Lori Foster is a New York Times and USA Today best selling author. She spoke with us about her upcoming release, Don’t Tempt Me and her writing process.
Lori Foster is the author of many series including the Body Armor series and Ultimate series. Her latest novel, Don’t Tempt Me features a neighborhood being revitalized, a girl trying to find her own way and a sexy neighbor that just wants to be helpful, kind of. Don’t Tempt Me is a fun fast-paced read filled with amazing characters. It releases on July 26.
Tell us five random facts about yourself.
- I like hard rock music.
- My favorite movies are horror and action, in that order. I’m not a fan of chic-flicks or romance. :-P
- I love to be on or near the water: swimming, water skiing, boating…
- I have 5 indoor cats, and numerous feral cats that have been trapped, spayed or neutered, inoculated, then turned free, and they now hang on my wrap-around porch, getting fed twice a day.
- Few readers know that I wrote an urban fantasy series under my initials, L.L. Foster. The books did well and won a few awards, but my love is romance. (Although someday I’ll write more in the L.L. series.)
Describe your novel in five words.
Sexy, emotional, fast-paced, character driven.
Don’t Tempt Me introduces us to a fun cast of characters each with their own hang ups. When you start a new book are the characters already outlined or do they start to form once you begin the story? Is there one character that was more challenging to write than the others?
For a new series, I know very little about the characters. Before I start I create a character sheet with the main two protagonists, including hair and eye color, age, occupation (which sometimes changes as I get to know them better) and I have a kernel of an idea for what their conflict will be.
As I write them, they develop for me just as they develop for readers. Since Don’t Tempt Me is the first in a new series, with all new characters and a never-before-visited setting, I knew very little about any of the characters other than the very basics. Colt, the hero’s nephew, was a special surprise, and he became one of my favorite characters.
Of course, when I write the second book, featuring characters that appeared in DTM, I’ll start with a lot more, since they’ll already be familiar to me.
The setting for this story is small town America that is being gentrified. What made you choose this kind of town?
I’d recently been on an underground tour of an area near me. Not so long ago, the area was very dangerous, one of those places you didn’t even want to drive through. Now they’re giving tours! I found it fascinating how, with a little intervention and incentive, a neighborhood could turn around. Especially an older neighborhood with some fascinating history.
As a writer, many things spark my muse, and everyday happenings can kickstart my imagination and spur on an entire series.
In this novel we really get the story of two couples. Is it challenging writing multiple romances in one novel rather than the traditional one romance? Which do you prefer?
Honestly, I don’t have a preference. I write the books as they want to be written, the characters as they demand to be written. Some secondary characters are happy to remain in the shadows while others start clamoring for attention, demanding a book of their own. It’s fun because I never know who will jump out and who will fade away.
Readers often requests books for characters who just don’t have a story. Nothing has come to me. The character hasn’t told me anything worth writing. Other characters tell me just enough to be a secondary story, without enough depth for an entire book. Pretty much I just go with the flow and let the characters guide me.
What is the writing process like for you?
I’m a straight shooter, seat-of-my-pants writer. I start at the beginning and write through to the end without advancing to future scenes, and I make it up as I go along without a lot of planning. I don’t use an outline or story chart or anything like that.
I like to be surprised.
I keep character notes as I go along – once they drive a car, I have to remember what type car. If they have a house, I need to know the layout, etc…
Because I’m an insomniac, I often think about the next scene when I should be sleeping, and then when I rise in the morning, I know what I want to write. That process has helped me to be prolific.
I research only what I need to know – because seriously, it would be soooo easy to get sidetracked by interesting research.
I spend very little time on naming my characters. Usually I snag names off my Facebook page. lol. I might take one reader’s first name and another’s last name and then I pair them together.
Naming of locations, like cities, towns, etc… is a little more time consuming because I create fictional places and try not to use already established areas. That gives me more freedom.
And I don’t even attempt to title my books. I leave that to my editor. When I’m thinking about a book, I’d rather think about plot or character, not titles.
Beginnings are the easiest for me, and endings are the hardest. I want to wrap it up with a little pizzazz, a memorable line or two, and that takes some doing.
But once I’m done, I’m done, and I both mentally and physically set aside that book to dive into the next.
What are you working on now?
I’m in the middle of writing the 2nd book in the Body Armor series, which features characters branching off the Ultimate series. Each book stands alone, but if readers read the Ultimate series they’ll recognize Leese, Justice, Brand and Miles who left MMA fighting for various reasons to become bodyguards instead.
Leese’s book is finished, titled Under Pressure, and soon I’ll wrap up Justice’s story, Hard Justice. The bookcovers are on my website already, under Upcoming Releases.
Fill in the blank
If I weren’t a writer I would be…… still happy – doing whatever. lol. My happiness isn’t based on my job as much as my family, and we’re fortunate to be healthy and close. I could be working any job and I’d still feel very blessed.
If I could have one supernatural power it would be……to relieve suffering.
My Hollywood crush is……Timothy Olyphant. The Perfect Getaway, Justified, Deadwood…oh my! The man has it all and is a terrific actor, too. ;-)
My book boyfriend would be…… Joel Blackstone from Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz. I’ve read so, sooo many books, but to this day he still stands out as one of the best. Joel was very real, slightly tortured, but honorable through and through. I love that book so very much!
Fan of our book coverage? Why not join our Hypable Books Facebook group!
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.