Jana DeLeon Interview - 12/11/2009

Interview with Jana DeLeon, author of Rumble on the Bayou, Unlucky, and the Ghost-in-Law mystery romance series featuring Trouble in Mudbug and Mischief in Mudbug. (The final book in the series, Showdown in Mudbug, will be released Summer 2010)

Carl Hose: Thanks for talking to me, Jana. My wife lived in Louisiana for a while. She says it’s a different world altogether. All of your books so far have been set in Louisiana. What is your history with the state?

Jana DeLeon: I grew up in Louisiana in a town so small you likely won’t find it on a map. My family had a camp (lakehouse everywhere else) on a bayou just off the Gulf of Mexico, and you could only get there by boat. Fishing, running barges for fresh shrimp and alligators were part of normal for me. To be quite honest, it wasn’t until after I graduated college and moved to Texas that I realized exactly how unique Louisiana is.

CH: Tell us about Mudbug. I’ve looked for it, so I take it this is a fictional town you created. What was the inspiration?

Jana: All of the towns in my books are fictional, although they are located where a real town might be. Creating a fictional town offers the advantage of not having to be accurate. Since books are often completed a year before release, many things can change. Katrina and Rita changed a LOT of things. Rumble on the Bayou is set in the fictional town of Gator Bait, but the actual location “used” to be Cameron, which Rita wiped off the map. Fictional is safer.

The term “mudbug” is another name for crawfish (or crayfish as some northerners like to call them), and I just thought it would make a lively, fun name for the town. The only one of my towns that has a fictional reason behind the name is Royal Flush, the town in Unlucky. It is so named because it’s home to the country’s largest port-a-john manufacturer. (It figures into the story – trust me)

CH: Preparing for this interview, I visited Dorchester and read samples of your books, which I really enjoyed. The romance tags are on them, but they aren’t the traditional romance books I think a lot of people might imagine. There’s a good bit of humor, mystery, and an all-around genre blend going on. Tell us what you aim for when you write a romance book.

Jana: I enjoy reading and writing romance because the romance industry is rigid on one thing – there must be a happily ever after or it is not a romance. Life is hard and stressful, and I read for escape. I want to know when I pick up a book that the heroine I grow to love will beat the bad guys and have the man wrapped around her little finger by the end of the book. I don’t like sad endings.

When I start a book, I usually have a situation – in single title that means high concept – something you can explain in one sentence that makes people nod and think “that’s a great idea.” For Trouble in Mudbug my concept was “Scientist is haunted by dead mother-in-law.” Now, how can people not hear that, knowing it’s a humor book, and not be interested? Then I create the worst possible characters to put in that situation. In Trouble, the worst person to see a ghost is the scientist who doesn’t believe in the paranormal, and the worst person to be haunted by is definitely your mother-in-law. Then I have to create a hero whose goal is in direct opposition of the heroines. Otherwise, there’s no conflict. So concept drives character creation which then drives everything that happens.

CH: When did you begin writing? What prompted you to start?

Jana: I wrote when I was young, elementary school through high school, but gave it up in college for “higher” pursuits of accounting and computer science. I didn’t start writing again until 2001. I’d been reading Janet Evanovich and loved the quirky characters and humor combined with a mystery (my favorite genre), and then my grandmother passed away. I hadn’t been to Louisiana in years, and this was the first time I’d seen a lot of my extended family in a decade. So I sat there watching this incredibly diverse and quite frankly odd group of people and a thought struck me: if Evanovich can write stories about strange people in New Jersey, then I can definitely write about strange people in Louisiana. So I went home and started writing. When I finished my first book, I joined a local chapter of Romance Writers of America (because they deliver the BEST education for writers of any genre) and started to learn everything I’d done wrong in my book, and everything I needed to know about the publishing industry.

CH: How often do you find the time to read, and who are some of your favorite authors?

Jana: Reading is the thing I miss most about being a writer. I swear I’m shorter on time than money. But when I get an opportunity to read, I love Stephanie Bond, Jennifer Crusie, Debbie Macomber, Sue Grafton, Joshilyn Jackson, and my all-time favorite author is Agatha Christie. I have all her books and reread them often. I think I’m hoping her genius will sink in to my brain.

CH: Do you find it difficult to read for pleasure, as a reader and not a writer, or do you find yourself reading critically?

