Interview B. L. Dodson

by

Lois Wencil

1) What is the Title of your book:

Amberley

2) Would you tell us the name you are using, as it appears in book?

B. L. Dodson. Lord Byron once said, “Of all bitches dead or alive, a scribbling woman is the most canine.” In the 19^th c., attitudes like this forced the Brontës, Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) and Louisa May Alcott to use a male nom de plume in order to get published. In honor of my heroine, Magdalen Morland, I decided to just use my initials as well.

3) What Genre is your work?

Historical Romance.

4) What is the Word length?

100,000

5) What is your setting, (time and place)?

Leicestershire, England, near the end of the Regency period.

6) What are your heroine and hero's appeal to the reader?

My hero, Leydon Villiers, Viscount Amberley is larger than life, a misguided man capable of great passion, while my heroine, Magdalen Morland is so likeable you’re always rooting for her through every setback.

7) What do they want? What is your “Goal” and how do they think they're going to get it?

My hero must climb out of the mound of debt brought about by his reckless brother, and without thinking of the consequences, he makes a decision that could ruin his life. My heroine has a painful secret from her past, and in order to help Leydon and herself, she perpetuates a lie. But that seemingly harmless lie quickly compounds their problems, making them insurmountable.

8) What is the “Motivation”, i.e. what do they want? What is the “Secret” inner conflict and what's stopping them from getting it? What is their “External conflict”?

Neither of them want to fall in love, and they’re both aware that if they give in to their dangerous attraction, they won’t get the things they must have in order to survive. No one else wants them to get together either, because they won’t attain their own desperate goals.

9) What do you like/dislike most about your hero and heroine?

Viscount Amberley has a fierce sense of loyalty, which is a rare trait. And I like that Magdalen Morland is smart and has pluck. Though my hero and heroine have faults, I admire them. It’s fun to write about people readers will dislike, but I save that for my secondary characters.

10. What makes your book unique?

I love romances, but I am dissatisfied with the kind of romances that are written today. My favorite romance authors are from long ago: Jane Austen, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, Georgette Heyer, and even Edith Wharton. I want a romance with absolutely unbearable romantic tension, humor, and characters that are real to me, and in today’s market, I realized I had to write my own to achieve this.