Today we are featuring Author Celia Bonaduce as a part of a virtual tour of her new book The Merchant of Venice Beach (The Venice Beach Romance #1)
She is Here with us and we will be having a lot of chit-chat but first let me introduce you to her
Celia Bonaduce
Currently a Field Producer on HGTV’s House Hunters, Celia Bonaduce's TV credits cover a lot of ground - everything from field-producing ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to writing for many of Nickelodeon’s animated series, including Hey, Arnold and Chalkzone. An avid reader, entering the world of books has always been always a lifelong ambition.
Interview
Sanchit Bhandari
Although THE MERCHANT OF VENICE BEACH (along with the two books that make my VENICE BEACH ROMANCE series) is classified as a “romance novel” – I consider it romantic comedy – “Venice Beach” focuses on the journey of the woman-protagonist, not just her romantic entanglements.
My sister-in-law had taken private dance lessons for years. One day, she showed up for her lesson, only to learn her instructor had quit the studio and moved away without telling her or saying goodbye. She felt so abandoned, she went into therapy. I was so astounded and intrigued by this reaction that I kept coming up with scenarios that could possible explain this amazing behavior.
The journey was certainly a long and winding road! I am a lifestyle-TV producer by trade and a couple years ago, as “realty-TV” was getting more and more popular, I was getting tired of being offered really bad reality-TV work. I thought I’d try my hand at something fulfilling, like writing a novel, and just kept at it. Miraculously, as I completed my second novel (having not sold the first!) I got a call to go back to “good” TV (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and then House Hunters). I then sold my books and am happy producing House Hunters, so I now have the best of both worlds!
Thanks! Originally, the main character, Suzanna, owned a teashop in Santa Monica, CA, but as soon as I hit on using ‘Venice Beach’ as part of my play on Shakespearean titles, I moved the teashop four miles down the road!
Suzanna: imaginative, hopeful, immature, unrealistic, searching.
Fernando: sardonic, romantic, literate, inventive, traditional
Eric: pragmatic, realistic, easy-going, intelligent, focused
Rio: self-centered, self-protective, talented, worldly, cultured.
Fernando: sardonic, romantic, literate, inventive, traditional
Eric: pragmatic, realistic, easy-going, intelligent, focused
Rio: self-centered, self-protective, talented, worldly, cultured.
PLOTTER – maybe too much so.
My parents were both professional writers and there was never a rime when words were not revered.
I didn’t write them at the same time. I wrote ‘Merchant’ first and then “Erinn’ – actually, the story point that originally bound them was just the same geographical location – then, as I was in the middle of a massive ‘Erinn’ re-write (after spending two years writing and re-writing “Merchant” – I had an epiphany that Erinn and Suzanna were sisters! I tried to fight it, because it meant that I had to tear both books apart and start again - but it was so obvious that they were sisters there was no escaping it.
I loved writing for animation and am very proud of my cartoon-credits, which include Hey, Arnold, Ahhh, Real Monsters and Chalkzone, but felt I was losing touch with what TV was buying for kids. I was at Nickelodeon when they picked up ‘SpongeBob” – and I knew I had to get out of children’s programming – I just didn’t understand “SpongeBob’ at all (which means I got out just in time, since it became a monster hit and I would have turned it down) That said, I DID know that Phineas and Ferb was going to be an amazing cartoon! I was looking for a new line of work, and always loved HGTV and lifestyle programming (decorating, renovation, gardening, that sort of thing) – and figured I’d give it a shot. I actually got my first job as a producer because I knew how to sew and they needed a producer on SIMPLY QUILTS!
I was blown away when I realized my two main characters were related! I had that revelation at a red-light, and just sat there when the light changed. People had to honk at me to get me going again.
Books are fabulous escapism. The first book that spoke to me – the book that I was able to read myself and transport myself to another place was “The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle” – I read it in the fourth grade. For a grade-schooler, it was an enormous book – over 300 pages – and I loved every minute of it. It was a library book and I had to keep checking it out. The librarian was only supposed to let me check it out twice but she waved the rule so I could finish it.
Even if they behave outlandishly, characters have to be real. Readers have to relate to them on some level, to have some understanding and compassion – even for the bad guys.
I love Fannie Flagg’s characters. I just finished “The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion” and just loved it!
My pleasure! I hope we can do it again!
The Merchant of Venice Beach
Release date: August 1st 2013
Publisher: eKensington
The Rollicking Bun--Home of the Epic Scone--is the center of Suzanna Wolf's life. Part tea shop, part bookstore, part home, it's everything she's ever wanted right on the Venice Beach boardwalk, including partnership with her two best friends from high school, Eric and Fernando. But with thirty-three just around the corner, suddenly Suzanna wants something more--something strictly her own. Salsa lessons, especially with a gorgeous instructor, seem like a good start--a harmless secret, and just maybe the start of a fling. But before she knows it, Suzanna is learning steps she never imagined--and dancing her way into confusion.
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Publisher: eKensington
The Rollicking Bun--Home of the Epic Scone--is the center of Suzanna Wolf's life. Part tea shop, part bookstore, part home, it's everything she's ever wanted right on the Venice Beach boardwalk, including partnership with her two best friends from high school, Eric and Fernando. But with thirty-three just around the corner, suddenly Suzanna wants something more--something strictly her own. Salsa lessons, especially with a gorgeous instructor, seem like a good start--a harmless secret, and just maybe the start of a fling. But before she knows it, Suzanna is learning steps she never imagined--and dancing her way into confusion.
Nice interview. Thanks for participating!
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