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One of my favourite writers is Anne Stuart
who I'm delighted to say will be a guest at this year's Romance
Writers of Australia conference, A Darling Affair, in Sydney in
August. If you don't know her writing, run, don't walk, to your
nearest bookshop and buy everything with her name on it, even if
it's a street directory. Believe me, she's such a good writer,
even her street directory work will be dark, sexy, challenging,
intelligent and compelling.
Anne's first book, a gothic called Barrett's Hill, was published
in 1974. Since then, she's published over 70 novels in a variety
of genres including historical romance, romantic suspense and
category romance. She's also contributed to over 30 anthologies.
She's won more awards than you can poke a stick at, including
Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award. Her
latest release is a breathtakingly emotional romantic suspense
called Ice Blue from MIRA.
ANNA: Anne, one of the many
things I admire about you is your longevity as a published
romance author. You seem to have weathered changes in publisher
and changes in genre and yet stayed remarkably true to your very
individual voice throughout. Do you have any advice for someone
setting out in this business who wants a long-term career? Any
experiences that you'd like to share to show the vicissitudes of
a writer's career?
ANNE: Well, you have to be
in it for love. If you're counting on fame, success, or
supporting yourself, you'll end up making yourself crazy. You
always need to be able to walk away. The only way to survive is
to put the book first, because so much of it is out of your
control.
Now you'll notice that most people who started out when I did
are either mega-bestsellers (Jayne Krentz, Elizabeth Lowell et
al) or they've left the business entirely, and then there are
masses of people who started a long time after me who also sell
much better than I do. A lot of people are big on having a
business plan, a career plan, goals, etc. Which is lovely, if
you're that type of person, but so much of it is out of your
control. I think if I'd been focused on my career rather than my
writing I'd either have floundered or become a NYT bestseller.
As it is, to quote Paul Anka (not Frank Sinatra - maybe I'd
rather be quoting the Sex Pistols) "I did it my way", and to
quote Edith Piaf, Je ne regrette rien ("I regret nothing.")
Except that I'm not rich <g>.
ANNA: I first became
acquainted with your work through your classic Avon historical
romances in the early 1990s. In many ways, my first book
Claiming the Courtesan, is a homage to your A Rose at Midnight
which is still one of my favourite romances of all time. Since
then, I've chased up your category books and your romantic
suspense novels as well and loved them all. Can you tell us
something about the differences and similarities in writing
across genres? Also, and I'm sure you're sick of this question,
do you plan to write any more historicals? I loved The Devil's
Waltz, as did the RITA judges, considering you've been nominated
in the Best Short Historical section this year.
ANNE: Oh, there's a big
difference between the various lengths and genres, though I tend
to have a slightly gothic feel throughout, probably because
that's what I grew up reading. In a perfect world I would
alternate romantic suspense with historicals (which I've done in
the past). The romantic suspense I write can be extremely
wrenching, and living in such darkness non-stop can be. tiring.
My historicals, no matter how dark, have a lighter feel, more of
an adventure and a romp, even in A Rose at Midnight. Going from
a dark, real world to a historical world that I can make up is a
release.
And I loved writing category romances - for the same reason I
love haiku and sonnets. I love the structure, and the ability to
go wild within that structure.
There are a thousands ways to tell a story and a thousand
stories to tell. I love finding different ways to do things.
ANNA: You're famous for your
ability to write genuinely dark heroes who find redemption
through love. What are your thoughts on making a dangerous man
sympathetic and why are these bad boys so perennially
fascinating? Awful as many of your heroes are (and I mean that
in the NICEST way), I find them incredibly magnetic and launch
into their journey knowing that I'm in for a great ride. One of
my favourite heroes of yours, perhaps because he really does
skirt the boundaries of the unacceptable, is Luke Bardell from
Ritual Sins. He's a murderer and a conniving fake guru of a
religious cult and his
treatment of the heroine is appalling. Why, then, do I (and
presumably a large proportion of the rest of the world) go along
with him and cheer for him at the end? Do you have specific
techniques? What brought about your fascination with the dark
side of love?
ANNE: Nope, no techniques.
I'm a totally instinctive writer (unless something's not working
- then I take a step back and analyse it). I'm not sure why I'm
fascinated by the dark side, though I can think of three
reasons. One, everyone has a soft spot for a bad boy, a rake, a
wicked soul who can be redeemed. It's human nature. Two, I had a
very dark upbringing, and I've seen a lot of darkness in my
life. People die too young, bad, terrible things happen, there's
no safety. If you go that dark with your characters and they
survive then you know nothing will ever tear them apart. If a
heroine can survive Luke Bardell or Bastien Toussaint or Takashi
O'Brien, then they can survive day-to-day issues. And three, I
have a fabulous husband (32 years now), the ultimate beta male.
Having such a wonderful, safe, loving, decent man enables me to
play around with all the stuff that would terrify another woman.
ANNA: I love the secondary
romances that often appear in your books. Do you have any advice
for anyone wanting to incorporate a secondary romance in their
work? Do you have a favourite secondary romance couple?
