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Urban Reviews: Tell us about your latest book A Gentleman's Offer.
Dara Girard: A Gentleman's Offer is about Yvette Coulier a dog groomer who
dreams of living the life of the wealthy clients she services. When
she gets a mysterious invitation from the Black Stockings Society
and receives a pair of sexy sheer stockings, she wears them to work
the next day and catches the eye of Nate Blackwell…
Nate, eager to step out of the spotlight, sees this sexy siren
and makes her a deal: he'll introduce her to the upper crust she
longs to rub shoulders with if she lets him pose as her valet. But
soon these two have to find the courage to stop pretending and be
real.
Urban Reviews: Where did the idea for this story come from?
Dara Girard: As the second book in my Black Stockings Society series about
four women ready to turn their love lives around, I wanted a real
fantasy like premise. What would happen if someone got a chance to
be a millionaire for a month? Yvette Coulier answers this question
for me.
Urban Reviews: What made you want to become a romance author?
Dara Girard: Labels make me want to run because I find them limiting. I see
myself as a writer who happens to write romance rather than a
romance writer because I write so many different things—I've written
plays, articles, a non-fiction book, and will continue to stretch my
scope.
I fell into the romance field. I started submitting my work at
twelve, books that were mostly mystery and fantasy. I was in my
early twenties when I tried romance because I liked that the woman
is a hero and ends up all right in the end. I was an English minor
in college and I was tired of stories where women were always
victims and suffered unhappy ends. Or they were objects in the male
story line—the object of his desire, the object he had to rescue,
the object he had to seduce or betray or whatever. Romances show
that the woman's story is important.
Urban Reviews: Can you describe the day you saw your first novel on the
shelves?
Dara Girard: It was by accident. My mother and I were traveling to Florida and
I saw my book in the airport bookstore and stood paralyzed at the
sight of it.
Urban Reviews: What author do you think was your biggest inspiration to want
to be a writer?
Dara Girard: I was always a writer. No one inspired me to become one. I can
only thank all the children book authors from Avi to Laura Ingalls
Wilder to Dr. Seuss who fueled my love of stories. I was about seven
when I went into the library and saw all the books and when my
mother told me that writers created them I thought, ‘This is what I
want to do.' I wanted to give others the same pleasure books have
given me. I stand on the shoulders of all those who came before me.
Urban Reviews: Why do you think there is still a stigma regarding people who
read romance, let alone write romance?
Dara Girard: Whoa. A loaded question and I'll try not to get into trouble.
There are many reasons. One major strike against romance is the fact
that it's written by women for women. Mysteries and Science Fiction
used to be in the same literary ghetto until enough male reviewers
discovered that they liked it and pulled it out. Although not far, I
might add. Genre fiction still doesn't get much respect as a whole,
but romance isn't understood by men, in general, so there's an
accepted ignorance that romance books are filled with lusty
heroines, horny heroes and contrived endings.
But the second strike is the packaging. You can't really take a
book seriously when there's a half naked man on the cover with the
title Hot and Heavy. The story may be brilliant, but it's like
serving filet mignon on a plastic plate. I'm not against the covers
or the titles (okay I am against some), but readers love them
(because they sell well). These components give the industry a
reputation they'll never escape.
However, there are enough mainstream romance writers that have
hit the bestsellers list to have removed some of the stigma. You'll
notice that these covers and titles look more mainstream to appeal
to a wider audience. The stigma's not gone, but for some romance
authors they can laugh their way to the bank.
Urban Reviews: What projects are you working on for the future?
Dara Girard: I'm currently working on the last book in my Black Stockings
Society series. It's called Round the Clock and is scheduled for
release July 2009 (Body Chemistry, the third in the series is
scheduled for January 2009). I'm putting together another series for Kimani Romance and working on a mainstream project.
Urban Reviews: What things have you experienced that you would like to advise
other aspiring authors about?
Dara Girard: Most of my advice can be found in my non-fiction book for writers
The Writer Behind the Words: Steps to Success in the Writing Life. I
always tell aspiring authors to keep writing no matter what. Get a
rejection? Keep writing. Don't final in a contest? Keep writing. An
agent turns you down? Keep writing. That's the one thing you can
control in this industry. The formula for getting published is very
simple: Write. Submit. Repeat. You do that until you get a ‘yes' and
the beauty of it all is you only need one ‘yes' to start your
career. So don't let the no's get in your way.
Urban Reviews: What are your favorite authors or books that you enjoy
reading?
Dara Girard: Yikes! Too many, but presently on my nightstand are Sandra
Brown's Smoke Screen, Gabrielle Pina's Bliss, Linda Howard's Death
Angel and Jayne Castle's Dark Light.
Urban Reviews: Is there anything else you would like to share with us about
you or your books?
Dara Girard: I would love to take the opportunity to thank the readers who
have taken me this far. Their support and emails throughout my
career have been a gift. For aspiring authors, I want them to keep
going no matter what because although the journey may be hard,
success is sweet.
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