Anne Stuart: Oh, I often model characters in my books on characters from movies and television. It gives me a start, and then they take on a life of their own.  

The hero in My Secret Admirer is obviously Michael from La Femme Nikita; the heroine is Ally McBeal. I've used Alan Rickman in "The High Sheriff of Huntingdon" (Avon's To Love and Honor) in his Sheriff of Nottingham persona, and used him as the hero in "Monster in the Closet" (Silhouette Shadows).  

Daniel Day-Lewis is probably half my heroes, though they don't end up with much resemblance to Hawkeye. Don Johnson in The Long Hot Summer showed up in Blue Sage and Heat Lightning; The Phantom of the Opera in Night of the Phantom; Frank Langella as Dracula (I saw him on Broadway) in The Demon Count.  

Right now I'm doing Brad Pitt as a medieval court jester (Brad's finally gotten old enough to be interesting), and Shadow Lover was Val Kilmer in The Saint. It's one of the best perks of the job -- you see a gorgeous actor in a perfect role and then you go home and make him your love slave on the page. 

Crescent Blues: Where does a novel or short story start for you? Is the seed a character, a plot or a sharply visualized scene? 

Anne Stuart: My writing starts from all sorts of odd places. Sometimes a movie, sometimes a thought, sometimes a song. It can start with character, with plot, or with setting. It just comes sailing in like scattered clouds, a bit at a time, and sooner or later it begins to form a whole.  

Crescent Blues: How do you grow that seed into a novel? Do you write "straight through" or skip around? Do you find character charts and other organizational devices useful in the process?  

Anne Stuart: I'll take notes, write brief character descriptions (that usually end up nothing like the character in the book). I'll have an idea who where the story should go, maybe envision a few scenes, but mostly I work without a net, just making things up as I go along, from beginning to end of the story. I'm a completely right-brained writer -- charts and organization are anathema to me. 

Crescent Blues: Do you work differently when writing a short story or novella? 

Anne Stuart: The difference between writing a novella and a full novel is that the novellas are a helluva lot shorter. They're fun, less stressful. I can just throw everything at it and move very quickly. I don't worry about subtleties and foreshadowing, I just go for it. They're lots of fun, and I think they've been some of my very best writing. 

Crescent Blues: Do you identify more with your heroines or your heroes? Which of your characters do you most identify with? 

Anne Stuart: Do I identify with my heroes or heroines? Hmmm. Sometimes my heroines aren't as brave as readers would like them to be, and that's me. When things get really bad -- emotionally bad -- I want to run and hide. Sometimes my heroines do the same. 

In truth I'm more like some of my supporting characters, caustic and warm-hearted, generous and impractical. I think I like being the Creator more than the hero or heroine -- it has more power. 

Jean Marie Ward

Click on the titles to read reviews of Anne Stuart's novels Prince of Magic, and Shadow Lover and The Right Man.