What would happen if you asked a newly published author and an author with years of experience in the world of publishing the same questions? Would their answers be similar, overlap, or be completely different? Two fabulous authors humored me and agreed to this fun experiment. I'll let the results speak for themselves.
Newly published: Maggie Eliot
How long have you been writing romance specifically? What attracted you to the genre?
I started off writing plays in 2007 and typically there was either a romantic subplot or the main focus of the piece was on a pair of lovers. I started writing romance fiction on my maternity leave with my son. He’s ten now.
I’ve always been a sappy romantic and a woolgatherer. I grew up watching all the expected PBS historicals, romcoms, and some of the melodramatic gut-wrenching love tragedies, but I didn’t love those as much. As for reading, I know I snuck a few Jackie Collins books my sisters left around, but didn’t start reading romance in earnest until I was around 40. It felt like coming home.
Are you a pantser or plotter or something in between? Has this changed over time?
I’m a dyed-in-the-wool pantser. I also kind of enjoy using the term discovery writer. It sounds so much less chaotic and so much more inspired. A lot of my pantsing comes from my long history as an improv actor. The most vibrant creativity is in the moment. There’s some kind of magic there. That said, I definitely have studied structure, starting all the way back to my undergrad degree in theatre, through my years writing sketch comedy professionally. As part of a writing team, there was definitely structure and note cards. Lots of note cards.
As I write more books, I’m really seeing the importance of at least outlining and setting up some important elements of character: goal, motivation, conflict, and wounds. It’s also really helpful in romance writing to set the main characters motivations opposite one another.
Overall my process is to pants my way through a first draft, turning off my internal editor. Then I go through and do one or two passes of edits. The initial draft is typically very long (between 90,000-100,000 words) so that part is me cleaning things up before showing. Then, I work with two critique groups and my critique partner to shape and clean up further. For self-pub works, I hire an editor, typically for copy edits and now am going to add the layer of hiring someone for proofreading as well.
How many hours a week do you devote to writing? How many would you like to devote to writing?
I write from about 9p-11p every night and sometimes get a good 2-3 hours extra in on the weekends. So, I’m in the 15-20 hours a week range. Someday I’d love to be in a place where I could write full time. But I have a LOT of work to do before then.
How long on average does it take you to write a book? Has this changed over time? Lately I’ve been multi-tasking, so the process has been longer, but I’m finishing multiple works at a time. My first draft for a full-length is typically done in 8-10 weeks. But the editing process is eternal. Partly because of my shameless pantsing and partly because my critique groups meet every other week and I’m juggling multiple manuscripts. So I don’t even really know how long the editing process takes.
On a scale of 1 to ten, with ten being the most difficult, how hard is it to write a book? With the experience I have now, I’d say 3. I enjoy writing very much.
What is the most challenging aspect of your creative process? I have a really hard time seeing the forest. I’m great at focusing on the trees. I started off writing ten page sketches, so having a sense of the structure and flow of an entire novel (even one that I wrote) gets super overwhelming. Also, craft books are painful for me to read. I really really don’t like reading them. And that stunts my growth a bit I think.
Do you use beta readers or a critique partner(s), why or why not? Has this changed over time? Yep. Lots of critique partners and some of the folks in one of my groups have done beta reading as well.
Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you see yourself? Yes! I’ve never been a set-a-goal-and-achieve-it kind of person. Self-publishing my debut novel this year is an incredible achievement and I’m terrifically proud. I also am proud that I have a really good habit of writing a lot and I enjoy that time. I used to think about how I “have to” write, feeling guilty I wasn’t doing more. Now I revel that I “get to” write.
What is your writing spirit animal? I listen to classical music sometimes when I write and one of my go tos has always been Saint-Saens “The Swan”, but since I really don’t like birds, I don’t think that’s it exactly. My true spirit animal is my old Basset Hound, Roscoe (RIP). He was always beside me when I wrote at night. And maybe he had a tendency to want to go out right when I finally got in the zone. But he and I shared a slow and steady rhythm. Miss that guy.
Do you read reviews? How do you deal with the good and the bad? Has this changed over time? I have no business reading reviews but I do. I really thought after decades of being an actor, I’d learned to deal with rejection and criticism, but whoo-wee, some of these reviews are rough. I’ve gotten better at dealing with it and a little better at trying to avoid looking. Maybe someday I’ll be able to stop reading them. But I doubt it.
How do you balance your family life with your writing career?
Honestly, writing has been easier to fit into my life than my theatre career was. It’s something I can do at home, when everyone is in bed. There are certainly times where I do writing on the weekends, or attend events, conferences, meetings, etc. But I try to keep that to one to two occurrences a week so that I’m present as a wife and mom. I still work 40 hours a week and I still am at every soccer game, musical performance, and dinner at the table at home. So I think the balance is working. My husband and son are very supportive, so they make room for my writing life.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself about writing? Stop telling yourself you’re not a writer. At every stage, I shrugged and wrote stuff with the idea of “well, I’m not really a playwright, but I have this idea” or “I don’t really know how to write genre fiction, but I’ve read a ton and I’ll try”. I am a writer. I’m a good writer. I belong here doing this. Nobody is going to send me home and take away my laptop.
