Interview Irene Pascoe

by

Kay Layton Sisk

1. In your author bio, you said you set your books where you've visited. What's the setting for Lord of High Cliff Manor and have you been there?

Lord of High Cliff Manor is set in Port Townsend, Washington. It is a beautiful, historic city overlooking Puget Sound. I’ve taken the ferry to Port Townsend many times.

2. How important do you think setting is? Could this book have taken place elsewhere and told the same story?

In the true gothic romance, the tone and the dark, generally isolated settings are the backbone of the story, the very foundation. This story could have been set in a similar coastal city where tugboats were common and forests hugged the coastline.

3. How would you describe it? Historical? Gothic?

High Cliff Manor is set in 1882. The story is an equal blend of historical and gothic.

4. Why do you write historicals? What draws you to them?

All through school, history was my favorite subject, especially U.S. history. I grew up reading every book I could find on Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Daniel Boone, Billy the Kid, etc. Later, I turned to books about our Founding Fathers. Reading and writing historical romances just came naturally to me.

5. Shadow Over Bright Star, a gothic romance for Wings, is told in first person. Why did you choose this point of view? Which POV have you used in Lord of HCM?

Gothic romances are told either in the first person or third person point of view. I prefer the more intimate first person for this genre. My first Wings book, Shadows, is third person point of view.

6. When in 3rd person POV are you a head hopper or a purist, using only one POV per scene?

In the gothic romance, the story is told solely from the heroine’s point of view, in either first or third person. My historical romance, Kathleen, Wings Press September 2004, is third person, multiple point of view. I thoroughly enjoyed the head hopping in that story.

7. How long does it take you to write a first draft?

I wish I were one of those writers who could quickly get the story down on paper or computer and out of my head, then go back and revise and revise. Instead, I really only do one draft. I can’t go on from one paragraph to the next until I know the one I’m working on is as perfect as I can make it. I might struggle for hours or days on just one page, but when I feel I have it right, it’s finished. After research is completed, I can generally write a book in about three months.

8. Do you intricately plot your books or just write "by the seat of your pants", taking the journey first?

Once I decide the place, time period, and sort out the characters who have somehow grown out of my research, I outline in great detail. I love the challenge of following an outline, of seeing if I can keep my story on track. Of course my characters generally have voices of their own and often tell me what they want to say and what they don’t want to do. Character independence has yet to change any of my plot twists or elements, or alter the word counts I set for each story. I got used to writing to projected word counts when I published with Harlequin Books, Berkley Publishing Group, and Zebra Books.

9. When did you know you wanted to write?

In elementary school I always had stories running through my head, but I really didn’t give any thought to actually writing a book until I was in high school.

10. What does your family think of my "mom/wife/sister the author?"

My family is very proud of me. They were my major support through the years I struggled to become published. They knew how hard I worked and that I held fast to my dream to one day become an author. But for all their pride, I am mostly just mom/wife/sister, grandmother. That’s fine with me.