The Heart of War author Lisa Beth Darling Interview

If someone were writing a story about Lisa Beth Darling what would your blurb say? 

"The True Life Tale of a crazy woman trying to make her way in crazy world."

Can you tell us a little about your newest release The Heart of War that isn't in the blurb?
There are so many things to say simply because blurbs are forced to be so short that I've gotten used to looking at the novel in 'sound bytes' of a sort, I suppose. Believe me, I thought that would never happen! I struggled and struggled with trying to condense it all down to 5 paragraphs or so. Not an easy or enjoyable task by any means. LOL

I'm hoping that giving you a few sample paragraphs that aren't available anywhere online will suffice. The following is rated G—sorry to those of you who were hoping for something hotter.

Between his fingers appeared two tickets with a very familiar symbol on them.  “Bought and paid for.”  Ares assured as he held them in front of her watching her eyes go up and down with the logo of two crossed red socks.  “Something called box seats.”

“Box…”  Alena plucked them out of his hand and looked at the seating.  Right in front of the first base line.  They looked authentic to her.  “How did you get these?  Where did you get these?”  According to the tickets the game, against the New York Yankees no less, was scheduled to begin at noon.  “What time is it?”

Happy that he could make her face light up so brightly, Ares chuckled all the way to Fenway Park, where he enjoyed several beers and hot dogs.  Popcorn was tasty but it got stuck between his teeth and he did not like that.  The crowd was exhilarating, their exuberance was highly infectious, and even though he didn’t have much of an idea as to what was actually going on in the beginning, he was quickly swept up by the game.  So did Alena.

“YOU SUCK!”  She yelled to team currently in front of them wearing jerseys that read ‘Yankees’.  “GO HOME!”

“That was a little rude, don’t you think?”  Ares asked as he finished off the last of his second dog.  Hardly had he ever heard say a bad word about anyone let alone unprovoked.

“You’re supposed to do that, it’s a psych-out.  You should understand that concept.”  The batter hit the ball…crack!  Alena stood up in mid-sentence.  “BUTTERFINGERS!”  She yelled as she cupped her hands to her mouth, “YOU CAN’T CATCH!  MISS IT!  MISS IT!  YOU STINK!”  The ball slipped right over the top of the fielder’s glove and he went chasing after it while the batter made it to second base.  With the rest of the crowd, Alena held up her fist and gave a great cheer as she protruded her index finger in the universal We’re-Number-One gesture.  “Besides, it feels good.  You try.”  Touching his arm just before Ares opened his mouth she added, “Don’t be too mean.”

“I’ll just keep watching you.”  And he did for the whole game.  Alena loved what she called ‘the crack of the bat’ and each time one of the Red Sox players got up and hit the ball, she jumped to her feet and cheered…along with the few thousand other people in the park.  When the ball went over the wall, something Alena called The Green Monster though it didn’t seem very threatening to Ares, the crowd broke out in a strange chant; Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey…good bye.   It wasn’t like any chant he had ever heard before.  During something called the Seventh Inning Stretch, someone started playing an organ and the whole crowd stood up, linked arms, and sang a tune Alena sang along and said it was “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.”

Mortal Gatherings and Rituals were so strange.

Alena and Ares waited around in Fenway Park for a while after the game; Red Sox- 9 Yankees-1 and watched the crowd thin out.  “You don’t want to battle them,” she advised, “and just zapping out of here would be bad.”  She sat next to him and rested her head on his brawny shoulder.  “Thank you for a lovely day.  I had fun.”

Ares kissed the top of her head as he watched the crowd.  Other than to make brief eye contact and give a nod—which was infrequent, no one paid much attention to them.  Some of those who walked by did have a quizzical look in their eye.  Alena’s face was snuggled in the nape of Ares’ neck; all they could see was her beautiful silver hair.  It was clear that some of the mortals did not approve of what they saw as a great age gap.  They probably wondered if he was after her money or something similarly trite.  Unfortunately, those were the observant ones.  As they passed by the God of War and his new Bride didn’t see them at all.  They were just two more blank faces in this crowd. 

Here he sat, in one of the most well known cities in the most powerful country on planet Earth surrounded by sheep and knowing that in a few short weeks, Cernunnos would have obliterated them, he would have subjugated them, and then enslaved them.  They were so naïve and complacent.  Right now, they were off to their shiny cars, their lives, and their dinners, oblivious to the fact that the man sitting near them could turn them to ash without ever getting up.  From the way most of them were smiling and chattering away, Ares thought ignorance must truly be bliss.

On their way out of the park, they passed a vendor.  Alena turned to Ares and held out her hand.  “What do you want?”

“Money, you said you have some.”

