GetToKnowTheBook: 'Windswept Shores' by Janice Seagraves

Hi, my name is Janice Seagraves, and yes that is the name I was born under. My pen name is my maiden name. It also makes it easier if I get yelled at during a convention or book signing, so I’m not looking behind me.
My first book, Windswept Shores, comes out June 3rd from Pink Petal Books, and I’m very excited to see my work published.

• How did you come up with the plot?
All I can really say is that I was addicted to Gilligan’s Island as a child. Then as an adult I got hooked on Survivors and the first year of Lost.
I just loved the idea of a group of people being disconnected from society and having to use their wits to survive.
It got me thinking, what If?
What if two people washed up on the same deserted island and used whatever they could to survive?
Of course being a romance writer my thoughts would be: this is an excellent backdrop for a romance story.

• Who are your characters?
Megan Lorry is my heroine. She’s hardworking, a little more mature than the hero, but very level headed. Basket weaving is her hobby, but she’s really good at it too and had a dream of opening her own basketry shop. Meg’s plane crashed into the ocean, but unfortunately she’s the only one to makes it to the raft. She washed up on a small uninhabited island in the Bahamas.

Seth Dawson is my hero. He’s a tall, good looking beach bum from Australia, or a surfie as they call it. His accent and Aussie lingo (also called strine) is rather thick, at times Meg finds it a little hard to understand him. The fishing boat Seth worked on was reefed, causing him to fall overboard. Meg finds him washed up on shore, unconscious.

Seth wants Megan from the moment he opens his eyes and looks up at her, but Megan (or Megz as he calls her) is a little hesitant. Eventually, they . . . uh. Well . . . you’ll have to read my book to find out.

Names:

Megan’s name just came to me. I like the simple girl next door names. I also like to think of my heroines as every woman, and I want my reader to identify with her. Megan was the far easier character to write. I made her a native Californian just like I am, so it just flowed from there. She does a lot of cooking so I did have to research how to cook clam chowder, and if it was possible to cook mussels on a barbeque in their shell and it is.

My teenage daughter named Seth. I shouted to her while I was working on Windswept, “I need a sexy name for my hero.”

My daughter without hesitation, yells back, “Seth.” I don’t think she even looked up from her homework.

When I decided he was Australian, Seth’s personality suddenly popped into existence.

“G’day mate.”

Seth is very outgoing, sexy and fun.

“Aw, go on with ya.”

And modest, too.

“Who, the bloody hell, would think I was modest? I know what I am and I know what I ain’t, but modest just isn’t in the package, luv. What I’d like to do is get, Megz, to loosen up so we can have a bit of fun. Blimey, she’s a tough nut to crack, but it just makes me want her all the more.” He grins showing his dimples.
•Researched for my story:
I did a lot of research to find out where my island was located. I finally decided it was close to the United States but in another country, then I settle on the Bahamas. Did you know that there are around 300 islands in the Bahamas and only 80 of them are inhabited?

It’s an easy place to get lost in.

The Bahamas are 60 miles off the coast of Florida, in easily reached by boat or plane. The islands themselves are builds up from sand from the shallow teal colored sea that surrounds the island group. The Bahamas also has a long history of pirates.

The Bahamas get a lot of precipitation, while doing research I also found out they get a lot of wind too. It went through my mind that they must have a lot of ‘windswept shores.’
Windswept shores?

I quickly googled it and found no books with that title and only one painting. So my book was named after my quirky musings, while I did research.

I fell in love with the Bahamas, with their sparkling white beaches, their clear teal colored water and their fresh sea air. While the seas there have some of the best sport fishing around, their reef hosts an exotic assortment of tropical fish, wonderful for scuba diving. Several of the islands also have a swim with the (spotted) dolphin tour.

• On Aussie strine:
• While studying the Aussie strine or colloquialisms, I bought three books and found numerous websites. Luckily, I also had a writer friend who lives in Australia, Connie Wood, who read through my manuscript to make sure I got the lingo right. She did catch a couple of mistakes, which I am eternally grateful for.

Just in time for summer reading.
Available June 3rd from Pink Petal Books: Windswept Shores by Janice Seagraves.
Price: $3.50

Windswept Shores Blurb:

The sole survivor of a plane crash, Megan is alone on a deserted island in the Bahamas until she finds a nearly-drowned man washed up on shore. Another survivor, this time from a boat wreck. With only meager survival skills between them, will they survive and can they find love?

Windswept Shores: available June 3, 2010 from Pink Petal Books
www.pinkpetalbooks.com *** http://janiceseagraves.org/

Janice~

"Life is not about the moments we breathe,but the moments that take our breath away."
Storiesthat leave you breathless . . . Janice Seagraves
http://janiceseagraves.org/
Coming in June to Pink Petal Books.