And thanks to all of you for dropping by and offering comments.

I’ve appreciated the chance to talk to you.

Candace

Thank you for sharing,

Renee

Yes, I do still get excited—I don’t jump up and down anymore, but it’s still such a thrill to see my name on the cover of a book. It’s also so exciting to walk into a store and see several different books of mine on the shelf. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that.

I typically write two books a year.

I don’t think of myself as being someone to whom ideas come easily, although obviously I must have had a lot of them over the years, given the number of books. The idea process is the most fun in one way; after all, it’s just day-dreaming. On the other hand, it’s scary. I know an idea is going to come to me, but I always have this little fear–what if I can’t think of anything!

I think the secret to writing for so long–well, I really think there are two important things. The first is that I just keep on working. I keep writing; I keep thinking. I’ve always looked at it as a career, not just book by book. When I finish a book, I am very rarely sad. I feel like I’ve accomplished something, and it’s great, but I want to move on to another story. (Bitterleaf was one of the few where I felt kind of depressed when I finished because I had just enjoyed it and the characters so much. This Matchmaker series was another like that. When I finished The Courtship Dance, I was blue and wished I could keep on writing more about them.)

The other thing is being willing to change and adapt, to keep your stories and writing fresh. Periodically, I re-assess my books and try to see where I’ve fallen into ruts or started taking the easy course. I look at what’s being read currently in the romance field. I read other writers and try to analyze what they do well and why it succeeds.

Til later. . .Candace

Wow! I never expected so many questions. And, Quantum—some outfit, I must say! Maybe I’ll reconsider Johnny Depp.

I hardly know where to start. Two people asked about changes in the industry so I’ll go there first.

Yes, there have been enormous changes. The major one for writers, I guess, has been the fact that when I started you really could mail your manuscript to a publisher and have it read and purchased. Nowadays, from what I can tell from my own daughter’s experience—she’s just finished a YA—you really almost have to get an agent. I think it’s much harder to get published now than it was then.

And, yes, many ideas—and even time periods—have been used so much that they’ve become passe. Still, one thing I’ve seen over the years is that writers still manage to put fresh spins even on ideas that have been used and re-used many times.

Another big change for writers is the huge amount of information that’s out there now—websites, conventions, writing seminars. The first two or three years I was writing, I was so ignorant, it’s kind of amazing. I didn’t know anything abut publishing; I didn’t know any other writers. I had actually written 4 or 5 books before I ever went to a writers conference. When RWA was formed, it really opened a new and exciting world. I was so happy to meet other romance writers and share conversation and laughter. It was totally different from today, where you can go to a website and type in a question and get 4 or 5 immediate responses from fellow writers.

Quantum, yes I do have some male readers. It’s hard to tell how many because they usually aren’t the readers I hear from. But I know several men who have read my books and been really surprised to find out how good romance books are.

I’ll tell you my favorite story along this line: I was once at a bookstore in a mall with a group of about 6 or 7 other romance writers. As we sat there, this guy drifts into the store. He looks like he just got off his Harley–I’m serious—tattoos, sweatshirt with the sleeves ripped off, long hair, motorcycle boots. He stood and looked up and dow the line of us sitting there with our romance books on the table before us, then came closer, shaking his head. He said, “These books…”
We were all going, uh-oh, he’s about to make some terrible, derogatory remark, and how are we going to respond.
And then he went, “I just love these books!”
It was great.

Marnee Jo—I am definitely a plotter. When I began my outlines were very brief—my outline for my second book was only a page long, just roman numerals with an idea beside each one. A few years later, when I began to sell my books to publishers on the basis of an outline instead of a completed manuscript, I started making more detail outlines. Over the years, my plot synopses have become more and more detailed. Now they tend to run about 50 pages. I just feel more comfortable knowing that I have it all laid out and I don’t have to worry about getting stuck halfway through it with no idea what to do next. (This actually happened to me once, on about my sixth or seventh book. I wrote five chapters and the story just fell apart on me. I realized it was boring and going nowhere, and I just gave up on it.) Now I can see that as I’m writing the synopsis.

