Welcome back to another terrific day of Duck Chat!

Erin Quinn is our guest today, so stick around for some great conversation!

Haunting Beauty is Erin’s new book and it is a beautiful, haunting story. She will talk all about it with you today! Erin lives in Arizona with her husband and two daughters.

She has a couple of terrific contests on her website, so check that out when you have a chance. And Erin is also giving away reader’s choice of either Echoes or Whispers, two books under her Erin Grady pseudonym. So be sure to leave a meaningful comment or question for her to be in the running.

Be sure to check out an excerpt of Haunting Beauty later today.  Now let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Erin, congratulations on the release of Haunting Beauty! What a wonderful story this is. Would you tell our readers where the genesis of the story came from and then we’ll get into some details.

ERIN QUINN: Thank you so much Sandy! Your review of Haunting Beauty was such a high point for me! It’s such a rush when my books connect with readers. 

I’m not a writer who plots out my books, so for me the idea that spurs a book is often something very small—just big enough to get me started. For Haunting Beauty it was that first scene, when Sean comes to Danni and plunges her into her own past. I was consumed with who he was, why he’d come to her, and what he wanted from her. I didn’t figure it out until I got to the end which made it a fun and scary book to write. Some of the pivotal scenes completely took me by surprise. I didn’t even realize two of the major components of the story until I typed the words. (Picture me, mouthing OMG when I realized just who and what Sean was)

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

EQ: Why did I change my name? The reason I’d like that question to go away is that I really didn’t do it myself. Publishing is such a darned weird business and there are authors who swear by having multiple names for multiple genres—but, see, I mix my genres up so much that I don’t think it applies to me. Still, my publisher felt that Haunting Beauty was different enough from my others that they wanted a fresh name on the cover. Me? I just wanted a cover on my book, so I agreed.  But honestly, I wish all my books had the same name so I didn’t have to explain it or try to coax my Erin Grady readers over to my Erin Quinn books.

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

EQ: LOL. See above. My characters surprise the hell out of me every day of my life. I think the main reason is because I don’t do the character sketches and the plotting. For me, finding all that out is the fun of it. I’d be bored if I knew all those details before I started. However, the flip side is that I’m often terrified that I’m not going to be able to finish a book because I have no freaking idea what’s going to happen until I get there. I’ve proven that I can figure it out through five books so far, but I still get cold feet about page 150 . . .

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

EQ: I never do and I think that has to do with the fact that I haven’t boxed myself into a set place with an outline. I’m just happy they’re taking me along for the ride. However (and with me there is always a however) I have had to do some serious damage control when I find they’ve driven me to a dead end. Backtracking sucks, but it is what it is.

DC: Sean and Danni are the hero and heroine of Haunting Beauty. Would you tell us a little about them and their story?

EQ: Well, honestly, I fall in love with all of my heroes. Grant from Echoes, Sawyer from Whispers . . . But Sean . . . he is something special and I still think about him all the time. (I know, I’m a freak). But he is so many things—complex, vulnerable, masculine—Gawd, is he ever that. He’s the perfect man. Danni deserves him, though, because she never let life roll her—even when most of us what have given in long ago. She doesn’t wallow in self pity and she doesn’t let her fears cripple her. When I put the two of them together, everything clicked. You’ll get to see them both again in Haunting Warrior, by the way.

Haunting Beauty trailer:

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

EQ: The email and the Internet. I can’t resist either one of them and they are such productivity killers!

DC: You have woven so many paranormal elements into Haunting Beauty. I especially love the ghost aspect of the story, in that it goes through several alterations, so to speak. Do you have a favorite paranormal part of the book?

EQ: I love that part too and all the implications that come with it. I think one of my favorite scenes (without giving any spoilers) is the one where they see Sean’s mother in the kitchen. That scene changes so many things. 

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

EQ: What a great question! I do think my characters have evolved. When I first started writing, my females were always bitches. I wasn’t trying for that, but I was so concerned I’d make them weak that I went to the other extreme. I always had to take an eraser to the first draft and tone them down. Now that I’m older and wiser, I think I’ve found the balance for my female characters and given them the vulnerability to be human and the backbone to be strong. My men, on the other hand, had a tendency to be Neanderthal. I like really manly men and so I would always paint that with a broad stroke and then detail it later. I still like my men very strong and confident, but I think I have a better grasp on the difference between overbearing and self-assured—and possessive vs obsessive. Important distinctions in my opinion.

