And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is: Suzanne Brockmann has won numerous awards and innumerable fans writing contemporary romance novels. Her books featuring heroes who are members of elite US Navy Seals teams are hugely popular, with women and men alike, and what Suzanne is especially well-known for. Her newest release, INTO THE NIGHT (Nov. 2002), brought the number of books she's had published since 1993 to 35.
She was director, vocal arranger and one of the lead singers in the Boston-area seven-voice a cappella group SERIOUS FUN, plus the executive producer of the groups first and only CD in 1998. She is a member of a Boston area rock and roll party band -The Dick Mac Wedding Garage Band. And there is still more.... Suzanne is also a founder and volunteer organizer of Natick's Appalachian Benefit Coffeehouse, raising money for the Cabell/Lincoln County Workcamp, which rebuilds housing for the poor, elderly and disabled in West Virginia. I'm tired just thinking about doing all these things! *G* We had lots of questions for Suzanne and she found time in her busy schedule to give us some terrific answers. Thanks, Suz! 1. Is your husband involved in your career? And is he supportive? Do you have any children and, if so, how do they feel about it?
As for my kids -- I have two teenagers. My daughter is in her first year of college. And my son just turned seventeen. My daughter has read some of my books, but I think it must be kind of strange for her. (She's actually a huge Lisa Gardner fan!) My son's still not allowed to read them. <rolled eyes> They've been cheerleaders, though, from the beginning. For years, any time I screamed, my son would come running and anxiously say, "Did the power go out again? How many pages did you lose?" (Ah, those happy days before I could afford to get a back up battery! <g>). 2. Which book is your favorite you've written so far and why?
Other favorites of my own books include THE UNSUNG HERO -- because the finished product of this book was exactly as I'd envisioned it. Exactly. That doesn't happen very often with me. It was a rather remarkable experience. And HARVARD'S EDUCATION -- which I've heard might be a July 2004 reissue from Mira Books! -- is truly a book of my heart. When it was first released, it was only the second Silhouette Intimate Moments to feature African American characters. I love everything about this book -- I loved researching it, writing it, and readers' reactions to it. Two other books are noteworthy -- THE ADMIRAL'S BRIDE and OUT OF CONTROL -- because I had so much fun writing them. 3. Which hero is your favorite or was the most fun to write and create? He was just such an anti-hero, you know? He's made lots of mistakes in his life, and he always speaks before he thinks, and he's lonely and wants so desperately to be loved... But he's so loyal and honest and true. (And he looks sort of like George Clooney... <g>). 4. How have the events of 9-11 affected your writing? While the threat of Terrorism is not new to our country, I don‚t believe Americans comprehended just what it could mean until then. Do feel like you have to "walk on eggshells", so to speak, when writing your novels now? My initial reaction (and I had just finished writing OUT OF CONTROL -- it arrived on my editor's desk on 9/10, so I was in that break place between my bigger books) was that I didn't want to write about terrorists. I didn't want to get inside of the head of someone who hated other people so much more than they loved their own life. That's so alien a concept to me. I didn't want to go there. I remember saying that I wanted to write a book about puppies or bunnies. I actually had a long conversation with my editor because I was getting ready to outline INTO THE NIGHT. She suggested I try to write a lighter book -- which is what I ended up trying to do. In many ways, I think it made it more difficult. I think it would have been far more cathartic for me as a writer to write a more action-filled book, with a far more identifiable threat -- and to have the focus of the book be on the SEALs kicking some serious terrorist ass. It wasn't an easy book to write. And there was another book -- WILD, WILD WES -- the 11th installment in my Tall, Dark & Dangerous series for Silhouette Intimate Moments that will (finally!) be out in September 2003 -- that I actually started to write on September 10th. I couldn't do it -- I had to put it away. I finally wrote it last summer, nearly an entire year later. I don't feel at all as if I'm "walking on eggshells." In fact, I feel as if I no longer have to work so hard to explain what my heroes are doing. My fictional guys have been fighting the war against terrorism for a long, long time. And now people know what I'm talking about!. 5. Is there anything you would like to do in the romance genre but feel it is too taboo for the industry i.e.: killing off the main character? I do hope, however, that I'll be able to write a book that's set completely during World War II. I've long been fascinated by this era, but the time period is still mostly ignored in the romance genre.. 6. I absolutely loved the conversation you dreamed up on your web page where you are talking with all the Navy SEALS in your office. It truly made them seem all that more real and it was priceless. Is this how a thing happens in your head? Do these characters actually take such a vivid form when writing about them?
Whatever I end up doing -- screen plays or TV series -- I am planning to continue writing romance novels. Writing books is the only format where the writer regains total control! LOL! I'll never give that up! 8. Will you continue to write the series romance? 9. I had to laugh after visiting your page at Pillowtalk. I just attended my own 20th class reunion a couple of weeks ago and everything you said about people was just so true. I thought it was great that your newest hero is modeled after one of your classmates. Do you always do this while writing your books – use a real person to model a character? I'm intrigued by people and what makes them act and react differently from every other person in the world. I'm always watching and listening (and analyzing!). But I think in the sense that you asked the question, the answer is no. There are actually very few real people I know as well as I know my characters -- which is why my friends can still manage to surprise me, even after I've known them for 25 years! But I think the trick to writing really believable characters is to know them so completely that they can't surprise you-the-writer. It's your job as a writer to withhold information so that you and the character can surprise the reader -- that's where the fun starts! <g> So even if I were to base a character on something I knew about a real person, that character would end up being different in so many ways, as I fictionalized his backstory. In the case of Muldoon, I simply took something I noticed about a former classmate and went wild with the "what if" questions. What if this quiet, overweight kid who always got good grades had the drive and the stamina to become a Navy SEAL? What if as he got older, he grew into his body? What if he became extraordinarily handsome? What if because of the way he was treated as the "fat kid," he was still shy and somewhat critical of his appearance? What if... What if... See how it works? There's absolutely nothing of my former classmate in Muldoon -- other than the fact that they both were quiet, kind of geeky guys who transformed into Prince Charmings. You can visit Suzanne at her website, where you'll find a lot different and interesting things going on: http://www.suzannebrockmann.com.
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After learning more about Suzanne, it amazes me that she's had the time to write 35 books, and that's not even counting the 3 new releases scheduled for 2003. In addition to her writing, Suzanne is married and the mother of a teenage daughter and son.
