Lisa Hendrix

Okay, so I resisted.

I have adored Pierce Brosnan since his Remington Steele days. I knew he was meant to be Bond from the instant I saw him, and I celebrated when he was signed and mourned when he had to give up the role to Timothy Dalton because other Steele fans wanted a nice, tidy (and ultimately flat) wrap up to the series. However, when I saw what they did to those Bond scripts, I was actually glad Brosnan didn’t get stuck with the politically correct, safe-sex Bond of the late 80s. Face it, no one could have made those into Bond classics and my boy would’ve been dipped in the stink.

After a time, things spun back around and there sat Pierce in the wings, devastating in a tux, and all ready to make the role his own. Hot damn. I looked forward to a scrumptiously long run of PB as JB.

So when the Broccolis that Be cut his run short and announced that blond Daniel Craig would play Bond in the remake of Casino Royale, I once more mourned. More than that, I boycotted. Refused to contemplate even the remotest possibility he could be a good Bond. (I mean, really, a blond!?) Never saw the movie in the theater (one of the few I didn’t see on the big screen). But my hubby got a copy of Casino Royale for his birthday this week, and he wanted to watch it with me this afternoon. I adore my husband even more than I do Pierce, so I watched.

I was wrong.

Part of it was the script, fully true to the spirit of Sir Ian Fleming’s books (unlike the gimmick-bloated scripts that have been the trademark of the series). It always helps when the script is right, and this one is right in so many ways. But part of it was Daniel Craig: Rugged. Dangerous. Tender. With eyes that have seen too much. Bond to his very soul.

I still adore Pierce. Shoot, how could I give him up when I even used him as the model for my hero in To Marry an Irish Rogue. I even had my agent send him a copy, hoping his production company would option it for him to do. I will most definitely go to Mama Mia when it opens July 18.

But Daniel Craig is Bond. James Bond.

I’m late to the party, but boy, am I happy to be here.

How about you? Who’s your favorite Bond? What about your favorite Bond movie? Answer in comments — I’ll tabulate answers and post them at a later date.

Those may not be the first two question I ask myself when I start writing, but they’re right up there. I HAVE to know his name and appearance — hero first, almost always. Until I get them right, I cannot truly begin. Names are a huge thing for me. I can’t use a placeholder name to start out; too much baggage attaches to it, and then when I try to switch to the “real” name, I find I’m writing about a completely different person.

The title of the book is much the same, though it can wait a little while. I do have to put a good name to it sometime before I hit the end of Act I, however–usually before I complete the proposal–and I tend to obsess until I come up with something I like. I’ve had to change a couple of titles after I turned the manuscripts in, though, and strangely, it didn’t bother me like a character name change does. All I did was obsess again until my editor and I agreed to something.

As for appearance, that’s more general but just as critical. Really, a blond hero is different from a raven-haired one, and if you add a streak of silver to the raven, well you have someone entirely new. I’m not one of those people who does a collage, but I do clip images on the internet and save them. Dozens of them (more on that in another post).

What brought this up is that I got my cover art for Immortal Warrior a few days ago. It’s gorgeous, all hero all the way. Unfortunately, it’s also preliminary, so I can’t share it yet — and I did ask. Though the cover model doesn’t look anything like who I pictured while I was writing, he’s a perfectly wonderful stand in. In fact, he has replaced my original model in my mind and heart. I’ve asked for his name and will share it when I can post the cover. This boy has a chest…omigod.

So while we’re waiting, I thought you might like to see what Ivo looked like while I was writing him. Turns out, he was a dead ringer for the juicy, tortured, wonderful Captain Etienne Navarre from Ladyhawke (aka Rutger Hauer)–except he wore grey.

Sigh,

Happy first anniversary to Barbara Vey at Publisher’s Weekly. Her wonderful blog Beyond Her Book has evolved into a must-read for fans and writers of romance and women’s fiction.

In celebration, Barbara is trying to set a new record number of visitors, and to encourage everyone to come, she’s giving away a slew of prizes from writers and publishers. To enter, just post a comment to today’s post. She’ll announce the winners tomorrow.

How about burning 600 Calories a day while writing with a treadmill desk?

And here’s info on how to buy or build one.

I am so there

Mega-thanks to Jonathan Fields at Awake@The Wheel. Photo cred EOntario (and no, that’s not me — but it easily could be after a couple more books!)

Marketing expert Seth Godin spoke to recording industry execs recently about the changes they’re going to have to make to survive in the new music market.

Well, the publishing industry faces similar changes as ebooks approach true feasibility, and any writer, editor, agent, or publisher who is interested in surviving in the changing market needs to read Godin’s Live Music Talk and step out ahead of the curve.

One point Godin emphasizes is that recording companies could shift to providing valuable services such as building tribal-type communities for their artists. Interestingly, the most successful romance authors I know have been building their tribes for years. For example, Nora Roberts has her Noraholics, and Debbie Macomber has her incredibly faithful band of readers who turn out for signings in droves (Debbie publishes a paper newsletter that goes out to thousands of these faithful!). Both Nora and Debbie have put a lot of time, money, and attention into gathering these tribes, and it has paid off in spades. Only recently have their publishers begun to contribute to their efforts.

Authors can already put digital copies of their books on-line very easily (check out these free downloads from science fiction author and blogger Cory Doctorow). Once a truly usable ebook reader hits the market, the houses will find themselves fighting the same DRM battle as the record companies — with as little success (as Godin points out, suing listeners/readers is both a BAD idea and a battle you can’t win). Instead, smart publishers — the ones who ultimately survive — will find a way to provide valuable services to readers (and thereby to their writers) other than killing trees.

Lisa