I'd like to welcome Ruth Ann Nordin back to my blog for another fun interview! I just finished reading and reviewing Ruth Ann's book An Inconvenient Marriage. Click here for my review.
Now, onto the interview.....
Bookworm:
Welcome back to my blog Ruth! Thank you for taking the time to chat again. I just finished reading your book, An Inconvenient Marriage, it was sweet and funny too. What inspired you to write this book? How long did it take you to write?
Ruth Ann:
Hi, Naida! Thanks for interviewing me again. I'm pleased that you enjoyed An Inconvenient Marriage. After An Unlikely Place for Love, it's my favorite one that I've written so far. The idea that inspired me to write the book was the idea of two people getting married who didn't want to get married but were forced to. I also wanted to write a story about a strong male character who has a good heart under his hard exterior, and I wanted to write about a strong female who isn't afraid to stand up to him...or anyone else for that matter. Those were the two thoughts I went with when I started the book.
Bookworm:
In An Inconvenient Marriage, one of the main characters, Sue, is pretty feisty. She starts a scene in public more than once, and has a reputation for being a bit stubborn. But she is also intelligent, and has a strong sense of self. How did you come up with a character like Sue? Is she based on someone you know?
Ruth Ann:
Since Jake Mitchell, the hero, is such a dominant character, I needed someone to balance him out so that the sparks and chemisty could fly between them. My initial thought was to have them not getting along for most of the book, but as I wrote it, they kept getting along so I decided let them argue enough until I could throw in an outside force to upset things for Jake, which were the suitors who came by for Sue. That is why I made Sue the way I did. As strong as she is, she is willing to do what she can to get along with people as long as they understand they have to respect her. I have to admit that out of all my female leads, Sue most mirrors me, except for her excellent dancing and horse riding skills. I am a horrible dancer and I won't go near a horse.
Bookworm: The characters make references to Shakespeare and Jane Austen, are these among your favorite authors?
Ruth Ann: I do like them, though I admit I have only read Shakespeare. I have watched the movie Sense and Sensibility (based on Jane Austen's book), and it's one of my favorite movies. I think both authors had excellent storylines.
Bookworm: An Inconvenient Marriage made me laugh a few times. I really liked when Jake invited the suitors over, then made them eat Sue's awful cooking in an attempt to make them lose interest in her. How did you come up with the ideas for scenes like this? Is it harder writing the funnier scenes or the romantic ones?
Ruth Ann: I'll be honest. Originally, An Inconvenient Marriage was not supposed to be a comedy. I didn't even know I could write a comedy. When Jake and Sue came up with the idea to get married in order for him to get his inheritance and for her to save her family's farm, I thought they would keep the marriage a secret. But then Sue was talking with her friend Belinda and the marriage slipped out in the dialogue, so I thought I'd go along with it. Since people knew, I had to think of a way to keep the story interesting, so when Jake watched the Christmas play and noticed that men were starting to take an interest in Sue, he begins to show signs of jealousy. This is when the book became a comedy. A lot of the funny scenes just popped up as I wrote it, though I struggled with the dinner scene you mentioned. That was the hardest part of the entire book. The actual part of Jake telling the men horrible things about her and their reaction to her awful cooking did come naturally, but when she discovered what Jake was doing, she kept getting too mad or he kept getting too guilty. And neither reaction was at the core of who they were or how I wanted the comedy part of the book to go. I actually wrote the rest of the book before I went back and rewrote that one scene about five times. I am very happy with it and it is my favorite scene in all of the books I've written, so the aggravation of "this isn't right!" did pay off. I think that the romantic scenes are harder to do than the funny scenes because with romance, you don't want to get too sappy and you don't want to skim through the emotions either. So getting the feeling and mood just right is a bigger challenge.
Bookworm: If this book were to be made into a film, what actors would you want to play Sue and Jake?
Ruth Ann: When I wrote Jake in chapter one, I based him off of Jonathan Frakes in his role as Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation when he had the beard. Cameron Diaz would be a good actress to play Sue because of how she handled herself in the movie "What Happens in Vegas".
Bookworm: Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?
Ruth Ann: I want to thank people who read my books and I love to hear from them. Writing is much more fun when I know people enjoy what I write. I also want to tell them that I have three free ebooks I have written and they can be found on my website at http://www.ruthannnordin.com/free_ebooks.
One is a historical romantic comedy called An Unlikely Place for Love. The second is a contemporary romantic comedy called With This Ring, I Thee Dread. And the third is a historical romance called Romancing Adrienne.
Bookworm: Last but not least, if you could go anywhere in the world, that you haven't been to yet, where would it be?
Ruth Ann: I would go to the east coast of Maine and spend some time near the ocean. I'd especially love to do this in the fall when the leaves change color. Again, thank you Naida for the interview. You ask some great questions and it was a lot of fun to answer!
Bookworm: Thanks again Ruth Ann for the interview. How cool that you based Jake's character off of Jonathan Frakes as Riker from Star Trek!
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If you haven't read An Inconvenient Marriage, I recommend it. It's a sweet romance, that will have you laughing a few times as well.
