As a teenager I started writing short stories. I tried selling one to Woman’s Day and the Australian Women’s Weekly but it was rejected, and teenage egos being as fragile as they are I never tried again. At 18 I met my future husband, and my writing ambitions went into hibernation. Twenty-five years and three children later they woke, stretched, and lumbered out into the writing world and stared around in astonishment. Getting published now was going to be a lot harder. I read an article which stated that getting published in the romance genre was easier than any other (which turned out to be incorrect), so I started reading and writing romance, and joined the Romance Writers of Australia. My second entry in the Emma Darcy Award, The Marriage Merger, gained second placing out of 85 manuscripts, so I knew I was on the right track.
I’d always felt category print publishers had rejected my books because they had too much plot, and realised that I really wanted to write a book that was full of excitement and adventure, but with a passionate love story at its core. Dance with the Devil was born, and within three weeks of sending it to Pan Macmillan Australia I was offered a contract for it and another two novels for which I had submitted the synopses.
Cate Paterson, Fiction Publisher with Pan Macmillan, sent me a fax with the contract offers, then phoned the next day to confirm. When the fax was chugging its slow way out of the machine I developed at least two ulcers of anxiety. When the word CONGRATULATIONS! came through on the sixth line I screamed. My eldest son was in the office at the time and gave me a big hug. I was so excited I kept reading the fax over and over until all I was talking was gibberish. I woke up the next morning convinced it was a dream, and sat at my desk with the fax taped to my monitor to reassure myself.
a) The joy of creating heroes who set my heart pounding and heroines courageous enough to do everything I wouldn’t be game to.
The worst? Definitely the low esteem in which romance writing is held by a proportion of the writing fraternity and readers. A lot of other genre writers are loathe to admit that lousy writing occurs in every genre, just as good writing does. The technique and ability of a good majority of romance writers equals that of any other genre.
My writing crosses a lot of genres - romance, thriller, suspense, adventure. Readers can relate to my characters because they are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. I don’t write contrived misunderstandings or women who are afraid to express their feelings. I believe today’s woman has too much self-respect to be a doormat and enough integrity and compassion to take the man’s feelings into consideration.
While the plot is always complex, it doesn’t detract from the love which is unfolding between my characters. Hot sex? Yes, but it’s love-making that reveals their hearts and souls and makes them vulnerable to one another.
Suspense is a big element. I had one reader who told me “I was going to read your book for an hour, then do the vacuuming. Six hours later I said ‘Bugger the vacuuming’. I just had to keep reading your book.” It’s been pure happiness for me to hear so many readers telling me they couldn’t put Dance with the Devil down. If I can give readers an exciting and enjoyable journey into the world in my book then I feel very privileged.
In Dance with the Devil, you meet a secondary character named Chayse, who becomes the main character in Sea Mistress, the tentative title for my third book. When I was in the middle of writing the second book, Chayse kept interrupting me, saying, “You have to write the first chapter of Sea Mistress. It’s a great opening. This is it!” To which I replied, “Shoo, go away, I’m writing Black Ice. Your turn will come.”
Well, he kept badgering me until I threw my hands in the air, said okay just to shut him up, and wrote it. When I’d finished, I had to admit he was right - it’s an opening that propels you straight into his world, with all the danger and heartache it encompasses.
I don’t have to get “in the mood” to write the steamy scenes - no slinky negligees etc. By the time I come to write the steamy scenes I am so embroiled in my characters and the story I know how they will act on the desire smouldering between them.
Ideas for sexy scenes? Reading, movies, and real-life loving. I’m lucky to be married to a very sexy man and we have great chemistry. Plus, like all writers, I have a fantastic imagination!
Our unique fauna is something I like to touch on too, like the tree kangaroo which makes a dramatic entrance in Dance with the Devil.
Currently, I’m writing Sea Mistress (working title). It’s set on a trawler, which was a steep learning curve for me as it’s such a unique industry. Chayse goes undercover, and gets more than he bargained for! He loses his heart ... and almost his life. The projected publication date for this book is March 2003.
1. What drew you to writing?
Reading. I’ve always LOVED books. As a child I practically lived in the library. Most girls saved up their pocket money to buy dolls - I bought books. It seemed a natural progression to start writing (probably so I could read the type of stories I liked). I do believe though that writers can’t help themselves - the drive to write is so great they can’t ignore it.
2. How did you get started as a writer, who and what influenced you in taking up that profession?
I had a taste for reading adventure and graduated from Enid Blyton to Ivan Southall and then to Alistair McLean. His intricate plots and the action appealed to me, although I was often annoyed by the small part his female characters played. Any romance was only hinted at, and there was definitely no sex (which was a terrible waste as he wrote some hunky heroes).
3. When did you make your first sale? How did it feel?
The Marriage Merger was rejected, nicely, by Silhouette, so I sent it to New Concepts Publishing (electronic publishers). I was thrilled when a contract arrived in the mail a couple of months later. They subsequently accepted No Cure for Love and A Tender Deception and published them as category duets.
4. What is the best/worst part of being a writer in the romance genre? Do you perceive yourself as a genre writer?
The best? So many bests, how will I choose?
b) Associating with the most generous and friendly people in the world - romance writers and readers.
c) Doing in-depth research (grin).
5. How would you describe your books, your writing style?
In Dance with the Devil and Black Ice I’ve finally found my ‘voice’. I have a crisp, pacey style which keeps the action flowing, while still ensuring my characters have the depth and passion that readers love.
6. What inspires you as a writer?
I think, like most writers, I store snippets of information away in my head. They might brew there for years, getting a stir every so often like Macbeth’s witches’ cauldron, then, when I need it, and very occasionally when I don’t because it’s inconvenient, the story spills over the top of the cauldron and demands to be written.
7. Your stories come to life with a very strong sexual tension and intense romance between the main characters, as well as the deadly danger they are facing. Who is your target readership and how do you handle writing those steamy scenes? Do you have to "get in the mood"? Where do you get your ideas from for sexy scenes?
Target readership? Women, and men, who enjoy life and love.
8. Your books are set in Queensland. How important is the location for your stories?
Queensland offers such wonderful scenic scope. We have hot steamy rainforests, fabulous beaches and rugged, sun-drenched Outback. Australia is one of the oldest continents, and the land is so elemental. My characters battle not only the villain and their own desires, but the harsh conditions they are plunged into.
9. In Black Ice, your March ‘02 release, you revisit characters from your previous book, Dance With The Devil. What is the fascination and benefit of revisiting characters and locations?
When I read a book with characters I’ve come to care about, I want to know where their lives go from there. So in Black Ice, although the main characters are Daniel and Kirri, readers have a glimpse of Emma and Drew, the characters they met in Dance with the Devil. It’s like catching up with old friends, and who doesn’t like to do that? In Black Ice, the locations vary, which adds more interest to the story.
10. Do you feel different being a writer from Australia? How so?
All writers are moulded by their cultural and national heritage. But books, films and television have allowed most people to know how people in other countries live, so we can appreciate our similarities as well as our differences. Because of this, most Australian writers, although keeping our country’s own unique flavour, try to ensure our books are easily understood by readers in other countries. I do, however, feel privileged to be able to give them a glimpse of Australia they might otherwise not see. So I was thrilled to learn Dance with the Devil has been contracted for publication in Germany.
11. What can you tell us about your upcoming releases?
Black Ice will be published in March 2002. Kirri, the artist readers met briefly in Devil, is flung into a world of danger and deceit when she meets Daniel Brand, the man who holds the key to the mystery in her past.
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