Portrait Of A Lover
Julianne MacLean

originally featured March 2006

1-Hi Julianne, for the readers can you please give a brief description of Portrait Of A Lover.

Of course! Portrait of a Lover is the story of Magnus and Annabelle, two characters from my previous book, Love According to Lily. Magnus was undeniably “villainous” in that book and had betrayed Annabelle and broken her heart years before, so in this current book, readers learn what really happened between them, and find out what happens years later when they finally meet again.

2-This book is very emotional and touching. Where does your inspiration come from and do your characters try to take over the novel as your writing?

I’ve always enjoyed passionate, heart-wrenching tales (I loved The Notebook), and that’s simply what I like to write about. The happily-ever-after is so much more satisfying when the characters have been put through the wringer.

And yes, the characters do try to take over the novel as I’m writing, and I totally let them, even if it means veering away from the original plan.

3-Magnus, ah a man of such raw passion. When he was originally introduced in the series he was the bad guy that misled and hurt Annabelle deeply. Was it a surprise that so many fans wanted to know more about Magnus and Annabelle’s story? What was the biggest challenge in redeeming Magnus?

There certainly were a lot of readers curious about Magnus and Annabelle, and I received many, many letters about that. But I always knew I was going to write their story, even before I started writing Lily’s book, because I had explored Magnus’s character and history as I was fleshing out Whitby’s story.

When I began to write Portrait of a Lover, it wasn’t difficult for me to write about Magnus’s redemption, because I always had sympathy for him, even when I was writing him as a villain. I knew his emotional baggage at that time; I was simply writing that story from Whitby’s point of view, which was why he was perceived as such a bad character. He just needed a bit of compassion, which he finally gets from Annabelle in Portrait.

4-Annabelle really grew and learned about herself in this novel. While we readers get to see exactly how Magnus hurt her with the flashbacks to the past all those years ago. Annabelle was still hurt and angry many years later. What do you think was the defining moment in this novel where Annabelle decides that Magnus is really the man for her and starts to forgive him?

Well, I don’t want to give too much of the story away here, but Annabelle had to figure out her own heart and mind just as much as she had to figure out whether or not Magnus was truly worthy of her trust. And that occurs gradually throughout the book I would say.

5-While writing novels sometimes characters and scenes will stay with an author long after the novel is written. What is your favourite/most memorable scene in Portrait of A Lover?

I have a few that have stayed with me, but two are quick to come to mind - the fishing scene early in the book, and the hotel room scene, when Annabelle waddles across the room :-)

6-Portrait Of A Lover is 5th in a series. While all your novels are stand alones and do not require reading in the series order. What is the most difficult thing writing series novel from an author’s standpoint in ensuring all novels flow smoothly from book to book but yet stand-alone?

One of the most difficult things for me is remembering the smaller details, and there’s always going to be a sharp reader out there who might read two books back-to-back and spot an inconsistency. It’s just impossible to keep a record of everything, especially when your main concern when writing is the characters’ hearts and souls, rather than the color of the sofa in a particular character’s drawing room. Not to say those fine points aren’t important, but after five or ten books in a series, the many, many details get pretty congested in your head.

As a whole, however, I’ve never found it difficult to make sure the books flow and stand alone at the same time. Each character’s story is his or her story and no one else’s, and I go into great depth for each book, focusing very intensely on those particular characters. So that’s what makes each book stand-alone, in my opinion. Each book has a very complete character arc.