Amelia Autin is a voracious reader who can't bear to put a good book down...or part with it. Her bookshelves are crammed with books her husband periodically threatens to donate to a good cause, but he always relents...eventually.
Amelia currently resides with her Ph.D. engineer husband in quiet Vail, Arizona, where they can see the stars at night and have a "million dollar view" of the Rincon Mountain from their back yard.
Literary
Juice: According to your website, you have been writing since you were a little
girl. When did you discover your love for writing romance? What was it that
nourished this passion?
Amelia Autin: Writing romance was a natural extension of reading romance.
I started reading romance in my teens—Georgette Heyer was my introduction
(terrific author!), and I was hooked from that point on. Then later I picked up
my first Silhouette Intimate Moments in a drug store when the cover caught my
eye (Naomi Horton’s In Safekeeping, a
keeper-shelf book I highly recommend), and I was blown away. Romance and
suspense? Writing from the male point of view? Strong, independent women as
heroines? I read everything I could get my hands on by Naomi Horton, both her
Silhouette Intimate Moments and Silhouette Desire books. That led to reading
other authors in those lines, and…well…you know how it goes. Linda Howard,
Jennifer Greene, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell—the list is endless.
I can’t honestly say when the idea first occurred to me I
could write romances myself. I had made up stories all my life, but could I
write something someone else would want to read? I had read hundreds (if not
thousands) of romances by this time, but I really didn’t know anything about
crafting a salable story. I wrote a couple of manuscripts that will never see
the light of day before I learned about Romance Writers of America (RWA). I
dedicated my first book,
Gideon’s Bride,
in part to my RWA “sisters,” who generously shared their skills with me and
taught me the craft of writing fiction.
LJ:
In your Harlequin blog, Sold! So YouThink You Can Write, you talked about the overwhelming joy you felt when
you sold your first manuscript, Gideon’s
Bride, to Silhouette Books; however, upon publishing your second book,
rather than feeling that same joy, you only felt relief that you weren’t a
failure. Due to this fear of failure, you refrained from writing romance for
the next sixteen years. But in February
2013, you sat down and reclaimed romance writing once more. Can you recall that
day in February when you sat down at your computer and started, in a sense,
where you last left off? What was it that helped you eliminate your fear once
and for all?
AA: My nephew, John (also my godson, and very dear to my heart),
had given me a journal for Christmas a few weeks earlier. But it wasn’t just
any journal. It was a journal handmade from volume two in a sixteen-book
compilation series from my childhood, entitled The Children’s Hour. (My sisters
and brothers and I always called them “the red books” when we were growing up, because
the covers are red.) Volume two in The Children’s Hour is
Favorite Fairy Tales. A note accompanied the journal, and the
combination of the gift and the note reminded me I still had stories to tell…and
I needed to tell them. (I dedicated
King’s Ransom to John as a way of thanking him for the reminder.)
I had spent years writing technical documents and how-to
guides in my job, so it wasn’t as if I’d stopped writing completely. And in one
way fiction and non-fiction are the same—both tell a story. But writing fiction
is also very different in that it’s extremely personal—for me, at least. And
when I started writing fiction again it was just for me. I didn’t research the
market, didn’t have a target I was aiming for. I just remembered my editor from
years ago, Mary-Theresa Hussey, telling me that Cody Walker (from
Reilly’s Return) was such a strong
secondary character he deserved his own book. And she was right. When I sat
down and started writing Cody’s story it was as if I’d never stopped.
I won’t say everything was easy after that—it wasn’t.
Sometimes writing is a struggle. Sometimes I trash whole chapters because they
just don’t work after all. But when you get to the end, when you’ve created
something you’re proud of, there’s a sense of accomplishment that’s worth the
struggle. And when you see your book in print—when you see it on the
bookshelves or listed on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, eBooks,
etc.—there’s nothing like it in the whole world…except maybe holding your baby
in your arms for the first time. Jill Shalvis, a New York Times bestselling
author and one of my favorite writers, still gets a kick out of seeing her
books on the shelf at Wal-Mart…or anywhere. It never gets old.
This brings me to something I have to get off my chest—negative
reviews hurt. Badly. I don’t think readers understand just how personal a book
is for an author. A harshly critical review is like telling a mother her baby
is ugly—you just don’t do that. I like to follow Thumper’s advice from
the Disney movie, Bambi. “If you
can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” I’m not asking readers to
be dishonest and say they liked something they didn’t. I know what I write
won’t appeal to everyone. So if you rate my book one star (or less), okay, I
can accept that. I don’t like it, but I can accept it. But please, just say it
wasn’t your cup of tea, give it your honest rating, and move on.
LJ:
When you began writing romance again after sixteen years, did you find that the
market evolved since publishing your first two books? For instance, how have
the readers’ taste in romance changed? Are there different personality traits
in the hero/heroine that readers prefer today compared to traits sixteen years
ago?
AA: Yes, yes, and yes!
The market had evolved, and the line I’d first written for
(Silhouette Intimate Moments) no longer existed. Silhouette was already owned
by Harlequin when my first book was published by them in 1995, but now the
Silhouette imprint had disappeared completely, replaced by the Harlequin name
(Harlequin Desire, Harlequin Special Edition, etc.) Not to mention the advent
of indie publishing. Back in the day, indie publishing was considered “vanity
press,” but that’s no longer the case.
