Chatting with Christy Reece, also known as Ella Grace

A couple days ago I introduced you to Christy Reece, author of the Last Chance Rescue series, who recently released a new series under her new pen name Ella Grace.  Over the past couple of weeks I've been emailing my questions, which Christy has graciously answered between the release of TWO books, one for each of her names.

Hopefully you'll learn something new about Christy...I know I did.

Carmen: CHANCES ARE was recently released: it's the latest LAST CHANCE RESCUE novel and your first self-published novel. How did self pubbing differ from your previous publishing experiences?

Christy: It was exciting, exhilarating, and nerve-wracking. There were so many things I didn’t know about, so many questions I had that I didn’t even know how to ask. Setting my own deadline—without a publisher telling me when the book was due was a challenge. I had some personal issues going on while I was writing the book and didn’t get it finished as quickly as I had planned. Since I was the one who set the deadline, that gave me some leeway I wouldn’t have had with a traditional publisher. Also, being able to choose the cover that depicted a scene from the book was a lot of fun. I worried that it was too racy but since it came from the book, I think readers appreciated it more. I’ve always thought a cover should help tell the story. The cover for CHANCES ARE definitely does that.

Carmen: Angela, whom readers of the LCR books previously met as the LCR office manager, isn't the typical heroine in the previous books of the series. Did you run into any challenges morphing a secondary character into a main character?

Christy: Not really. Except for RESCUE ME, most of my characters have been secondary characters in previous books. Even though Angela had never had any on page words, I had a good grip on her personality. With her working so closely with Noah McCall, I knew she would have to be a strong-willed, self assured person. However, I never knew what she looked like until McKenna and Lucas were married at the beginning of SWEET REVENGE and Jamie describes her. I think that’s when Angela came alive for me. From there, it was easy to create the rest of her personality.

Carmen: All of your LCR characters have dark pasts. Do those come to you organically as you're developing the characters, or do you have a nasty little book of awful things you can apply to characters as their pasts?

Christy: Ha. I wish I did. That would be so helpful to have a ‘disaster’ book! In my Last Chance Rescue series, most of my main characters work for LCR. They’re dedicated to their cause. That kind of dedication is usually personal, which means there’s something driving them. The concept of LCR is to rescue the innocent, no matter the cost. For a person to have that kind of drive, there’s got to be something behind it, which means something happened to them. I don’t usually know what that something is until I’m in the midst of writing the story. If the characters are talking to me, I listen. Then I write their story.

Carmen: CHANCES ARE ends with a bit of a cliff hanger, and hint as to the plans you have in store for LCR? What about Noah and Samara?

Christy: Noah is and always will be the leader of LCR. His location may change but never his life’s work. LCR is going to grow and expand beyond anyone’s expectation. (And that’s all I can say about that right now.) J

Carmen: Were there any major differences in writing a self published continuation of a series at the same time you are writing an new series under a different name?

Christy: Not really. I know my LCR characters as well or better than I know my own family. Getting to know my Wildefire characters took some time but once I immersed myself into that world, there were no real issues. 

Carmen: Midnight Secrets is the first book in a new series that you are writing under a new pen name. Were there some unexpected challenges writing as Ella that you haven't faced writing as Christy?

Christy: Yes, a few. I’d been immersed in the world of Last Chance Rescue for over five years (I wrote RESCUE ME in 2007) so taking myself into another, completely different world took some adjustment. And since my LCR characters have a tendency to be high energy, kick ass, take charge people, I had to tone them down a bit for a small Southern town.

My publisher requested that I concentrate on the relationship between the characters and the romance. Though my LCR books are full of romance, they’re plot driven, with my hero and heroine racing to solve a case and rescue someone. Sometimes the romance is put on the back burner till or while the case is solved. With the Wildefire series, the romance is front and center. Being able to develop the relationships between the hero and heroine was fun but a challenge, too. I kept wanting to throw them into danger! J

Carmen: Midnight is an incredibly quaint Southern town. Were you inspired by a specific place to weave that small town charm into Midnight?

Christy: Having lived in small communities and small towns a good part of my life, I’ve seen and experienced small town dynamics. And I’ve been to places like Faye’s Diner, Tillie’s Hair Today and Gertie’s Wash and Wait. Small towns are a unique entity. It was fun to create a small Southern town with all its different delights and eccentricities. 

Carmen: In both your LCR series and MS, your villain/s are incredibly twisted. How do you get into the mind of the most vile of characters?

Christy: I honestly don’t know. When the story idea comes to me, the villain is only a mist of an idea. As the story takes shape, so do my characters, including the villain. My stories develop organically, so I rarely know exactly what kind of villain I’m dealing with, however I do like to evenly match my antagonist with my protagonists. My hero and heroine deserve a worthy villain to defeat. When they triumph, I want it to feel like a victory.

Carmen: Were you surprised by any of the twists that came about as you were writing the Midnight Series?

Christy: I’m always surprised by the twists in my stories. That’s half the fun of writing to me. And I figure that if I’m surprised, then readers will be, too.

Carmen: The concept of that one moment of time in someone's past shaping and changing their life is incredibly powerful. Did that moment for the Wilde sisters hit you and you knew it would be a series?

Christy: I have a tendency to write in trilogies. I think my brain became trained that way because that’s how my LCR books were released. When I agreed to write a new series, I needed at least three characters who could star in their own book. The idea of writing about triplet girls came to me. Then I needed a defining moment for each sister. It made sense that an event occurred that they all shared. Their parents’ murder/suicide changed each sister significantly but in different ways. I’m fascinated by how the exact same event can shape each person so differently.

Carmen: Which of the Wilde sisters do you identify with (personally) most? Why?

Christy: All three of them probably have a little of me. I was a bookworm like Savannah, a cheerleader like Samantha, and kind of ‘different’ like Sabrina. However, I like to think of my heroines as individuals who have their own personalities without me molding them into something I want them to be. Yes, I know that sounds weird but after all, I am writer

Carmen: What is the craziest thing you've done in the name of research?

Christy: Ha. I’m not known for my crazy research strategies. I’m usually sitting at my computer for hours looking up obscure information that leads me down a path I never expected to go.

When I first started writing, I needed to talk to the Atlanta police department about their arrest procedures. I was living in Indiana at the time and called directory assistance for their number. When I called the number, I was embarrassed and shocked that it was the 911 emergency number in Atlanta. The operator was kind enough to connect me to the public affairs office but I cringe even now when I think of that.

Carmen: If you could trade places for one day with any of your characters, which one would it be? Why?

Christy: Oh, I think I’d have to go with Inez Peebles, the oldest resident of Midnight. She seems to know everything that goes on in that town. I think I would refrain from eating the clove of garlic she insists on eating everyday, though.

Thank you so much for stopping by and answering my-endless- questions!

We will be giving away a digital copy of CHANCES ARE as well as a signed copy of MIDNIGHT SECRETS today, so be sure to leave a comment along with any questions I didn't think to ask Christy. (I swear, it didn't seem like that many when I was sending the emails!)