|
BJ: How long have you been
writing?
FH: I’ve been writing romance
for about seven years. Three years ago I took redundancy from
the La-z-boy factory where I was a supervisor, to concentrate on
my writing. Financially, it made a lot of changes to our
lifestyle but it has been worth it.
My first visit to an Australian
conference was in 1996 and I’ve jumped the ditch to every
Romance Writers of Australia conference since. My Scottish
accent is a bit hard to miss and I’m sure many Hearts Talk
readers will remember meeting me.
After my first RWA conference I
came home as a member of the Isolated Writers Scheme. This is
one of the best moves I made. I met Enisa Hasic at the
conference. We clicked and have been friends ever since.
BJ: How many books have you
written?
FH: My first book was a M&B
which no one will ever see. After writing it three times I
realised M&B was the wrong direction for me. In 1998 I
entered the inaugural Clendon Award with Burning Bright,
my second full length book. A Desire, it placed third and
received a nice full page rejection which was very encouraging.
BJ: And so you decided on
Intimate Moments?
FH: Yes, I had too much to say,
too much plot for the other lines. That’s when I decided to
try IM.
BJ: How did your first sale
come about?
FH: My third complete book, The
Man For Maggie, won the 1999 Clendon Award as Cry Baby
and was picked up six month later by Leslie Wainger (senior
editor for SIM and the final judge.)
Ed note: The Clendon Award is
RWNZ’s annual full manuscript contest for unpublished writers.
Now, I know my heroine was
psychic, but I didn’t know it was catching. I was actually at
the computer, writing a very polite letter to Leslie when the
phone rang and she was on the other end saying, “we want to
buy your book.”
BJ: How did you feel hearing
those magic words?
FH: For all the effort, blood
sweat and tears, we put into our writing, hoping to get
published, it still comes as a surprise to hear them. I’d just
finished book number four, my second 85,000 word novel and I was
reduced to one word, WOW!
BJ: You have held the first
book in your hands … tell us about that…
FH: I think that was my next best
moment. Actually holding my book in my hand. I couldn’t stop
shaking.
BJ: Is the cover all that you
imagined?
FH: I love the cover. Who would
have thought I’d have John DeSalvo on the cover of my first
book? I had to describe three scenes from the book and the cover
artist picked the wedding scene from the epilogue. It was pretty
much as I’d described it, the colours all blended perfectly,
and how was he to know it’s too hot to grow lilacs in
Auckland?
BJ: Did you read the book when
your author copies arrived?
FH: I did read it, and picked up
a couple of mistakes the copy editor had missed, but I have to
say I found it to be a good read. Just the kind of book I like.
BJ: Tell us a little about the
story…
FH: Maggie Kovacs is the CEO of a
winery left to her when her father died in a plane crash. She’s
also psychic and the notoriety she gained when it became known
she’d predicted her father’s death has made her wary of the
media and police alike. But when a serial killer haunts Auckland
City as well as her dreams, she is forced to speak to the
police. Although Det. Serg. Max Strachan has his own reasons for
shunning her psychic predictions, in him Maggie finds a man she
can not only love, but trust to make sure her dreams won’t
come true.
BJ: That sounds intriguing.
Where do you get your ideas?
FH: I find them anywhere - I only
hope I have time to write them all. My first three books will
all be set in New Zealand, but earlier in 2000 I went on a trip
to the States with my mentor, Enisa. I did lots of research
there.
BJ: Do you have a writing
routine?
FH: I don’t write on Thursdays,
that’s the day I look after my grandson. The other days I fit
it in whenever I can, day or night.
BJ: When not writing, how do
you spend your time?
FH: I love to read. I adore many
writers and last year at the RWAmerica conference in DC I met
most of them face to face, starting with Nora Roberts, Linda
Howard, Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I also met a lot of IM writers
like Ruth Wind and Beverly Barton and Maggie Price.
BJ: To what do you contribute
your success?
FH: If I knew that it wouldn’t
have taken me six years to sell my first book. But Harlequin
asked me for a quote and this is what I said, “I love writing
and getting published is the icing on that particular cake. But
I’ve learned there is no formula, no magic except in the words
themselves, and even wishes have to be worked for.”
BJ: Any advice to writers
wanting to break into the American category market?
FH: Read all the lines and write
for the one you like to read most.
BJ: Your ambition as a writer…
FH: I think my writing is close
enough to mainstream romance that the leap won’t be too hard
and I do have a few ideas, but for now I’m content to write
for IM.
|
Frances’
first book, The Man for Maggie, was a January 2001
Silhouette Intimate Moments release in North America. Its
Australian and NZ imprint is part of a February two-book HQ
Intimate Moments, teamed with Dangerous Liaisons by
Maggie Price.