Anne Gracie

Keeping Your Writing Fresh  

Work at it constantly:

Currently a double RITA finalist, Australian Lilian Darcy, author of more than 50 books, says:

I think one of the most important keys to staying fresh is recognising that, like anything else in writing, it doesn't happen by chance, it involves conscious effort and work. I was lucky enough to learn about the staying fresh thing through working as an actor in theatre in my late teens and early twenties, so my struggle with it as a writer was relatively short. A light bulb clicked on, I realised it was the same issue that I'd faced as a performer, and I knew how to handle it.

After the first few performances, you know the lines, you know the moves, you know what the audience responds to, you've delved deeper into your role... the most critical skill becomes the ability to stay fresh, to turn in a committed performance for every show. You have to find the keys that work for you. You have to believe that staying fresh is important. It's the same with writing.

To summarise, recognise that it's a crucial skill, and work on it."

Helen Bianchin, best-selling, multi published HM&B Sexy author says: For me, it's important to keep in tune with what's happening now, how the men and women within the age group we write about view and react in today's world. Movies, watching current television programs, people-watching. I have two friends who serve on committees for charity, so I get to mix occasionally with the social set ... it's so interesting to listen to some of the "have I got a story for you" revelations. Mothers of models, actresses, the rich and famous. Add imagination, a gorgeous guy, an attractive girl, do the "what if" thing, and before you know it, you're beginning another book ...

Valerie Parv author of 50th romance novels and 75 books overall, agrees that keeping fresh is a real concern. "It says in the Desiderata, "never compare yourself to others for always there will be greater or lesser persons than yourself" and I try to apply this to my writing as I do to other aspects of my life. So I aim to outdo myself - a bit like the concept of "personal best" used by athletes. How can I make this book better than the one before? How can I make these characters more vibrant and interesting? What can I do with this book that I've never done before?

Even describing a kiss presents a challenge. After publishing nearly four million words, I sometimes fear I've written every variation known to authorkind. Then I focus on who these two people are and how they are different from every other couple I've written about. This lets me see the kiss, not as my four millionth, but as their first!

Today I bought a new how-to book for writers (The Career Novelist by Donald Maass, if you're interested) and my husband looked at it and commented that I already know all this stuff. Perhaps. But there may be one kernel of new information in there that I can add to my store to ensure I keep growing and developing as a writer. So I still buy how-to books.

I feel that in Australia, professional writers, actors and other professionals suffer from a lack of workshops at an advanced level. In the US and elsewhere, it's accepted that you attend master classes in specialist areas. Such classes are rare in Australia and attending them treated almost as an admission of inadequacy, instead of a commitment to continuing growth. I've actually sat in one another writers' workshop and been asked what I was doing there. Yet I feel an open mind and attitude that we can never know all there is, also helps to keep the work interesting and challenging.

Strangely enough, teaching the craft is another way to keep it fresh and new. Every time I conduct a workshop I learn something new myself, or am forced to answer questions such as why some techniques are more effective than others."

Best-selling Emma Darcy, author of more than 80+ category romances as well as crime novels, says "The trick for me is to keep meeting people and pick up on the quirks in their relationships -plus how they got to this point in their lives/careers? - background forces.

All my stories are character driven so I'm continually on the lookout for something different, interesting, fascinating. I watch a lot of 'reality' TV shows like Survivor and Big Brother because sooner or later people reveal themselves on them - though must admit there's a lot of boring stuff in between.

I also travel a lot because different settings usually spawn different characters and different situations, too. This also brings me into contact with people outside my normal sphere - wealthy people with amazing lifestyles, which I need for Presents stories. On my most recent trip to Bedarra Island I met a wonderfully arrogant Austrian Count and a yummy London barrister - ideal for creating new characters. I am constantly aware of what might be usable. It can come from anything or anywhere - like when I moved house and needed to find a pet grooming place for my two dogs. I found one and asked the owner how she got into the business. She said she used to be a hairdresser but preferred dealing with animals than people. That simple concept led to my story THE BILLIONAIRE BRIDEGROOM which reached No 1 on the Waldenbooks list, so it has certainly worked for me.

And in my line, keeping up with current values in our society is critical - what people want today! And don't want!!! I guess the main thing is to remain very aware of what our readers will empathise with. To me this is the realities of current day life, dressed up to turn into marvellous fantasies where everything moves towards the best possible outcome. I like being a fairy godmother. The more problems I find to solve, the more interesting the challenge, the more satisfied I feel as a romance writer. So I'll keep on doing it because it's great to bring it off. I want 'fresh' myself, because I'd find repeating stuff incredibly boring. Every time I sit down to write a new story, I want to live a different life through my characters. And I do.

Bestselling "Presents" (M&B Sexy) author, Sandra Marton, has just signed the contract for her 60th book. She said: "This question really resonated with me because I was asked that very same thing by someone who attended a workshop I gave a couple of weeks ago. She said she was a devoted reader of mine--lovely to hear, of course--and asked how I managed to keep my stories as fresh as they were and, more to the point, how did I manage to maintain my enthusiasm for writing Presents and romances in general after having written so many of them?

I told her that it was no trouble at all maintaining enthusiasm for Presents because, luckily for me, my editor has always encouraged me to try new things when I felt the need, e.g., the creation of family sagas, expanded POV, bits of humor used to relieve stretches of emotional intensity, etc. Added to that, I truly believe in the underlying premise of passionate romance, that is, the coup de foudre concept of lightning (destiny) striking one man and one woman with a bolt so powerful it sears their hearts and souls forever. Finally, in purely practical terms, I approach each book as if it were my first and set out to make it the very best book I've ever written. That means my characters, my plots, the words I use are all new to me. Having lots of characters in your head is like having lots of friends in your life. They're all different, and I never confuse one friend--or character--with another."

