Behind the Scenes of Princess From the Shadows

Princess From the Shadows was my very first continuity book! The editors put together this really comprehensive bible about the royal family, and gave us a scenario, plus characters and basic set-ups for each individual book. This was a real challenge for me, and I mean that in the best way. I was given two elements to work with that, on my own, I wouldn’t normally choose: A playboy hero and…a child.

Luca, my heroine’s son, is the same age as my oldest son. (or, they were the same age when I wrote the book!) I took the opportunity to borrow some things from my son for Luca’s character. Including…

Sherbie and Sherbet. These two little owls feature in the book, and they are two of my son’s best friends. He named them, he loves the grotty little things, and they now live forever in the pages of Princess From the Shadows.

Rodriguez Anguiano has the hardest name to type of any hero ever. I don’t think I ever typed it right the first time ONCE the whole time I was working on the MS.

Lynn Raye Harris suggested I nickname him Hot Rod. On twitter he was most definitely known as Hot Rod.

I had some rules for Luca that I tried to use to avoid making him to precocious. He wasn’t allowed to contribute to a conversation, and everything was about him. I have a five year old. I know how they work. 😉