Barbara McMahon Interview Published on: 31, Jul 2018
Where did you grow up or spend more of your childhood? What is a bizarre childhood dream you used to have and what do you think of it now?
I grew up in Arlington, VA, in a quiet neighborhood that backed to a great wooded area where we'd spend hours during the summer days exploring. One bizarre dream was about fairies dancing on the windowsill. It was so vivid I can still remember it. And I'm not sure if it's true or not, so I hold on to the possibility it was real.
Where does most of your inspiration as a writer come from? Who was it that first introduced you to the world of literature?I find inspiration everywhere, once at a county fair I saw a cowboy holding a baby and it gave rise to Daddy and Daughters. Another time I saw an injured cowboy and it sparked One Stubborn Cowboy. I love to people watch and get a lot of ideas that way. I was reading before I started school, my mother taught me early and I've read voraciously ever since.
What is a common writing trope that you dislike or think is overrated? What is an underrated idea you wish would get more of the limelight?None come to mind. I like having an idea of what the story is about, and certain expectations that can be met by traditional tropes.
How do you normally arrange or outline your plans when you start writing a book? Would you say that the actual process or researching and planning and writing is harder, or the part that comes after: marketing and promoting?I outline the story idea, then break it into chapter trying to decide what scenes to put in each one. When I get it sort of organized, I begin writing. I always have to go back to change things as I get into the story, but I like having a starting outline so to speak. And I definitely find marketing and promoting much harder than writing.
How would you describe your writing style in a few words? Do you think you'd be a fan of your books if you didn't write them?I think my stories are strongly about home and hearth and sweet relationships growing and developing. And yes, I think I'd like my books even if I didn't write them
. Do you like writing stories with hidden morals or meanings? Is there any deeper meaning to the book "The Christmas Locket" that you could share with us?I don't want to do hidden meanings. The Christmas Locket was about a man who loved his wife but couldn't give her what she wanted, so lived his life the best he could. He was afraid to be vulnerable and only the final break could overrule his fear to reach out.
What are some ideas you had for "Cowboy Charade" that you eventually had to edit out? Has there ever been a scene/character/idea you really loved that you had to scrap?That was such a short book--deliberately planned that way to be part of the Rodeo Knight group, so there were ideas I had on how to build it more that I had to scrap. And one book I had to make a major change toward the end when the character wasn't coming together the way I wanted and so I had to go back almost to the beginning and change a few points to make the ending more realistic.
What makes a good cowboy romance and what are some of your favourite western romances?I think cowboys are wonderful heroes. They have the "code of the west" running through them. They're rugged, self-sufficient, honorable, and capable of doing so much. Jean Brashear, Pat McLinn, Lisa Mondello are some of my favorite western romances authors.
How has your love for genealogy and researching the past creeped its way into your writing?I use a lot of ancestor names, mixed up. I'm very concerned with relationships, ages, and what happened when in the books.
In the Ultimate Billionaires series, why did you choose to focus on sheikhs in foreign countries? How did you go about choosing the names for your male characters in this series?I don't remember Rudolph Valentino but have heard all my life about his sheikh character and how women loved him. So I wanted to have heros that were a bit larger than life, fabulously wealthy, but keep a bit of western philosophy in their makeup. They all have European mothers, did you catch that? As to names, I use baby name books and peruse them trying out names to see if they'll fit my character.
Have any of your books ever been inspired by TV or movies? If one of your books had the chance to be adapted into a movie, which one would you choose to project onto the silver screen?Not that I know of. And I thought Island Paradise would have made a great movie--there would have been a tropical storm element that would make it exciting.
What does writing mean to you? Do you ever think about retirement and whether you'll ever stop publishing books?I love to write, to start a story with two people and first have to see what draws them to each other, how can I keep them in touch especially if they don't like each other to begin with. That's challenging. Then have them grow and change and draw closer until they both realize they are in love. I don't know if I'll ever retire, unless I run out of story ideas. But so far that hasn't happened. As long as I can see, type and imagine, I guess I'll keep going.
What are some of your current and future projects?I hope to write a new novella each Christmas for a few years, and then batch them all in an anthology. And I'm working on a series of cowboy books with brothers and cousins as the heroes. I want to finish 3 before publishing any, and my ultimate plan is 8 books in the series.
