Award winning author Barbara Raffin has loved books for as long as she can remember. Whether buying them through school book sales when a glossy-covered treasure could be had for a quarter or perusing the dusty shelves at her local, ancient library, their magic drew her. At twelve, Barbara wrote her first story in retaliation to the lack of female leads in the adventure stories she loved reading...and a novelist was born.

Barbara saw her first novel, WOLFSONG, published in 2001 by Awe-Struck. She has once again partnered with Awe-Struck to publish her fifth book, THE VISITOR, a gothic romance with a sci-fi twist.

Barbara Raffin, a.k.a. Dame Jade of the Jewels of the Quill www.JewelsoftheQuill.com a writer’s promotional cooperative, is a member of Electronic Published Internet Connection, Romance Writers of America, Wisconsin Romance Writers, From the Heart and Gothic Writers. Visit her at her web site http://www.BarbaraRaffin.com

Q: Tell us a little about your life outside of writing.
A: I've been married longer than I've ever thought I would be. My secret to that longevity is practicality (I'm a pretty typical Capricorn) and passive/aggression (just kidding--maybe). It helps if you marry another practical, passive/aggressive Capricorn--and he spends a lot of time at camp. We often kid that, in thirty plus years of marriage, we've been together physically only seven years. One love we both share is our love of our dogs. Currently we have only one, a Keeshond named Copy as in copyright. She's an eternal puppy, a real prankster who believes our purpose in life is to entertain her. But I have managed to train her enough to get an obedience title and two agility titles on her. The obedience title was a squeaker. She's much more suited to the high energy, freeform performance of an agility course.

Q: What are your two favorite books of all time, and why?
A: This is hard because I have so many favorites. But, if I have to narrow it down to only two, I'll have to go back to my childhood to the two books that had the greatest impact on me. The first favorite is really a series, the "Black Stallion" series. Back then, I thought I loved those books because I loved horses. In hindsight, I realize I loved that particular series because the stories were built on adventure and love. Granted, it was love between a boy and his horse--which brings me to why those books had such an impact on me. I so badly wanted a story of adventure and love between a girl and her horse, I wrote one at age twelve. But, the book that stayed with me all the years since childhood is "The Secret Garden." Thinking now about why it made such an impact on me, I'd guess it's the gothic elements of the story--the brooding heroes (both the father and son) and the secrets. All those wonderful secrets. And so much emotion, deep, heart-wrenching emotion. I've always been fascinated with why people are the way they are and why they do the things they do. Throw into the mix a hopeful little girl with a sense of exploration--a girl who in essence became the hero of the story, and I was inside that story--inside that girl. I was that girl.

Q: What person has had the biggest effect on your life as a writer, and why?
A: My mother. I didn't know until I started writing seriously that she had always dreamed of being a writer herself. I strongly suspect her love of books is the reason I grew up loving books. I thought all mothers took their kids to the library weekly. She, and my father, also never censured anything I read and they let me buy books of my own. I still remember many of those books, the look of them, the feel of their pages, their stories.

Q: How do you come up with the idea for a book?
A: Once you have an idea, do you plot it out, fly by the seat of your pants, or what? I'm not big on plotting too much ahead of time. I like to discover the story as I go along. But I do know the ending and I do know the major turning points before I start.

Q: What type of writing schedule do you have? Is it flexible, or do you have a goal for each writing session?
A: I try to write in the mornings. But I'm pretty flexible--maybe too flexible. I never feel like I'm productive enough. I've never required a certain amount of time or pages to be done. I write until the flow starts to die out, which is usually a scene.

Q: What one thing do you like the most about being a writer, and why? What do you like the least?
A: What one thing do you like the most about being a writer, and why? What do you like the least? What I like best about being a writer is the creative outlet it gives me. I get to explore human emotion and the what ifs and how comes of life. I have an excuse to research new places, other professions, details not common to my life. What I like least is the "business" of writing: Submitting manuscripts and waiting for responses, which fortunately isn't long with epubs. Dealing with contracts--which fortunately aren't complicated with epubs.