He should have known that, Ares often saw women hold their hands out to their men this way before legal tender was handed over to them.  “After my wallet already are you, woman?  That didn’t take long.” He joked and took a black leather wallet from the back pocket of his blue jeans.  Alena didn’t take count; she just plucked a fat wad of bills out of it before skittering off to the vendor leaving Ares standing behind her looking at his lightened wallet.  He stood there watching her make her purchase, he watched the vendor look past her and stare at him only to turn back to her and then dig something out of the case.

“Look, change.”  Alena said brightly when she came back to where Ares stood looking absolutely adorable with a brand new Red Sox cap on her head and pennant in her hand.  She handed back the money that was left over.  “I got you this.”  With a sly grin, she held up a jersey that looked just like those worn by the men on the Red Sox team.  Ares snatched it out of her hand and tossed it over his shoulder.

“I’ll try it on for you later.”

“Oh, I was hoping you’d say that.”  Alena sighed and wrapped an arm around his waist as they made their way out of the gates.

What was your inspiration behind the creation of The Heart of War  ?
It's just us girls here, right? The biggest inspiration behind The Heart of War is a man whose name was Kevin Smith. No, not the chubby funny fellow also known as Silent Bob. The other Kevin Smith who portrayed Ares on two little shows called Hercules-The Legendary Journeys and Xena-Warrior Princess.

What was your favorite scene to write in The Heart of War  ?
I was going to say it's the first love scene between Ares and Alena, but truthfully, it's the scene (above) at Fenway Park when they're watching the Red Sox play. The rough draft of The Heart of War was available online, I put it up chapter by chapter just as it came out of my head and so many people came in to read it that it actually hit 10,000 individual readers in ONE month! I was shocked! Dumbfounded! I started to blog that I should do my best to get Ares on the Red Sox since he was hitting so hard they could really use him. Although it works amazingly well, the whole thing, the entire trip to Boston, is really an inside joke between The Big Guy (the Muse), my blog readers, and me.

Do you usually cast your characters (a mental picture) before or after you have started writing? Does it help inspire you and take the story in a different direction?
I usually have the main players when I start writing, minor characters come as the story needs them and sometimes they progress to not-so-minor characters and develop well. I've finally learned that I never take a story anywhere, the Muse does. It's my job to follow where he leads even when we're arguing and I'm trying to tell him something isn't going to work or questioning why we're doing it. In the end, he's always right.

(Oh, and yes, I do realize that classically speaking the Muses are female. However, my particular Muse is definitely male.)

If you could trade places with one of your characters, would you want to and who?
For just one day, one day only, I would like to trade places with Ares. Not just because he's an Olympian and he has all of these really cool powers to do anything he wants, but just physically speaking. I'm rather slender so I've never been a physically strong person. Ares is so tall and broad with all of those rippling muscles. I'm also a very small woman—at 45, I still have to hoist myself onto the kitchen counter to get something off the top shelf of the cabinet. So I'd love to know what it feels like to walk up to the counter, open the cabinet, and just reach in and grab whatever it is I want. That alone would be quite good. J

What accent is sure to make you swoon?
Years ago I would have said a British accent. Oh, if a man had a British accent and turned his attention my way, I just melted. I don't know why, maybe I'm just getting a little deaf in my advancing years? An accent alone isn't enough to make me swoon any longer. I'm more interested in the overall package. With Age Comes Wisdom…right?

What was the most challenging thing you’ve done in the name of research that might have been out of your comfort zone?
For The Heart of War I had to describe Ares' Torture Chamber for one scene. In it, Alena, is bringing a captive Druid to a cell and as she's in the room she's shocked by what she sees. In her mind she knows she's fallen in love with the God of War but this is her first introduction to really seeing it, seeing what Ares has done throughout his long life right in front of her, it's undeniable what he's done with these items designed to bring only agony.

For that scene, I had to research old torture devices. At first, it was kind of cool, I came across the typical items; Iron Maiden, The Stocks, The Rack…regular stuff. Then I came across harsher things and found The Pear of Anguish. I nearly threw up when I read the description of what it was and how it was used. I knew we had to have it for the story. Alena had to see that!

In the end, The Pear of Anguish came to play a large part throughout the story and it came to symbolize many things but finding it and understanding it then ultimately understanding that, yes, my beloved Ares had used this item, was a very jagged little pill to swallow.

Please share with us something that readers would be surprised to learn about you.
I obsessively play word games on FaceBook. My favorite is Whizz Wordz! I'm addicted to that stupid game. I even play it as I write!

How can the readers stay in touch with you online?
I'm always open to contact with those who read my work. You can reach me at lisabethdarling@gmail.com or pop over to my site http://www.moonsmusings.com/lbdarling and join the mailing list. I blog almost every day so if anyone's interested in the daily insane working of my life they're welcome to tag along http://lbdarling.wordpress.com/

If you could ask readers any one question, what would it be?
What's the one storyline/hero/heroine that you're dying to read about but it hasn't been written yet? What would they really love to see in a story?