Fiction Scribe

Hello everyone. Welcome to another author interview here on Fiction Scribe. This week I’m talking to Maureen Fisher, author of the paranormal romance The Jaguar Legacy. Please join me in welcoming her to the site.

Hello and thank you for stopping at Fiction Scribe, Ms. Fisher. Tell the readers a bit about yourself.

Thanks. It’s great to be here.

Dragged to Canada from Scotland at the tender age of seven by well-meaning parents, I survived childhood and adolescence by immersing myself in books. Thirteen years later as a University of Toronto graduate, I convinced the federal government to hire a Fine Arts specialist as a computer programmer. In another four years, I graduated again, this time to full-time homemaker and mom, raising two wonderful sons. Plunging back into the business world, I started a management consulting company in partnership with my second husband. This marriage survived because we pledged never to work on the same project again. Ever.

After a century in the consulting world, I grew weary of wearing snappy power suits, squeezing into panty hose, and fighting rush hour traffic. I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I was certain of one thing — it wasn’t a consultant. I made a life-changing decision, ignored advice to the contrary and quit my day job to attend a 5-day seminar entitled How to Write a Novel. How hard could it be? Look at the bookshelves. Thousands of authors pulled it off every year, some of them more than once.

What brought you into the world of writing? When did you start?

My Inner Voice must have been hollering at me for decades, trying in vain to get my attention. My knack for denial is well honed and finely tuned.

It’s like this. When I was in grade seven, I stood up in front of my long-suffering classmates, heart hammering in my skinny chest, and droned out my first public speaking assignment — a memorized essay I had compiled about dinosaurs. I covered the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous waterfronts. At least ten of my classmates dozed off and one appeared to fall into a full-fledged coma, alarming Mr. Hughes, my teacher. Indeed, my performance was so pitiful, he must have felt sorry for me, because he gave me another chance. “You have until Monday morning to redeem yourself, young lady,�? he intoned.

That gave me exactly three days to pull together a brilliant speech.

Being a staunch advocate of pain avoidance and a coward to boot, I turned the problem over to my mother, knowing full well she would jump to my rescue. She rose to the occasion and spent the weekend writing a delightfully funny story entitled, “On Housebreaking a Puppy.�? On Monday at 10:00 a.m., I delivered a brilliant essay that knocked the socks off my delighted classmates and a relieved Mr. Hughes. Nobody fell asleep this time. My classmates thought I had developed a sense of humor over the weekend, and my mother and I received an ‘A’ for our efforts. After that, I figured, why mess with success? My mother wrote another couple of polished pieces brimming with adult humor to round out my primary school writing career in style, and I slunk into high school with high marks and low self esteem. Feeling like a total fraud, I made no attempt to write another creative word outside of essays and technical reports for several decades.

Fast forward many years. In June 2003, a good friend and primo energy healer (she refers to herself as a ‘soul healer’) called up our spiritual Guides, Guardians, Masters, and Gatekeepers to channel an unforgettable session during which I made a life-changing decision. I walked out of her house knowing I would write books. Not dry, boring, technical treatises or management reports, but fresh, funny romantic suspense novels.

You’re currently on virtual tour for your paranormal romantic suspense The Jaguar Legacy. Could you tell us a bit about the book?

What if she had lived before? What if she had created a legacy of betrayal that spanned several millennia? What if passion could heal her soul and love could release her from bondage? The Jaguar Legacy is a vivid story of romance and humor, peril and suspense, betrayal and trust, healing and absolution.

Despite baffling panic attacks that devastated her career, journalist Charley Underhill barges in on a Mexican archaeological dig, bent on sniffing out a juicy exposé that will restore her reputation and earn enough money for her mother’s life-saving treatment. Haunted by past betrayals, Dr. Alistair Kincaid isn’t about to let a smart-mouthed reporter leak word of his latest discovery, an ancient Olmec city, to the press. A battle of wills and wits ensues. Strands from a past life intertwine with the present, drawing the couple into a vortex of chilling evil where ancient danger stalks the jungle on velvet paws. Torn between redeeming her soul and betraying the man she loves, Charley faces impossible choices.

What inspired you to write The Jaguar Legacy? Where did the idea begin?

