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Congratulations! Your first book, THE
CONSULTANT'S TEMPTATION, is due out soon and your second book,
CITY DOCTOR, OUTBACK NURSE, has been accepted and scheduled for November 2004. Can you tell us how it feels to be Australia's newest HM&B Medicals Author?
We're very excited and a little bit stunned. The other Medical Romance authors, both in Australia and overseas, have been very supportive and welcoming.
How long ago did you start writing and what was the inspiration for writing a romance?
We started writing Medical Romance three and a half years ago, not counting teenage diaries. THE CONSULTANT'S TEMPTATION is the second book we wrote and the first Harlequin Mills &
Boon read so we've been on a steep learning curve since then. As for the genre, we both enjoy reading romance (other than that our reading tastes are very different) and we enjoy Medical Romance in particular.
Has writing together brought you together as sisters, or have you always been close and this is just one more dimension to that relationship?
We've always been close but we're really enjoying writing together. It's easier than sharing a childhood bedroom and we did that too!
Writing is usually a solitary profession Given that there are two of you how do you go about the business of writing?
So far one of us comes up with the initial idea but then we'll develop that plot together. The other one does the character development from there. Then we start writing, generally alternating chapters. One of us concentrates more on the medical scenes, the other more on the romantic aspects. We've found we have different strengths in our writing so we complement each other in that way too. We edit and proof in turns and luckily we seem to have similar writing "voices" so that the story flows well. By the end we have trouble remembering/ telling who wrote what. So far our technique, if you can call it that, seems to be working.
Do you ever have disagreements about what the characters should be doing next, or is it all worked out with plotting beforehand? If you do have disagreements, how do you resolve them?
Strangely enough we haven't had any major disagreements, but we do have regular discussions throughout the process to update and alter the plot. The first plot is never the same as the finished story and the characters tend to dictate the changes. We say things like "I don't think our heroine would do that", and so far we've agreed. If one feels very strongly about making an alteration we will do that - swings and roundabouts! Of course, if we did disagree the elder Emily would claim seniority!
How did HM&B deal with you being a partnership…….
Emily got "the call" initially from the editorial office. Since then we've had
some organised phone conferences so we could communicate simultaneously and Emails are copied to us both. We haven't had any problems, nor have HM&B expressed any difficulties.
What would you be doing now if you weren't writing for HM&B?
Mothers, physiotherapy - the same things we're still doing. "Lawyer" Emily has deferred her Masters in Clinical Psychology so she'd probably be studying part-time
if not for writing.
What do your families think about you being a published author? Have they been supportive along the way?
Our family is made up of very keen readers so they're very excited for us and see it as a big achievement. Our husbands and parents have been very supportive and are encouraging us to continue writing.
Where do you see yourselves in 5 or 10 years time? Still writing together for Medicals?
We're loving writing Medicals, we like the element of "real-life" drama. We do also talk about writing for the Red Dress Ink line down the track as well. Maybe once we really feel established as medical authors, and our children are a little older, we'll feel ready to add another challenge.
Will you both make it for the Love's A Beach conference at Coogee in August?
Definitely. Our tickets are already booked and we're really forward to it. See you there!
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