Interview Jeannine D. VanEperen

by

JoEllen Conger

1) What prompted you to write Daughter Of Spain?

Probably love of New Mexico prompted me. I love the scenery and the history and the story just came into my head. Living in New Mexico, I often am asked,by people visiting me,to show them Santa Fe, and I gladly take them. This story is about the very early settling of Santa Fe before the Pueblo Revolts, and it is a time not often written about in fiction.

2) Do you use real people as characters in your books?

No, I don’t. Though I may use a name of someone… there was an Inquisitor-General Sarmiento, I use him fictitiously. I used his name because it fit the person I created. There is very little written about him that I could find. There was probably a governor of New Mexico by one of the names I used as well, but I did not write about that governor.

3) Tell us about your story plot.

I don’t like to give away too much of the plot, but suffice it to say, after Don Carlos rescues Isabela and her mother from the Inquisitor’s clutches, he is now an enemy of Sarmiento, and must flee Spain. He, Isabela, her mother and other friends and servants of his seek a new life in a new land. Isabela is very young and innocent, and though Don Carlos sees her possibilities, he doesn’t entirely act on his feelings, waiting for her to mature. Isabela believes Carlos will never love her as she believes he loves another. Are they able to forge a new life or will Sarmiento continue to hunt them? Also, will Don Carlos’ brother, Ramon, always come between them? These questions are answered and since this is a romance, there is the story of a growing love set amid the stark realities of settling in the New World.

4) Were your hero and heroine patterned after real historical persons?

No, they are completely figments of my imagination.

5) Have you ever used events that have happened in your life to enhance your books?

Yes, in a book that remains unpublished, and in certain small ways. I sometimes have characters who study ballet or learn to fly a plane or ski, and so forth, and I use my knowledge of those things, sometimes having my characters do such things, but very little in actual events, except for the first book I wrote.

6) Have your ever lived in Spain?

No, I’ve never lived in Spain but I have traveled there and Portugal. I went through a Spanish period in my life when I used to paint bullfight scenes and listen to bullfight music, but this phase is long gone.

7) Tell us about some of your experiences as a beginning writer.

I wrote the before mentioned unpublished book a long time ago when I worked at a bank, and it has a banking background (which I have used in other books since). I had just finished my manuscript when a college English professor from the University of New Mexico, Dr. Willis Jacobs, walked up to my teller’s cage, and I asked him if he would read my story. He did and he liked it very much and gave me encouragement. I keep a letter he wrote to me to this day, and when I got, and get, discouraged, I read his complimentary words and persevere, writing another story. Dr. Jacobs made suggestions that I followed, and he said I not only had talent as a writer but also in doing revision, thus making the book better. I need to dedicate one of my books to him as he truly made me believe in my ability.

8) Tell us about your writing history. Which book is your favorite?

In some of my jobs, I wrote the newsletters for the company that employed me, and I wrote all the publicity for the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande and University of Albuquerque. I wrote some articles for an employee publication for the Albuquerque National Bank. I had two books published in the 1980s, The French Physician and Albuquerque. Then except for articles, poems and a couple of short stories, I didn’t have another book published until 2002 when I had a short western story, The Daisy, in an anthology. My contemporary romance, Hearts in ¾ Time, was supposed to come out in 1998 but I had to get my rights back and sell to another publisher as the first publisher wasn’t a good one. That publisher sadly was three years wasted. Hearts in ¾ Time was published in 2003 by another publisher, and followed by Love and All That Jazz, another contemporary romance in 2004. I then sold a western historical romance Trail to Bliss and a paranormal romance Golden-Rod.

I heard about Wings and what a good company it is and submitted to them, publishing first Memory and Desire, in February 2005. I am very proud that my first Wings book was awarded Book of the Year from Wings from Fallen Angels Reviews. Other Wings books have followed: According to the Rules, Children of St. Yves, Lila’s Protégé, Before the Star Fades, all mainstream general fiction, and now historical adventure/romance Daughter of Spain. I have several others books contracted for the next few years.

It is very hard for me to choose a favorite. The books are like one’s children in that they are all equal. Daughter of Spain is the favorite of my sister and a niece, and I must say, it is a very good book. I truly enjoyed writing the trilogy of Children of St. Yves, Lila’s Protégé and Before the Star Fades. I love all the characters, even the sleazy ones. Those three books are dear to my heart, and all, though considered mainstream, have a love story running through them, as does Memory and Desire. So I’d say I must be a romantic at heart.

9) Do you travel to locations you intend to research?

I travel a lot and have been to most of the places I write about; however, I sometimes fictionalize them. I’ve been known to take things I like from one city and put it with another to come up with a place all my own, as I did in Memory and Desire. I took what I liked from Staunton, Virginia and Clinton, New Jersey and made up the town of Challenge. My book Albuquerque, naturally was set in the Albuquerque of the time, 1948-1980, that is much different from the large city it is now.

10) What is your next project?

I did have three unfinished novels, but now I have two. I just finished a present day/historical romance that I started after seeing a magnificent house on a cliff in Cornwall, England and had to set a story there. I have a mainstream set partially in Puerto Rico and California I’m working on and a story that will be set in Colorado, a contemporary general fiction or romance, I’m not sure right now, just what it will turn out to be.

11) Do you write in more than one Genre? If so which is your favorite.

I write in several genres. I think I get bored easily so have to do a multitude of things. I enjoy historicals, western romances, general fiction in both contemporary and historical, and contemporary romances, most often traditional. I don’t have a favorite, I just write as the mood strikes me.

12) Why do you love the historical genre?

Probably because I grew up reading Margaret Campbell Barnes, Nora Lofts, Kenneth Roberts, Thomas Costain, and I love history.

13) Do you enjoy the research as much as writing the story?

No, I enjoy writing the story the most. I do research and then find that most of it remains unused, but that is also the case with contemporary stories, too. I did a lot of research on symphony orchestras and much of what I researched is never found in the book, Hearts in ¾ Time, but I’m told by readers and critics that my research paid off probably in creating a realistic symphonic world.

14) What kind of stories do you like reading?

I read both contemporary and historical romance, straight historicals such as Kenneth Roberts and Thomas Costain wrote. I enjoy anything that Nelson De Mille writes. I enjoyed Colleen McCullough’s Roman series. I may have misspelled McCullough’s name it may end is ch not gh, but I’ll be moving soon, and a lot of my books are already packed so can’t look it up. I seem to have an eclectic taste and will try almost anything, but I’m not into Stephen King type books or much paranormal or sci-fi, but there are exceptions that I’ve enjoyed, such as Childhood’s End. I’ve recently read a couple of Jane Hall Hovey books that I’d certainly recommend to others and books by Robert L. Hecker, Gail Delaney, and Richard Dix to name just a few newer authors. And, JoEllen, I liked your Cinderella and the Stripper, as you know.

Since I review books, I don’t have too much time to read other books. I most often have two or three books going, and one of them is usually one of my personal choice.

I’ve enjoyed chatting with you, JoEllen, and I hope I haven’t rambled on too much.