Spotlight on a New Author!
NANCY HERKNESS










Last year, as I was perusing the books at my local Barnes & Noble, I came across this book with a cover that had a picture of a woman's face, and a beautiful bridge; the book was called A BRIDGE TO LOVE. Hmmm ... interesting cover, I thought - not your typical romance book cover art, but I liked it. I picked it up and read the back, and it sounded like an interesting story and one I would enjoy. I had never heard of the author, Nancy Herkness, and I'm always looking to find new authors to enjoy, so I bought the book. A few days later I was in one of my moods - you all know what I'm talking about, one of those "I don't know what I want to read, but I want to read something different" - so I picked up Nancy's book. I was so engrossed in the story and with the characters that I just gobbled this book up in a day. After I was done, I immediately went to see if this author had a Web site. She did, so I posted on her message board just how wonderful I thought her book was. The next day she had posted a reply, and I thought how nice it was that she replies to people's posts. Well, a few weeks later I was asked if I wanted to do any RBL author interviews in 2004. I immediately thought that I would LOVE to interview Nancy, so I e-mailed her and asked if she would do an interview with RBL Romantica ... and, as you can see, she said she'd LOVE to.



Heather: First off, we're nosy and always like to know a little bit of personal stuff about our authors. So can you tell us about your family, how they support you in your career? What are your hobbies, where did you grow up, do you like to travel, do you have any kids or pets, and what are some of your favorite things to do?

Nancy: My family takes my career as a romance novelist in stride. My fourteen-year-old daughter is frustrated because I won't let her read my books until she's sixteen. In revenge, she's started writing stories she won't let me read. My twelve-year-old son thinks girls are gross and bossy, and therefore finds the subject matter of my books unfathomably weird.

My husband is my right-hand man: he reads my works-in-progress almost as often as I do, from the first draft through the final galley. I also use him as my "guy-o-meter:" anything that comes out of my hero's mouth, I have to be able to imagine Jeff saying, even if sometimes it's a slight stretch. Of course, my family celebrates my successes and supports me through the bad days (bad reviews, rejections, etc.).

I grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, where I rode my pony about eight hours a day during the summer. I moved steadily northward for school, graduating from Princeton University with a degree in English and Creative Writing (poetry!). After college, I worked in retailing (where I met my husband) and data processing in New York City.

As for hobbies, like all writers, I love to read. I enjoy traveling (once I get there, because I'm a very nervous flyer). When I can, I still get on a horse, but living in suburban New Jersey makes that difficult, not to mention expensive. Ice hockey is my favorite sport to watch - I love the New Jersey Devils. However, I am developing a taste for soccer and basketball because my children play both those games.

My favorite gorgeous blond guy is my golden retriever, Max.

Heather: What made you decide you wanted to become a writer, and what made you choose the romance genre? Where do you get your ideas, and what inspires your writing? What is your daily writing routine like?

Nancy: Does a writer ever actually decide to become a writer? I think all writers write because they can't help themselves. I've been writing something ever since I can remember. Even during my brief stint as a computer programmer, I wrote COBOL (not as satisfying as the English language, I have to admit). I aspired to becoming a published writer when I started work on A BRIDGE TO LOVE in 1998. My son was in school all day and I had a few free hours - or thought I did - in which to write the novel I'd always wanted to try. Romance is my favorite genre to read; I love its optimism and its faith in humankind, not to mention the intensity and passion a good love story generates.

My ideas come from all around me: newspaper and magazine articles, movies, television, real life, other books, people-watching. The emotional resonance, of course, has to come from deep within.

I start with two characters and their professions (and I consider motherhood a profession). That usually generates some basic conflicts right there. Then I figure out what the last scene is going to be. After letting this swirl around in my brain for a while so other ideas adhere to it, I sit down, type "Chapter One," and write in the general direction of the ending. It's not an efficient way to work because I end up throwing things away and/or revising a lot, but it's the method that works for me because I never get bored. Not knowing what's going to happen in Chapter Three or Chapter Eighteen keeps me moving forward to find out.

Routine? What routine? I write whenever I can get a half-hour or more to retreat to my garret on the third floor, far, far from the madding crowd. Of course, I think about writing all the time (which sometimes makes me seem a bit spacey to my friends and relatives). When I can swing it, my favorite writing routine is to walk the dog for about forty-five minutes while I think about how the next scene in the book will play out, then sit down at the world processor for two hours and get it onto the page. When I'm feeling really energetic, I substitute running on the treadmill for walking the dog, but of course that's not as good for the dog.

