Interview with Suzanne Brockmann

Now that I have confessed my penchant towards secret agents, the floodgates have literally opened up. It seems my desk is overflowing these days with possible interview candidates whose specialty involves some sort of international espionage. Truth be told, no one is more thrilled about my recent admission than my husband. Usually when my shipment of upcoming releases arrives, he kindly opens the box and leaves them on the counter. Now, I have to go hunt down the books!

This month’s Jen’s Jewels epitomizes the best of both worlds…romance and suspense. Who better to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my readers than New York Times Bestselling Author Suzanne Brockmann? Her latest release, DARK OF NIGHT, is the fourteenth installment in her award-winning series Troubleshooters, Inc. From secret agents to steamy, hot love scenes, this book has it all.

As part of this interview, Ballantine Books has generously donated five copies for you, my lucky readers, to win. So, don’t forget to check out the trivia question at the end of the column. And as always, thanks so much for making Jen’s Jewels a part of your reading adventure.

Jen: Being named a New York Times Bestselling Author validates the superb caliber of writing that is found within the framework of an author’s novel. Remarkably, the story behind the actual climb can be just as fascinating. Please tell us a little bit about your journey and what particular aspect contributed most to your success.

Suzanne: Well, thank you. I appreciate the thought, although I must acknowledge that quite a few forces well out of a writer's control (including luck!) play a very important part in achieving success. Yes, it's true, in my opinion, that reader-generated buzz ("What a great book!") promotes books better than any publisher-paid ad campaign ever could, and if the books are easily found, well, then things can happen. But in a genre where an author's shelf life is a heartbeat and books go out of print in the blink of an eye, too often the buzz comes too late, readers end up scrambling to find out-of-print books via e-bay and used book stores.

So the key to my success, I believe, was to always, always deliver my personal best in each book. Quality and quantity was my war cry in the early part of my career. My goal was to be ready, should both luck and lightning strike.

Jen: For any author, finding her niche is the crucial part in establishing a name (or brand) within the industry. For my readers who are unfamiliar with your work, your two award-winning series, Troubleshooter and Tall, Dark & Dangerous, center on U.S. Navy Seal teams. What made you choose to focus on operatives as your primary characters? Do you come from a military background?

Suzanne: My dad served in the Army, but that was long before I was born. Still, I was always fascinated by the picture of him, in uniform, that was in my grandparents' house. I was also, from around age eleven, a total WWII history buff. I read everything I could get my hands on about that war -- from The Great Escape to dry strategic analyses of battles. It really resonated with me, and beneath it was a strongly held respect for our country's servicemen and servicewomen.

So when I was at that just-starting-out phase of my romance writing career, back in the mid-1990s, I found out about SEALs. The more I read, the more I was convinced that these guys would make terrific heroes -- and that I would not only enjoy the research needed to make them come to life, but that I could do them justice. Everything clicked beautifully.

Jen: Please give us some insight as to the creative process that is unleashed in the metamorphosis of your books. Do you write one series and then flip-flop to the other? From conception to completion, approximately how long does it take to write a novel? Which series is more of a challenge to write and why?

Suzanne: It's been a long time since I've written a book in the Tall, Dark & Dangerous series, but back in the day, when I was writing both, I would go from one to the other. Now my focus is almost completely on my Troubleshooter, Inc. series. And, it can take anywhere from four to six months to write a book. Some come easy; some are like hitting myself in the head with a hammer. I've written nearly fifty books since June 1992, and I try very hard to make each book fresh and different and new. That's pretty challenging.

My methods change over time -- I'm currently writing two books a year, which, when I write that, provides a pinch of stress. Check back with me in April, though, when my next book is due on my editor's desk! Only one thing is certain -- it's never the same.

Jen: Approximately how much research goes into the writing of each book? What stands out in your mind as the most unusual piece of information you have uncovered along the way? Did you incorporate it into a storyline? Why or why not?

