Interview with Marina Adair
Author of Romeantically Challenged
Publish Date: July 28, 2020 by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Thank you so much Kensington Publishing Corp. for this amazing opportunity. I am so glad I could interview Marina and learn so much about her, her writing methodology, and about this book. This is my first author interview and hence this is special to me. I hope you will love it as much as I did. Let's get started!
Q: How did you become an author? Did a book that you read at some point of time compelled you to write your own story or you knew throughout that you will be writing books?
A: I began telling stories when I was six or seven. I was sick a lot as a kid, so stories were my escape. I would sit in my room for hours on end making up elaborate stories with Barbie and Ken. But I didn’t start writing professionally until about 15 years ago. I hold an MFA in screenwriting, but quickly learned that Hollywood wasn’t for me and, at the advice of a mentor, decided to try my hand at writing. After reading Falling for Mr. Dark and Dangerous by Donna Alward I looked at my husband and said, “I want to write books that make other people feel exactly what I’m feeling right now.” The next day I started my first romance novel.
Q: While writing this book, which character you like the most.
A: I love writing old biddies, but in this book I decided to explore a complicated and estranged relationship between my hero and his aging father, Les. At the core, the story is about the search for one’s identity, but for Les, he is literally fighting for his identity, when the hospital makes a clerical error and swaps his file with another patient. Les shows up to meet his new medical provider, Annie, only to discover he’s been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Q: Is there a character who is very similar to you in a way?
A: Not me, but my heroine Annie is based on my daughter. Both are Vietnamese born adoptees who are raised by white parents in predominantly white communities. Like my daughter, Annie finds herself with a foot in two worlds, but never able to fully fit into either.
Q: I loved the cover of this book and I think it has a very different vibe as compared to the covers of other romance books. What were your thoughts when you had a first look at it?
A: The art team at Kensington set out to make a cover that would stand out from the pack, and they did an amazing job. The colors really pop and ever element teases at what the reader will find with in the story.
Q: How do you get inspiration for new stories?
A: My undergrad and masters are both in film studies, so many of my books are inspired by my favorite films, and my new When in Rome series is no different. I wanted to do a fresh spin on one of my favorite movies, Three Men and a Baby. Only instead of a newborn, my hero is dealing with a hormonal, boy-crazed teenager who speaks in 149 characters.
Q: How do you research for your books?
A: I’m a hands on person who also loves talking to people and learning about their life. It comes in hands when writing. For example, my book, Every Little Kiss, follows a Search and Rescue officer and his K-9 companion. I was luckily enough to be a “lost hiker” for a training exercise for CARDA (California Rescue Dog Association), where I walked a 5 mile (including circles and back tracking) off-trail path and then sat and waited for trailing dogs in-training to come and find me. And when they did, it was amazing, they licked and kissed me, so excited to have found me.
For RomeAntically Challenged, a lot of the research I did was with other adoptive families, listening to their stories and experiences. I also re-read In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories by Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda. But much of the story is based on my family’s own experiences as a transracial adoptive family.
Q: Can you describe your writing process in detail? How many drafts do you write on an average for a particular book? How do you edit it? Do you finish an entire draft first and then start editing or the process starts even before?
A: First, I have to give credit to my plotting partners Jill Shalvis, Skye Jordan and RaeAnne Thayne who helped me turn a seed of an idea into a tender, emotional and funny series. At my core, I’m a major plotter—to the point that it drives my author friends and loved ones crazy. I plot out time to plot. I even make a plot chart that shows all of the major turning points in each of my plotlines, color coded of course, so I can make sure that they all working together. But every story starts with two questions: What do my hero and heroine each need and what are the afraid of. If their answers conflict with one another, I know I have a story with natural conflict.
I don’t write a single word until I have those questions answered and every scene laid out with emotions, motivations, conflict, and clips of dialogue. Then I edit as I go along so my first draft of pretty clean. But I still print it out and read over the entire thing, deepening the characters and conflict, and making sure all the emotional points hit.
Q: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
A: The best advice I ever received was from the brilliant screenwriter and my mentor, Barnaby Dallas, who reminded me, “The only thing you have to do to become a writer is write.”
Q: Can you list some of your favorite books at the moment?
A: The Lemon Sisters by Jill Shalvis and Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson.
Q: Do you want to give any message for your readers?
A: I love connecting with readers. You can find my on Instagram, Facebook or visit me at my website www.MarinaAdair.com. Be sure to signs up for my newsletter www.MarinaAdair.com/Newsletter
I want to thank Marina for the time she took to answer these questions. I want to wish her luck for all her future projects and endeavors.
Book Synopsis (Goodreads):
Growing up the lone Asian in a community of WASPs, Annie has always felt out of place. Her solution? Start a family of her own. Not easy when every man she’s dated, including her ex-fiancé, finds “his person” right after breaking up with Annie. Even worse than canceling the wedding eight weeks beforehand? Learning the “other woman” plans to walk down the aisle wearing her wedding gown. New plan—find a fresh, man-free start. Too bad her exit strategy unexpectedly lands her working at a hospital in Rome, Rhode Island, rather than Rome, Italy, and sharing a cabin with a big, brooding, and annoyingly hot male roommate.
Home on medical leave after covering a literally explosive story in China, investigative photojournalist Emmitt embarks on his most important assignment—cementing his place in his daughter’s life. Three men and a baby might work in the movies, but with a stepdad and devoted uncle competing for Paisley’s attention, Emmitt has lost his place at the family table. Then there’s the adorably sexy squatter in his cabin, who poses another problem, one he’d very much like to solve up close and personal. But he can’t win—Annie has sworn off men, Paisley’s gone boy crazy, and Emmitt’s estranged father reappears with a secret that changes everything.
Annie and Emmitt are about to discover love comes in many forms, and sometimes the best families are the ones we make.
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