The Wrong Woman
By 
Release Date: 17th April 2014
Published by The Writers Coffee Shop
Available from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH
I had the unique opportunity to review an ARC for The Wrong Woman earlier in the year. Please read my highly positive review here!
Can a romance between a talented girl next door and one of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities survive within the cutthroat world of the film industry? Come behind the scenes and see for yourself if dreams can become reality and find out what really happens once the lights fade to black.
Author Bio:
I had the unique opportunity to review an ARC for The Wrong Woman earlier in the year. Please read my highly positive review here!
Summary:
Norah Rothe is an actress and dreams of a life on stage in the big city until the callback she never expected has her bailing out the family business back home. But a chance encounter brings those dreams back into full focus when, miraculously, Hollywood comes to her.
David Raurke is a card-carrying movie star, but dreams of being more. When a freak accident costs him his leading lady David must find a replacement immediately or risk seeing his directorial debut tossed on the cutting room floor.
What he didn’t count on finding was Norah Rothe, and what he’d ultimately risk for her.
Can a romance between a talented girl next door and one of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities survive within the cutthroat world of the film industry? Come behind the scenes and see for yourself if dreams can become reality and find out what really happens once the lights fade to black.
Interview with Brenda Brown:
Q: This boy-meets-girl novel is not quite what I expected. It contained none of the usual love-hate predictable character conflict between two lovers when they first meet. What made you decide to have David and Norah like each other right away? I found it refreshing.
A: What a great question! I guess I wanted to see if I could write a compelling story that didn’t always follow the typical formula, while still remaining true to the genre. Even though, like you, I’m a voracious reader of Romance, I haven’t any personal experience with intensely disliking someone and then being passionately overcome by him later. I’m not sure if I could do justice to that kind of scenario. Liking someone and then growing to love them simply felt more natural to me.
Q: Which protagonist came first: David or Norah? Explain.
A: They both kind of arrived fully formed. I had a dream one night that involved myself and a very famous movie star (the dream ended up in chapter 1, more or less in its entirety). The dream haunted me for days afterward and eventually took over my waking life by expanding into the before and after. Finally, I had no choice but to write it all down.
Q: Were any of the events or characters in the novel inspired by real life? Explain.
A: Well, that dream was the true inspiration. If not for that random flash of nocturnal imaginings this book would never have happened…what an awful thought! As to other events, I lived in Whitecourt, Alberta until I was 9 years old, and then again for a year or so at 17. I still have lots of family there and visit often, so I’ve frequently wondered how different my life would have been if I’d remained. As to the characters, there are certain mannerisms, speech patterns or turns of phrase that I can attribute to any number of friends and family members.
Q: I see that you, like me, have an extensive theatre background. What made you decide to include that element in The Wrong Woman and how different was it writing about film acting rather than stage acting?
A: Cool! Going back to ‘The Dream’, in it I was brought in to audition for a movie so there wasn’t any way to not include the acting element. Plus, we’ve all heard the old adage, ‘write what you know’, and I know acting, so it’s something that I could write about with some authority or at the very least, make it sound like I knew what I was talking about. ;-) As to the other, I’ve never written about acting in either format before this, but I’ve studied both. So, I suppose, to give the illusion of the intimacy that film is capable of, the scenes that are described in The Wrong Woman have the characters physically very close together. I’m a firm believer that there needn’t necessarily be a great deal of difference between the two forms of acting, beyond that one needs to be a bit louder. That’s a gross simplification, of course, but I think that audiences of live theatre today have become more sophisticated and prefer a subtler performance. We could talk about this for HOURS!
Q: Fans of The Wrong Woman want to know: What are you working on right now?
A: Well, I have two stories on the go just now. One is going to require a LOT of research so I think I might pick away at that one while focusing primarily on the other. I can’t go into much detail as I’m in the most preliminary stages and I’m ridiculously superstitious about that sort of thing.
A: What a great question! I guess I wanted to see if I could write a compelling story that didn’t always follow the typical formula, while still remaining true to the genre. Even though, like you, I’m a voracious reader of Romance, I haven’t any personal experience with intensely disliking someone and then being passionately overcome by him later. I’m not sure if I could do justice to that kind of scenario. Liking someone and then growing to love them simply felt more natural to me.
Q: Which protagonist came first: David or Norah? Explain.
A: They both kind of arrived fully formed. I had a dream one night that involved myself and a very famous movie star (the dream ended up in chapter 1, more or less in its entirety). The dream haunted me for days afterward and eventually took over my waking life by expanding into the before and after. Finally, I had no choice but to write it all down.
Q: Were any of the events or characters in the novel inspired by real life? Explain.
A: Well, that dream was the true inspiration. If not for that random flash of nocturnal imaginings this book would never have happened…what an awful thought! As to other events, I lived in Whitecourt, Alberta until I was 9 years old, and then again for a year or so at 17. I still have lots of family there and visit often, so I’ve frequently wondered how different my life would have been if I’d remained. As to the characters, there are certain mannerisms, speech patterns or turns of phrase that I can attribute to any number of friends and family members.
Q: I see that you, like me, have an extensive theatre background. What made you decide to include that element in The Wrong Woman and how different was it writing about film acting rather than stage acting?
A: Cool! Going back to ‘The Dream’, in it I was brought in to audition for a movie so there wasn’t any way to not include the acting element. Plus, we’ve all heard the old adage, ‘write what you know’, and I know acting, so it’s something that I could write about with some authority or at the very least, make it sound like I knew what I was talking about. ;-) As to the other, I’ve never written about acting in either format before this, but I’ve studied both. So, I suppose, to give the illusion of the intimacy that film is capable of, the scenes that are described in The Wrong Woman have the characters physically very close together. I’m a firm believer that there needn’t necessarily be a great deal of difference between the two forms of acting, beyond that one needs to be a bit louder. That’s a gross simplification, of course, but I think that audiences of live theatre today have become more sophisticated and prefer a subtler performance. We could talk about this for HOURS!
Q: Fans of The Wrong Woman want to know: What are you working on right now?
A: Well, I have two stories on the go just now. One is going to require a LOT of research so I think I might pick away at that one while focusing primarily on the other. I can’t go into much detail as I’m in the most preliminary stages and I’m ridiculously superstitious about that sort of thing.
Author Bio:
Before writing The Wrong Woman, Brenda dabbled in a myriad of professions. She’s been a waitress (back in the day before they were called servers), a security guard, a ballroom dance instructor, an interior decorator and design consultant, a set dresser for the film and television industry, where she is still a member in good standing, and a restaurant manager. She is currently working as a visual merchandiser for The Brick, a chain of furniture stores throughout the lower mainland.
In the midst of all that, she’s been an active part of the Community Theatre scene, doing set design but principally acting and studying most of the great works since her late teens. She currently lives in Coquitlam, British Columbia, with her beautiful daughter, one dog, and two cats.
Connect with Brenda J Brown on:
Great interview questions! How fun that a dream could be inspiration for a novel.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun interviewing someone who has a background in theatre like me. :)
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