I work best under pressure. When I first decided to write a book, I enrolled in a 5-day seminar entitled How to Write a Novel. At the end of day-one, our teacher gave us the following homework: “Write a jacket cover blurb for your book.�?

Eeeek! What book? Long after midnight, when my panic finally subsided, the following premise emerged: Start with one archaeological dig — a lost city in Mexico — where occult energy triggers past life flashbacks; add one hunky archaeologist who hates the press; combine with one smart-mouthed reporter on a quest for an exposé; throw in a vengeful ex-wife and a mysterious shaman. Stir well until mixed and enjoy the fireworks.

Expanding the concept, I roughed in some details. Since I was born in Scotland and lived there until the age of seven, my first hero had to be Scottish — think hunky Scottish archaeologist with abundant charm and a wry sense of humor. In addition, my heroine’s enjoyment of good food, particularly chocolate, is akin to mine as is her quirky sense of humor.

Journalist Charley Underhill and Dr. Alistair Kincaid face many challenges as parts of their past life begin to influence their present lives. What about past lives inspired you to incorporate them in your writing?

Ten years ago, embarking on my spiritual journey, I read a book entitled Many Lives, Many Masters written by Dr. Brian Weiss, renowned psychiatrist. This book is a case study describing one of Dr. Weiss’ patients whose mysterious ailments disappeared when, using hypnosis, he regressed her into the past lives where traumas had occurred. Intrigued, I started researching the notion of reincarnation, reading voraciously, talking to energy healers, and even doing a couple of regressions myself.

It seemed only right to incorporate reincarnation and the notion of both karmic and genetic memory in my first book. Triggered by the energy of the archaeological dig, my heroine makes the unnerving discovery that in her past life, she had been an Olmec High Priestess, trained to kill at an early age, and thirsty for power.

Gradually, over the past few months, it has occurred to me that perhaps the past life I wrote about in The Jaguar Legacy was one of my own. Certainly, it was the part of the book that flowed most easily, the only part that required little or no editing.

What character do you relate to the most and why?

The heroine of The Jaguar Legacy, Charley Underhill, is my favorite. While loving the flaws and foibles that make her human, I admire her complexity, spunk, and wit. Never boring, Charley is full of contradictions and more than a few hang-ups. And no wonder. An independent woman at heart, she has lived under the thumb of her manipulative and alcoholic mother her entire life. Honest and ethical at heart, she sees no alternative but to tell a lie that nearly destroys her in order to save her mother’s life. Charley’s passion for life bubbles over, while her tendency towards bossiness, rash actions, inquisitiveness, and mulish obstinacy trip her up at every turn. When feeling nervous, which happens a lot around the hunky Alistair Kincaid, she falls back on smart-assed comments, witticisms, and a quirky sense of humor to mask her discomfort. Courageous and resolute, if she believes in a cause, nothing will stop her from doing what she feels is right. In the end, Charley finds within herself the strength of character to overcome emotional trauma, supernatural evil forces, and mind-numbing fear to save the man she loves.

What draws you about writing romance – or paranormal romantic suspense, for that matter?

I love reading romance. Any romance. Call it total escapism. In a world of growing uncertainty, constantly bombarded with news about disasters, tragedies, wars, murders, deaths, and corruption, I crave an antidote. A world of wonder, a world of falling in love, of unlimited possibilities, of overcoming impossible odds, and of living happily ever after is more to my liking. What better way to escape than to curl up in front of a fire with a cup of tea and a good romance novel?

Romance novels are addictive. Here’s the thing. I’m a psychologist wannabe, a voyeur of the human psyche, an emotional junkie. I suck up internal conflicts like a Hoover sucks up dust–emotions, feelings, and emotional baggage that characters drag around, providing their motives and affecting their actions. A good romance novel is a psychological jigsaw puzzle that never fails to feed my craving for an emotional fix.

I love everything about romance novels. I love the loyalty. I love the treachery. I love the courage. I love the frailty. I love the hope. I love the despair. I love the honesty. I love the deception. I love the humor. I love the tears. I love the well-rounded characters, particularly quirky characters that are so flawed, yet appealing, they feel like old friends. I love clever, smart-mouthed heroines who say and do all the things I would love to. I love complex, tortured heroes who overcome their personal demons in the name of love.

