Ask the Author: Robyn Carr
Answered Questions (101)
Robyn Carr
Thanks, Brenda -- that's the ultimate compliment!!
Robyn Carr
I'll say you read fast! A few hours? Wow. I read a book or so a week and I read every evening.
The time it takes depends on the story and how many ideas I have. I'll say this -- I'm a very fast typist by now but the amount of time it takes to "think" a whole book varies. These days it usually takes about four months to write a book if I'm armed with a lot of good ideas. And whether it's a fast read or slow depends entirely on the reader. I just want it to be a good, satisfying story.
The time it takes depends on the story and how many ideas I have. I'll say this -- I'm a very fast typist by now but the amount of time it takes to "think" a whole book varies. These days it usually takes about four months to write a book if I'm armed with a lot of good ideas. And whether it's a fast read or slow depends entirely on the reader. I just want it to be a good, satisfying story.
Robyn Carr
That's what I was reading -- Kathryn by Anya Seton, The Flame and the Flower by Woodiwiss, The Kings Grey Mare by Jarman and the like. I was in love with the genre and quickly fell in love with the history. Researching was as much fun as reading.
Robyn Carr
So many! Some of my favorite romance/women's fiction authors are Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Kristan Higgins, Mariah Stewart, Raeanne Thayne, Virginia Kantra. I also love Nelson DeMille, John Grisham and every now and then a Stephen King.
Robyn Carr
Well, I started on page one. Of course you begin by reading and reading and reading. Then just start writing. While writing, look into writer's groups and critique groups. There's lots of information everywhere about how to write a book, readily available at the library, bookstore and online. But first you should know if you like it. Not everyone finds great happiness in writing and if it isn't a satisfying experience, try something that is!
Robyn Carr
I don't have any plans for European travel at this time, sorry. Maybe in the future.
Robyn Carr
There's nothing better than the satisfaction I feel when developing a story, when the characters begin to take over, when it all begins to feel real. It's so fulfilling.
Robyn Carr
I don't have any plans for returning to Virgin River -- 20 books is a lot for one series, not to mention a lot of detail to remember. I'm for moving on.
Robyn Carr
So glad you loved it!! I know exactly who you're talking about and I agree -- nice, funny, sexy guy. I'm not planning another follow up book at this time but you never know where he might turn up again!
Robyn Carr
I wish there was an easy answer, but the process of characterization is long and complex. Writing teachers have written whole books about how to characterize. I'll give you two rules of thumb -- consistency and with respect to human nature. By the middle of the novel the character should be identifiable by what he says and how he says it and it should not contradict what is universally accepted as human nature. But like I said, it's something I'm still studying and learning after 40 years of writing!
Robyn Carr
Research makes them good! It's so important to get the setting right, the job performance accurate -- that's what makes the story plausible. Can you imagine if I wrote 20 novels about a midwife without knowing how a midwife does her job? Or including a sheriff in the stories without knowing the local laws in the area I'm writing about? The research is endless and I still can't manage to cover everything -- I make mistakes here and there by not knowing what I don't know! Or by making assumptions and not clarifying the answers.
How do you start off writing a novel? I started writing on page one, then spent the next 40 years studying and learning to make the writing and the story telling better.
How do you start off writing a novel? I started writing on page one, then spent the next 40 years studying and learning to make the writing and the story telling better.
Robyn Carr
I know before I finish whether there's more than one story in the story. I'm usually setting up the next one by the end of the one I'm working on. Likewise, when I start a stand alone I'm pretty sure of the beginning, middle and end long before I'm done. How do I know? I just know -- there's either more to tell or the story is complete.
Robyn Carr
Thunder Point seems complete and so perfect to me -- I don't want to stretch it too thin. Let's just move to Colorado for Sullivan's Crossing. Better still, try The Life She Wants -- I guarantee a good time. ;)
Robyn Carr
I had no idea I'd end up an author -- I went to nursing college out of high school. When I was a young mother, reading romances and historical novels all the time, that I thought -- why not write one? I tried it and just couldn't stop!
Writers find inspiration everywhere, not just in one place. Everywhere. Anything can give me an idea.
Writers find inspiration everywhere, not just in one place. Everywhere. Anything can give me an idea.
Robyn Carr
I listen to SiriusXM radio on the computer and I usually listen to a specific artist or more often the Love channel, which is all love songs, old and new. And I get inspiration from everything. Literally everything. An article, a TV show, something I see at the mall, driving along, cleaning house, everything. There's no telling where the next book will come from.
Robyn Carr
Well, the children actually won't be grown up for a long time. The oldest of the young brood would be Christopher, Preacher and Paige's oldest, and since the books are all written in "real time" he came on the scene at age 4 in 2007, which makes him about 14 now. Jack and Mel's son would be 7 now and he's the second oldest. The teens have grown up, left and don't live in Virgin River anymore, which makes it beside the point. But more important, remember a book that just catches you up and let's you see how happy, healthy and content they are isn't a novel -- it's a photo album. Novels are filled with conflict and problems to be resolved so the characters can live happily ever after. Once I get them to HEA they belong to YOU. ;) You can dream any future you want for them - they live on in your heart and mind forever.
Robyn Carr
Kristan Higgins, Raeanne Thayne, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Mariah Stewart to name a few.
Robyn Carr
The Life She Wants is stand alone women's fiction.
Robyn Carr
I just finished the second book in the Sullivan's Crossing series and am currently working on a stand alone women's fiction. After that I'll be writing the third book in the Sullivan's Crossing series.
Robyn Carr
I've had it happen both ways -- sometimes (as with Virgin River) I get to a point in the book when I realize there are many possible books here. Other times, I plan it to be a series.
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