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by Meredith Fletcher; Vicki Hinze Doranna Durgin

Happy reading! And if I write something you like, or you have questions, please contact me at MFletcher1216@aol.com. I hope to have a Web page up soon. I’m still working on that.

  Vicki Hinze

  Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.

  In 1984 my mother introduced me to romance novels. In particular, to Harlequin Presents®. After the first novel, I was hooked. Trouble was I read faster than they were printed. But since I enjoyed those novels so much, I began looking at other romances—Harlequin Superromance, Silhouette Special Edition. I loved the positive roles of women in them, and the heroines’ ethics in dealing with so many of the challenges we all face with family and friends and work/home.

  Like many others, I read hundreds of these books. I’d fill a tall kitchen trash bag with them and then ship them to my mother to donate and share with her friends. We were living in Illinois and the weather turned foul. Snow, ice, freezing rain. My husband, a military officer, was away again, and so the kids and I were limping along as military families do. The simple truth is I loved the books so much I wanted to write one. And so I did. It was awful! A heartwarming story, but buried in a tomb of mechanical errors so deep, the story was lost. So I wrote another. And another.

  They were awful, too. Not that it stopped me from submitting them, I’m sorry to say. And I got the most kind rejection letters from editors who had to be pulling out their hair at trying to read them. Finally, one of those dear souls who is still with Harlequin today, wrote: “Vicki, if you’re really serious about writing, why not take a course?”

  Notice that by this time, we were on a first-name basis—which should have been much to my shame, but wasn’t. I was too driven to write books to have decent judgment. But I bless her for making that suggestion most days of my life. (Can’t be expected to on the days I’m fighting for every word that goes on the page. But “most days” is an excellent average!) Anyway, I took her advice and took a course. And another. And another. And I kept writing. Fifteen books and I have no idea how many partial books. My problem, by this time, wasn’t that my stories were still mired in those tombs, it was that my books didn’t fit anywhere on a bookshelf. Simply put, I wrote odd stories: contemporary novels that read like historicals, time-travel novels (before there were time-travels in romance), and reincarnation stories (before there were paranormal romances). I was just a couple years ahead of myself. But I loved them all.

  That’s always been my criteria in writing a book. I must love it. Totally and completely and without reservation. However, after having written 15 books, I also wanted one that someone other than me, a dear friend, my mother and the editor who rejected it would read! So I invested in studying the market, and I discovered a new line where a type of story I loved would fit. That line was Silhouette Shadows®.

  Needless to say, I was thrilled to pieces. I wrote the entire book, which became known as Mind Reader, and sent it in to my agent. She was doubtful because the heroine in the novel was an empath and that sort of thing wasn’t being done. So she agreed to send it to Silhouette Shadows® but was very clear that if it didn’t sell there, she just didn’t have another publisher to send it to that would be open to a heroine who was an empath. I said okay, and held my breath. Okay, truth is, I prayed, too. A lot.

  Two weeks later, I got “the” call. An editor wanted to buy it—but not for Silhouette Shadows®, for Intimate Moments!

  I’m laughing at myself here. Because I was so thrilled—(after six years and all those books, wouldn’t you be?)—I told the editor it had been my goal for many years to write for Harlequin.

  Today, that doesn’t seem like such a bad slip. But then it was a horrible one. Silhouette was under the Harlequin umbrella but they were competitors in those days. (Open floor and suck me down!)

  The editor understood, bless her, and I survived it—if with a red face for a long time. But I learned that day that while you might not hit the target you’re aiming at, you well might hit the one next to it. So I’ve imagined a row of targets rather than one when I write, and I stick only to one rule: Love the book. Totally and completely and without reservation.

  So far, it’s working out.

  Is there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story? A person and a thing inspired this story, actually.

