Sandra Brown at the 2009 Texas Book Festival - Austin, TX

Author Sandra Brown's session at the 2009 Texas Book Festival in Austin, TX.

Sandra Brown (b. March 1948 in Waco, Texas) is an American bestselling author of romantic novels and thriller suspense novels. Brown has also published works under the pen names of Rachel Ryan, Laura Jordan, and Erin St. Claire.

Bantam Doubleday Dell's Loveswept Category Romance Books * 1983 Tomorrow's Promise * 1983 Relentless Desire * 1983 Heaven's Price * 1983 Temptations Kiss * 1983 Tempest in Eden * 1984 In a Class by Itself * 1985 Thursday's Child * 1985 Riley in the Morning * 1986 The Rana Look * 1986 22 Indigo Place * 1987 Sunny Chandler's Return * 1987 Demon Rumm * 1988 Tidings of Great Joy * 1988 Hawk O'Toole's Hostage * 1989 Long Time Coming * 1989 Temperatures Rising * 1989 A Whole New Light

Bed & Breakfast Series 1. 1983 Breakfast in Bed (Originally Loveswept # 22)
2. 1984 Send No Flowers (Originally Loveswept # 51)

Coleman Family Saga Series

(Historical Romance) 1. 1985 Sunset Embrace
2. 1985 Another Dawn


Mason Sisters Series 1. 1987 Fanta C (Originally Loveswept # 217)
2. 1988 Adam's Fall (Originally Loveswept # 252)

Texas! Tyler Family Saga Series 1. 1990 Texas! Lucky
2. 1991 Texas! Chase
3. 1991 Texas! Sage

Single Title Romance Suspense/Thrillers * 1988 Slow Heat in Heaven * 1989 Best Kept Secrets * 1990 Mirror Image * 1991 Breath of Scandal * 1992 French Silk * 1992 Shadows of Yesterday * 1992 Another Town * 1993 Where There's Smoke * 1994 Charade * 1994 Love beyond reason * 1995 The Witness * 1996 Exclusive * 1997 Fat Tuesday * 1997 Coming In From the Rain * 1998 Unspeakable * 1999 The Alibi * 1999 Where Is The Evil * 1999Confession Exclusive * 2000 Standoff * 2000 The Switch * 2001 Envy * 2001 Mardi Gras * 2002 The Crush * 2003 Hello, Darkness * 2004 White Hot * 2005 Chill Factor * 2006 Ricochet * 2007 Play Dirty * 2008 Smoke Screen * 2008 Fantasia/Fantasy * 2009 Smash Cut * 2009 Rainwater * 2010 Tough Customer

---

Closed Caption:

