Interview: Kresley Cole, 'Shadow's Claim'

Kresley Cole's first book — a historical romance — was published in 2003. Since then, this world traveler has published 19 books with Simon & Schuster. Her Immortals After Dark (IAD) series lifted her to the top, earning her Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA for Best Paranormal Romance in 2006 and hitting No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list twice — in 2009 and 2011. Having spent part of this year touring the country in support of Lothaire, she took time to talk with us about the strategy that helped her achieve success as an author, the IAD series and her new release, Shadow's Claim.

Pamela: You started this year touring in a bus with Paul Marron, the cover model for Lothaire, and your editor, Lauren McKenna. There must be dozens of great memories and stories that came out of that tour for you. Can you share one with us?

Kresley: Lauren McKenna officially holds the title of "Most Entertaining Woman Alive," so I was ridiculously excited to tour with her. Added to this, Paul turned out to be a down-to-earth, hilarious, super-smart guy, and our two tour managers were phenomenal. When I found out that none of them had ever been to Oak Alley in Louisiana, I begged for a side trip before the New Orleans signing. After touring the grounds, we all walked toward a viewpoint up on a grassy levee. Without a word, the five of us started running up the incline at the same time, cracking up because it was such a kid thing to do.

So we're standing high on the levee on a crisp, cloudless day, and the view of the centuries-old oak trees is breathtaking. Behind us, the Mississippi was churning. In front of us, the bus was parked so you could see it — and the lines of oaks. It was surreal to see a bus with my name on it, parked in front of a landmark I'd visited when I was little. I'll never forget that feeling. In fact, each day of that tour was unforgettable — getting to see treasured friends who came out to support us, meeting wonderful new readers (and watching them interact with charming Paul!) and plotting books with Lauren on the bus — somewhere in rural Texas, we came up with some wild ideas for future projects.

Pamela: On your website, you talk about your "25 Plan" and how necessary it is for new writers to commit themselves wholly to their careers if they want to succeed. I found the plan quite interesting. Can you describe it for our readers?

Kresley: My husband, aka Swede, and I both come from athletic backgrounds, so once we identified the goal — get book published — we attacked it. At any given time, I would have my writing out in 25 various forms — either contests, mentoring critiques, agent/publisher queries, etc. If I got a contest score back or received a rejection, then I had one day to enter another contest or mail off a new query. Swede set up spreadsheets to help me keep all the submissions straight and created tree diagrams to map out our strategy. The upside of this plan was that I sold my first book within the year I started writing it. The downside was that sometimes I'd receive more than one rejection in a day — which was as pleasant as it sounds :)

Pamela: You began your romance-writing career penning historical romance, but found your niche writing paranormal romance. What do you enjoy most about writing paranormal romance? Is it world-building or supernatural powers the characters possess, the ability to mingle myth with reality, or something else?

Kresley: All of the above! One of my favorite things to do is formulate powers for a character, then come up with their corresponding weaknesses and liabilities. And I delight in world-building: melding the supernatural with the natural, then tweaking and polishing until it feels organic.

Pamela: What do you find to be the most challenging part of writing a long, continuing series like IAD?

Kresley: The fact that all of the IAD books have overlapping timelines is crazy challenging. Added to this, I tend to write the same scenes from different points of view over different installments. I swear with each book that I'll never do it again, but I always break down. Readers tell me they really enjoy exploring certain events from different angles, and that it makes for a rich reading experience.

Needless to say, keeping the details straight is critical. We have comprehensive spreadsheets on every aspect of the series: species, major players within each faction, strengths and weaknesses, settings, lairs and castles, weapons, villains, deities, jewels and talismans, languages (especially any words I make up!), etc. Just to be on the safe side, I do a re-read of the entire series usually twice a year, which also keeps me on track with the overarching series direction.

Pamela: Tell us about the new series focusing on the Dacians, the Realm of Blood and Mist. Out of all the creatures of the Lore, why did your Muse choose them? And what does this mean for your IAD series overall?

Kresley: It's an Immortals After Dark subseries, which means that readers will get the same experience as with the IAD books, but these installments will feature the Dacians. I'd considered a couple of different factions to anchor a subseries, but chose the Dacians mainly because of Lothaire. His book is one of my favorite entries in the IAD series, and I love him as both a villain and a hero. So I jumped at the chance to delve into a series where he would continue to figure prominently. For better or worse, the red-eyed, insane vampire king will be dispensing advice to each of the Daciano royals, much as he did with Declan and Thaddeus in Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Lothaire as a mentor? I couldn't resist.

Pamela: Shadow's Claim tells the story of Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadow, and Bettina, whom Trehan seeks to win in a fight to the death. We'd love some hints! What can you tell us?

Kresley: If I could sum up Shadow's Claim in six words: cage fights with hot alpha males. Seriously, though, while the fights are the backdrop for Trehan and Bettina's love story, the main emphasis is on how Trehan — a pitiless master assassin — wages the ultimate battle to win her heart. Shadow's Claim is different from other IAD installments because in the beginning the heroine prefers another man. So we have this masterful hero, who is swift and sure and ruthless — yet he has no idea how to sway a young female's affections. The learning curve for Trehan is steep! Fortunately, he's a quick learner ...

To find out more, please check out the extended excerpt on my website.

Pamela: What can fans expect from you in the coming year?

Kresley: So far, we've got MacRieve (Lykae Uilleam MacRieve's story) in the summer and Endless Knight (the sequel to my debut young adult, Poison Princess) in the fall. People have been asking about the identity of Uilleam's heroine — if not her name, then at least her species. I'll tell you this, his brief cameos in Dreams of a Dark Warrior are a big hint. The seeds of his story were in that book ...

We have some other exciting projects in the works, so stay tuned for more!

Pamela: Did you have a fun Thanksgiving?

Kresley: Unfortunately, I've been staring down some daunting deadlines, so I had to chain myself to my desk. I instructed the family to leave a turkey leg by the office door and ask no questions.

Pamela: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

Kresley: Thank you for the wonderful questions!

To find out more about Kresley, you can visit her website, KresleyCole.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Twitter (@kresleycole).

Pamela Clare is an award-winning journalist and nationally best-selling author of both historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense. She loves coffee, the Colorado mountains, and her two grown sons. Her website is PamelaClare.com.