For RITA award-winning multi-published author HM&B author, Liz Fielding, the key to keeping her writing fresh is fascination with people. She says: I don't get out much ... (correction: I just spent the entire morning at the local surgery with my husband's bad chest, got short-changed by the market trader who sold me some strawberries -- sorted him out pdq -- and witnessed someone return the "wrong prescription" to the pharmacy -- story material all round me!) I do also read the financial pages of the newspapers hunting for likely heroes, heroines and the storyline for my latest marriage of convenience.

I guess all writers are just plain nosey. They earwig other people's conversations in shops, at the hairdressers, travelling. And once my interest has been snagged ... there's another story.

E-published author Joanie McNeill says : I've often thought as I've started a new novel that I'm travelling over familiar ground, but I guess some it has to be that way. I suppose what brings the challenge of a new story to life is the characters we create, and the different settings etc.

Sophie Weston, multi-published HM&B Tango and Romance author, says: "I do one of two things - go for a long, long walk so I can't get at anything to write with. Build up of frustration tends to unblock the dam from the subconscious. And/or take a ride on the bus or the train and earwig on people's conversations. The characters just reach out and grab you, sometimes in no more than half a dozen words. And characters do the driving, at least in my books they do."

Multi-published HM&B Sexy author, Kate Walker, agrees. How do the long established authors keep writing fresh? For me, the answer to that one is people. You see, I don't think of each new book as a new idea or as having to come up with something original (there are only so few plots that original is almost impossible to do!) What I do is I write the story of two new people. Two people that I've just met and who have the most interesting story to tell me - their life story and how they met and came to be together. And just as with new friends that story of how they came to meet their partners is always fascinating, then that's what gets me telling the next story - because I want to share it with everyone.

Author Michelle Reid has this wonderful saying - that we don't write Romance - we write Relationship novels and I think that's so true. Certainly it is for me - sometimes the stories aren't really romantic in the 'hearts and flowers' sense but, as someone said about Michelle's stories - there is so much emotion in there that it can tear at your heart sometimes. It's when feelings like that are involved that real romance is loving and giving yourself not roses or chocolates or other things. And so it's the relationship between these two people - people I've never met before - that grabs my interest and keeps it.

Multi published US author of HM&B, Renée Roszel also get her inspiration from people: I was on the phone with a woman who we have yet to meet, but who recently bought the house next to our lake lot covered with lovely, big trees. One of those lovely tall suckers was toppled by the slap of a tornado's tail, onto their property, and she was calling to tell me the estimated cost of removing the debris. I (ever the nosey writer) ended up grilling her about the business she was in, what that involved, etc etc. Oh well, I guess, if we have to pay for our delinquent tree I might as well get potential story material out of it. :)

I believe that's extremely important in keeping writing fresh, I annoy people to death with personal questions, and those I can't find ways to annoy with questions, I watch, eavesdrop on and absorb everything I can -- attitudes, quirks, body piercings, language idiosyncrasies, style or lack of it.

Anne Weale, author of 78 HM&B titles , uses travel to inspire her. She says: "Almost all of my books have been inspired by real life travels. The reason my first book was accepted immediately, and bought for magazine serialisation [Woman's Own UK], was because it was based on two years spent in Malaysia [then Malaya] during the State of Emergency caused by communist terrorism in the Fifties.

Since then all but a few of my titles have been the outcome of time spent in Vancouver, Nantucket, Maui, Fiji, Sydney, Tasmania, New Zealand, Bali, the Caribbean islands, Venice, the French Riviera and many other romantic places. My last two titles are set in a fictional Spanish village set in the mountain valley which is my winter home. These stories have imaginary characters in an authentic setting. I've also used the island of Guernsey, where I live in summer, as a background.

Travel is an essential ingredient in my romances. A schooner voyage in the Indian ocean gave me the background for Footprints in the Sand, and Sleepless Nights is almost a diary of my trip to Nepal...including the cold shower and sleeping bag love scenes. A romance writer has to suffer for her art! <g>

Wherever I've been, I always met lots of friendly young Aussies. I'm sure Australia will produce some of the best romance writers of the 21st century. I hope, as well as using their own fascinating country as background, they will also use their travels overseas to carry on the great tradition - started by E M Hull with The Sheik - of love stories in exotic locations."

Australia's Marion Lennox, currently a double RITA finalist, has written more than 50 books. She says: "I've been sulking over my wip (work in progress). I took the dog for a walk and stood ankle deep in autumn leaves, stared at the lake and thought of nothing at all and it came to me that my heroine is too shallow and she doesn't have enough backstory and what she needs is a dying husband. Of course. Why didn't I think of that? Back to my WIP and it's singing.

Therefore: How to Keep Yourself Fresh? Grant yourself dreaming time. You never get the great ideas staring in front of a blank page saying "here idea here idea here..."

How do you do it?: Sleep in next Sunday. Let the house self destruct while you dream a little.

Sit in the sun. Think of nothing at all. Do NOT concentrate on your WIP. Simply dream.

Take at least half an hour a day for you and take it when you're not tired. Label it dreaming time. Walk, snooze, swim, sit in the bath but dream....

It's amazing what's in there if you give it time to come out.

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Thank you to all those authors who contributed to this article.

Anne Gracie

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