ANNE: The secondary romances
were something I did deliberately when I started writing
historicals (one of the few deliberate choices I made) because
people kept bitching about how dark my heroes were, and I
thought it would be more acceptable to have a beta couple as
well as the alpha one. And then, of course, I fell in love with
the second couple as well. The two best were To Love a Dark Lord
and Shadows at Sunset, though I loved the secondary couples in
Lord of Danger and Lady Fortune.
ANNA: You're amazingly
prolific. Can you take us into your working life? How do you
structure your working day? How do you approach writing a book?
ANNE: Actually I'm not that
prolific - many people work much harder than I do, and are much
more driven. I imagine the most I ever wrote in one year is
three categories, and a lot of people can knock those out in six
weeks. My problem isn't the speed in which I write - I'm fast
when I get down to it. It's the time in between, waiting for the
story to properly germinate, and getting the right opening.
I used to structure my working day by getting up, and working
from around 9am to 3pm. But lately I've realised that what I
like best is being able to change things around. I wrote most of
Ice Blue sitting on the porch at my husband's family's summer
house, overlooking the lake (writing facing water is always
stimulating). I wrote most of Cold As Ice long hand in a
Clairfontaine notebook. Ice Storm (a November 2007 release) was
part of my plan to write 200 words a day, and I did, even if it
was at 11 at night. (The trick to that is, if you write your 200
words each day it keeps you in the story and of course, most of
the time it's just a jumping off point and you go ahead and
write a lot more.) In the 1970s I started with the goal of
writing 10 pages a day, then went to 15 or a chapter, whichever
came last, but the problem with that is if I sat down and
everything was going wrong I'd walk away and it would take me a
while to get back. Writing five pages for a week is better than
writing 15 pages in one day when those days come
every two weeks.
So nowadays I go where I want (sometimes my office chair,
sometimes the living room while everyone's asleep, sometimes a
porch by the lake, sometimes my cabin in the woods) and write
the way I want (long hand, on a computer, on an Alphasmart).
Keeps me lively.
ANNA: I'm always fascinated
by the books that influenced writers. What was your favourite
reading as you were growing up? What books inspired you to
become a writer? Who do you like to read now?
ANNE: Mary Stewart and
Georgette Heyer. Though the life-changing book was Mistress of
Mellyn by Victoria Holt. Nowadays I read historicals by Laura
Kinsale (my favourite), Teresa Medeiros, Elizabeth Peters (I
even made a full-length quilted vest entitled "The Amelia
Peabody Ceremonial Robe"). I've been enjoying the Stephanie
Meyer YA vampire books (Twilight and New Moon), the JR Ward and
Tara Janzen series, and books with a Japanese connection (Tales
of the Otori by Lian Hearn, the Rei Shimura mysteries by Sujata
Massey, etc). And my favourite book of the decade was Sunshine
by Robin McKinley. There are dozens of writers who are good
friends whose stuff I love (Jenny Crusie, Barbara Samuel, etc)
but it's safer to list people I barely know (or don't know at
all).
ANNA: I notice you have
occasionally featured a sexy Aussie hero in your work! Is this
your first visit to Australia? Are you going to see anything of
the country while you're here?
ANNE: Oh, God, I hope so
(seeing some of the country). I mean, we're talking about a land
that gave us Simon Baker (Denny), Russell Crowe (yeah, I know he
was born in NZ), Hugh Jackman, Guy Pearce, and more. Australian
heroes can be the perfect modern cowboy, or they can be rough
and dangerous.
The possibilities are endless and yummy. And yup, this is the
first time I've been here.
ANNA: I notice you recently
made the New York Times list for the first time.
Congratulations! How did that feel? After such a stellar career,
are there any heights you would still like to scale? What are
your long-term writing ambitions now?
ANNE: It was about God-damn
time! No, actually my agent called to tell me and I burst into
tears and cried for half an hour in my office. I hate it when
people say some honour or perk is well-deserved and
long-overdue, because that's really true for everyone. I wasn't
expecting it for that book, so it was a thrill to finally make
that coveted place.
Are there more heights? Well, I hate to admit it but I'd love
more money and fame (let's be honest here). My son has had some
special needs and his education has been mind-bogglingly
expensive, so we're deep in debt, and if I had more money I
wouldn't have to worry about how a book performs. Money =
freedom.
The problem is, fame and fortune is like having a clean house. A
lovely thing, but not worth the effort. So I'm just going to
keep on doing what I do and hope things fall into place.
Sometimes they do (with Black Ice, Night of the Phantom),
sometimes they don't (Nightfall, Shadows at Sunset).
My long-term writing ambition would probably be keep writing but
step back from the business. It can be really soul-sucking, and
after 33 years I'm tired of it. The business, not the writing.
As for creative goals - well, I love what I'm doing. I've
written books that anyone would be proud of, and I expect I'll
write more. It's a gift, I'm truly grateful (no false modesty
here) and as long as the girls in the
basement keep sending up good stuff for me to write I'll keep
writing.
You can find out more about Anne and her books by
visiting
her website.
Anna Campbell's first historical romance for Avon, Claiming the
Courtesan, is out now. Her next release, Untouched, comes out in
December 2007.
Visit her
website for more information about her books.
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