Josie Litton
by
Faith Smith

Interview Conducted
August 2003

Faith: How do you find the time to write your wonderful novels?

Josie: I’m lucky to have a very understanding and supportive family, not to mention a room where I can go hide.

Faith: Did you get the room before or after you were multi-published?

Josie: I have always had a place to write that was apart from the rest of the house, although close enough to still hear the pandemonium.

Faith: I understand. When the kids were small, you had to be on call, so to speak.

Josie: Yes, and it was tougher when they were younger. Now my time is a lot more flexible. My hat’s off to women who have young children and who are writing. It’s super hard with really little kids.

Faith: Where do you get your wonderful plots?

Josie: I start with the people themselves, their lives, and their world. And everything else flows from that. I think I am a deep down realist as well as a romantic. I like to write about people who have deeply held values and beliefs that they’re willing to sacrifice themselves for.

Faith: Where do you come up with your outstanding heroes and heroines?

Josie: All the sudden, Wolf showed up. Boy was I surprised.

Faith: Wolf was the first hero in your Viking trilogy. I think I fell in love with him myself when he kidnapped Cymbra. Did the first trio of Wolf, Hawk and Dragon just appear in your head? They are so good and so hot they are memorable heroes in my book; pardon the pun.

Josie: Wolf was there first, then I started trying to see where he was “standing” so to speak, his world and who else was in it. I liked the contrast between him and Dragon, older brother, younger brother, etc. Then I just knew Cymbra had to have a brother.

Faith: I have to tell you, you have created some wonderful characters, not just the heroes and heroines but the secondary characters as well. When I read your series in sequence, it is like going home when I read the next book.

Josie: Thank You! Sometimes I have to watch the secondary characters. I can get a little carried away with them. “Muldridge” and “Bolkum”, for instance. They just keep showing up!

Faith: I love them. They are so immortal.

Faith: How old were you when you first started to write?

Josie: I was 12

Faith: What did you write and was it published?

Josie: I knew when I was 12 I wanted to tell stories. I did write, but I wasn’t published for a loooooooooong time.

Faith: How old were you when you were published for the first time.

Josie: I was in my early thirties.

Faith: What genre did you publish with first?

Josie: I have always written romance. I have done contemporary romance also in the past.

Faith: I know you do some awesome Medieval but your second series was set in a Regency period.

Josie: I have always loved the Regency period, and I wanted to set books in it, but I also wanted to approach them a little different.

Faith: When did your first trilogy publish?

Josie: The first trilogy came out in 2001, “Dream of Me, Believe in Me and Come Back to Me,” aka The Viking Trilogy.

Faith: So have you been rejected since you because published and if so, why?

Josie: I’ve had story ideas that just didn’t click with an editor. I may think it’s a great story but usually the editor has a good reason. Fortunately, I’ve always had lots of ideas, so I’ve been able to move on. Editors have all sorts of reasons for rejecting a story, even sometimes a story they personally think could be good.

Faith: You have acquired a vast following for readers beginning with your Viking series, can you comment as to why you think that is so.

Josie: Well, just as an example, I suspect that right now it would be hard to sell a story about terrorism. I think there are probably a lot of them floating around, for one thing, and that editors are considering the sensibilities of readers. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that it’s tough to sell.

Faith: Right and you have to be able to do it in a way that makes the reader know there is a happy ending. I have read some that were good and made me want to stand up and salute the way it ended.

Josie: Right, the editor has to consider both the creative strengths of the book but also the market realities. It can be a really tough job, being an editor. Sometimes I think it would be good if authors could change places with them for a day or two. Gives us a different perspective.

Faith: I know you have plans for more sequels or trilogies, care to elaborate.

Josie: Well, I would like to write about the second generation of the family—Lion, Falcon and Fawn. But, I also have another story swimming around in my head, and it’s getting to the point where I may have to write it, too.

Faith: Okay, now whose children are these?

Josie: Lion is the son of Wolf and Cymbra. Falcon is the son of Hawk and Krysta. Fawn is the daughter of Dragon and Rycca.

Faith: Oh, yes. Write it!

Josie: Fawn’s name is actually funny. Readers named her, and I don’t see her as fawn-like. But it’s the kind of name a dotting daddy would give his darling, and that’s Dragon to a tee.

Faith: I will be standing in line to get it.

Faith: What do you do when writer’s block or characters that will not behave challenge you?

Josie: My characters never behave! LOL! Seriously, they constantly surprise me. In my experience, writer’s block for me is one of two things. Either I’m totally exhausted and really need to work or I’m trying to force the story to go in a direction it isn’t meant to go. I need to stand back, see what ‘s wrong and take a different path.

Faith: Do you find if you change the point of view that it helps?

Josie: It can clarify things sometimes. Plus some of the scenes just come more naturally from one character’s pov and other’s come from a different pov.

Faith: So what is the biggest stumbling block you face with writing?

Josie: I think if I’m not careful, the ordinary tasks of everyday life can really take me over. Suddenly, I can find myself in a situation where days are going by and I’m not writing.

Faith: And then, you feel guilty?

Josie: I’m doing lots of stuff, but not what I need to be doing. I can feel guilty about it, but I also just feel not right. You know what I mean—the chores, the errands, and the kids, just all of everyday life. It can eat up amazing amounts of time.

Faith: You have it inside you that you have to write and when you can’t you get out of sorts.

Josie: That’s what I mean. And its other stuff, too, laundry, shopping, and meals. Before you know it, a day and then another and another are gone. So now I just say, ok, these are my working—writing hours and if I have to put in more, I will. It’s not that everything else takes a backseat, but I have to be clear with myself and sometimes with others. I use to have a sign I’d put on my office door when I was really under pressure. “Don’t knock unless you’re bleeding, throwing up or something is on fire.”

Faith: Can I borrow it?

Faith: I was wondering. Do your characters actually talk to you?

Josie: Oh, yes! All the time. I used to know a writer who claimed we were all nuts—hearing voices, living in fantasy worlds, etc but had found a way to get paid for being crazy. If my characters weren’t talking, I’d know something was really wrong.

Faith: What is the most satisfying aspect of writing for you?

Josie: I love the process itself, when I’m in the “groove” and the story is just flowing. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do this at all. And I love hearing from readers. It’s so great to be able to reach out and communicate with a person I’ve never met but who enjoys the story I’ve told.

Faith: Do you have to be on the road a lot to promote your books?

Josie: No, not very much, I did a tour last summer and this summer I’m doing RWA. But other than that, I stay close to home and the computer. I know I could do a lot more and sometimes I think I’d really like to. What I have done, I’ve enjoyed.

Faith: When you do a tour, do you decide where you have to go?

Josie: The publisher decided last summer. I’ve thought about going to more conferences myself. People seem to have a lot of fun at them. The problem with traveling is that when I’m in a book I need to stay in it. I can’t jump in and out, going off and doing other things. I have to stay with it.

Faith: Any horrors of fan stalkers?

Josie: Oh, no, nothing like that!

Faith: I appreciate you taking the time to do this with me.

Josie: Thanks, Faith; it’s always a pleasure talking with you.

Faith:  Do you have a web site?  If so, what is the URL?

Josie:  Yes, the URL is http://www.josielitton.com/

Faith: Is there anything you would like to share with your readers or would-be writers?

Josie: Lets see, for readers a huge thank you. Their support amazes me and I deeply appreciate it. For writers, I’d have to say that if you believe in yourself, don’t give up. The world needs good storytellers!

Faith: Amen, and I will take that to heart myself.

Josie: You, especially!

Faith: Thank you so much for your time tonight.

Josie: Thank you, Faith.