the story was always there
it found me to ride it because I just
from the time I opened the book and and
just started it
hi everyone are you and I just I started
writing it in the story just unfolded on
its own it's set in depression
depression era Texas and it said in a
small town the central character is a
woman who owns the boardinghouse and
rainwater is mr. rainwater the man who
comes to board in her house she has a
challenge child that she's raising alone
and it addresses a lot of issues that
even when i started writing it 14 issues
courses the economic crisis that the
country was in at that time and then by
the time I finish the book last year of
course the bottom had fallen out in our
our society of contemporary so it was I
didn't know that that was going to
dovetail that way but a lot of the
issues that are addressed in rainwater
or very relatable and apply to our
society today so the the story kind of
the background for the story came out of
a true account that my daddy told me an
event that occurred in lorena don't know
we're Laureen is that's where I spent
the first two years my life and i was
born in waco because lorena didn't have
a hospital though that I my grandfather
paternal grandfather had a dairy farm
and and 1934 there was
of a federal mandate from the federal
surplus relief corporation that they
were to remove surplus commodities in
this case it was milk and helped
establish prices and and the the falling
prices of commodities such as milk
federal agent showed up at my
grandfather's farm and said you've got
to pour out the milk you cannot sell to
the the dairies and he refused to do so
because he was giving away the milk the
surplus to needy families in the area
and they had an armed standoff all my
gun totin relatives and and the the pads
and my daddy was six years old at the
time and this made a distinct impression
on him and so that's kind of you know
but he used to tell us the story get
fired my imagination and I use that is
the backdrop and the more I got to
investigate it was another federal
program in 1934 called the drought
relief service and they were buying cows
and beef cattle and then shooting them
was really it was a program designed to
help farmers and ranchers but it was as
you can imagine very gut wrenching so
those are that's kind of the background
of this story and and the time period in
which it said that it's a very poignant
story is very quiet totally different
from the thrillers that I loved working
on it
well since you brought up the thing
about the cattle issue because that's
kind of when i read the book
yeah i got to read that folks it's
really good of one of the things i was
just done by was at the scene where you
would count that particular event i'm
not going to give anything away by
mentioning this but it's so beautifully
written and you capture the horror the
sensory I mean it was horrifying but at
the same time so amazingly constructed
how was that too right i mean it
I couldn't imagine trying to put
yourself in your character shoes and
seeing that well it was interesting when
i finished the first draft and I was
going and I just worked on the book when
I could because i had another but i'd
smash cut to write and so I i would put
rainwater down and and I would work on
smash cut until i reached a certain
point and then I think I've got a week i
can get out rain water again and work
out so I i kinda that was the first time
in my career I've ever kind of worked on
two books at the same time but when I
ran back through it after I read the
first have occurred to me that I don't
think told the story from one point of
view which here again with something
different for me because typically you
read smash cut or anything that you know
that I hot from character to character
and are right it from several points of
view
rainwater I brought strictly from Ella's
point of view and so when she was not in
a scene people are relating to hurry
events that happen and i think that i
wasn't smart enough to do it but my
subconscious was smart enough to do it
because it may cast or even more
powerful because the reader is
experiencing everything then through
through her eyes and how different
circumstances you know affect her and
that wasn't really a powerful saying but
I was I guess imagining it from the
point of view of a of a woman and you
know seeing something so horrific as
this is and
and not again not to give anything away
but there there's a lot of tension and
different areas not just the watering at
the cattle but but other things going on
it was at the time
yeah it was almost cinematic we do I
felt like I was right there with that
let's go everybody keep their fingers
process on cinema in magic
let's harass the movie industry please
let's talk a little bit about Ella and
mr. rainwater and solid because they're
kind of at the heart of the book and how
do they differ from the characters from
your killers or were they different for
you it was different because I right
from you know a contemporary viewpoint
and standpoint and another burrito who
did an interview last night who had read
the book said when i when i started
reading it a wonderful how she's going
to handle the sex in this because you
know it's different it's like you know
all the 80 years ago and she said it was
it was just part because actually there
there isn't much there is a nanny and so
that's how I handled it
you know but uh but they it's it's that
the emphasis is very emotional more
emotional and and not as graphic in the
language and everything was different
and and there were some I would find
myself as I was as i was writing about
Ella I would find myself thinking okay
she did this now we know she would you
know she was the woman of her time she
was very proper as I said a single
mother struggling you know to to make a
living in a hard economic times but also
all of the
days and and viewpoints and everything
were very much it play in her life and