As for readers’ tastes in romance, they’ve changed, but not
as much as you might think. One hero, one heroine, for instance—that’s still
the same. And the HEA—the Happily Ever After ending—that hasn’t changed,
either. True, not every romance ends in marriage these days as they used to,
but the
commitment is there between the hero and
the heroine. And readers love to see heroes and heroines from previous books
make guest appearances in follow-on books, proving the HEA for them is real.
That was true twenty years ago, and it’s still true.
The biggest change I’ve seen is the personality traits in
the hero and heroine. Alpha males were popular way back when, and they still
are…to a certain extent. But a lot of the heroes from years ago could never get
away with the stuff they did back then—women today just won’t stand for it. And
those passive heroines? Uh-uh. As authors we have to recognize we’re not just
writing for our generation—we have to appeal to a wider audience. And that
means thinking the way they think. Putting ourselves in those younger (or
older) shoes.
LJ:
What is your writing process like? Do you work with outlines, or do you simply begin
writing at once, allowing the story take control? Also, you mentioned on your
website that you can finish a 60k-word manuscript in a month, and a 75k-word
manuscript in six weeks. What strategies do you employ that help you write at a
swift pace, yet still allow you to tell a compelling story?
AA: I write by the seat of my pants. I have a kernel of an idea,
but that’s all I start with. I know where I want to end up (and I don’t just
mean the HEA), but I don’t plot things out chapter by chapter. I let my
characters take the wheel, and as the story develops and my characters reveal
themselves to me bit by bit, the story can change from what I originally
envisioned because my characters have to remain true to themselves. I might
have thought something would work out a certain way, but when I get to
that point in the story I realize the character(s) just wouldn’t do that, so I
have to modify.
This approach works wonderfully well if you write the entire
story before you try to sell it to your publisher, but not so well if you want
to sell on proposal. I just finished a three-book contract for Harlequin
Romantic Suspense where the first book was finished
(King’s Ransom) but the second and third books were just outlines
and the first three chapters. As I told my editor, I could do it this way if
they didn’t hold me
too tightly to the story as originally outlined…and
I was right. Books two and three
(Alec’s Royal Assignment and
Liam’s Witness Protection) bear a general resemblance to the original outline, but that’s
all. Harlequin has been remarkably understanding so far (and I’m keeping my
fingers crossed).
Speaking of which, I hate writing outlines/synopses. I even
have trouble writing them after the book is written!
LJ:
Today writers are faced with many distractions, such as social media, texting
and other interferences. What advice can you give writers that will help them
focus more on their creative powers rather than the major distractions that
impede their work?
AA: I’m the poster child for allowing myself to be distracted,
so any advice I gave would be along the lines of “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Seriously, though, deadlines are wonderful. External deadlines tied to money
are pretty powerful (i.e., contract deadlines), but internal deadlines can
work, too. Set a goal of so many words per day, or so many pages per day, and
don’t let yourself get up from the keyboard until you meet that goal. Even if
it’s only one page, in a year you’ll have written a 365 page manuscript. (No
one will publish it, but you get my point.)
I stayed up until 4:00 a.m. one Sunday night into Monday
morning to finish revisions and get the revised manuscript emailed to my editor
before she got into her New York
office at 9:00 a.m. Then I slept for an hour, got up and got dressed, and went
to work. My husband said I was crazy. Could I have let it slip a day? Would my
editor have understood? Yes, but…I had made a commitment, and I was going to
meet that commitment come hell or high water. That’s what I mean when I say
even internal deadlines can be helpful if you stick with them.
I’m extremely fortunate that even though I have a full-time
job I still have plenty of time to write. My husband is very understanding and
encouraging, and there are no little ones underfoot. That’s a huge benefit. But
the bottom line is writers write. That’s what we do. If you don’t feel driven
to write, if you don’t feel there are stories bubbling inside you trying to get
out, then maybe writing isn’t for you.
But if you do feel driven to write, then don’t let anyone
talk you out of it. And don’t let fear of rejection, or fear of failure, or
fear of any kind stop you. If you have stories to tell, tell them. Follow your
dreams wherever they may lead you.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense by AMELIA AUTIN
ASIN: B00OYBCRHU
Paperback: 288pp, $5.50; Kindle: $3.49
About this Book: The secret princess's bodyguard…
As head of a visiting royal's protection detail, Trace McKinnon's focus should be strictly on the external threats against a woman's life. But what happens when he finds Dr. Mara Marianescu—a princess incognito as a college professor—much more intriguing?
Harlequin Romantic Suspense by AMELIA AUTIN
ASIN: B00JZFKZRY
Paperback: 281pp, $5.50; Kindle: $3.49
About this Book: Working undercover with the last man she should trust…
Rescuing a "civilian" blew his latest undercover op—but when Special Agent Cody Walker next met the damsel in distress, he was astonished to discover she was a fellow agent! Now they are assigned to the same task force to track down a terrorist cell that has a personal connection to Cody's past….
