Jill Barnett: Neil's love story was told in Dreaming. I'd have to break up Neil and Giana for them to have their own story. Honestly, I don't know how I feel about that. Besides, Jonathan and James have stories that need telling someday.

Crescent Blues: In December Pocket Books will release A Season in the Highlands, an anthology that also features Jude Devereaux, Geralyn Dawson, Pam Binder and Patricia Cabot. Can you tell our readers something about your novella in this collection?

Jill Barnett: A Season in the Highlands has my first novella in it...rewritten with a few new scenes I always wanted to add. ["Fall From Grace"] is romp set in Scotland and kidnapping romance. It's been out of print and unavailable since 1994. It has one of my favorite scenes in it. Readers asked for it, so I rewrote it and Pocket just released it.

Crescent Blues: Do you use novellas to explore times and settings that have not yet made it into your books?

Jill Barnett: I do use anthologies to explore future ideas and periods. In "Old Things" [a story included in the anthology That Summer Place] I was writing a test version of a story I've had in my head for a long time. Someday there will be a novel with a storyline and characters like Catherine and Michael. An older love story with baby boomers, because I am one.

Crescent Blues: How did you get involved with writing for That Summer Place?

Jill Barnett: I've always been invited to be in the anthologies I've written. They have come to me. I agree to do it or not, and then if I want to do it, I think of a story I want to tell. "Daniel and the Angel" (from A Holiday of Love) is a story that was sheer magic to write. I am very proud of that one. The idea came from sheer fear and a drive on the freeway. (I went past my daughter's school exit by three off-ramps when Lillian popped into my head.)

Crescent Blues: Is there a chance that readers will be seeing more Jill Barnett contemporary novels in the near future?

Jill Barnett: I've have moved into the 20th century with my settings. I still consider them historical, even my next book which will be set about 30 years ago. I can see myself doing something set now. I just don't know when that will be.

Crescent Blues: Recently, you branched out with a "novel of the heart" spanning World War II and the lives and loves of several characters. Can you tell our readers something about Sentimental Journey?

Jill Barnett: Sentimental Journey has its roots in family experience. One character is loosely based on my father. I adore the time period. I've had this idea since 1991, and I've been letting it pickle until the time was right and until the book would be published in a special way, because I can only do this particular idea once. The story spans three continents and had five main characters and many secondary characters. The research has been massive and at times overwhelming. The book was very difficult to write. There are pints of my blood on the pages of this one. But those who have read the book say it is a groundbreaking novel. I guess we'll see.

Crescent Blues: This appears to represent a new direction for you in more ways than one. Could you tell our readers more about what it means in terms of your future books?

Jill Barnett: For the future, I can't tell you what I will write. I believe I write Jill Barnett books and those stories evolve and grow and challenge me creatively, mentally, and emotionally. That's what writing is all about to me, pushing myself as a writer and thinker, exploring characters as deeply as I can. I learn from the characters. I write about people who I want to seem very real and human, not bigger than life, but people readers can relate to, people who face adversity and come out better for it. I write about how life changes us. Creatively I find that fascinating. I will always be true to my vision, wherever that takes me.

Crescent Blues: One of the heroes of Sentimental Journey is the grandson of Jack Cassidy, a mercenary in Just a Kiss Away. Are you consciously creating a "lineage" like Jude Devereaux's Montgomery clan? How do readers respond to this interconnectivity?

Jill Barnett: The reason J.R. Cassidy in Sentimental Journey is the grandson of Jim Cassidy from Just a Kiss Away, is this story idea came from the writing of Just a Kiss Away. I was going to write this story after Just a Kiss Away, but I decided to write Bewitching instead. Back in 1991, J.R.'s story was going to be set during World War I. About six years ago I decided to combine that idea with a World War II novel I wanted to write, and Sentimental Journey, as it is now, was born. My editor has known about this book for years.

I don't tie all my books together. Once in a while a character jumps out at me, like Sophia on the pages and Wonderful, and then I decide that character needs their own book. But I have never set out and planned a series. I did approach Pocket many years ago, 1995, about doing a fairy tale series, three books, based on classic fairy tales. But they didn't want them, and the publisher asked me to wait. I doubt if I'll ever do them now, but they would have been such fun. The idea was innovative then. Now, it's not. I like to feel what I'm writing is classically commercial, but also fresh.

