BLOGGING WITH BEVERLEY: Zrinka Jelic Talking About Heroes

This week we’re going to find out a little about author Zrinka Jelic. March’s theme is ‘Heroes’ so Zrinka will be talking about heroes. She’ll also tell us a little about herself and her writing, and answer some fun questions.

Zrinka lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and two children. A member of the Romance Writers of America and its chapter Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal, as well as Savvy Authors, she writes contemporary fiction—which leans toward the paranormal—and adds a pinch of history. Her characters come from all walks of life, and although she prefers red, romance comes in many colors. Given Jelic’s love for her native Croatia and the Adriatic Sea, her characters usually find themselves dealing with a fair amount of sunshine, but that’s about the only break they get.

“Alas,” Jelic says, with a grin. “Some rain must fall in everyone’s life.”

Beverley: What do you think makes a hero, either in real life or in books?

Zrinka: I used to like dark, brooding type, a tortured soul. But now I wrote my first Romantic comedy, I prefer an easy going, all loving type of guy. And the same goes for real life heroes. Someone who would not have to think twice to help someone in distress at any price. Like those two guys who helped a girl to the finish line in half marathon when her legs gave up a mere steps before.
Beverley: Is it important to have strong conflicts? If yes, inner or outer conflicts, or both?
Zrinka: Yes, conflict moves the story forward, the characters must work together toward the common goal. Even if they don’t start with the common goal, they need to end up there. But a good inner conflict is often hard to achieve. In romances, some authors think there should be an inner conflict between hero and heroine and why they should never be together. I find such conflicts weak. I’ve read books where the inner conflict is rather weak. In one sentence the hero thinks he’d never compromise the heroine in such way, but by the end of the chapter, he’s peeling her clothes off. Or when they throwing ‘I hate you’s’ all throughout the book, then end up jumping in the bed by the end. That’s not much of a conflict. I like to set the story in such way so that there’s an outer conflict that will ultimately drive the inner conflict on the surface.
Beverley: How long have you been writing?
Zrinka: Since high school, but only got into it seriously about six years ago. Beverley:What genre do you write in and why?
Zrinka: I write romances. Why? Love makes the world go round. Some say money does that, but what’s money without love? If there’s no love, would there be this world?
Beverley: What gets your creative juices flowing?
Zrinka: Pretty much anything, books, movies, even Hallmark commercials.
Beverley: What will stop your creative muse the quickest?
Zrinka: My kids fighting.
Beverley: Where do you do most of your writing?
Zrinka: On my couch.
Beverley: Do you have a favorite cartoon character? Why?
Zrinka: I like the two frogs in Tijuana Toads, a fat one was called El Toro, if I’m not mistaken, and a skinny one’s Poncho. Why I like them? They’re quite characters each with totally different personalities yet somehow in some crazy way they work together. Opposites attracted here.
Beverley: Who would you love most to meet 'in person' and why?
Zrinka: Anyone I’d like to meet it’s either dead, a fictional character or dead. Any would make my day, whether they appear in flesh or in spirit.
Beverley: If you had an unexpected free day what would you do with it?
Zrinka: Are we talking free from everything or just my day job? Because cleaning and tidying the house is a job in itself. I can easily spend a whole day but in less than a week the place will look like something you see on the episode of the “Hoarders”.
Beverley: What are you working on now?
Zrinka: I’m in between edits. My first self-published novel titled “The Wedding Date” should be getting released in a few days so keep your eye out for that. My romantic suspense previously published with CHBB under the title “Gypsy Stone” is being re-released by The Wild Rose Press under the title “Dangerous Benevolence”. I just signed the contract for it last week so I don’t have any dates on release for it yet. I will announce it once I have more.

Blurb for Love Remains

Olivia Owen, a busy, single, high-functioning, corporate executive officer, is not afraid to die a spinster for the sake of her career. But in an alternate reality world, bridged by the angel of her Down’s syndrome sister, she meets Tom Medar, a dedicated, Croatian defense attorney who dreams of the right woman, but never has time to find her. Together they foil an adulterous murder plot while discovering there’s room for love and family in their busy lives—but not before they are separated again.

When they awaken from their alternate world, will they be able to cross countries to find each other again?

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