Interview with Victoria Dahl

by Jo Robertson

Hello, Banditas, Honorary Banditas, and Readers, today we’re very fortunate to have new historical writer VICTORIA DAHL with us.

Victoria Dahl’s debut novel TO TEMPT A SCOTSMAN from Kensington caught my attention for two reasons: the hot, hot cover (check out the deep-red, sexy color – isn’t that a gorgeous cover?) and the wickedly handsome Scotsman, Collin Blackburn, the hero of her story. I love a spunky heroine who isn’t afraid to step outside the strictures of her society. Lady Alexandra Huntington is such a woman and she’s more than a match for Collin Blackburn, who hounds her with a vengeance because he believes she’s responsible for the death of his brother.

So, I in turn, hounded Victoria until she agreed to interview with the Romance Bandits LOL. As you know we interview writers by invitation only, but having read her book, I knew Dahl was a talented author with many lovely books in her career. TTAS is sexy, fast-paced, and utterly delightful. You can click on the title and order it from Amazon. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Jo: We love call stories in the Lair, Victoria. Can you tell us about your road to publication and how you received your first contract?

Victoria: Hello, Banditas and readers! I’m so excited to be here! Thank you so much for the invitation, Jo. After reading that intro, you are now one of my best friends, so I hope you’re prepared to see a lot of me. Wanna cuddle?

Jo: Hehehehe, method to my madness.

Victoria: My road to publication was a fairly long one. I’ve been reading historical romance since about the age of twelve. I always hoped to be a writer, but I didn’t start seriously writing until seven years ago when I had my first child and became a stay at home mom. Cleaning the house wouldn’t hold my attention even if I did bother to do it, so I knew I’d need something else to occupy my mind. My first manuscript sucked harder than my unused vacuum cleaner, but it was a book! And I’d written it!

Jo: You’ll be happy to learn that housecleaning is verboten in the Lair.

Victoria: I joined RWA and started entering contests. I finaled for the first time with my second manuscript, and then I was hooked on contests. Four years (and four manuscripts) later, I finaled in the Golden Heart with TO TEMPT A SCOTSMAN!!! It was an unbelievable experience even before I won. A whirlwind of sparkly chaos! And then I came home, and my agent sent out the book with a triumphant cover letter and… nothing. Ten months of nothing before I finally got the call from John at Kensington! Woo-hoo!

Jo: Collin Blackburn is exactly the kind of hero I adore – a principled man who comes up against a woman he has the wrong idea about from the get-go. How did you come up with your characters and the story for TTAS?

Victoria: Well, I love to torture my hero. I really do. If I can arrange a fake death to send him into a spiral of despair, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. Mmmm. So delicious. I’m sorry, what were we talking about?

Jo: Uh, dunno, I got lost in imagining your hero being tickled to death with a feather on his bare chest.

Victoria: Oh, yeah. I also love a very steady, reliable hero who falls for a wild girl, perhaps because my husband is very steady and reliable, and I might be a tad wild. *g* Since Collin is such a good guy, I had great opportunity to torture him with his misconceptions and doubts about the woman he loves. He doesn’t want to suspect her of doing wicked things, but she’s just so naughty! Just to be clear though, I really hate plots that are built on easily-dispelled misconceptions. I don’t think you’ll find any of those in TTAS.

Jo: Absolutely, not at all! You really kept me going with the plot complications.

Victoria: My very first idea for TTAS was the post-love scene. (The one in the cottage, Jo.) For some reason, my characters introduced themselves to me with this truly disastrous moment. I knew I had to write the book as soon as this scene popped into my head. I couldn’t resist a story about two lovers whose first time doesn’t end with butterflies and melting hearts. Instead of bringing them closer together, this love scene is just the start of the bumpy road ahead. (Pssst. Don’t worry. It all works out in the end, I promise.)

Jo: You did it beautifully. I know you have an exciting and happening blogspace going on at www.MySpace.com/VictoriaDahl. What kinds of topics do you like to discuss? I’ve popped over and seen some quite naughty dialogue.