so she was very correct and and she has
structured life for a reason
frankly I can't imagine anything worse
than running a boarding house because
first of all the borders would start
today but secondly I mean it was just
the routine it was every day every day
was the same and so I opened the book
with her waking up one morning not
knowing that this was going to be a very
cataclysmic day in her life and and and
so just the routine it was wash day now
i can remember my grandmother having a a
wringer washing machine that she cracked
by hand and filling the tub
you know from the outside faucet it was
outside this little shit so all of these
things you know use but it was
interesting to write all of those things
from not only just from her point but
from the the time period the mindset the
way that things worried that time are so
different vastly different from now and
so i started polling my friends and I
and and family and I say think of the
most terrifying murders things that you
can think of in in movies and of course
I didn't want to do anything were to
american psycho that's kind of easy you
know so it had to be and so I had people
submitted all these different things
pretty good yeah that was pretty good
that was pretty good but then I my own
research ran across an Alfred Hitchcock
maybe that I never saying it was a
British night film and it was it was it
was just awful to meet and so that's the
thing
of course that's the thing i use that
he's pretty is pretty creepy
yeah how is it to be with those can
because you live intimately with these
characters as long as you're writing the
book but do that how'd you get in the
head of a creep like I i have a laugh
out of my was worried that this one of
one of your the amazon review the family
news called him I waste of skin and what
was really creepy
he was kind of ways to skin and i don't
know i am I guess it's if you ask Peter
eventually how did you get into the head
of a great white sharp
I mean you you make it up that that
that's the job of a fiction writer is to
make it up and and hope that your
audience believes it at least on some
level I had done a blog this week for
promotion
I think it'll come out and sleep for
book recorder calm and an excellent
website your reader because you read
that they have all these
authors all the time to blog i was doing
wedding they add the question that was
asked me was how do you keep your your
writing fresh year after year writing
and different genres and and whatever
how do you keep it fresh and do you do
anything you know specifically and so
giving them a few things you know little
tricks of the trade but I try and and
create characters that that I've I hope
are relatable the villain has to be a
real red and awesome training but anyway
what were we talking about
creep inhabiting your villain yeah where
I was going somewhere anyway it's
brilliant I sure you maybe because
you're in there are you two working with
the Villanueva I'm sorry are you
spending time with the new building
right oh yeah I it every read smash cut
there's a character in their name dodge
Handley who was an investigator for the
hero law firm and I just love this
character I haven't done a carryover
character it says I stopped writing
romances and I and then not only did it
three four times that they if that many
but when i finished smash cut i just
love
this character he is such a burnout and
he's 60 years old and he's just not got
any redeeming qualities whatsoever he's
got a jaundiced view of life cynically
just you know has no tolerance for
mankind at all and I thought but I loved
it and everything that he said was funny
to me so I didn't want a wedding go so i
thought i play with an idea so what I
did was put dodge in a present-day
problem but I interweave the event that
took place 30 years ago that made dodge
large and so and the two stories kind of
weak to get a kind of the way I did in
the where the two kind of tale but it's
called tough customer and i'll be out
next on caucus if I stop doing stuff
like this and get home and rockys pizza
thing I got to keep a nuclear really
what it takes close to like a year for
me because I mean I work about work very
hard and I set little many deadlines for
myself throughout the year because i
also want to live my life and
have three grandchildren now and we like
to travel and this stuff so I work real
hard and up like hard but then it takes
some I know at what point in the you i
have to have a certain you know
milestone in in the writing i do four
drafts basically first draft is really
hard not just finished first draft of a
tough customer and then I do
that's where i'm just telling the story
because until you get it down it's still
just an idea of some always afraid is
going to go away
not unlike what happened a minute ago
that it's going to go away and and I
won't have it and so I do the first
draft then I go back and the second one
is really the crafting draft that's when
I take every single thing and massage it
reworking rework it someday yourselves I
mean sometime i'll spend 3-4 days just
on one thing just trying to milk it for
all it's worth
and then I do it third and that usually
takes as long as the first round and
then I do a third draft which takes
about a month and that is for pacing and
to make certain all the plot holes have
been plugged up all the loose ends tied
together and then I do fourth polishing
graph before it goes so it takes it
takes a year i like to open it up to
questions from the floor and we have
them
the phone here so if you have a question
for Sandra invite you to come to the
microphone so everybody can hear it
what no questions ok question from the
gallery
the question was do I write from home
and I do have a small office actually in
my house but i only use that on the
weekends typically to write i have an
office outside the home about a
five-minute commute and I 30 staff and
and i do right there but also if i'm in