  My dad had a photographic memory, which was an asset in many ways, but it made living with those who had an imperfect memory challenging for him at times. He was empathetic, as well, which created special challenges for him, particularly when in crowds or large groups of people. At times, he’d grow so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sensory input, he would get wicked migraines. I wanted to do a novel that expressed understanding of those challenges and the extra effort required to live a “normal” life when you’re enduring them.

  The thing that inspired this story is the national focus on our borders and the conflict between retaining that openness and the terrorist vulnerabilities that come with it. It is, to say the least, a delicate balance. One that is, at times, doomed to swing too far to either side, but also one by our very nature we are obligated to continue to attempt.

  What’s your writing routine?

  The truth is I don’t really have one. I believe that if you lock yourself into doing anything—especially something you love—one way, then it becomes easy to convince yourself that this one way you’ve defined is the only way to do it. Life has too many interruptions and detours for that! My writing hours vary. The way I go about writing a novel varies. Everything about the process and fitting writing into my life varies. Often, I’ll start my writing day at 2:00 a.m. Other days, I start at 10:00 p.m. This makes it sound as if I lack discipline, but the truth is, I usually write until I either fall asleep at my desk or I get stiff-shouldered because I’ve been at it far too long. I write everywhere—in the park, in the backyard, in my recliner, at my desk. But when I get stuck, I always go to the kitchen table. My father once told me that 99% of genius is created at a kitchen table. So I’ve always done that—gone there when stuck. It’s always worked.

  How do you research your stories?

  I do a lot of background work in the library or on the Web. Books, magazines, newspaper articles. More comes from medical or scientific studies, governmental agency reports and diaries. When I’m familiar enough to know what to ask, and where I’m going to focus, I seek out professionals or subject-matter experts and speak with or interview them, depending on what I need for the story. Early on I was writing a thriller and needed specifics on how a person being murdered would react to specific tactics used to kill him. I called a doctor I knew and put the questions to him. He went silent, stayed silent. Finally, in this wee voice, he said, “Vicki, where is Lloyd?” Lloyd is my husband. The doc was worried I wasn’t speaking hypothetically! I learned right there and then not to assume that anyone knew I was a writer and to always specifically state that I am before asking the first question.

  How do you develop your characters?

  This is going to sound a little wacky—and maybe it is, but it works. I interview them. I pretend I’m sitting across a table from them, and I listen to them tell me their life story. Without fail, what they tell me drives the story events and their reactions to those events. Many times I’ve had in mind to write one story, but the characters led me to write another. They know what matters most to them and why. I just have to listen.

  When you’re not writing, what are your favorite activities?

  I love to do remodeling. There’s something empowering about knocking down a wall or tearing up a tile floor and replacing it with a new one. And I’m crazy about power tools. My husband doesn’t fear me running loose in a clothing store, but he quakes in his shoes when I go into Home Depot or Lowe’s.

  Could you tell us a bit about your family?

  Delighted. My husband is an artist. He does realistic wildlife woodcarvings. Prior to this, he had a very different career as a U.S. Air Force officer in Special Operations. We have three childr
en—two sons and a daughter. One is an electrical and computer engineer married to a nurse; the other son has a degree in environmental studies, owns a boating company and is married to a newspaper reporter. They’re expecting a baby as I write this. My daughter is a teacher who had the great sense to marry a brick mason who is hands down the world’s greatest son-in-law. They have a daughter who is the joy in my life; my sun, moon and stars. And we have a hundred-plus-pound Weimer (Gray Ghost), my faithful sidekick, who has no idea she’s a dog and never lets the rest of us forget it.

  What are your favorite kinds of vacations?

  I’m a simple woman and I have simple tastes. Open the gates to a water park anywhere, and I’m very happy. One of my favorites is in San Marcos, Texas. I love the slides and the rafting. It’s a kick—and I get a license to act like a kid again.

  Any last words to your readers?

