The Writing Process
1. Where do you get your ideas? Do you ever use personal experiences in your books?
Well, I can’t say I have ever been wooed by a duke or carried off by a gorgeous pirate (yet! Still hoping.) So, no, it’s not really based on my personal experiences, but certainly, the emotions of my characters come from me. Little seeds of ideas can blow in from anywhere—random facts I stumble across in history books, some particular aspect of a movie premise that gets my brain churning, inspiration from a classic work of prose or poetry, and of course, from fairytales, just to name a few. It’s all what you do with the idea once it arrives that makes it exciting, how you combine it with other ideas to come up with something new and original.
2. Do you outline your novels before you begin writing or make it up as you go along?
I outline my stories in depth before writing. It saves time by cutting down on the amount of revisions needed later.
3. Once the basics are in place, what do you do next?
Once I have the plot premise and the main characters sketched out, I write up a little page or two about my story idea and email it to my agent and two of my best writer pals to bounce it off them, and then I use their combined feedback to make the central idea stronger. The improved version I then send in to my editor. If she likes it, then I move on to in-depth plotting and research and the full process of complex character development.
4. How do you go about developing your characters?
I have several steps I go through to bring my characters to life. These include a year-by-year chronology or time line of the character’s life, an examination of their family relationships, their personal strengths and weaknesses and how these traits impact their lives, the romantic and sexual history, and also more nuts-and-bolts type things like wardrobe and daily habits. The most important things to know about any character are: what they want and why, what’s standing in the way, how far they’re willing to go to get it, and their game-plan for getting what they want.
5. How do you do your research?
I study, study, study. Over time, I’ve built up a large home library of books, files, articles, magazines, maps, pictures, musical recordings and videos on every topic you could imagine about life in the Regency period. When I run into questions that I can’t find the answer to, I turn to various experts for help. Every couple of years, I try to get over to England and other parts of Europe for on-site research. That part is the most useful method of all, and the most fun!
6. What is a typical day for you when you’re working on a novel?
On a typical day, I start working on my book at about 8:00 A.M. with my coffee by my side. I work in bursts of intense effort that last two or three hours each. I have a minimum writing goal of five pages for each creative session, three sessions a day, Monday through Saturday. I know that sounds very businesslike and organized, but since I am a right-brained, intuitive, creative free spirit type, having that structure helps to keep me on track. In between my daily writing sessions, I do everyday normal life things like walk my new puppy, do laundry, call one of my friends to chat, exercise, or do a little cooking in my kitchen, which I enjoy. I find that by breaking up the hard mental effort of writing with easy physical tasks, it helps my subconscious to process more easily what happens next in the story.
7. How long does it take you to write a novel? Do you work on several books at the same time?
It takes me about six months to write a story, and yes, I do build time into my normal schedule for plotting and researching the next book. This is helpful, especially when the books are tied together in a series. It’s always good to know where the series will be going next.
8. How do you decide on the titles for your books or what to put on the cover?
It’s really not up to the author. Usually the title and cover art are the domain of the publisher, with the editor managing the process. The publishers have whole departments of art and marketing professionals in-house who understand better than I do the cryptic art of “packaging” the book, as it is called. Once we have agreement on a title, (and as my readers in other languages know, the titles of the books are frequently changed for audiences outside North America and the UK), then the project is forwarded to the artists, who go to work on coming up with a concept for how the cover should look. They ask me for descriptions of the hero and heroine, and then magically, a few weeks later, a mock-up of the cover appears in my mailbox, which is always very exciting. From that point, minor fixes can be made, but covers are very expensive for the publishers to produce, especially those with gold or silver foil and embossing and those with step-back covers, meaning a sexy picture of the hero and heroine on a second layer behind the front cover, which has the author’s name and the title.
9. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Be patient with yourself as you learn your craft. Don’t be afraid if your first few tries are terrible. You have to write badly in order to eventually write well, just like golf or tennis or baking or any other pursuit you set out to master. The key is to let it always keep on being fun, not to get so caught up in achieving external success that you lose the joy of the process.
Also, protect your writing time as best as you can. This is especially hard for women, with the many demands on our busy modern lives, but I truly don’t think anyone ought to feel guilty for taking time to nurture a talent God gave you. Don’t show your writing to others too soon. Wait until it’s finished and polished before you hand it over to someone to pass judgment. The danger in showing it too soon is that their doubts about your abilities or negative remarks could dampen your enthusiasm for the work. When you’re just starting out, what you really need from others is encouragement and moral support, but most people seem to have an inner need to judge like a cranky English teacher with a red pen. You don’t that kind of help. At least not yet. It’ll only put out your spark. For now, enthusiasm and love of the process will sustain you through the long, lonely learning curve ahead.
Know the market, but write from the heart. Your intuition is a better guide to what readers are really hungering for than the latest deal reports. Always strive to do better with each new project, and view every rejection as more fuel to fire up your determination to succeed.
Finally, save your rejection letters so you can laugh at them someday.
(PS. Check out the <Writing section> of my website, too. It’s loaded with free articles and inspiration to help you succeed. Good luck!)