Suzanne: Oh, man, this is a hard question to answer. See, I'm always researching. Every web-surf, every overheard conversation in a restaurant, every book I read, and every news program I watch on TV...

It's a constant, ongoing process for me.

The piece of research that stands out most for me was something I found relatively early in my career. This was in the mid-1990s.

Okay, so I knew I was going to be writing about Navy SEALs, and I wanted to focus on counterterrorism as the external conflict of my books, so I was surfing the web, finding out all I could about terrorist groups. And I came upon an Israeli university website, which claimed to have information on every terrorist group in the world. And I flipped through it briefly and -- because I liked hard copies of things -- I decided to print it out. Two, three pages, right? I mean, how long could it be?

An hour later, it's still freaking printing. It was pretty chilling. And it was in that very overview that I got my first lengthy introduction to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

I kept that printout for years, and pulled it out when I was plotting The Defiant Hero, the second book in my Troubleshooters, Inc. series. (This had to be, oh, late 1999, early 2000.) I needed a terrorist group for this book and...

I re-read the chapter on al Qaeda, and was once again convinced to not use them in my book. Instead I created a fictional terrorist group in a fictional country, and thus Kazbekistan came to be.

Jen: Your latest release, DARK OF NIGHT, is the fourteenth novel in the Troubleshooter, Inc. series. First of all, for someone who is new to this series, is the back story available? Is it necessary in order to follow the storyline?

Suzanne: No, this book absolutely can be read as a stand-alone. But with that being said, it's got to be better to start at the beginning, don't you think? As far as DARK OF NIGHT goes, readers who want to get the full story don't have to start all the way back at THE UNSUNG HERO. They can start with FLASHPOINT. That's the book where the main characters in DARK OF NIGHT are introduced.

Jen: In this installment, Troubleshooters, Inc. is up against their most formidable opponent…The Agency. Of the central female characters highlighted in this book, which one, Tess, Sophia, or Tracy, is the most indispensable to the organization and why?

Suzanne: This is a book about teamwork -- about my belief (and that of the Navy SEALs) that a team working together is far stronger than any individual in that team.

You ever watch any of those terrific Discovery programs on BUD/S -- where the SEAL candidates learn to identify their team's strengths and weaknesses? The guy who is the strongest swimmer may not excel in the ten mile run, and vice versa. But if the strong swimmer helps the weak swimmers and the strong runner helps the weak runners... The team then excels in both areas.

Tess, Sophia and Tracy all have their individual strengths and weaknesses. And the beauty of working in a team...? Is realizing that sometimes your perceived weakness can be your true strength.

Jen: The amount of testosterone thrown around by the gregarious male operatives greatly affects the women with whom they fraternize. What makes James Nash so irresistible?

Suzanne: I don't think he's irresistible to quite everyone. But yeah -- he's a man with a dark past and some pretty heavy-duty secrets, so that makes him a favorite of some readers.

Jen: Is Sophia settling for second best? What makes Dave the right man for her at this time in her life?

Suzanne: Ah, but if I told your readers that, they wouldn't have to read the book. This is one of the big internal conflicts of DARK OF NIGHT. I really can't say too much about the book without revealing spoilers. (Talk to me again several months after the book's release date!)

Jen: What is your favorite scene in this book and why?

Suzanne: Anything with Sam and Jules. I love their friendship, because their relationship started out so rockily. Jules is a POV character in DARK OF NIGHT, and Sam plays a major secondary role. So their scenes were fun to write. (And yes, readers will get to meet Sam and Alyssa's new baby, too.)

Jen: I would think writing many books in the same series would be a balancing act of sorts in order not to repeat tried and true dialog or themes. How do you manage to avoid these pitfalls while keeping the storyline so fresh? Are there a set number of books planned for each series?

Suzanne: I'm a fan of the open-ended series, so no, there's no set number of books. However I do tend to plot out on-going story arcs in finite sets.