  It’s hard to verbalize this, but I’m going to try. Writing requires so many sacrifices. Yet I love it and I can’t imagine my life without it. The truth is that it’s my readers’ support that grants me the gift of being able to do it, and I am very grateful. I read their letters and I’m so touched. I can’t begin to tell you how much I cherish them, but I do. I save them all, and when times get tough, I pull them out and reread them, and I remember why I do what I do. Many readers write and tell me how much my books help them. I want them to know that they help me, too.

  Marsha Zinberg, Executive Editor of Signature Select, spoke with Doranna, Meredith and Vicki in the winter of 2005.

  We asked Doranna Durgin to tell us a bit more about the heroine in CHAMELEON. Here Doranna discusses the heroine’s abilities and talks about the point at which the heroine knew she was different.

  Samantha Fredericks: nine years old, sobbing her pillow wet at the latest brutal honesty from her parents. You’ll never be pretty, so get used it; you’re not smart enough to aim high, so get used to going low. Samantha Fredericks, escaping into her own mind. She imagined she was a princess.

  She didn’t ever imagine she could actually make it so.

  You’re nine years old and you want to be anyone but who you really are. So you haul out your imagination and pretend that it’s so. You’re a princess. Maybe even a warrior princess. With hair that gleams. Tame hair. And you imagine it night after night, perfecting the details. Until one night you look in the mirror and—whoa!—it’s not you in the reflection.

  Welcome to Sam’s world.

  Of course, turning into a warrior princess overnight is bound to attract some attention. And since attention was the last thing Sam wanted, she set about being unremarkable: she controlled her hair, softened her young features. Even at nine a girl can study magazines to refine her fashion imagination…. But for Sam it wasn’t enough; once she realized this was something she could do, really do, she set about exploring her limits. She investigated different skin colors, different shapes, different sizes. She even experimented with changing her apparent sex—and turned it into her first undercover adventure by checking out the boys’ room at school, which wasn’t nearly as interesting as she’d hoped…except for the ultimate excitement of pulling it off.

  Over time she grew and stretched her startling talent, and by the time she graduated, had used it to suss out the dark secrets of her high school, including several anonymous tips that led to drug busts. The last skill she conquered was that of going unseen, and she tries not to rely on it too much; it can be too difficult to manage, and has left her cornered once too often.

  Sam’s skill doesn’t encompass actual physical change, but is as complete as a psychic experience can be. Those who perceive her guises do so visually and tactually—and because of that, she’s limited in what she can pull off. She can change her skin color, but not radically. As a freckled, fair-skinned woman, she cannot present herself with deep black skin tones—chocolate is as dark as she gets. As a short, slight person, she can only gain a few inches and perhaps fifty pounds of mass, whether in muscle or jiggle. And when she changes to a male form, she can appear as wiry and slender with little effort, but has trouble with beefy and barrel-chested.

  Then again, she’s still young…who knows what she’ll learn next!

  Everything we sense is fed into the subconscious part of our minds. It never forgets anything. But the subconscious takes everything literally, and that’s where we get into trouble remembering. The subconscious can’t differentiate truth from fiction, doesn’t interpret right from wrong. If we sense it, we store it. But—and here’s the trick—we remember best that which engages our senses.

  FOCUS

  It is as we sense that our conscious minds do the interpreting and make value judgments on what we’re sensing and taking in. If we’re half listening and half hearing, glimpsing rather than really looking—preoccupied—then that sensory input gets jumbled up. If you want to remember something, as you’re sensing it, focus intently on it. Then you’re filtering truth from fiction, making those value judgments as you sense.

  An example. My children used to deliberately wait until I was at the computer, writing, to ask me for permission to do things they knew I wouldn’t approve of them doing. They’d ask, and I’d respond with an “uh-huh,” and later when I’d ask them why they’d done whatever thing they’d done, they’d say, “But you said I could.” That led to the inevitable “When?” Canned response: “When I asked. You were at the computer.” To that I had no defense, because I vaguely recalled a glimmer of that “uh-huh” and knew that, preoccupied, I very likely had given permission for whatever had been done.

