Please help me welcome ML Buchman, author of I Own the Dawn.
Comment from Martha: I really like The Night is Mine and was glad to snag I Own the Dawn to review as well. I am so impressed by the energy and intensity of your romance suspense titles.
Reply from Matt: Thanks so much! I’m certainly having a good time doing it as well.
- I love series and I like to this question: When you do a series do you have each book plotted out before you start the first one or do the subsequent books flow from the first book?
MB: Each book is built on its own. I have a theme of what connects them, sort of a forward vision but always glad to be diverted by chance and possibility. For example, I know the first installment in this series is four books long because I chose a helicopter that has four seats and I’m filling them with women one-by-one; one helicopter, one crew, four seats, four love stories. And to sell the series, I did have a brief synopsis of each heroine and hero. But could I have predicted Dilya in I Own the Dawn or the sad story of “villains” before I wrote it? No.
- I noted on your blog that you were pulled into romance by a 1996 visit to a RWA national conference. How does writing a romance compare with writing science fiction? What are the main differences, and what do these forms of writing have in common?
MB: Great question. I’ve always had a love story in all my books, “novel with romantic elements” as they’re called. So once I discovered romances I thought, “No worries. I’ll just shift the focus to the love story and have a romance.” So not! In my science fiction and my thrillers it is the on-going plot that sustains the story. Yes, my characters grow and change and are shaped by the challenges they face. (In many books in these two genres, the character change is miniscule. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, great thriller reading, but the character is the same guy beginning to end of the book.)
Anyway, I had to write (and discard) several romances before I learned the ins and outs of creating a romance. A story that is based on: no question who the love interests are, who are intensely drawn together from the first pages, and who, with minimal need for the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief, just can’t get together for 3-400 pages. In the romances I enjoy reading and writing, mere plot is not enough to keep them apart. In my SF/F and thrillers, I need to understand what could make them fall in love and let them travel that road. To write a romance I find I must dig deeper into the character and really understand what makes the character the way they are about being in love, both for and against. It’s immense fun.
Anyway, I had to write (and discard) several romances before I learned the ins and outs of creating a romance. A story that is based on: no question who the love interests are, who are intensely drawn together from the first pages, and who, with minimal need for the reader to suspend their sense of disbelief, just can’t get together for 3-400 pages. In the romances I enjoy reading and writing, mere plot is not enough to keep them apart. In my SF/F and thrillers, I need to understand what could make them fall in love and let them travel that road. To write a romance I find I must dig deeper into the character and really understand what makes the character the way they are about being in love, both for and against. It’s immense fun.
- Have you had to do any unique research or what was one of the most surprising things you learned in researching for any of the Night Stalker series?
MB: I researched this intensely. I wanted to be as authentic as I could which sent me exploring in many directions. A couple of things stand out.
a) Going to Heckler & Kock’s on-line forum and asking about how to best use a sniper rifle against (well, that would be telling), and the amount of derision in addition to the help I received.
b) Standing in a gun shop asking really naïve questions of a gun shop owner packing two pistols in a shoulder harness, one at the small of his back and probably more elsewhere. All the while with his newborn girl cradled in his arms.
c) Spending a couple of hours with a woman who flew a double-tour on a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq as crew chief. What she cared about was not what I expected. She signed up for the country, but flew for the people beside her. Her reentry into society was a rude shock in the simplest ways. For years, every meal had been taken care of, there were no electric bills, no question of rent. But most of all, for her and I came to understand for others as I read more and more about soldiers and especially about special forces teams, it was about the people they were with first and foremost.
a) Going to Heckler & Kock’s on-line forum and asking about how to best use a sniper rifle against (well, that would be telling), and the amount of derision in addition to the help I received.
b) Standing in a gun shop asking really naïve questions of a gun shop owner packing two pistols in a shoulder harness, one at the small of his back and probably more elsewhere. All the while with his newborn girl cradled in his arms.
c) Spending a couple of hours with a woman who flew a double-tour on a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq as crew chief. What she cared about was not what I expected. She signed up for the country, but flew for the people beside her. Her reentry into society was a rude shock in the simplest ways. For years, every meal had been taken care of, there were no electric bills, no question of rent. But most of all, for her and I came to understand for others as I read more and more about soldiers and especially about special forces teams, it was about the people they were with first and foremost.
- What most inspires your plots?
MB: My sense of justice or injustice. Those who twist humanity into inhumanity creates many of my plots. And my characters are the ones to will fight against that until their very last breath.
- Is there a particular character you’ve had the most fun with while writing the Night Stalker series?
MB: Dilya. Her insights are her own. She was an accidental character who was supposed to visit for one scene and then refused to leave. It allows her to speak truth in the oddest ways. I love writing the men and women, but she was a complete surprise.
- If you could have a theme song for the Night Stalkers, what would it be? And/or do you have a dream cast for your books?
The Night is Mine starring Uma Thurman as Captain Emily Beale and a young Aidan Quinn as Major Mark Henderson.
I Own the Dawn starring a composite of several but mostly Roxanne Dawson (engineer on Star Trek: Voyager) and Jenette Goldstein (the tough gunner-babe in Aliens) as Kee Smith and Jude Law as Lieutenant Archibald “Archie” Stevenson III.
Wait Until Dark… but that would be telling.
- Where is your writing headed? Sci Fi, Fantasy, Suspense or more Romantic Suspense?
MB: Yes! My wife and I made a list while out walking a few days ago. There are 14 books that I could write right now. More in the Night Stalkers series. A spin-off tale that appears in book 4. I have a contemporary romance series started (Where Dreams are Born is out, book 2 by spring). I have a silly fantasy series of 3-4 that I’m dying to get to. And then, sigh, we thought up a new romance series based on a Tuscan B&B that I’m just dying to start. Being a writer is never having to say you’re bored. :-)
I see that you wrote a guest post about being male and writing romance so I’ll refer readers to this link for those comments: http://goodbadandunread.com/2012/08/16/guest-blog-you-write-what-by-m-l-buchman/
Thank you so much for delivering awesome action and romance packed suspense stories. (I will probably pick up one of your apocalyptic stories before the year is out.) And thank you for sharing your thoughts with readers.
Thanks to you for some great questions!
I OWN THE DAWN BY M.L. BUCHMAN – IN STORES AUGUST 2012
Name: Archibald Jeffrey Stevenson III
Rank: First Lieutenant, Dap Hawk Copilot
Mission: Strategy and execution of special ops maneuvers
Name: Kee Smith
Rank: Sergeant, Night Stalker Gunner and Sharpshooter
Mission: Whatever it takes to get the job done
You Wouldn't Think It Could Get Worse, Until It Does...
When a special mission slowly unravels, it is up to Kee and Archie to get their team out of an impossible situation with international implications. With her weaponry knowledge and his strategic thinking, plus the explosive attraction that puts them into exact synchrony, together they might just have a fighting chance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. L. Buchman has worked in fast food, theater, computers, publishing, and light manufacturing. It's amazing what you can do with a degree in geophysics. At one point he sold everything and spent 18-months riding a bicycle around the world. In 11,000 miles, he touched 15 countries and hundreds of amazing people. Since then, he has acquired a loving lady, the coolest kid on the planet, and lives in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please visit http://www.matthewlieberbuchman.com/.
Be sure to check the Contest page for a chance to win a free, signed copy of I Own the Dawn.
Thank you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to host a giveaway here to!
TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY for Print Copy from Sourcebooks:
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The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on September 8, 2012.
Winners will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.