Victoria: Oh, God. Very little that has to do with writing, I’m afraid. I used to blog with the History Hoydens about professional kinds of topics that mature readers might want to read about. But due to scheduling conflicts and a shift in my career, I had to bow out. (It’s a great blog, so check it out at HistoryHoydens.Blogspot.com) Now I do most of my blogging on my MySpace page, and there is no one there to guide me. Here are the last five topics as of mid-February: Irish Butts, My Great Weekend, The Mental Breakdown I Had While Planning my 6-Year-Old’s Birthday Party, A Hilarious & Disgusting Rap Video About George Washington and, finally, You May Have Heard a Rumor That I’m Strange. I also hold contests, of course. And sometimes I even talk about my books. Please stop by. If you don’t have a MySpace account, you won’t be able to post a comment, but I will be adding a mirror of my blog to LiveJournal in a few months. I’m waiting for my website redesign before I take that on. In the meantime, Friend me!

Jo: Everyone’s saying historicals are making a come back. Did you have any idea of writing in another genre when we all thought historicals were “dead”? Both your books are set in England, 1844. What did you find particularly attractive about this early Victorian period?

Victoria: Other genres? Definitely. I am a fickle book mistress. TTAS was the third historical I wrote, and then I decided the market had tanked. By the time I sold TTAS, I’d written three contemporary paranormals. Now, of course, that market is glutted. Ha! My agent actually took me on based on my paranormals, which are light and funny and sexy. She never even READ my historicals until after I won the GH. That’s how bad the market was! When my paranormals didn’t sell (not dark enough), my agent asked if I would write a straight contemporary… something funny and sexy but without vampires. I had never even considered it, frankly. I LOVE the automatic conflict that comes with both historicals and paranormals. Forced marriage or dating with fangs. You know what I’m saying. But I’d already written my second historical for Kensington, so I took a deep, terrified breath and wrote my first contemporary. Turns out my agent is a genius. It sold to HQN just a few months ago! As far as writing in the early Victorian era… I was drawn to this era because it is an age in transition. There are still a lot of Regency ideals left over and we haven’t gotten into the standard strict Victorian mores. It’s rather unexplored as far as romances go. I really wanted to write a story that didn’t automatically push preconceived notions into the reader’s head.

Jo: Your next historical from Kensington is coming out this year. Can you tell us a little about that?

Victoria: A RAKE’S GUIDE TO PLEASURE will be out in August and I can’t wait! I love this book. (Am I allowed to say that?)

Jo: Absolutely -- you, your mom and your agent LOL!

Victoria: The hero is the Duke of Somerhart, the older brother of the heroine of TTAS. He’s cold and controlled on the surface, but when he meets up with Lady Denmore, he finds himself tripping over bad decisions and an impulsive attraction. But Lady Denmore is not what she seems. In fact, she’s not Lady Denmore at all. Her real name is Emma Jensen and she’s masquerading as a titled widow in order to make her fortune at London’s gambling tables. Emma is hiding her real identity, and this masquerade is what draws her to Somerhart, a man who’s been hiding his true self for years. Together, they have to decide if love is really worth the gamble. (Warning: this book is a bit naughtier than TTAS, so if TTAS pushed any boundaries for you, approach with caution!)

Jo: I knew Somerhart would have his own book because I read the excerpt , but I’m so eager to read his complete story. And don’t worry, we Banditas love to go where no man – er, woman – has gone before!

Victoria: There’s a pretty long excerpt of RAKE’S GUIDE at the back of TTAS, which was a wonderful surprise for a first time author. Zebra’s Debut program has been an amazing opportunity for a lot of us new historical writers, btw. Kensington/Zebra is really stepping up to the plate, taking a chance on debut writers and giving readers a great opportunity to try out an unknown author for only $3.99. And the covers! Whew! I can’t say enough great things about this program. Distribution was amazing. TTAS was in Walmart!!!! One last thing… That contemporary I mentioned will be out with HQN in February 2009. TALK ME DOWN is the story of a young woman who goes back to her small hometown in Colorado and causes a huge stir with her secretive career, a mysterious stalker, and her burgeoning relationship with the chief of police. I like to say that if you like cold weather, hot sex, and dirty jokes, this is the book for you! But I haven’t walked away from historical in any way, shape or form. I’ll have another historical out with Kensington in 2009 as well as a novella in a Kensington historical anthology. Have I mentioned that 2009 will be a busy year? Thanks again to all the Banditas--and especially Jo!—for inviting me to come visit. I can’t wait to chat!!!

Victoria is giving away an autographed copy of TO TEMPT A SCOTSMAN to one lucky commenter. I promise you’ll adore it. I did!

Victoria will be hanging out in the Lair today so drop by, say hello, and shoot her any questions you have about her books, the genres, or her sassy MySpace blogspot. You can also check out her website at http://www.victoriadahl.com/.