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

EQ: You know, one day I would like to try a straight contemporary romance or a straight historical, but for now I’m having too much fun with the paranormal.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

EQ: Oh man, another good question. I would tell myself to look before I leap. I sold my first book to the first editor who read it. I had NO IDEA what I was doing. I didn’t have a clue how the industry worked, what was expected of me, what I should expect of them. Consequently, I made every beginner’s mistake that could possibly be made and it really set my career back. HOWEVER, (you knew it was coming) it made me a stronger person having to overcome those roadblocks and I’m sure it made me a better writer. If anyone out there is trying to get published, I urge you to get educated first. Find out what happens after the big sale and plan accordingly.

DC: Can you give us a sneak peek into your next book, Haunting Warrior?

EQ: I so hoped I’d be able to debut the cover for Haunting Warrior on this interview (and I’m still hoping I’ll get the okay before it goes up). I’ve seen the preview and it’s AMAZING. Let me just put it in a few simple terms. BEAUTIFUL. MAN. FLESH. GORGEOUS. Sigh.

Okay, but what’s between the covers? Haunting Warrior is the story of Danni’s twin, Rory. In Haunting Beauty, Danni changes her own past but some things stay the same.

Rory MacGrath spends his life haunted by the events that happened that night beneath the castle ruins. The devastation of that night drives him to leave behind his family, his heritage, the very magic that makes him who he is. But running away from what is inside is futile and Rory soon learns this.

He begins to dream of a woman—a beautiful woman who enthralls him and draws him back to Ireland, to the cavern beneath the castle ruins where his father disappeared. From there he is plunged back in time, and into the body of another man—a man betrothed to the very woman of Rory’s dreams. In possession of the secrets of his past, his family, and his identity, her hold on Rory is inescapable. For she is his doom. His salvation. And his destiny.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

EQ: Ditzy blonde who gets lost in her own driveway falls in love, marries the most annoying man in the world and lives happily ever after. Somehow she finds the time between day job, family and life to seek the road to the impossible dream that is almost in her reach. 

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

EQ: I hope it would be “Evocative and emotional.”

DC: You also have written books under the name Erin Grady. For those readers who have yet to treat themselves to one of your stories, is there one you can recommend for them to start out with?

EQ: I would say either Echoes or Whispers would be the best bet. My debut, Web of Smoke, is not a paranormal, though it is a good romantic suspense (or so I’ve been told.)

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

EQ: Sheesh, that’s a stumper. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was in first grade. I can’t imagine not being one and Lord knows there’ve been enough roadblocks for me that I could have quit a hundred times and I don’t think anyone would have blamed me (not even myself).

DC: What’s on the horizon for Erin Quinn?

EQ: Well I’m so thrilled that Berkley is going to publish the next two Haunting books—which should finish the series unless one of the books gives me a surprise I’m not expecting (and if you’ve read this interview, you know that’s a possibility, ha ha). After that, I’m simmering on another idea that I hope to pull together soon.

Lightning Round:

– dark or milk chocolate? – Dark
– smooth or chunky peanut butter? – Chunky
– heels or flats? – Both.
– coffee or tea? – Coffee
– summer or winter? – Winter (which in Arizona isn’t too different from summer.)
– mountains or beach? – Beach
– mustard or mayonnaise? – Mustard, but only because Mayonnaise is so fattening.
– flowers or candy? – Flowers
– pockets or purse? – Purse
– Pepsi or Coke? – Pepsi
– ebook or print? – Print

And because we still enjoy the answers we get:

1. What is your favorite word? – Evocative
2. What is your least favorite word? – No.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? – Rain, for all three
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? – Heat—which really sucks in AZ where it can get to be 120 degrees. It just saps the life out of me. There are days when I simply hate the sun.
5. What sound or noise do you love? – Rain (again)
6. What sound or noise do you hate? – Radio broadcasters. They are so annoying.
7. What is your favorite curse word? – Dill Weed. Call someone a dill weed and it sounds so mean and dirty and always leaves them with this dumbfounded looked on their faces. Of course I’m versed in all the real swear words too and use them way more than I should. (they have a way of slipping out in the most awkward situations . . . like business meetings . . . ooops.)
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? – I’d love to be an editor.
9. What profession would you not like to do? – Bean counter. Not only can’t I count, but I hate beans.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? – “You done good, kid.” 

DC: Erin, thank you so much for spending the day with us! It was a pleasure!