Crescent Blues: Speaking of characters jumping out of the box, which of your characters are the greatest favorites among your readers?

Jill Barnett: Well, I hear the most about Joy in Bewitching and Lollie in Just a Kiss Away. Readers loved these women and the men in their lives. From what readers have told me over the years, they understand these two characters in a very personal way. It's quite a compliment.

Crescent Blues: The particular historical focus of Surrender a Dream makes it seem a little unusual in the context of your other novels. What attracted you to the struggle between California farmers and ranchers and the Southern Pacific Railroad?

Jill Barnett: In Surrender a Dream, I lived in the area where I set most of the book and when I was researching and read about the Mussel Slough incident I just had to use it. The actual idea for the characters came from a drive down Route 101 to visit family during Thanksgiving. Once I had the idea, I set about finding the right time and place for it. The plot came from the research. The character idea came from a fence.

Ideas come from the strangest places. The idea for Just a Kiss Away came from a line of dialogue when I was brushing my teeth. The creative mind is a vast and surprising thing.

Crescent Blues: Have social issues inspired any of your other novels?

Jill Barnett: I usually deal with social issues in my books, whether they take place on a deserted island or in the Welsh Marches. In Sentimental Journey the theme is war's affects both internationally, nationally, and individually. How lives are changed. How heroes are made from everyday people.

Crescent Blues: What comes first for you, plot or character? How do you "grow" a book from that beginning?

Jill Barnett: Always from the characters. I read once that a book is never about any thing. It's about feelings. It's about reaction. It's about emotion. I believe that. The heart of a story comes from who the characters are. The plot comes from the research.

Crescent Blues: Do you have any particular tricks that you use when the words refuse to flow?

Jill Barnett: If you have any tricks to use when the words refuse flow, will you please let me know?

Crescent Blues: When you're writing, do you consciously seek out situations that lend themselves to humor or do such situations arise organically from plot and character?

Jill Barnett: The humor comes from who the characters are, their individual situations, and from my mind. I rewrite constantly. Books are about emotion and writing emotion is truly difficult. Sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't nail down what the character is feeling. It's really difficult and you have to have the patience to look for feeling. It has to be honest and ring true. Sometimes you can see the depth of that character's feelings just out of reach. It takes a long time to grasp it, pull it up, and translate that onto the page in a way the reader can understand and relate to. Being a good writer, continually trying to get better and to grow, understanding and using writing techniques, exploring language and controlling point of view, all really help me.

Crescent Blues: What feeds the humorous impulse for you? Has there been any time when it was particularly difficult to capture that feeling?

Jill Barnett: Emotion is never easy to write. But the funny scenes come from out of the blue. I never plan them. They just appear...like magic and I find myself laughing and having fun. I did find it very difficult to write after my husband died. Sometimes it's still very difficult. I miss him terribly. He was so much a part of who I am.

Crescent Blues: What advice would you give to aspiring "love and laughter" writers?

Jill Barnett: If you want to write humor, you'd better be a cockeyed optimist; it should be part of your vision. Part of who you are. If it's not, write to your own truth, whatever that may be. That is the only way to become a great storyteller. It's a writer's vision, their view of the world and of people in it, that forms their voice, and it's that individual voice alone that readers relate to. Your words have to be honest.

Crescent Blues: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Jill Barnett: There are two kinds of writers. Writers who are in the business of writing, professionals who tell stories, write books that are there solely to entertain. And there are blood writers, people who have to write; it's part of who they are, because in every book they find they truly have something important say. Sometimes professional writers mature into blood writers, and sometimes blood writers turn professional. Both kind deserve our admiration and respect.

Don't go into this business only to make money, only for your ego and to see your name on the cover of a book. Go into it with a deep respect and love of storytelling, a love of creating, of using words to paint a panorama, to make a point, or to make someone laugh and cry and feel. If you do that, the business won't break you.

Jean Marie Ward

Click here to learn more about Jill Barnett and her novels.