I first tried to write a novel when I was 19 or 20. I’d thought up a Star Wars story and as I sat down to write, with pencil and paper. Then I thought I’m not smart enough. I had no idea what it was to be a writer and my love for reading was only a few years old. I had a young son and I think I was pregnant with my second. So I put down the pencil and chucked the paper away.
When I turned 40, I had just changed jobs and my youngest daughter was 18. My life was at a turning point. I was locked in traffic and I asked myself, what do you want to do with your life? My answer was I want to write. My first attempt then was a Scottish Historical Romance, which I loved reading. I wrote probably 700 words and thought -this is crap. Again i gave up. I didn’t have what it takes. That was in May 2000. Around November, I had an idea, a character appeared in my head and wouldn’t let me go. It was a science fiction story, with some alien sex (lol). I started writing, and writing. About 20,000 words in, I bought a book called ‘How to write a novel’ and it was basic. It talked about length, about number of chapters and I sat down and worked out I had enough plot for a novel. I wrote about 100,000 words in 6 weeks. It was shit though. A download from my brain. But I’d written something with a beginning, middle and an end. The next 13 years have been about learning the craft, about exploring writing, building up skills etc.
I sent Relic (the name of the first novel) out for a manuscript appraisal and I started a fantasy novel, which was really hard work. Somehow fantasy was harder. I wrote that while waiting for the feedback. I wrote short stories. The first of which Trent Jamieson published in Redsine. Short stories were my thing for many reasons. I had lots of ideas. The genie had been let out of the bottle. Short stories were a good way to improve my writing, learn writing and being edited and getting feedback.
I kept writing. Revising Relic was a huge task a first, seeming much bigger than actually writing it. I mean there were incomplete sentences, wrong words and it was very first novelish. What do I mean about that? Well the character was in a room and the pacing was so slow, too detailed, that’s very first novelish. There was also info dumping etc. I probably revised it 50 times over the years. (more on Relic and its future journey in a later post).
In my early years, I had romance novel ideas. I never wrote them. I didn’t research romance writing, markets, conventions nothing. Because Relic was supposedly SF and feminist SF at that, my career seemed to be in the speculative fiction vein. Argenterra, which is the second novel I wrote was a fantasy with romance, rather than a fantasy romance. You see, I did enter it in a competition in the US, Rowena Cory Daniels back then used to feed information into the spec fic networks so I entered. Again I thought I’m not good at this. I kept writing. I had more stories in the back of my mind. Category romances. SF romances. I kept telling myself that one day when I’m a full time writer I’ll be able to try romance too. I even joked with myself as another novel remain unsold, that wouldn’t it be funny if I was actually a good paranormal romance writer. I dabbled in some paranormal shorts in spec fic markets. They were published but it was just something that I might do in the future.
In November 2011, for NanoWriMo I start writing a contemporary romance (again encouraged by good friend) . I think the MS stinks. I didn’t finish it as I got RSI. It was hard. I kept wanting to put a ghost in there or a vampire. I’d been working on a paranormal romance for a couple of years, mostly not working on it. I thought it was too hot for publication. (it was before 50 Shades of Gray) That MS is completed now though.
Fast forward. No novels in spec fic published. Publishing going through major upheavals and structural changes. My friend, Nicole Murphy encourages me to go to the Romance Writers of Australia conference in 2012. Enter Harlequin’s Escape Publishing and I have Rayessa and the Space Pirates published. Wham. Bam.
Flood gates open. I am writing whatever I like. I still have a dark epic fantasy there looking for a home, but I just write. I’ve written a paranormal romance coming out 1 February with Escape ( http://danikristof.wordpress.com ).
I have another sexy paranormal novel out there looking for a home. I’ve got an agent representing my young adult/steampunkish/Victorian gothic horror/romance. I’ve had to publish the paranormal under another name, but OMG!!! I’m writing romance, paranormal romance, science fiction, whatever. I’m writing.
That’s the funny thing about writing. Just write. Don’t hold yourself back for silly reasons– like I only write this genre. Do it now. Don’t wait. It’s like saying I’ll paint landscapes when I retire. Why wait? Just go for it?
Do I regret not pursuing the romance writing earlier? Maybe, I’m not sure. Regardless I had to learn how to write. I cut my teeth on speculative fiction. But maybe, just maybe, I’ll earn an income from writing romance. Watch this space.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 