Can
you tell us a little bit about Desire of Our
Hearts?
It
is a speculative fiction/romance novel based on
the life of Alma the Elder. Alma
falls in love at first sight with a woman who
despises all of the priests and King Noah, but the
king forces this woman (Sam, the heroine) to marry
Alma. You can imagine that things do
not go well. The novel follows not
only their relationship, but what is happening to
Alma in the king's court. Sam is a
believer, which is forbidden by King Noah. She
causes Alma to question his beliefs, setting the
stage so that Alma is prepared to receive
Abinadi's message. And of course
there is a power-hungry villain, the priest Amulon,
who is desperate not only to ruin Alma's marriage,
but to remove Alma from power by any means
necessary. There's lots of action and
adventure alongside romantic and tender moments.
And there's a very hot chili pepper
involved. And the scent of vanilla.
And a dog.
How
did you come up with the idea for this book?
I
know exactly when it happened-the last week of
December, 2005. How do I know that's
when it was? Well, being the
procrastinator that I am, I was trying to finish
the Book of Mormon before the official end of the
year (for President Hinckley's challenge). I
had just sold my first novel, Secrets in
Zarahemla, and the publisher wanted me to,
you know, write more books for them. I
didn't know how I would write another, as I didn't
have any ideas for any more books about the Book
of Mormon. So, I would very much like
to say that while I read my scriptures, I had a
spiritual or inspirational moment as I went
through the story of Alma the Elder. But
the picture that appeared in my head was neither
of those things. Instead I saw Alma's
wife throwing things at him on their wedding
night. I built the story from there.
Speaking
of Secrets in Zarahemla, how does
this second book differ from it?
It
differs in a few respects. My first
book focused primarily on fictional characters
that were related to the real ones from the Book
of Mormon. The new book is about real
people from the scriptures. I
discovered I love writing about them because I
realized that *I* had always put people like Alma
on a pedestal. But he was a real man
who had temptations and fears and worries and
weaknesses just like the rest of us. He
wasn't perfect, even after he converted and
repented. From the scriptures I found
Alma to be a very determined, very passionate sort
of person, and I enjoyed exploring the personality
I made up for him. Desire of Our
HeartsSecrets in that it is much more of a
romance. I love romance, I love happy
endings, and that is the direction I would like to
take my writing in, so expect to see more of it
from me. also differs from
How
much research do you typically do?
For
my first novel, I did over a year's worth of
research. For this novel, I didn't
have to spend quite so much time researching,
because I had already covered all of the basics.
I did spend a lot of time studying weddings
and courtship rituals among the Maya in the
highlands of Guatemala, which is where the city of
Lehi-Nephi would likely have been located. All
the things that you read in the book regarding the
wedding and the engagement are true, but because
each tribe/city had their own variation on the
customs, I tried to combine several aspects
together into one cohesive ceremony. I
also did a lot of research on wine production and
on dogs.
What
are you planning to work on next?
My
publisher has already purchased my third Book of
Mormon romance (also inspired by the mad rush of
December, 2005) based on Ammon, which is a much
lighter tale, as Ammon informed me that he was
very funny and very charming. I hope
to be able to write a story for each of Ammon's
brothers as well. There are also at
least three couples from Desire of Our Hearts
that have been begging for their own books (yes,
my characters talk to me, and yes, I realize this
makes me semi-crazy). But because I
don't want to get pigeonholed into only writing
Book of Mormon fiction, my next book will be a
historical romance set in the Regency, or the time
period of Jane Austen's novels. I'm
not sure when it will be done, because my
5-month-old daughter has very strong opinions on
what her mommy should be doing while she's awake,
and not one of them entails her doing any writing.
How
can readers contact you?
They
can visit my Web site to find out more information
about me and upcoming books at
www.sariahswilson.com, read my blog at
www.sixldswriters.net, or contact me via Email at
sariah@sariahswilson.com. I love to
hear from readers!
