Q. Your travel history is impressive!  What are some of the favorite sights you've seen and how has your experience informed your fiction?

A. My favorite place in the entire world is Australia—I was there for four weeks and it wasn’t nearly long enough.  One of the interesting things that happened on the trip was when I boarded a catamaran to go to Fraser Island.  As I waited for everyone to board, I was looking out on the ocean and saw a shark fin break the surface.  Not a Great White or any of the big sharks, but it was still definitely shark and until then I’d only seen them on television or in aquariums.

The four-wheel drive tour of Fraser Island was a bit of a let down because they were four-wheel drive buses, not Jeeps, but I guess it was more cost-effective that way.  As we were driving down the beach in our bus, our guide asked us if we thought it was beautiful.  It was, so the group shouted, “Yes!”  The guide then asked if we wanted to swim here.  I think I was the only one who said no way.  And I was right.  The waters off that particular beach were shark-infested.  I guess most people wouldn’t cite this as a highlight, but I’ve had an interest in sharks since I was a teenager and one of my potential career choices was marine biologist.

Our biggest adventure of the day was heading back from the island on the catamaran.  A storm had moved in close enough to make the water really rough, and the waves were big enough to come over the top of the boat—and it was a good-sized vessel with a couple of decks.  I was on top and in the open where we were getting soaked, but we had a firefighter acting as lookout.  He was leaning over the side of the boat and when a wave was coming he’d holler a warning, so we could hang on to our hats.  Literally.  A lot of people on the boat didn’t enjoy that trip—it was nearly an hour back to the ship—but I got off laughing because it had been fun.

I think the traveling I’ve done can’t help but seep into the writing.  Most of it is subconscious, but I have consciously lifted things I’ve seen and places I’ve been.  THROUGH A CRIMSON VEIL and IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR are set, or partially set, in Los Angeles, a place I’ve visited a few times.  My trips to Venice Beach and the nighttime trek to the Hollywood Walk of Fame both made it into the pages of Crimson Veil.

Also, the poverty and the conditions of the houses portrayed on the Raft Cities in THE POWER OF TWO are based on what I saw on Samarai Island in Papua New Guinea.  It was a small island, easy to walk around the circumference in twenty minutes, and there was no real opportunity for the people.  As I thought about the Raft Cities, I realized that the people there would face the same kind of limitations as those on Samarai did and it helped me solidify that world.

Q. How many characters live in your head at once?

A. It depends on what’s going on.  Right now, as I’m writing a story, only four are talking—the hero, the heroine, and two secondary characters.  Last summer, when I was working on a number of ideas, I had about two dozen vying for my attention and they were giving me a headache.  J 

Q. What do you most enjoy about writing?

A. I love watching the story unfold and seeing the way the characters change and grow throughout it.  It’s only a nasty rumor that my favorite thing is torturing my hero and heroine.

Q. Are there parts of yourself/your world that will never make it into a book?  Is it necessary to hold something back to keep control over the writing or is the best fiction that which pours out of you?

A. When I’m writing, I rarely think about myself or my world—I’m hearing the characters in my head and writing what I’m getting from them.  Sometimes what I hear isn’t comfortable for me to write.  Mika said things in THROUGH A CRIMSON VEIL that had me thinking, “My mom is going to read this.”  I typed them anyway because that was Mika.  IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR had a couple of scenes that I really didn’t want to write.  I knew about the heroine’s past a few weeks before I reached the first of the scenes, and I tried negotiating with Ryne to leave them out, but she was insistent.  When I’m caught between my comfort zone and telling the story the way it needs to be told, I go with what’s right for the story.  I figure I can always revise later if there’s a need.

Q. What do you find most challenging about writing?

A. This changes depending on what I’m working, but today my answer is writing fight scenes.  The first challenge is to make them seem different from each other and the second is even tougher—layering in all the elements.  There’s choreography, story, emotion, description, and reaction (and maybe other things I can’t think of at the moment).  Keeping a balance between all these components is hard for me.

Q. Where can readers learn more about your books?

A. They can visit my website at http://www.pattioshea.com