World Building and the Writers Life!

 Recently, I had the pleasure  to interview good friend, and NY Times Bestselling author Bonnie Vanak. Bonnie has been writing for Harlequin (HarperCollins) for what seems foreever. Here is what she had to say:  

 1/ When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? 

Probably when I was ten and started writing poetry. My imagination exploded while reading books and immersing myself in new, different worlds.

2/Once you decided, what steps did you take to get published? 

I didn’t actively pursue being an author until late 1997. I hung out with writer groups, joined Romance Writers of America and wrote and wrote. I also entered contests to get feedback. After winning first place in one of those contests, I was offered a publishing contract.

 

3/ You’ve written primarily romances, some are suspense, others fantasy, and yet others paranormal. Curious as to why you are drawn to this sub genre. 

Romance will always be my first choice because I need to write books with happy endings. I also enjoy developing characters and conflict for them and resolving their conflict through their own strengths. As for the sub genres, I wrote paranormal/fantasy when Harlequin developed their Nocturne line. After seeing signs of the eventual demise of that category, I reverted my contract at the time to suspense.

4/ Which publishing house first published you, and how many books have you published? 

Dorchester Publishing in New York was my first publisher. As for number of books, probably around 65, I think, lol. Honestly I’ve lost track!

 

5/ Any advice for handling rejection? 

Rejection is one of the hardest aspects of publishing. Everyone has a different way of handling it. It’s easy to say shrug it off and keep writing when emotionally, it can hit hard. My advice is to take a little time to acknowledge the rejection, then when you can be more objective, look at why the work was rejected. Was it the writing? The work didn’t fit the agent/publisher’s expectations or their market needs? Publishing is harder than ever these days and agents and publishers are running a business. Always remember that – it’s not personal.                                                                                                                 

6/ What’s your writing day like? 

Since losing my day job of 30 years last June my life has changed. Now I focus on writing fiction, instead of squeezing fiction writing into my spare time. I commit to writing 1,000 words a day, six days a week, to meet my quota. Since I’m more productive in the afternoon, I usually write in the afternoon. Sometimes I’ll spend time researching a subject and then write. If I get an idea for a scene, I’ll sketch it out and later, when I have all the information I need, I’ll enhance it.

7/How did you juggle a full-time job with a writing career? 

Sometimes I wonder about that myself, lol. When I look back at my life, not only was I working full-time, but traveling internationally for the day job, plus writing contracted books. Then again, I was younger and had more energy. I learned to write scenes when the ideas sparked and carried a small notebook and a tape recorder to jot down ideas for character growth as well as scenes. Weekends were important, because that’s when I got most of my writing done.

8/ Do you think the writing world is doing a 180 and traditional publishing is making aresurgence? 

Probably, but publishing overall is more challenging. Lots more competition and fewer reliable social media outlets for marketing. Authors who write indie books have to allocate a lot of time and money to advertise their books. I always enjoyed being a hybrid author (indie and trad). The indie books gave me the freedom to write what I wanted (Werewolves of Montana) and the trad books gave me hard deadlines to meet and better distribution, both in print and digital. The advantage of traditional publishing for a mid-list author like me is the distribution of print books. With bookstores closing or shelf space shrinking, getting into big box stores is a huge advantage some publishers can offer. If people can’t find your book or don’t know about it, they won’t buy it!

 

9/ World building has always fascinated me, Please tell the reader how you go about creating  these worlds? What’s the process? 

Good question! For me world building is combined with research. First comes the idea – which can come from anywhere. For my Egyptian historicals, I got the idea from a National Geographic magazine article on ancient Egypt. I did some research on tombs and ancient Egypt and the late 1800’s exploration of tombs. For my paranormals, like the Werewolves of Montana series, I wanted to create werewolves who were cowboys. I loved the irony of werewolves herding cattle like regular cowboys, lol. Recently I published an indie book in that series that featured an incubus hero and a geologist heroine who has the ability to throw fire. The Mating Fire started with an idea – I had read an article about the Kawah Ijen volcano chain in Indonesia, which flammable sulfurous gases and blue flames.  Fascinated by the idea of blue flames, I wanted to create a character who could touch lava and draw energy from it. I researched the volcanos and the danger they presented, and created a heroine who thinks she is human and discovers she has magic powers and is far from human.

10/Finally, what are you working on currently? 

My present work is a book in the popular Coltons continuity series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. The hero is a firefighter and the research on his field is engrossing. My husband works in a hospital and connected me to firefighters he knows, so a tour of their fire station is in my future. 

NY Times bestselling author Bonnie Vanak

http://www.bonnievanak.com