the office there are a lot of
distractions and one of the main ones
now the internet I think it's the
Antichrist and i truly do if it's just
my gosh it's a blue whale in terms of
how it can consume information and and
it's something every day I just got kind
of a custom to a blog and then they said
you've gotta have tweets nothing of what
as a Twitter and I go what so now
twittering I mean it's just is just
unbelievable how much stuff how much
time and attention has to go into that
but I do a lot of that the office and
then I do go away twice a year I go away
january-february and lock myself
and not do anything for several wait i'm
finishing the book because the my
deadline is march first each year so
after the holiday
I'm out of it I make no appointment set
up booking engagements or anything
that's my time to really write and then
I do it again in the summer and I leave
town and go away four 4 3 four weeks and
that's typically when i'm doing the
first draft just trying to get the story
out takes longer than that but at least
i get a head start
I like to get to 300 pages during the
mid summer so it's i do go a lot we
travel a lot
most of my books upset and sound and so
we spend a lot of time you know either
at home or in this area but we think we
like to travel to any other question
you're going to give you a synopsis
about 74 little bit of hammocks and well
I want one book that that is has been
reprinted right now and it's made the
bestseller list
it's actually in its third incarnation
is called envy and I think it came out
and when did it come out 2,000 I think
or something like that anyway it's
already been this is a third you know
reprint of it with new cover and
everything and that's been one of the
most popular books at least based on the
email ssin and female that I get it's
been a very popular book called infinite
it's everywhere right now and it's on
USA today's list has been on there for
several weeks
oh gosh it's hard to say because it's
like saying which of your children do
you like this because each book is so
different i would say if you're looking
for thriller read something
published after 1990 and you can always
tell by the copyright page because a lot
of these books that you know they're all
they're still all crammed not a
hardcover but in paperback sure and so
anything that i wrote prior to nineteen
ninety emphasis was more on the romance
and anything after nineteen ninety it's
been more in the thriller suspense
mystery area and the other institute
that could be whichever books are in the
foramen ovale signing today because I
know too clever out there and they might
have coming out very early banks are
sometimes if someone's this which is
your favorite book and I said which one
are you thinking about buying whatever
it is that was not very everyone
obviously you had to get some detailed
information so how much of your work
involves that and then as prolific as
you are
how did you come about your ideas
because they were so widespread I'm just
curious how they come and obviously come
to such fruition in detail
well actually this woman's brilliant
because she just reminded me of what i
was talking what I lost my train of
thought on while ago which was
plausibility and in this blog and and
I'll get to you know to your question
but in this blog they were asking about
you know all the things that you do to
make it make it fun make it fresh and
one thing I don't do a censor myself i
think that the worst thing Ryder can do
is is start pulling back and sensory
there are inhibiting your own
imagination and i have had my son is now
riding and is already so two books that
we were talking about it the other day
and I said you know it only has to be
within the realm of possibility only in
the realm of possibility because the
most outlandish stories you've never
heard our tree they're absolutely to
read the newspaper everyday think of the
Titanic think the World Trade Towers I
mean nobody would have predicted those
events so let your imagination flow
freely that was the thing i was going to
say in terms of getting ideas
it's so hard to say because the
smokescreen there was a lot of of news
that it went out is plotting about the
date right drug drugs and I thought what
would happen
if a woman was given one of these drugs
not so that she could be harmed but that
whoever she was with could be harmed and
she would be left is the as the suspect
so that's where that whole story started
just that germ of an idea and I just
started playing with it playing with it
playing with it but I could go through
the bibliography of all the books and
and each one of them came about in a
different way
sometimes I've started with character
that I just think it's interesting our
profession i think is interesting and
sometimes I have no clue where Nadia
comes from it's just all of a sudden
there and I think that that's
interesting
riders just like oh gosh I just got so
involved in the research will this
that's like studying for tests to me i
want to give to the good step and I you
know as the reader you know immediately
when that author has drawn you out of
this story to step back and impress you
with how smart they are but I don't want
two more my reader or draw them out of
the story to let them know how much
research idea so I do when I after I i
I've done this before like in the case
the arson for a smoke screen i wrote my
first draft the way I wanted it to work
and then I called the arson inspector in
our home fire department said i need to
you to tell me how this could happen
this is what I want to happen but I
start usually with the story and then
write down all the things i need to know
or how I need to how it has to work like
that and then I thought of what if
there's a prologue in you know
contemporary time and someone is telling
this story so I went back then and and
wrote the prologue and set it up so that
there is a kind of a narrator type
situation
capital