by Jennifer LaBrecque

What’s a nice contemporary writer like me doing penning a time travel? Funny you should ask….

Last year my editor and I were discussing my 2006 release schedule and miniseries opportunities in the Blaze line. “So, what do you think?” she asked. There were a couple that sounded as if they were the type of story I thought I could write with no problem. I opened my mouth, fully intending to name one of those two and instead blurted out, “I want to write the time travel.”

What? Huh? Where had that come from? I’m not a big time travel fan and had never had the remotest inner nudge to write one but this sort of came out of left field and whacked me upside the head. I really love to read historicals and I’m partial to Scottish historical but still I’ve never even read Diana Gabaldon’s books. Anyway, I’m not sure which of us was more taken aback, me or my editor.

“Uh, okay, I just need a time period and a place,” she said. That was a no-brainer. 18th century Scotland. Uh-huh, cause there’s nothing much sexier than a man in a kilt. Well, there is that same man out of a kilt…but I digress. Okey-dokey. I was set. Contemporary heroine, 18th century hero. Got it. .

I toyed with the idea of the heroine being a history professor but decided she’d be all too happy to bop back in time. Where’s the fun in her being happy to be there? And besides, if I’d been yanked out of my writer comfort zone, well, my people were gonna be wiggling in the hot seat as well. So, Kate became an E.R. physician who lives in the beautiful land of modern medicine and the technological accoutrements of the 21st century…and likes them. And then, just to confound Kate a little further, not only does she zip back into the eighteenth century, I decided she should show up there naked. Ooops. But, hey, I let her take her purse along.

A couple of my favorite lines in the book are when the heroine protests finding herself back in time: “I’m not the person for this. I don’t do history. I’ve never even been to the Renaissance festival ‘cause I don’t like that stuff. I’m a techno freak. I love the conveniences of modern life. Electricity. Running water. Flush toilets. CAT scans. Penicillin. Starbucks.” My kind of woman.

And then there was the matter of the hero. I love to read those historical alpha men. Uh… getting into one’s head to write him was a bit of a different matter. I know men. I grew up with brothers. I used to work predominantly with men. I’m married to one. Honestly, they’re not the most complicated creatures. But a man in 1745 has a whole different frame of reference than a twenty-first century man. I had some major paradigm shifting. For instance Darach MacTavish, a rugged Highlander, wouldn’t think of the heroine’s skin in terms of satin or silk because neither satin nor silk was part of his world. He wouldn’t think of the powerful chemistry between them because no one was running around discussing chemistry in his world. Perhaps in the world, but not his world. Getting into his head was…interesting.

And while I’m fairly fond of all the heroes I write, Darach’s special. I’ve written two books since, and I’m still smitten with him.

The time travel element was almost like writing another character altogether. It was very cool to work with because there were no rules that had to be followed other than the portal between time had to be part of a traveling museum exhibit called Sex Through the Ages.

And speaking of another character…the one common thread through the introductory novella and the three subsequent books is the Sex Through the Ages exhibit. The one common character is the exhibit caretaker. There was a general description of him and he played a very necessary, but minor role … until he showed up in my book. He became a very important secondary character and by the end of the book, I could hardly stand to tell him good-bye. I’d love to write his story and give him a happy ending. Alas, while you can bend a lot of rules in Blaze, I don’t think anyone is ready for a sixty-something hero.

Writing this book proved challenging. More than once, I asked myself, “What was I thinking? Wait…I wasn’t thinking. I just blabbed my big mouth.” And actually, that’s a good thing. It stretched me and forced me to grow as a writer. And it definitely fired my imagination like nothing I’ve ever written before. I’m usually so drained at the end of a book that I’m beyond ready to type THE END. Not this one. I absolutely love this book and I hated to see it end. But alas…they give us word counts to abide by.

Would I write another time travel? Where do I sign up?

And now I’d like to toss a couple of questions your way and fire up your imagination. Join in the discussion to win an autographed copy of HIGHLAND FLING. Don’t forget to visit my website where you can enter my contest for another stab at winning an autographed copy. And be sure to return to my website next month when, rumor has it, my contest might include a chance to win a scarf made from the MacTavish plaid.