And if the interviewer asks me whether I think men should read romance fiction, my answer will be an unqualified, “Yes.�? How can any man in his right mind resist learning more about feminine secrets–what we love, what we hate, what turns us on, what turns us off, in short, what makes us tick? In my opinion, romance fiction provides unlimited opportunities for men to plumb the depths (so to speak) of the mysterious world of Venus. Who knows? In the process, they might even reach new insight on Martians.

I leave you with this thought. Picture a man sprawled in a chair at the airport, waiting for his flight, briefcase and laptop propped at his feet–a manly man, a man who is truly comfortable in his own skin, a man who has tossed aside his business report documenting recent financial trends and who is dabbing his eyes, happily engrossed in the latest Nora Roberts bestseller.

After all, only real men dare to read romance fiction.

What drew you to writing this book in particular?

As a child, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Something about those ancient digs set my imagination on fire. What if some of the ancient energy survived?

Are there any authors who have inspired you in your writing?

I love the gothic thrillers and ghost stories written by Barbara Michaels, a.k.a. Elizabeth Peters, the entire Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, also Lady of Hay, a classic time travel written by Barbara Erskine. For humor, Janet Evanovitch, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Dave Barry tickle my funny bone. When it comes to romance, nothing beats Nora Roberts or Jayne Ann Krentz.

What are you working on now?

A romantic suspense with comic elements, Fur Ball Fever represents the first salvo in the Condo Capers Series. Whirlwind action alternates between the seamiest side of Atlantic City and an upscale Jersey Shore condominium complex called Saltwater Village, proud sponsor of a hoity-toity pet charity extravaganza called The Fur Ball.

Sporting a dwindling bank account, an overwhelming debt load, and her family’s censure for a lifetime of impetuous mistakes, renegade Grace Donnelly faces catastrophe. Her first case, a dog-napping prank turned nasty, blows up in her face and she finds herself embroiled in trouble up to her eyeballs. How can she launch her new career as private investigator if word of her incompetence spreads? Unless she nails the perp, Grace faces the humiliation of failure and bankruptcy when yet another career bites the dust.

Grace’s suspicions focus on several candidates: a slick televangelist, a neighbor’s trophy wife, and her former flame, Nick Jackson, finest PI east of the Rockies. Her persistent investigation nearly blows his cover in his quest to nail the phoney preacher whose corruption killed his twin. Unable to save his brother’s life during Desert Storm, Nick finds himself re-living his worst fears when confronted with Grace’s rash actions. To salvage his case, his sanity, and Grace’s skin, Nick sees no choice but to join forces with the sassy crusader who rubs him the wrong way — and so many of the right ways.

Locked in an uneasy alliance, their joint investigation leads the reluctant couple into unexpected romance against a wacky backdrop of animal politics, drag queens, a dominatrix or two, the swinging scene, and a fascinating underworld of fetishism and bondage. The two cases converge in a zany roller-coaster ride of murder and mayhem, culminating in a Fur Ball extravaganza the locals will never forget.

What are your dreams for your writing?

I’m a firm believer in dreaming big. I visualize myself as a New York Times bestselling author, accepting awards with aplomb, delivering workshops to eager audiences, wearing out many pens at international book signings, and sitting in the audience when the movie of my best-seller wins the ‘Best Picture’ Oscar.

When you’re not writing novels, what do you do?

Between as much travel as we can squeeze in, my husband and I live in Ottawa where I slave over a computer to improve my writing skills, play bridge, cycle, and volunteer as counsellor’s aid for an addiction family program.

Any advice for writers?

• Join a critique group.
• Don’t give up because of rejections or stinging critiques. Keep on writing.
• Mistakes are inevitable. Every writer makes them. Learn from your mistakes and keep on writing.
• Send that manuscript out. I was amazed at the number of authors who won’t submit their manuscript to an agent, editor, or contest because they fear criticism. And keep on writing.
• Pitch your book at every opportunity. Practice first on a fellow writer.
• Keep learning. Hone your craft. Attend workshops, take classes (there are lots of great online courses), read how-to books.
• Eat chocolate.
• Persistence, persistence, persistence. Did I mention keep on writing?

Thank you very much for your time.

My pleasure.

If you liked this interview and would like to check out another interview with a romance author, go here for my interview with Caridad Pineiro.