Blog Tour Q&A with Victoria Vane, Author of Slow Hand

Please join me in welcoming author Victoria Vane back to Let Them Read Books! I'm a big fan of Victoria's Devil DeVere historical romance series, and now she's branching out into contemporary Westerns with the first novel in her new Hot Cowboy Nights series, Slow Hand. I recently had the chance to ask Victoria a few questions about the challenges in writing multiple genres and the research trips she made for this series. Read on and check out the trailer for Slow Hand, available now from Sourcebooks Casablanca!




Hi Victoria! Thanks so much for stopping by Let Them Read Books! 

Thanks so much for inviting me, Jenny Q!

You've been very successful as a historical romance author. What inspired you to start writing contemporaries?

Successful is a relative term! LOL!  While I have certainly received numerous accolades for my books, and have established a very loyal following, particularly with my Devil DeVere series, I still have not been able to break out as a writer.

After writing full time for three years with thirteen published novels and novellas, this has become increasingly frustrating to me. Although my first love will always be historicals, I thought it was time to spread my wings. I began my first contemporary romance expecting to fall flat on my face, but that absolutely has not happened. Once my characters came to life, the stories just took off.

I would imagine writing contemporaries and historicals present different sets of challenges. Can you tell us about some of the differences and how you approach them?

Surprisingly, I took exactly the same approach with my contemporary stories as I do with all of my historicals – I researched. I did this because I want all of my books to have a strong element of realism.

As far as the actual writing goes, I thought it would be really hard (next to impossible) for me to make the leap to contemporary because I didn’t think my writing voice would translate well, but once the characters came to life, it was really easy. I just let them tell the story. I discovered a completely different writing voice, but all of my strengths remained – well-researched, character driven, smoking hot stories!

You got to do some traveling while researching this new series; where did you go and what kind of research did you do? Did you discover anything that surprised you?

Although I have owned horses most of my life, I knew almost nothing about the cattle industry. Since I am a research geek, I made two trips to Montana and Wyoming to learn everything I possibly could related to my stories. I spent several week last year with Kail and Renee Mantle of Montana Horses. Kail is a fourth generation cowboy and a former rodeo bronc rider. I also became friends with a bucking bull contractor and his wife here in South Carolina, a reigning rodeo queen in Florida, and a professional rodeo bull fighter. All of these people influenced my stories and my characters. I have also visited almost every place I mention in these books.

What's the best thing about being a romance author?

I LOVE the independence of it and also enjoy the research – especially when it allows me to travel.

What are you working on now?

I just finished book #3 (STRAIGHT SHOOTER) and am currently writing #4 (SILVER TONGUE) in this series. I will then be working on a scorching hot novella series for Kensington called Hotel Rodeo. It also features several cowboys but is set in Las Vegas. I chose that setting because it will allow me to feature such a wide variety of characters. It’s going to be a really wild series!

Thanks, Victoria! Lots of great stuff coming up! Can't wait to read it!

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About the Author:

Victoria Vane is an award-winning author of smart and sexy romance. Her works range from historical to contemporary settings and include everything from wild comedic romps to emotionally compelling erotic romance. Her books have received more than twenty reviewer awards and nominations to include the 2014 RONE Award for Treacherous Temptations and Library Journal Best E-Book romance of 2012 for The Devil DeVere series.Look for her hot new contemporary cowboy series coming from Sourcebooks in Fall of 2014.

Email: victoria.vane@hotmail.com
Website: www.victoriavane.com
Blog: www.embracingromance.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoria.vane
Twitter: @authorvictoriav
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/authorvictoriav/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006PIDZV2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5319795.Victoria_Vane
YOU TUBE BOOK TRAILERS: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?feature=c4-feed-a&list=PL7204C8CEE51620BF