I am delighted to be speaking with T.D. McKinney today. Thanks for chatting with us today T.D., and welcome to FAR!

To start, will you please tell us a little bit about your current projects?

It's been busy the last couple of months! Amber Quill Press just accepted "The Garden House," an erotic contemporary romance novella about an older vampire woman and a young co-ed written under the pen name Jacqueline Quaid. It was co-authored by Aimée Masion writing as Mia Cherish. I don't have a release date yet. Kensington Books has requested a manuscript for review and I've sent the sequel to "Dancing in the Dark." It's called "Walking After Midnight." So everyone keep your fingers crossed! Aimee and I are working on an historical paranormal. It's untitled at the moment. I hope to develop a project with Trixie Stilletto soon. Loose ID has expressed an interest.

What is your favorite type of genre to write?

*Laughs* We've discussed before that I don't think about genre when I write. I just write. I love vampires but I also enjoy mysteries, historicals, and contemporaries. I'm happy as long as there are characters I can care about and a situation I'm interested in.

What comes to you first, the character(s) or the plot? What's your next step to help flesh out your story and do you have a formula that you follow to create your characters?

It's hard to say - I usually get some aspects of plot at the same time I get the characters. And sometimes the whole thing comes to me in a flash. The plot and characters have to mesh. Certain people react certain ways and to make the plot move the way you want it to, the characters have to react in that direction. It won't work if the reaction isn't real for that character. Of course, given the right circumstances, a person is capable of anything. You just have to set it up correctly. I like to work in a very linear fashion moving from the beginning of the story to the end. I like to lay it all out in chapter format with notes for what I expect to happen in that chapter and any tidbit of dialogue or description that come to me there where I won't forget it. It isn't inflexible and things can move and change but it give me enough structure to know where I'm going and what I want to say. I don't use a formula for anything - characters or plot. I'm not say! ing there's anything wrong with that, I'm just saying it isn't the way I work. Not all characters are easy, of course. I sometimes get help with a character by getting a psychological profile from Russell Smith, a psychologist with extensive experience with criminals.

What is the one thing you've always wanted to do but never had the courage / opportunity to try?

*Keels over laughing.* Courage has NEVER been an issue. Risk-taking is genetic in my family. We're all just a little bit nuts and a little bit addicted to the adrenalin rush. Opportunity is a different matter. There are still lots of places I'd like to see - Machu Pichu, the Great Pyramid, the Great Wall, the dancers of Bali. I want to have dinner with John Douglas. I want to see "Dancing in the Dark" made into a movie. I'd like a New York Times bestseller. I have lots I still want to tick of that little mental list I keep.

Your book Dancing in the Dark was a #1 bestseller and placed second in the Preditors & Editors contest. Can you tell us more about this story?

It's the story of FBI profiler Jack Niemczyk and his sexual and emotional awakening. Jack's staring down middle age with nothing before him but his job and a lonely old age when he meets Baby Roxton, the vampire queen of New Orleans. Through her he discovers what he really wants from his life and what freedom really is. He also discovers freedom sometimes comes with a slave's chains. And in the midst of his own life's crisis, he still has to stop a vicious serial killer.

I see from your website that you’re working on Walking After Midnight, the sequel to Dancing in the Dark. Can you give us a peek into the story?

Jack's life has gone to hell. His vampire has left him. The immortality he craves has slipped from his grasp. And now some psycho is killing humans who've taken vampire lovers. To his absolute dismay the notes demand Jack reveal what he knows about vampires to the world. The deaths become more personal, impacting the people Jack cares about and answers seem farther from his grasp. Baby's return eases his addictive withdrawal but severs his friendship with Remy Lambert. It looks like it will take a miracle to stop the killings and get his life back on track.

If you could meet one of your characters, who would it be?

Jack. No doubt of that. Baby's too scary. Jean and René would be lovely but meeting Jack would be cool.

Who has influenced you the most in terms of developing your personal writing?

John Douglas and Aimée Masion. Both have been wonderful supports. Aimée never stops encouraging me but she' not afraid to tell me when I'm going off in the wrong direction or not giving something my all.

If you had a chance to go either to the past or to the future, which would you choose? Any particular year?

Oddly, I find I'm really happy with the present. Both the future and the past could be really intriguing but I can't say either holds a great draw than the now. If you go to the future, you can find out if you were a success or a failure. But you won't know the fun of getting there. If I had to, I suppose I'd visit the Civil War era. It was such a watershed time for our country. It would be fascinating to actually feel the tenor of the times.

What’s one thing you would like your readers to know about you?

That I appreciate them so much! I think they have no idea just how much they mean to me.

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

Merely my thanks for giving me this chance to communicate with the readers. I always enjoy my visits to Fallen Angel Reviews.

Thank you so much, T.D., for spending time with us today! Readers, be sure to visit T.D.’s website.

Interviewed by: Tammy