Author Interview: Elizabeth Harmon

Please give a warm welcome to Splashes Into Books to the amazing author of the Red Hot Russians series Elizabeth Harmon! I was delighted when she also agreed to be interviewed -read on to find out more about her writing process and the inspiration for this series!

Where did you get the inspiration for the book/series?

Every book I’ve written has been a story I wanted to read, but couldn’t find anywhere else.  I love romances that have just a bit of difference, and in the case of my Red Hot Russians series, it was because I wanted to read a sports romance about figure skating.  But not only did I want the heroine to be a skater, but I also wanted a figure skater hero. Much harder to find!

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Cutting Edge, so I decided to write about pair skating. Since Russia excels in that area of skating, it made sense for the hero to be Russian. When I sold Pairing Off the first Red Hot Russians book, my editor at Carina and I brainstormed the idea of a series with sweet, sexy Russian heroes.

Misha, the hero of Getting It Back, makes a few brief appearances in Pairing Off, and I kind of had him in the back of my mind as a future hero, but I didn’t know what his story would be. A road trip on a stormy day, which took me past a rundown small town motel, gave me Misha’s story out of the blue.

What is your writing process?

When I’m writing my first draft, I try to hit a minimum daily word count, depending on my schedule, commitments, etc. For subsequent drafts, and I usually write three, I set a daily page count which varies depending upon the level of editing I need to do, and also other responsibilities, such as marketing, blogs, etc. I treat writing like a job, and work most days from about 8:30 through 4:00.

Do you write using pen and paper or on a computer?

Mostly I write on my laptop, but I use pen and paper when I’m blocked, and I do almost all my editing that way. Seeing things on paper helps me catch things I’d otherwise miss. 

Who is your favourite character out of your stories and why?

That’s like trying to choose which of my children I like best!  In Getting It Back, I love Amy’s kindness and Misha’s determination. As the character who grows and changes the most, Misha also learns a lot about himself and by the end has become the man Amy always knew he could be.

For me as a writer, this was a little different, in that I tend to write heroines who transform and heroes who are the catalyst characters. Turning the tables was a bit challenging but a chance to grow and change a little as well. 

If you were a character in your story, which would you like to be?

Probably Carrie, the heroine in Pairing Off, because she’s a pair skater, which is something I love to watch, but will never do. And who wouldn’t want to skate and fall in love with a big gorgeous guy like Anton? 

How and why did you choose the names for your main characters?

Misha—Mikhail, was already chosen, since he was a minor character in Pairing Off. I chose his name because it’s a Russian name most people are familiar with. Amy’s name fit her character very well. She’s a down to earth, athletic, all-American girl, very unpretentious and capable. Her name means “beloved”—which she is, not only by Misha, but also her family, which creates some conflict.  Amy is the baby of the family and though she’s in her mid-20s, out of college and on her own, her parents and older brothers still see her as a young girl. Though she loves them very much, she’s determined to live her own life, even if that means making choices they don’t agree with.   

Many thanks to Elizabeth Harmon for answering my questions and to Barclay PR for organising this! You can read more about ‘Getting It Back’, including my review, an excerpt, information about the other books in the series, the author and even a Rafflecopter Giveaway here!