Heather: Who are some of your favorite writers and why are they your favorites?

Nancy: It's always hard to name one's favorite writers because there are so many and it depends on one's mood. In romance, I love Mary Jo Putney, Barbara Bretton, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Eloisa James, J.D. Robb, Deirdre Martin, Michelle Cunnah, Georgette Heyer, Robin D. Owens ... and so many more. Barbara Kingsolver, Ian McEwan, Shirley Hazzard, Jane Austen, and J.M. Coetzee write so beautifully that it almost makes me weep with a good kind of envy. Jasper Fforde's literary mystery-spoofs are absolutely hilarious. This list could go on forever. Why do I like these writers? Because what they do, they do very, very well. They write multi-dimensional characters I care about and they handle the English language like pros.

Heather: We have quite a few aspiring writers here at RBL Romantica. A BRIDGE TO LOVE is your first book - how long did it take you to sell it, and what did you go through to finally get this book on the shelves at bookstores? What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get a story published?

Nancy: It took me a year to sell A BRIDGE TO LOVE. After reading all the pros and cons, I decided I needed an agent so I concentrated my queries in that direction until I found one who loved my work. At the same time, I entered quite a few unpublished writers' contests in the hope of reaching the finals so my work would be read by an acquiring editor. (Note: the judging editor in the last contest I entered requested the full manuscript one week after I had sold it to Berkley. That figures!)

The best advice I got from an author when I was unpublished was to join the Romance Writers of America and, through RWA, the New Jersey Romance Writers. What marvelous resources both those organizations are for the aspiring writer! Three other pieces of advice I would give: 1) make sure you're sending out the best, most professional work you can possibly produce, polished to diamond brightness, 2) do not take rejection personally, and 3) persist, persist, persist.

Heather: One of the ladies here at RBL knew I was going to interview you, so I ask this question on behalf of Robin. Robin wants to know more about the "speaking subjects/lectures" you've listed on your Web site - specifically, "Why Enter Writing Contests?" and "What I've Learned from Other Authors." Can you expand a little on these?

Nancy: Entering writing contests is useful partly because of what I mentioned above about being read by an acquiring editor. However - briefly, there are two other reasons. First, you can get excellent constructive feedback from unbiased sources. I revised ABTL twice based on comments I received from judges. However, you have to exercise your own judgment on which criticism is valid and which should be ignored. Second, in the midst of all the form rejection letters you'll be getting from agents and publishers, you'll enjoy the positive reinforcement from the contest judges. Most of them will comment on the good things in your entry as well as the ones that need work, and this can really lift your mood. Occasionally, you'll even get a nice certificate to hang on your wall.

My Web site has a page called "From the Garret." To read about the things I've learned from other writers, just go there and check the archived articles at the bottom.

Heather: Now, back to A BRIDGE TO LOVE. I love that your heroine, Kate, had such an interesting career, structural engineering, and that she had such a love for bridges. I found it all very fascinating. (I also loved the multiple underlying meanings of the word "bridge" throughout the book.) What made you select such a unique career for the heroine of your first book? What research did you have to do to get such great information about the structural engineering of bridges?

Nancy: Thank you, thank you, thank you for noticing the multiple layers of the bridges in the book! Your perceptive reading has made me very happy.

Kate is an engineer for several reasons. First, engineers are master problem-solvers and Kate was going to have a lot of problems thrown at her in A BRIDGE TO LOVE. Second, engineers are builders. Since I planned to destroy her life, I needed a heroine capable of rebuilding it. Third, women who go into engineering have to be pretty tough because it's still an almost exclusively male club. To stand toe-to-toe with a man like Randall Johnson, Kate needed to be confident in her own abilities in a man's world.

As for the research, I had two expert sources: my father and my best friend (a woman), both of whom are engineers. The most fun I had was walking back and forth across the George Washington Bridge to figure out how my final scene would unfold. My patient husband also drove me across the bridge, approaching and exiting from every direction and on both levels. I took copious notes and snapped numerous photos.

Heather: I really loved the main characters and secondary characters in A BRIDGE TO LOVE - were any of them based on people you know?

