn Ross.

AR: You've written more than ninety romances, and your first novel was published in the early 80s. Aside from the difference between writing categories and single titles, do you think your writing and the stories you create have changed since you first started? And if so, in what way?

JoAnn: Actually, there isn't all that much difference. I was fortunate to sell at a time of great sea change in the romance genre; suddenly heroines were allowed to be portrayed as having rich, fulfilling lives. They didn’t need a man for security or self-esteem, but having that one very special man in their lives proved the icing on the cake. Sexually, couples were doing just about everything couples are doing in novels today, although writers at the time were required to use a lot more euphemisms when writing those hot scenes.

Editors only wanted the heroine's point of view, but that "rule" was blown out of the water by 1983 when writers insisted the books also be about the hero. (For some of us, the books continue to be all about our heroes!) Those same editors also insisted they didn't want romantic suspense, but writers kept sending in those manuscripts, and eventually that barricade crumbled. As did the prohibition against books with paranormal elements in them.

Which brings up an important point: people often believe that trends come from the publishers. They don't; trends always begin with the writers. Sometimes it seems as if ideas are floating around in the ether and we all suddenly pluck them from the air at the same time. Fortunately, since every writer's voice is unique, plots with similar premises can end up vastly different stories.

Perhaps the most important difference is that in the early 80s there wasn't such a thing as contemporary single title romance; however, when contemporary writers began exploring more complex plots and deeper characterizations, readers proved an eager audience. I like to think of this as a fantastic "If you write it, they will come" situation. <g>

AR: What can you tell us about your newest release, BLAZE? In what way is it connected to your Stewart Sisters series?

JoAnn: The only connection BLAZE has to the Stewart Sisters is that the heroine, Tess Gannon, is the sister of Joe Gannon, the hero from Out of the Storm, and much of the book is set in South Carolina. BLAZE, however, is much more of a thriller; I pitched it to Pocket Books as Silence of the Lambs meets Backdraft. With lots of hot sex.

Tess is a fire cop who's hot on the trail of a pyromaniac when ATF Special Agent Gage O'Halloran arrives on her fire scene. Coming out of a self-imposed exile after a tragic event in his life, Gage suspects that Tess’s Flamemaster is connected to a serial killer he apprehended three years ago. Tess doesn’t like Gage. He’s too rude. Too arrogant. And too damn male. Worse yet, she doesn’t trust him. Which is understandable, since he has a lot of secrets he’s not all that willing to share. Forced into an uneasy, but highly charged alliance, they race to stop the killer from striking another fatal match before time runs out.

AR: How much and what kind of research do you generally do?

JoAnn: Remember the scene from Tootsie, where Dustin Hoffman’s method actor character explains that he’s not just any tomato, he’s a Beefsteak tomato? That’s pretty much the full-immersion way I write. In order to tell my stories, I have to live inside all my characters’ skins, which means I’m constantly researching months, sometimes years before I begin writing a book, and usually keep researching up until the day before I turn a manuscript in.

I spend a lot of time in the region where a story’s set, to get a feel for the place and the people. For BLAZE I read about twenty-five non-fiction books on firefighting and arson investigation, talked to experts in several related fields, and spent six months on serial killer websites and message boards with inmates and women who had boyfriends and husbands incarcerated in San Quentin, many of whom were on Death Row. Those boards provided a great deal of day-to-day detail (such as the fact that you’re not allowed to visit wearing an underwire bra, because the wire could be used as a deadly weapon, and what color clothing is allowed).

AR: Why were you first drawn to romantic suspense? Is it something that comes naturally to you, is easy for you to write?

JoAnn: I’ve always read suspense, so raising the stakes to life and death situations in my romance plots seemed natural. With Blaze, I’ve gone in a bit of a new direction, since this story is more of a thriller than what I’ve written in the past. Since I didn’t want readers to get whiplash swinging back and forth between the romance and the suspense, I purposefully made the relationship – including the sex scenes – darker and far more edgy than usual. Early reviewers have definitely responded to those scenes! Publishers Weekly referred to the “sizzling foreplay, rendered all the more powerful by the excess emotional baggage that each carries,” and another reviewer said the scenes singed the pages, and two claimed BLAZE was hotter than a 5-alarm fire. Hopefully readers will agree.

AR: What is the best writing advice you've ever received?

JoAnn: There are actually three: the first is a quote from Somerset Maugham: “There are three essential rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

Then, a quote that’s heard so often, I’ve no idea who originally said it: “Don’t write what you know; write what you want to know.” While this makes writing more difficult, since I’m basically starting from scratch with nearly every book, I’m a firm believer that the excitement of discovery will come through to the reader.

And the third is Rick Nelson’s Garden Party lyrics, most specifically the lines “If memories were all I sang, I’d rather drive a truck.” And “You can’t please everyone, so you’ve got to please yourself.” I downloaded this song from iTunes and play it nearly every morning before I start writing to remind myself that while telling many different types of stories over the years might have made me a bit difficult to “brand,” I wouldn’t be happy writing any other way.

AR: After writing for more than twenty years, you must have gotten a lot of fan mail. Can you share with us some of the most memorable ones?

JoAnn: The memorable ones are always the ones where a story has touched a reader’s life. Such as a woman who wrote to me after reading The Return of Caine O’Halloran, a book about a couple dealing with the loss of a child. Her personal stories of her many miscarriages broke my heart. Then she included a photograph she thought I’d appreciate: it was a picture of her beautiful infant daughter, who’d been conceived by artificial insemination. She continued to send pictures every Easter for several years and it was a joy watching little Ashley grow.

I’ve also received several letters from women who’ve used my books to help support their very difficult decision to escape abusive situations. Although I’ve never believed in using my books to send any political or social message, those letters demonstrate to me the power of our stories. The most recent email that tugged heartstrings was from a woman who told me that my Louisiana bayou books remind her of her soul-mate Cajun fiancé who died unexpectedly right before their wedding. She said she laughs and cries every time she rereads the Callahan Brothers. Hearing that my stories help her feel closer to him had me smiling through my own tears.

AR: Lastly, what do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to travel, to hang out with my sweetie (my high school sweetheart, whom I married twice), read, watch movies, read, hike, create scrapbooks for my family from the mountain of photographs we’ve taken over the years, read, hug my fuzzy doggies we rescued from shelters on their kill days, and play with Marisa and Parker Ryan Ross, the world’s most precious grandbabies.

AR: Thank you so much for talking with us!

JoAnn: It’s been a pleasure! Thanks for inviting me.