Hi Jaide. Welcome to Fallen Angels. From the looks of things, you are one busy lady. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.

Thank you for having me here!

You have a number of works out. Your most recent being Intergalactic Pain in the Ass. For those not familiar with your work, can you tell us a little about this book?

This is the second book in the Intergalactic Mayhem series. It deals with secondary characters from the first book, Intergalactic Bad Boys. It’s really a zany adventure in space, and I had a great time writing it. For some reason, I really enjoy tormenting my characters at every opportunity. =D

Having created the characters, what do you find the most appealing about the two main characters, Hauk and Cole?

I love that they seriously annoy each other. Cole does a lot of stuff that I would do—aggravating Hauk, that is. I don’t know, they just messed with each other the whole time, and I could see them grinning about it and trying to hide their attraction. They’re both just perfect for each other. Actually, I’m not sure anyone else could’ve put up with the stuff they do. LOL

I loved how you said you developed the idea for Winter Thaw. For those not familiar with its creation, can you tell us how you came up with the idea?

Well, many years ago my mom got some glamour photos taken for something she was doing. They called and told her they were ready, and she went in to look at them. They turned out horrible. She thought she looked like a hard ridden prostitute and she could just imagine what all the employees thought when they looked at them. When I asked about the pics, she told me she burned them. LOL

Anyway, that stewed in my mind a long time. Thinking in historical terms, I thought, what if a heroine sat for a painting, only the artist wasn't painting what she'd thought he was. What if someone had hired the artist in order to blackmail her? And that’s what inspired Winter Thaw. Thanks, mom! *L*

Do you find that a lot of your stories come from spin-offs of real life events? If not, where else do you find inspiration?

Dreams. Most of my ideas come from dreams. I have so many written down that I’ll never get them all written. Some are just little sparks, but with others I’ll dream entire plotlines in a night or a week. As for real life inspiring me, that usually ends up as scenes or dialogue in a book.

Winter Thaw has won the Romance Studio's CAPA award for Best Erotic Historical Romance. How does if feel to know that your work is not only enjoyed but recognized for its quality?

Um…amazing? Unbelievable? I say that all the time and people ask me why. I don’t know. I’ve never been a competitive kind of person, so whenever I win, or am nominated for, any kind of award, I’m always stunned that someone remembered me! *L* It must be some residual self-esteem issues from my teens rearing up. I get flashbacks to high school all the time. Yeah, that’s it.

What is the best piece of writing advice you have received?

To write every day, no matter what and no matter how much I write. Even if it’s only a paragraph, I should write. That’s from my mom, and I’ve always found it was excellent advice. Writing anything usually loosens me up and gets my creative juices flowing. Of course, there are some days when I throw everything out….

You write a variety of genres. Does one type call to you more than the others?

It’s hard to say. I usually go into a mode of thinking, like: this week I will think of nothing but paranormal plots. And that’s what I do. Sometimes it’s historical or fantasy. I love them all so it’s hard to say which I enjoy the most. I guess that’s why I DO tend to write in many the sub-genres.

As a writer, what type of books do you personally find appealing?

To read? I read a lot of paranormal and historical romance. Actually, I think I read more historical romance than anything else. I go through moods though, often based on what I’m writing at the moment.

As for what I find appealing in a romance…that would be any book that makes me feel emotion, whether is tension from suspense, laughter, sadness, etc. The books that I absolutely treasure are those that got me so worked up that I actually balled my eyes out when reading. It doesn’t happen that often for me—crying—so if a book is that powerful, I hang on to it with a death grip.

You have a great sense of humor, yet I know writing is not an easy career. What is the hardest aspect of being a writer? What is the best?

Well, the hardest would be actually getting published. Before that—and ever after *sheepish*—I’d say it’s finishing the darn book.

Finishing the book and seeing it up for sale are wonderful, but the absolute best part is hearing from a reader that has been touched by what you’ve written.

You have an EXCEPTIONAL list of heroes (with pictures I might add) on your website. Real or fictional who are your top two heroes?

Thank you! My top two heroes are actually real life women. My mom is number one. She inspires me every day to be a stronger person. She’s had a hard life but has pulled through many tough years to be a successful, warm and giving person. I love her, and I don’t know what I’d do without her near me.

My second heroine is my friend, Cindy. The doctors screwed up at her birth and she ended up with post birth cerebral palsy. She’s crippled so badly, she has a hard time talking, and many people believe she’s mentally handicapped—not true at all. All her life she’d been told she would be a burden to anyone around her. Years ago, she had enough and moved out of her mother’s house and into her own place. She learned to do things for herself that she’d never been able to do before. I was with her in the beginning of her independence, and it hurt so much to see her try something and fail, and then it made me so proud when she succeeded and continued to succeed in everything she set out to do. I haven’t seen her in years, but she’s someone I’ll never forget.

To date you have been successful with your writing, what else would you like to accomplish?

I’d like to write a book that is so emotional, so memorable, that it becomes a keeper for every reader that reads it.

You have written stories that standalone or stories that are part of an ongoing series. Do you find it any different to write for a specific storyline as opposed to a storyline that may reappear in a later book in a series?

As a reader, I adore books with a common theme or in a series. As a writer, I don’t like it. *L* There’s a lot more work involved in planning a series, but that isn’t the problem for me. It’s revisiting minor characters and giving them their own story that’s the difficult part. Sometimes I think the character has changed or that the story won’t live up to what readers are expecting. I’ve learned to just go with my instincts, though, and let them speak for themselves.

Right now I’m planning a new series (yes, you read that right) that’s going to have tons of paranormal aspects, action/adventure, and sexy heroes. There is a common thread woven throughout the series, so what I’m doing now is figuring out how many stories it will take to resolve the main conflict.

Can we get a teaser for what you are working on right now?

At the moment I’m working on His Wicked Ways. I thought this one up after reading a historical by I forget who, but it was about a man who was supposed to be England’s Greatest Lover. As I lay in bed though, I thought, there were a lot of those running around back then, weren’t there? *L* I know how men can get competitive over the smallest things, so I began to wonder what would happen if there were several men who claimed to be the greatest lover, and what would they do if they were all buddies? How would they settle it between them and find out who really IS the best?

That’s the premise behind His Wicked Ways. It’s a competition of sorts to determine who can claim that illustrious title…and the difficult woman Darcy and Nicholas choose to woo, Bronte Dunmore.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

Thank you so much for having me here! I’d just like to add, if anyone is interested, that I have a newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jaidefox/join that I send out periodically with excerpts and such, or you can join the NCP reader group and read even more excerpts and interact with authors and other readers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/new_concepts_pub/join

Thank you Jaide for taking the time to speak with us. I know I will be looking for your upcoming releases! To see more of Jaide, please check out her website.


Interviewed by: Amanda