Nancy: The character who was based most closely on a real person was Oliver, whom you probably did not love - or at least, I hope you didn't. Kate's children resemble my own when they're having a very good day. The others are combinations of traits borrowed from all the people I know.

Heather: One of the things we ladies here at RBL love is a really good, hot love scene. You sure do deliver that, in spades, in A BRIDGE TO LOVE. Kate and Randall, were amazing characters, and the instant attraction and heat just burned up the pages. Although the scenes weren't graphic, I found them to be some of the hottest scenes I've ever read in a contemporary romance. How hard is it to make scenes so hot that your fingers burn turning the pages, yet not be overtly graphic about it?

Nancy: Again, I have to say thank you for your kind words about the love scenes. By the way, my editor agrees with you. It's really fun to write them but, as you suggested, walking the fine line between intense and graphic is tough. My method is to make it clear exactly what is going on at any given moment and how it feels; this is one place I try to avoid a heavy reliance on metaphor. The dialogue before and after - and during, if it fits in - is extremely important, because it establishes that this is a complex relationship and not just an isolated act. It also defines the mood and level of heat. My early training as a poet helps, because it taught me to find the most important detail and use it to illuminate the larger picture; you can't describe everything in a love scene, so you have to figure out what makes you the most excited.

Heather: Your new book, SHOWER OF STARS, is coming out this month (I can't wait ... I'm so excited and will be first in line for it). Can you tell us a little bit about it without giving away any spoilers? This book has a hero with a unique career - can you explain what fascinated you about the field of meteorite hunters (does such a field really exist?).

Nancy: SHOWER OF STARS is about an adventure travel magazine writer named Charlie Berglund who wants to adopt a child as a single parent. She's having a hard time doing this, given her hazardous profession, so she decides to change her career's direction and write a book. Unfortunately, she chooses as her subject Jack Lanett, New York's hottest new celebrity, a meteorite hunter who's found a rock from Mars that's worth millions. Jack most emphatically does not want to have his life written about. So they have a few entertaining disagreements.

Jack's unusual profession does, in fact, exist, although it's a small group. I've always been fascinated by outer space. (Are there any other Star Trek fanatics here?) I saw an advertisement selling meteorites, which both tempted me to get out my credit card and started a train of questions about where the seller got his space rocks.

My favorite research for SHOWER OF STARS was spending two days in the Smithsonian Institute's meteorite exhibit, where I read every single label. As you'll see when you read the book, I also had to spend a fair amount of time at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, another very pleasurable experience. Beam me up, Scotty!

Heather: After SHOWER OF STARS, what comes next? I understand that in one of your WIP, you're going to be dealing with a disease called "Fibromyalgia" (my mom has that, so I'll be really curious as to how you're going to work it into a story and what research you garner), and can you tell us other projects you are working on?

Nancy: I am truly sorry to hear that your mother has fibromyalgia. My WIP, in which the heroine suffers from fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), has been put on the back burner for the time being. However, I am still very committed to writing it because I feel it's something that should be talked about.

About eight years ago, I had an acute case of Lyme disease and it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. No one really believes you're very ill because you look fine; your mental abilities are affected by the illness and it's often misdiagnosed or dismissed as psychosomatic. Fibromyalgia syndrome is very similar, except it is not curable, mostly because the medical community does not know what causes it. However, I know people with FMS who lead full and happy lives, and I wanted to show that hopeful side of the condition.

The WIP on the front burner is a bit lighter in theme. It involves an older woman and a younger man and how society's views on that sort of relationship can ruin a good thing. My heroine is in her early forties and divorced. My hero is a superstar athlete in his mid-thirties and also divorced. They both have children and ex-spouses and all sorts of people to gum up the works. I'm having a lot of fun writing it because my hero is an ice hockey goalie, and as I mentioned in answer to an earlier question, that's my favorite spectator sport of all. Of course, I'm going through hockey withdrawal right now because the Stanley Cup finals ended a couple of weeks ago, so I have to wait until the fall for my next fix - and that's assuming the NHL players don't go on strike.

Thanks so much for asking all these thought-provoking questions. I've had a blast answering them. If anyone has more questions, please e-mail me at nancy@nancyherkness.com. I love to hear from readers - and fellow writers - and will happily respond to your notes and queries.



Thank you SO much, Nancy, for being so generous with your words and time. I'm anxiously awaiting your new book, SHOWER OF STARS!

~Heather~



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