Q: Do you ever use real people as the inspiration for characters in your books? If so, why do you choose those particular people?
A: I've occasionally used people I know as a core for a character that's considerably different from me. I have a work in progress where the heroine is an over the top optimist. I'm an optimistic realist, which tended to make me hold her back. So I looked to a friend of mine who is like the kid in the old joke where the kid gets a pile of manure for Christmas and is laughing and digging in it because, with that much manure, she's certain there has to be a pony in there someplace. Most often it'll be a stranger that sparks something, a look, a mannerism, a gesture.

Q: If you include love scenes in your books, are they difficult for you to write? How do you decide whether to include a love scene at that point in the book, and if so, how explicit to make it?
A: Since I just sold an erotic romance, I'd say, definitely no, love scenes are not difficult for me to write. I suppose if I thought about who all was going to read them, I'd be more reserved in my descriptions--which is probably why I'll be hiding behind a pseudonym for my romantica. What decides where I place a love scene in a book and how explicit the love making should be is the story and the characters. In "Wolfsong," the story is more about two people whose goals are at cross purposes, plus my heroine was a pretty reserved gal. The love scene was more about giving in to the inevitable of two people who need each other to heal--more about two people learning to trust each other. Therefore, the love making was described more in euphemistic terms. The sex scenes are steamier In "The Indentured Heart" because both characters are passionate people who are holding back. The harder they try to hold themselves back, the more explosive the release when it finally comes. The second sex scene is even more explicit (though not by erotica or even romantica terms) because the scene is a battle between the two and sex the weapon.

Q: How much of your own life and experiences do you put into your books?
A: Wolfsong's wolf repopulation project comes directly from the expanding wolf population in Upper Michigan where I live. I had access to people studying wolves, both professional and amateur. Also, my dog training pursuits had taken me to seminars in animal behaviorism. The cabin in "Wolfsong" also came from a place my family used to vacation. I loved that cabin. "The Visitor" is set mostly on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior which is only a couple hours drive from where I live. I wrote my first historical, which was the forerunner to "The Indentured Heart" and is still unpublished, because of a vacation visit to the reconstructed Fort Michilimackinac on the straits between Upper and Lower Michigan. But it was more than the fort being a part of my state that spurred my interest. I was walking the Rue du Diable, the main street of the fort, when I got the sensation that if I turned around fast I would feel a skirt brush my ankles. Never mind that I was wearing shorts at the time or that I didn't know the fort's history well enough at the time to know its encompassed the American Revolution, a period during which women's skirts came to the ankle, not to the ground. I felt pulled to the place and knew I would someday have to write a story set there. Six weeks later, I was back in Mackinaw City researching. Many of my stories are spurred by events or places in my life.

Q: What comes first? The plot, the characters, or the setting?
A: Setting has always been important in my books, often becoming a character itself. Maybe that's that old gothic influence of "The Secret Garden." But, when I visit a place that evokes a strong feeling in me, I know I will set a story there. Yet, both "Wolfsong" and my upcoming "The Visitor" started with a story idea, which I would consider plot. "Wolfsong" started with a notion to set a romance against a wolf repopulation project. "The Visitor" was inspired by my playing what if with a favorite movie of mine, "Starman." What if the visiting extraterrestrial wasn't a kind, lost being but one on a mission he must accomplish at any cost? Even my historical, "The Indentured Heart," didn't come together until I had a story idea. That one came to me in expanding pieces, like a camera lens was tightly focused and kept pulling back every time the scene crossed my mind. The first vision of that book was a pale hand in a black sleeved arm pointing. The second was of that black sleeved, pale hand pointing from a black, hooded carriage. The fourth was of the woman in that carriage pointing out a man on an auction block and saying, "I'll take him." But, however my books start, it's the characters that make the story. Whether I start with setting or plot, both are in search of the right character for them.