Jana: Pleasure versus writer is a difficult thing to answer. I'll just say that I attempt to read everything for pleasure and can usually overlook things. If I notice how poorly something is written, it's either because it's really poorly written, the story is too boring so I'm noticing everything else, or both.

If I read someone who is not technically a good writer and I find myself not analyzing the writing, then I know the writer is telling a really good story.

Dan Brown is a good one for being a hack writer but coming up with fascinating plots. I read his books, but my editor can't stomach them. She'll see the movies, though.

CH: Pick one book written by another author you wish you would have written.

Jana: Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. Absolutely one of the best books I’ve read in the last decade. A brilliant (and oft cynical/funny but accurate) view of southern small town mentality, dysfunctional families and a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. Most of all, it’s very clever with character development, especially the heroine. I LOVE clever.

CH: Do you enjoy watching movies? What are some of your favorites?

Jana: I am a pretty big movie buff and try to see one at the theatre every weekend. My all-time favorite movie is The Usual Suspects - absolutely brilliant writing, acting and directing. More recently, I love Iron Man, love Gone in 60 Seconds (I’m a gearhead), loved all The Pirates of the Carribean, and I’m a total horror movie junkie – have been since I was a kid. The latest horror movie I saw with decent “creep factor” was Paranormal Activity.

CH: A big 80s metal hair band fan, right? Do you work with or without music?

Jana: A lot of people find this odd, but I actually work with the television on. At my day job, I’m a technical writer and I work with movies playing on my laptop. When I first began writing, I wrote in cafes. Later I was a corporate trainer and worked in airports, on planes, in hotels and wherever else I could find, so regular noise I can screen out. If it’s too quiet, I can’t concentrate well.

I can’t listen to music at all when I work because it distracts me, which sounds weird compared to television, but I really mean that the music itself distracts me. I’m a classically trained violinist, so if music is playing, I find myself paying attention to decipher the different instruments and the difficulty of the song.

CH: I’m always interested in the way other writers work. What is your word processor of choice, and are there any other must-have writing tools you enjoy, books or software?

Jana: I am a tech junkie when it comes to my writing equipment and believe in giving myself the best equipment for the job. At home, I have a laptop/notepad that I run on a hub that powers two 24-inch flat screen monitors and a regular mouse and keyboard. I recently bought a netbook that goes everywhere with me, but before that, I had an Alphasmart for light weight, long battery life equipment. I have a black and white laser printer and a really cool color laser printer. I write everything in Microsoft Word (Vista sucks, by the way).

Other writing tools include coffee, my chiropractor and a library of instructional books. My two favorites, and books I highly recommend are Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass and Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham.

CH: Do you write best during the day or at night?

Jana: I am definitely a morning person and am my freshest in the morning. I am usually awake and working by 6 am. I leave for my day job at 8:30 pm and get home after 6 pm. I am usually back at work within 30 minutes of arriving home. Eat supper an hour or so later, and sometime get a second wind and write until 11 pm. That’s a LOT of hours on the keyboard if you take into consideration that at my day job, I’m a technical writer.

CH: I’m getting ready to buy an Amazon Kindle. What do you think about the future of the ebook, and Kindle in particular? Do you have any Kindle versions of your books available yet?

Jana: All my books are available in Kindle and Sony Reader format. I have owned the Sony Reader since it first released and absolutely LOVE it. I was traveling a lot at the time, and nothing is better than carrying a hundred books around in your purse on one slim device. Many people don’t like giving up paper, and I get that, but I buy almost all of my books as ebooks and have for years.

The downside, of course, is that the digital formats make pirating books so much easier. I have to contact my publisher several times a year to get their attorney after sites that have illegally published most or all of my books. I know sometimes readers think it is cool to get their favorite author’s book for free, but what they don’t stop to consider is that the author gets paid solely based on the books that are sold. If books aren’t bought, then that author’s career could be very short-lived. If you love an author, buy their books. That’s the only way they get to keep writing more.

CH: Now it’s plug time. Anything coming up Jana DeLeon fans need to know about?

Jana: The last book in the Mudbug series, Showdown in Mudbug, will be out Summer 2010, and I’ve just been offered a deal with Harlequin Intrigue. We’re working on the details, but it looks like an early 2011 release date. And I’ve got something else in the proposal writing stage, but if I told you about it, I’d have to kill you.

CH: Well, I'd like to stay living, so it'll have to be a secret for now. I appreciate your taking the time to talk to me, Jana.

Jana: Thanks so much for having me, Carl! It was my pleasure.