Joselyn Vaughn Interview

[Anne] Joining us today is Joselyn Vaughn. Welcome, Joselyn. Why don’t you tell us about your latest book?

[Joselyn] Dusting off the ashes of a failed relationship, Daphne Morrow decides she is ready to date again. But when her scorched prom photos are discovered to be the ignition point for a small forest blaze, marking her as the prime suspect for the arson, she finds they’re not the only part of her past sparking interest. After a friend’s wedding provides a romantic interlude with her longtime friend Noah Banks, Daphne tries to explain away her attraction to him: the atmosphere of the wedding, his resemblance to her ex, his heroic efforts as a volunteer firefighter. Still, their desire just won’t sputter out.

When the arsonist strikes much closer to home, Daphne fears she must risk Noah’s friendship to find the culprit and clear her name. She’ll know their love is real if his interest isn’t put out by her need to uncover the truth.

[Anne] What inspired you to write this story?

[Joselyn] One of my friends has been in a lot of weddings and I thought writing a story with several wedding would be fun. It snowballed from there. I could incorporate all the funny wedding stories I had heard.

[Anne] How did you go about researching your book?

[Joselyn] Mostly listening to friends and relatives talk about their weddings. One of my good friends was a volunteer firefighter, so I could bug him about any fire-related questions. My husband also had to answer a lot of “If you filled a garbage can with hairspray and dropped a match in it, would it explode and catch the rest of the house on fire?”(not really) and “If he tried to burn his shoes, would the fire spread?” (No, the shoes wouldn’t burn.) He was probably glad when that one was done, but then I started asking him car questions for the next book.

[Anne] Do you have anything new in the works?

[Joselyn] I just finished rough drafts for two more books relating to my first book, CEOs Don’t Cry. They are continuations of the story involving different characters. Another idea is tumbling around in my head, but I haven’t put anything on paper yet. My local writers group is doing a winter NaNo project where we set a goal to write 32,000 words between the February and March meetings. I may let this idea simmer until then.

[Anne] What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

[Joselyn] Definitely a pantser for the first draft. I handwrite in a cute notebook and the story tends to wander all over the place. I get a little more organized for the second draft. The story gets typed, then I print out the whole draft and start documenting things. I make a character lists, a calendar and maybe a chapter summary. Each book has been a little different. For one completed manuscript I re-did my calendar three or four times. At one point I realized the character had poison ivy for a whole month. Poor guy.

[Anne] If you could be anyone of your characters, which one would you chose to be and why?

[Joselyn] Minnie Schultz. She says and does whatever she wants and doesn’t care a lick what anyone thinks. It’d be fun to be that bold and brassy and confident. She also collects modern art and porcelain cats. I would love to collect more original artwork, but probably not the cats.

[Anne] Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go?

[Joselyn] All of my books so far take place in a fictional West Michigan. If I were to travel, it would be to Italy. I’m sure I could come up with a story involving a trip to Rome or something. Recently, I did a search online for Italian villas after watching Under the Tuscan Sun again. Not really anything in my price range, though. Maybe George Clooney would let me stay at his.

[Anne] You’ve just been informed that your latest release was a NY Times bestseller and Hollywood wants to turn it into a movie. What actors would you choose to play your main characters?

[Joselyn] As I finished writing Courting Sparks, I had Hugh Jackman in my head for Noah. Although after watching the Country Music Awards, I realized that Noah looked a lot more like Josh Turner. Hmm, how to pick between those two? I think we would need extensive auditions and it would probably come down to their Chicken Dances. Jennifer Garner would be good as Daphne. She has the girl next door feel that’s willing to do anything for her friends. Aaron and Noah are supposed to look alike, but in my head Aaron looks like Hugh Grant, especially in Bridget Jones’ Diary.

[Anne] What type of books do you like to read when you’re not writing?

[Joselyn] Romance, of course. Mostly Regencies or contemporaries. They are my special treat. Before kids, I read a couple of books a week, but now I’m lucky to get one in. I also gravitate toward literary fiction and historical fiction, but that takes more of a mental concentration and my kids aren’t willing to allow me that very often.

[Anne] Name three things you can’t live without (excluding spouses and family because that’s a given).

