Action, reaction, motivation, emotion, all have to come from the characters. Writing a love scene requires the same elements from the writer as any other.
Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.
And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking.
Aren't most romance heros, or heros in fiction of any kind, generally superior to real men? Same goes for heroines and real women.
As much as I value my microwave, if it came down to a choice between that and the Internet - the mike would go.
Category has offered me a wonderful canvas on which to paint - they might be quick, charcoal sketches rather than the more detailed or sweeping oils I do outside of category. But art is still art.
Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing.
Each of my characters comes from somewhere, and where they come from, good or bad, has a large part in forming who they are, and who they can become.
Every single book is a challenge.
Every writer has to figure out what works best - and often has to select and discard different tools before they find the one that fits.
First, I really believe that since writer is a term without genre, a good one should be able to write believable male and female characters.
For myself, I've always felt that if you remember those expectations, if you focus on the ongoing relationship between the hero and heroine, category can be amazingly flexible.
For over a year I continued to submit mss, and have them rejected - the last few with rejection letters indicated the story was pretty good, but I was American.
However, the best of the best is when I can get up - between 7:30 and 8:00, work out for 30-50 minutes, then go straight to work.
I believe strongly in writing groups such as Romance Writers Of America that offer support, information and networking.
I decided to write category romance as I'd recently discovered them, and enjoyed them.
I do indeed write on the road. My laptop goes with me everywhere.
I don't base any character on a real person, and really don't do composites either. I make them up.
I don't believe for one moment you can write well what you wouldn't read for pleasure.
I don't fiddle or edit or change while I'm going through that first draft.
I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.
I feel strongly that plagiarism is the line no writer can cross, and if it is crossed, must be dealt with firmly. I had to stand for my work.
I find I use the Internet more and more. It's just an invaluable tool. I do most of my research on the Net now - and certainly do the bulk of my communicating through email.
I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.
I just don't depend on inspiration much.
I long for typical days, but rarely get them any more.
I loved the process of writing.
I need to write to be happy.
I read a lot - and I read a variety of genres.
I think writing classes can certainly help a new writer with the nuts and bolts if they're rusty.
I would hope that my writing's cleaner than it was when I started.
I write quickly, which can cause some inventory problems in (publishing) house.
I'd always loved to read - and come from a family of readers - but I never thought about writing as a career.
I'll usually work until about four or five - take a short break mid day to run through the email that's come in or read and post on the boards.
I've gotten to know a number of readers from being online, and really treasure the time I've spent with them.
I've never felt category is restrictive.
If a book's moving well, or I was interrupted over six million times through the day, I'll usually go back and write for another hour or two.
If you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations.
In the summer of '80, Silhouette bought my first book.
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.
Mary Stewart will always be my goddess. I can pick up one of her early books - one I've read a dozen times - and still slide right into the story.
My editors and my agent had all suggested writing under another name so I could keep up the pace that's comfortable for me.
My own sense of family, where I came from and what I made for myself is an important part of my life.
Now, I'll say this. I've never taking a course on writing. I've never read a book on writing. This isn't something that would work for me.
One of my greatest pleasures is falling into a story someone else has written.
The fact that, as I mentioned earlier, romance will absorb and incorporate so many elements from so many other genres and still remain true to its form.
The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.
What I write deals with relationships, with making families. It just follows that I would often write about family and what it means.
When a writer is lucky enough to have a character like Daniel insisting on being part of her work, she listens.
When American writers embraced the category form and began to make it theirs, our women became sharper, stronger and more accessible to the reader.
When you're writing category, you don't have a lot of time or a lot of room and the focus of the book is on the relationship.
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