  Focus. Focus intently. It not only improves memory but also eliminates the embarrassing incriminations you earn at the hands of your children.

  FOOD

  Some scientists say tea, gum-chewing and/or vitamin supplements can improve your memory. Others disagree. But there is consensus that a balanced diet helps give the brain what it needs to function well.

  EXERCISE

  Muscles and the brain are said to have a common bond. Exercise them both and they’re stronger and stay stronger longer. Activities that make you use your imagination and really think about what you’re doing or imagining—like reading—are great exercise for your memory. Exercise will also help in other areas that have a major impact on memory, such as stress, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

  REPETITION

  If there is something that you want to remember, you have to get it from short-term memory to long-term memory. Much of short-term memory is fleeting and lost within the first day. To get that information from short-term to long-term, focus and repeat the significant portion of it to yourself multiple times. Now, an hour from now, five hours from now, when you’re in that twilight sleep: almost sleeping but not quite. According to the experts, if you perform this repetition for three days, you will have committed the information to long-term memory.

  ASSOCIATION

  Some find that association works well to enhance memory. Using a child’s birthday as a security code. Using the name of your first pet to jog your memory of a password. Associate a needed series of numbers with a string of birthdays, or with birthstones. Association is effective in helping us remember, provided we use analogies that are significant to us.

  GET CREATIVE

  If you’re trying to remember a list of items, get creative and use what you’ve got to help you. Ten fingers, ten toes. Two feet or hands or eyes or ears. Associate the number of items with a body part. Say, for example, you’re off to the grocery store. You need five items. Five items equals one hand. If when you’re shopping, you remember the hand, you’ll be less apt to leave the store short an item.

  There are a lot of tips on bettering your memory. Some are by well-respected authorities and some are by elementary school children, who learn a lot by rote and repetition. Practical tips are all around us. We simply must open our eyes to them—and then focus on them long enough to grasp them and put them to use.

  RECOMMENDED READING

&nbs
p; Memory Prescription, Gary Small,

  ISBN: 1-401-30066-9, Hyperion.

  Brain Power: Practical Ways To Boost Your Memory, Creativity and Thinking Capacity, Laureli Blyth,

  ISBN: 0-760-73231-0, Barnes & Noble Books.

  The Memory Bible, Gary Small,

  ISBN: 0-786-88711-7, Hyperion.

  Total Memory Workout: 8 Easy Steps to Maximum Memory Fitness, Cynthia R. Green,

  ISBN: 0-553-38026-5, Bantam.

  1 MATRIX.

  No doubt about it, this mind-bender featuring Keanu Reeves started moviegoers everywhere talking about what is and what could be. Filled with near-tech and Japanese-style action, MATRIX delivers a double-fistload of provocation and violence.

  2 HACKERS.

  If we all agree that the actual computer work and accompanying dramatization of the same was incredibly wrong, this is still a fun film and can be enjoyed. This movie also opened a lot of eyes to what young people might be doing with their computers instead of homework.

  3 SNEAKERS.

  Starring Robert Redford and Sydney Poitier (two leading men for the price of one!), this movie was a more cerebral approach to cyberchaos in today’s world. A lot of fun and a peek at the world that was coming.

  4 THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.

  Posing as a full integration between man and machine, Steve Austin (played by hunky Lee Majors) starred as a secret agent (“I’m about to raise your security level.”) equipped with bionic limbs. THE BIONIC WOMAN was a spin-off series featuring Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner). Both series are reportedly coming to DVD soon.

  5 THE NET.

  Sandra Bullock plays a computer-savvy virus hunter who ends up taking on a murderous cyberphreak after the program he created could cripple the United States. A great popcorn-and-ice-cream movie. In addition, a limited television series based on the film exists that further extrapolates Angela Bennett’s run for her life.

 

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