Also, it saves from another bad situation that also happened to me. I sent in the second book on my contract, and my editor didn’t like the story–at all. I would up selling this one elsewhere and writing a new one for her. That was when I started selling my books on the basis of a synopsis. I know before I start writing it if my editor has major problems with a character, time, place, or plotline.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t ever deviate from the synopsis. I do. I may go a different direction or add a character or enlarge one who becomes unexpectedly appealing as I write. I’ve even been known to change the villain of the piece somewhere in the middle of the book.

Someone raised the question of prologues. I like prologues. Often they’re attention grabbers, and they’re especially useful when you have an event in the past that has some influence on the present. For instance, in the Lost Heirs series, everything hinged on this thing that happened to a set of siblings when they were children. So for each book, I had a prologue concerning that incident. The prologues tied the stories together and piqued the reader’s interest.

And Lisa, about writers who inspired me—there are so, so many! I have always read like a maniac. My favorite childhood memory is going to the library. I loved Anne of Green Gables. I still think they are wonderful books and L.M. Montgomery was a terrific writer. It was probably around the time I was reading her series of books about Anne that I began to want to write books myself and make my first, kinda pitiful, attempts to write.
And I loved Gone With the Wind—read it so many times I can’t even count them. I loved historical novels, as I mentioned in the interview. I was crazy about Exodus and read it over and over, and read a bunch of Leon Uris books. (You can tell I like those grand sweep of history kind of books.) When I was in college, my favorite book was Catch-22. Oh, and, of course, J.D. Salinger, my favorite writer when I was in high school.
But for sheer entertainment, for books that I never get tired of reading, I love Georgette Heyer, who wrote the most wonderful Regencies, and Elizabeth Peters. Her Amelia Peabody series has really endured; I still buy each new one as soon as it comes out.

Whew! I think I’m done. If I’ve missed one of your questions, let me know. I’ve got to run now, but I’ll drop by later to see if anything else has come up.

Thanks—and happy reading!

Candace Camp

I do hope Ms. Camp is able to stop by periodically. I’m interested in her answers to some of the questions, like, how the industry has changed over the years.

Ms. Camp, do you still get excited with each published book? Do you ever look at a book and say, “Wow, that’s me!”? How many books a year do you produce? I’ve heard say one-three a year is the average and author writes.

Thank you for stopping by.

Renee

Hello, Ms. Camp, thank you again for interviewing with us today! My favorite book of yours is: Heirloom. (I cried and cried, but I loved it. Usually I’m a very “light and happy” reader, I like humor rather than angst, but this book was phenomenal.) I haven’t read a lot of regencies lately, so I have not had a chance to read the Wager series, but I will definitely put them in my TBR pile.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What do you do to “keep the well fresh”?

An appropriate mistake perhaps as I have been reading ‘Impetuous’

The prologue describes how Sir Philip tries to keep a midnight assignation with Joanna but due to her awful handwriting, mistakes the room number and ends up in bed with Cassandra…

May I say that this prologue entranced and amused me so much that I couldn’t resist reading on. I got to bed at midnight and gave Mrs Q a kiss. The top buttons of her nightdress were undone and she opened her eyes, winked and said “Have you been reading Impetuous!”

May we call you Candace by the way?

Could you perhaps comment on the use of a prologue to ‘grab’ the reader early on?

Do you have many male readers……count me as one now!

Do you have a favourite period for historicals and which of your 61 books are you most proud?

Q, I’ve missed you! How have you been?

Welcome Ms. Camp! I’m so excited you are aboard the ship today! Thank you for interview.

I discovered your wonderful writing style when I read the first book in The Matchmaker series. I so look forward to reading this new release, and since I am a Francesca and Duke fan I look forward to February as well:)

Are their any authors who inspired you to be a writer?