RomanceEverAfter

Romance Authors Corner

Jaclyn Reding

Make sure and visit Jaclyn Reding at her web-site http://www.jaclynreding.com.  She has a terrific site to peruse for information and photographs of her visit to Scotland!

In a person, it would be someone who has kindness and a true heroic spirit. In a place, it would be any place where the troubles of the everyday world don't exist. It could be as simple as sitting beside a cozy fireplace, taking a carriage ride in a park, or sitting on a hillside in the Scottish Highlands.

Many reasons. I love happy endings. I love a book that leaves me feeling good when I get to the words "The End." I love writing about people who face seemingly insurmountable situations, but who, through the strength of love, always triumph. And I believe this is particularly true in the times we suddenly find ourselves living, more so than ever.

More than anything else, honor and strength -- and that isn't necessarily meaning physical strength. Strength of character, on whose shoulders my heroine can lean when she needs to, or even more, at whose side she can stand together as an equal.

What makes Historical Romance stories unique to any other sub-category romance (contemporary, mystery, fantasy, etc.)?

For me, it is because history brought us to where we are today. But while the times in which we live are so very different, the obstacles and joys people celebrate together are very much the same. We can look back and read "what happened when" in textbooks, the history that has been recorded for posterity's sake. But the idea of what it must have been like to live through those times, to be a part of those historic events, to imagine for 400 pages or more...that to me is fascinating.

Late-18th and 19th century Scotland is a favorite backdrop for historical romance fiction. Why do romance authors and readers enjoy this locale and time in history?

Because it was, I think, such a time of change. Scotland before that time period had been a place almost untouched by time, with ancient traditions and values that really hadn't changed much century to century. Then came the union with England and a clash of "old" versus "new." There were subsequent rebellions, which culminated in an unalterable change to that way of life. Suddenly it was illegal to wear the plaid or even play the bagpipes. Their very language was deemed unacceptable. And then finally the very people were swept away from the glens where their families had lived for hundreds of years. Mixed in with all of that are thousands of different stories for the telling.

In March, my new book The Pretender was released from Signet Books. This is the first of a series I am writing called the Highland Heroes set in the Georgian era, starting in 1746 and telling the stories of five daughters of a powerful English duke. The second book of the series, The Adventurer, will be released in November of this year.

When writing a series such as The Highland Heroes, are there challenges you face as an author and researcher that you do not encounter when writing a single novel?

Keeping all the names and birthdates of the characters straight! No, really, it's making each story as unique as you can so that it stands on its own, without the series--while at the same time making it that much more special because it is part of a series.

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