Author of Historical Romance Novels Interviewed
Janet WoodsTalks About her Creative Writing and Characters
Mar 19, 2009
Suite101 writer, Lynne Cobine, talks to Janet Woods about her prolific output of creative writing and her latest novels.
You've just signed a contract for your 24th and 25th books who is this with and what will the stories be about?
The two books are with Severn House. Salting the Wound is a mainstream historical. It's about two sisters. Charlotte turns down a man she's always loved–childhood friend and sea Captain Nicholas Thornton in a fit of pique. Instead, she marries a stranger who brings his own set of problems with him. Marianne is the youngest sister, and she finds herself placed in a position where marriage to Nicholas becomes a necessity, which puts the sisters at loggerheads. The second book is a sequel with a working title of Little Consquence . Not fully worked out yet, but is the story of a third sister, who they'd believed to have perished at birth.
How did you manage to get started as a published author?
I entered a book with the RNAs New Writer's Scheme in 1990. I think it was my third attempt at entering, and it was called the Netta Musket Award at the time. I didn't win the award, but the Association placed my book with publisher Robert Hale in their Rainbow Romance line. It was published under a pen name in 1992. It was another eight years before I was published again because the Rainbow Romance line folded shortly afterwards. Eight years later I entered a historical romance I'd written in a competition for unpublished manuscripts here in Australia. Daughter of Darkness took out third place from over 600 entries. I sent it to Robert Hale under my own name. It was accepted. When it was published it won the 2002 Romantic Book of the Year Award here in Australia. I haven't been out of work since.
How do you maintain your motivation in writing so many novels?
It seems to maintain itself. I love writing. Creating a character, good or bad, getting inside their skins, influencing the path of their lives. Living with them, laughing and crying with them
. . . it's like having a secret identity. It doesn't feel like acting a role. My characters say or do things that I certainly wouldn't. They're much braver and selfless in given situations. Many authors say they feel bereaved when they finish a book. I'd agree with that. There is a definite sense of loss when a book is finished
Janet's website members.iinet.net.au/~woods/
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