My special guest today is Rain Trueax, an author I've been friends with online for a number of years. And she writes some pretty good historical romances!
Welcome, Rain, and thanks for being here today. Please introduce yourself. Tell us a little about the person behind the pen.
Welcome, Rain, and thanks for being here today. Please introduce yourself. Tell us a little about the person behind the pen.
With my husband of over 50 years, I live on a small sheep
and cattle ranch in Oregon’s Coast Range. Our children are grown and we have
four grandchildren—hence, today our ‘kids’ are two black cats. From as early as
I can remember, I have written. When I decided to bring out my books, I used
Rain Trueax, a combination of a nickname I use for my painting and sculpture as
well as my maiden name Trueax.
Why did you decide to write romance? What is
the appeal?
There are no other stories that come to me. I have tried to
invent other plots, but the characters always ended up in a romance. Romances
go to the heart of life. Because of the strong emotions, committed, sexual
relationships are the greatest challenge any of us face. Strong passions can go so many directions
from hate to love.
How much research goes into your books, and
how do you tackle that?
Both for historical and contemporary, I look for the facts
about the time period, how did the people cook their food, heat their homes,
what did they wear, how did they travel or communicate? Because I love history,
grabbing books or doing research online is fun more than work. While I do try
to understand what life might’ve been like in a particular time, I don’t ever
forget that I am writing it with my set of experiences. It’s an historical
romance, not an historical novel.
What is the best comment you ever received
from a reader? The worst or weirdest?
A negative comment can ruin my morning, so I’d rather relive
the good ones. This was recent for Where
Dreams Go: “Another great trip over the Oregon trail. Didn't see what
happened coming. But was it ever fun. This author has a good sense of humor as
I was laughing through a good part of the story. I had to tell myself to stop
laughing so I could read on. Parts were not so funny and cut to the bone
because it was so true.”
Tell us a little about your writing style?
Do you plan and plot your stories, or do you just plow through them?
I plan and plot. When I start writing, I know where the
story is going and where it will end up. Everything in between is where the surprises
happen. I have these characters, with their personalities, and in writing about
what they do, I begin to see reactions I hadn’t expected. Although I’ve heard
writers say the characters took over the story, I can’t say that happens to me.
I know where they’ll end up and don’t let that get changed—just the detours can
be fun.
Can you tell us a little about your current
work, Going Home? Is there a story behind the story?
When I wrote the first book in the Oregon series, I was in
my 20s but the story had been part of my life since my teens. I had no idea at
the time that there would be another book, but then I began to think about the sisters,
about secondary characters and it became obvious there would be four books to
tell this story. All stand alone. Each book carries forth the story of the
Stevens family as it heads to Oregon and then once it arrives. It uses what was
going on there at the time without distracting from the primary story—a romance
adventure.
What sets your heroine, Raine, apart from
all the other women in your hero’s Jeb’s life? Why is she perfect for him?
Raine is independent, won’t let him dictate to her. She’s
brave and finds she has more courage than she even knew. He likes her
classiness, as well as her ability to run a business. Having had a strong
mother, he wanted a strong wife. His problem was convincing her to give up
those city ways and join him on his wilderness ranch. One thing about Jed
though, had she not been willing to do that, he was willing to let her live in
the city, he’d stay on the ranch and come to her as often as he could. He
wasn’t letting her go.
Have you ever had writer’s block? How do you
deal with it?
Not really, as if one project isn’t working, another will.
The closest to writer’s block might’ve been the fourth Oregon historical, which
will be out December 21st. In
September 2013, I had written its opening chapter, but was stymied for what
happened next. A few things arose in real life; then I had a dream that
triggered writing a novella, which led to two more to tell that story. It was a
year before I returned to that fourth Oregon historical. When I got back to it,
it flowed like a river in flood. Earlier, its time wasn’t right. I am lucky I
don’t have to write by contract.
Can you give us a little background on your
hero, Jed, that’s only in your author notes, and not found in your story?
Jed Hardman is Scottish. The Hardmans were of the clan
Buchan. He had one ancestor in the Crusades, not the usual for Scotland but
some knights did and earned land for it, also made friends that went beyond
their country’s bounds. In the 1740s, Jed’s
great, great, great grandfather, Duncan, saw the doom in the Jacobite cause. He
sent his wife and two children to France to stay with family friends. Honor led
him to remain behind and, in 1745 fight at Culloden where he was wounded but
escaped. After joining his family, they waited until 1748 before leaving for
the Colonies where they bought the plantation that would remain in their family
until the Civil War. That French
connection led to how Jed got his land in Oregon. His ancestry helps to understand
why Jed would, in honor, return to Georgia to fight in what he saw as a doomed
cause. It’s one of those things where as a writer you know it is what he would
do but as you write his actions, describe his motivations, you begin to see why
he had no choice.
Describe a favorite scene in your current
novel?
I especially like the one when the heroine, Raine, has gone
to Oregon City to visit her mother, Martha. She isn’t thinking she wants wisdom
from her. She doesn’t even plan to tell her about her conflicted feelings for
this man, but then it all just comes out. They talk in her mother’s vegetable
garden. I like how the two women, of different generations, bound by love,
talked about relationships. It showed the strength of the mother-daughter bond.
I also liked the mother’s wisdom. It was another of those scenes that just
happened with some thoughts I’d never had before; but then they were Martha’s.
What else do you have in store for your
readers?
Next book, November 5th, will be book 6 in the
Arizona historicals. I didn’t intend to have the Arizona and Oregon historical series
hopping over each other this way, but it just happened. The fourth book in the
Oregon series will be out December 21st. I won’t say it’s the last
one as there is the potential for more but it is the last ‘planned’ one.
Blurb:
It's 1865 and the Civil War has just come
to an agonizing end-- even affecting far off Oregon with its destructive
divisiveness.
With a loving family, successful
businesses, and active theater life, Raine Stevens has all she could want
except a love of her own. She prefers life without the sacrifices that kind of
love requires. Only one man has ever tempted her to believe otherwise, and he
went off to fight the war. He never even wrote.
And then, Jed Hardman is back, but it's
too late for them. She won't leave Portland for a wilderness ranch on the John
Day River. She has worked too hard for what she has. Love is not enough. Besides,
she is set in her ways, and he's too much the laird in the way he dominates all
around him. She sends him off with no hope for a future together.
After Raine learns that someone she had
regarded as a friend has manipulated her life, she must leave Portland before
the life she has regarded as a comfortable nest becomes a cage. She could go
many places, but the only one that will help her learn if she and Jed have a
future is the Hardman Ranch.
Jed is grateful to have Raine come to
him and accepts her terms, adding one of his own. Leaving the war apparently
hasn't made his life safer. He now has a deadly enemy—actually make that
several.
Book 3 in the Oregon series follows the
Stevens family (Raine isn't the only one eventually heading east of the
Cascades). It is about what makes a home and family. What makes a relationship
work when it has every reason not to succeed? With Native Americans determined
to push the white man from their land and road agents waiting for the unwary,
this is a wilderness, which will require tough men and women to tame. Raine
isn't sure she can qualify, but she's about to find out.
Going Home contains some strong language,
violence, and sexual heat. It is intended for mature readers.