[Joselyn] My iPod Touch – it has my calendar, my email, my music, my running program, my ebooks, my flashlight, etc. I’d be lost without it. My husband even brings it to me if I set it down somewhere. I may have to wrestle my kids for it though. He just showed them that they could watch Bob the Builder movies on YouTube.

Pen and Paper – My iPod has a lot of features, but I’m not very adept at typing on it, so I’d need a pen and paper to keep writing.

My running shoes – I’m only going a couple days a week, but the chance to block everything else out and just be alone with my thoughts is a great time. Having that time to exercise and be alone is a big rejuvenator.

[Anne] What advice would you give to any aspiring writers out there?

[Joselyn] If you want to write but haven’t started, get your bum in the chair and start typing. If you are writing and that first novel is going slowly and getting hard, keep your bum in the chair and keep going. You need to work through it. Find a good critique partner. They can give you ideas when you get stuck and help you find the problems with the story that are holding you back. Most of all, keep writing.

[Anne] Where can we find you on the web?

[Joselyn] I’m on Facebook, but also have a webpage (http://joselynvaughn.com) and a blog (http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com).

[Anne] Where can we purchase your books?

[Joselyn] They are available on Amazon.com and BN.com, but they are quite often available at your local library, too.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=joselyn+vaughn&x=0&y=0

[Anne] Is there anything else you’d like to add?

[Joselyn] I’d like to thank you, Anne, for hosting this interview. It’s been a really fun. I’m also posting some of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes on my blog (http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com), so stop by and check them out. Hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season.

Writing Tip of the Week - Using Action in Dialogue by Joselyn Vaughn

My first drafts of scenes with dialogue are often disembodied monotone chanting where it’s difficult to discern who is talking, how many people are in the room or on the phone, and what they are all doing while they are conversing. It’s all clear in my head until I read it the next day.

The second draft improves enough that I can tell who is talking and how many people are in the room. However, these people do an inordinate amount of standing, sitting, leaning, nodding, turning and smiling. Someday I hope to write an entire novel where no one turns or nods unless absolutely necessary. Right now it seems like an incredible feat, but I think it’s possible. So while the scene has filled out with another layer, the actions are basic and weak.

By my third draft, the action starts to tell a story of its own. The characters fuss with their napkins, knotting them, folding them, twisting them around their fingers as they reveal their secrets. In CEOs Don’t Cry, Mark spilled drywall mud, scooped it back into his bucket and mashed it down during a conversation with his friend Bryce. His actions reflect his discomfort with the topic of conversation.

You can use action in your dialogue for more than one purpose. The first way to use actions to replace dialogue tags. The dreaded ‘he said’, ‘she said’s. Not that those are awful, but people usually skip reading them anyway. They pick up the name of who is talking and continue reading. If people aren’t going to read those words, why have them in your novel? We want the reader to be so enamored with our story that they hang on every word. Replace the ‘said’ with an action and your reader’s eyes won’t jump to the next line.

Ex) “I can’t eat another bite,” Carla said.

Replace with: “I can’t eat another bite.” Carla tossed her napkin on her plate and pushed the plate forward.

Drop the said and you have a more active verb construction. Carla tossed… And the action enforces what Carla is saying. We know she isn’t lying about being able to eat another bite.

The other thing you can do with action is to betray the character’s true thoughts. Their actions can show their anxiety even when their words profess calmness.

Ex) “Everything is fine.” Carla twisted the corner of her napkin until the end tore in linty clumps and littered her wool suit.

We know that when a woman says something is fine, it generally isn’t, but Carla’s actions also show that. Would she be ripping the napkin apart if she was calm and prepared for whatever came next? Probably not. Personally, I’d have that napkin shredded into dust if I was entering an anxiety-filled situation.

You can use the actions to show a character that appears ready to take on the world is actually quaking in their sandals.

These techniques aren’t the only ones you can use to develop scenes of dialogue, but you can use them to enhance a scene as you revise.


Bio: Joselyn Vaughn lives in the Great Lakes State with her adoring husband, the world's most inventive toddlers and the laziest beagles.  She believes there is nothing better than a warm hug, a good romance novel and chocolate.  When not changing diapers or removing a toddler from a precarious situation, Joselyn enjoys sewing, running, shopping at thrift stores and reading books longer than thirty pages.

Links: http://joselynvaughn.com and http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com