Take DARK OF NIGHT, for example. This book brings to an end what I think of as the "Flashpoint story arc." I introduced a number of new characters in FLASHPOINT -- Tess, Sophia, Jimmy Nash, Decker, Dave. Tess and Nash were the "hero and heroine" of that book, according to traditional romance rules. But I knew when I finished writing that book that they and the other characters would be back in upcoming books. And indeed they were. They played a part (in varying degrees of importance) in nearly all of the books since FLASHPOINT. (They weren't in FORCE OF NATURE or ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, but they were mentioned in both books.)

But now, in DARK OF NIGHT, all five of those characters are front and center. A lot of questions are going to be answered.

Jen: What has surprised you most about the publishing business? If you could turn back the clock and do one thing over in respect to your career, what would it be and why?

Suzanne: Wow, if I could turn back the clock, I wouldn't waste that power on changing a career that's been pretty dang good! LOL!

To be honest, there's always something in life that you can do differently. Steve Axelrod -- my agent. I probably would've signed with Steve much, much earlier. He's The Man. I love him.

But who's to say that changing the path I took would've made things easier or better? I'm a control freak, and yeah, I probably made some bad choices along the way, but they were my choices. I wrote the books I wanted to write (that I burned to write!) and I still do.

Jen: Now that you have earned your stripes, if you will, and established your place in the business, what has been the most humbling part of your journey thus far?

Suzanne: It's always humbling to walk into a bookstore and see just how many books are available for sale, every single day. Every one of those books was written with love (and sometimes blood) by its author. It's humbling to realize that, unlike many of my peers, I earn a good living from the sale of my books.

And it's humbling, too, to meet my readers. I have the utmost respect for the people who spend their hard-earned money buying my books, and I love meeting them face to face. My goal is to give them my personal best with each book that I write. (With the understanding, of course, that there's no way I can please all of the people all of the time.)

Jen: Please tell us about your website. Do you participate in author phone chats? And if so, how would my readers go about scheduling one? Do you have e-mail notification of upcoming releases? Do you participate in a blog?

Suzanne: Readers can visit my website at www.SuzanneBrockmann.com. From the start of my career, I built and maintained my own website, and I still do. This means that although it may be lacking in whistles and bells, the content there is always written by me.

Aside from my Facebook page, the closest thing I've got to a blog is my e-newsletter -- again, maintained and written by me. I send out news about once a month via a yahoogroups list.

The link to my website e-newsletter signup page is http://www.suzannebrockmann.com/mailing_list.htm. And of course, readers are welcome to friend me on Facebook!

To be honest, I'm trying to cut back on promotional efforts, in order to do that two books a year thing. So I'm not currently doing many appearances at RWA chapter conferences, or signings, or even phone chats. I do, however, have my own internet message board, and I schedule all day visits with Q&A sessions every three months or so.

I'll be doing an appearance at the Selby Library in Sarasota on February 11th (in just a week or so), and I'm planning to attend the RWA conference in Washington, DC this July. But that's about it for me in 2009.

Jen: Are you currently at work on your next novel? If so, what can you tell us about it?

Suzanne: The book after DARK OF NIGHT is called HOT PURSUIT. It features two of my most popular characters, Alyssa Locke and Sam Starrett. Alyssa's been hunting a serial killer known as "the dentist" for years. In HOT PURSUIT, he turns the tables and begins stalking her. It's scheduled for release in July 2009.

Jen: Thank you so much for stopping by to chat with my readers. It has been an absolute pleasure being able to talk with you. Best of luck in 2009!

Suzanne: Thanks so much! Happy (almost) Valentine's Day!

I hope you have enjoyed my interview with Suzanne. If you need a Valentine’s Day gift for your significant other, why not stop by your favorite bookstore and pick up a copy of DARK OF NIGHT today? Better yet, how about winning one instead? Be one of the five winners.

Name the title of the sequel to DARK OF NIGHT.

Later this month, I will be bringing to you my interview with advice columnist Amy Dickinson (Ask Amy). You won’t want to miss it.

Until next time…Jen