What is the name of your most recent or upcoming release? I released my debut Humor Me in March of 2024. My next book will be Lark Lake Lodge in October of 2024
Sum up your most recent release or upcoming release in one sentence. Humor Me – a young woman improv comedian has instant chemistry with a hot guy in the audience who happens to be a U.S. Senator.
Give us three words that describe your most recent or upcoming release? Humor Me – Romcom, Opposites, Suspense
Who is your favorite character and why? Funnily enough, my favorite character is a side character in my debut, who will eventually have his own book. His name is Hooper and he’s a delightful, horny pansexual who is funny, kind, and musically talented.
MAGGIE ELIOT - After spending 25 years performing, writing, teaching, and founding programs in improv and sketch comedy, Maggie Eliot turned her creative attention toward writing what she loves to read—romance. With a BFA in acting, a decade of playwriting, and having performed in every type of venue from black boxes to cruise ships, Maggie brings a wide variety of experience to her passion for writing RomComs with spice and laughs. She’s a proud member of the Greater Detroit Romance Writers. She won a Wilde Award (Detroit theatre awards) for best new script in 2013, and her standalone romance Lark Lake Lodge won the unpublished contemporary category for both the Put Your Heart in a Book contest for New Jersey Romance writers and the Maggie Award from the Georgia Romance Writers. In 2021 she was selected as a mentee in RWA’s RAMP program, having the great fortune to work closely with her mentor, New York Times best seller Annika Martin. Maggie’s debut novel Humor Me is the first in the Detroiters In Love series.
Experienced: Michele Dunaway
How long have you been writing romance specifically? What attracted you to the genre?
My bio says that in first grade I wanted to be a teacher and in second grade I wanted to be a writer and in third grade I determined to be both. By high school, my beach reads were Harlequin Presents. My step-sister and I wrote novels on an old manual typewriter and used the kids in the neighborhood as characters. She wrote Westerns killing everyone. I wrote romances marrying us all. I love the idea of a happy ending, and mine came when I sold my first book, first try, to the Harlequin American line, releasing in October 2000. So I’m hitting my 25th publication anniversary in 2025.
Are you a pantser or plotter or something in between? Has this changed over time?
Let’s go with somewhere in between. I see characters in my head. Often I’ll have a genuine idea of what’s going to happen, and my synopsis comes from that. But for Love’s Secret Ingredient, I didn’t like the direction it was going and threw out 25,000 words and started over. The story was better for it. The man Zoe was dating in All’s Fair in Love and Wine has left her and enter Nick. As for my plotting process changing over time, I trust myself more.
How many hours a week do you devote to writing? How many would you like to devote to writing?
I don’t like the word devote. People think if they aren’t writing every day then they are doing something wrong. I write in huge spurts and then might go multiple weeks without writing a word because my brain needs a break. When my mom passed, I didn’t write for two years, which in a way was freeing as I needed time to heal; I wasn’t under contract at the time. The key is to meet the deadline, which I usually do early. Smart goals help me stay on track.
How long on average does it take you to write a book? Has this changed over time?
I started the last book in early March and the deadline to my editor is June 1. I actually kept track of my words this time. It took about eight weeks to do a 60,000 word book. The drafting is the fast part. The revisions, which I do on hard copy and then have to input, took over three weeks.
On a scale of 1 to ten, with ten being the most difficult, how hard is it to write a book?
Writing is easy, it’s the rest that’s hard. The business of writing sucks. You’ll see people who are making six figures off terrible stories (no names, just using hyperbole) and it can be depressing when your best book fails to get traction. The market itself is so tight right now, especially for trad. But I “can’t not write,” to quote Judith Arnold, as people keep talking in my head. They’re like ghosts. Once I tell their story, I don’t see them anymore. Oftentimes I don’t even remember their names.
What is the most challenging aspect of your creative process?
The most challenging aspect is finding the long block of time I need to write. I’m not a “let’s do 30 minutes” person. I’m a “let’s do three-to-seven hours” person. I also spend a lot of time coming up with the characters, which is for me where every story starts. Now more and more of the writing time also has to be allotted to business (social media/marketing) whereas books when I first started literally sold themselves and flew off the shelves. This business time sucks up the creative time, and I hate that. It’s hard to find a balance.
Do you use beta readers or a critique partner(s), why or why not? Has this changed over time?
I do not use beta readers. I have had critique partners and agents who’ve read things and commented. Out of all the 33+ books I’ve written, I’d say the majority were without critique partners. Not because I didn’t want them, but simply that’s where I was in my life and the deadline had to be met.
Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you see yourself?
I don’t see myself as any type of famous or anything or any different. I’m a teacher, and the students keep me grounded. Other people play tennis or garden. I write. There have been some fun moments. We were in this high end eatery on the Upper West Side in NYC and next to us were members of the New England Patriots—we know because the host told us. My daughter didn’t miss a beat and said “My mom’s a famous writer,” so that was fun. Another was when my daughter went to college and one of the girls on her floor had flown over from Japan and had a copy of one of my books in Japanese. She was excited to know that my daughter was related to the “author she read on the plane.” When my book was translated into manga, that was when my younger daughter found what I do interesting. Otherwise, I’m just the same person I’ve always been, just with a good accountant.
What is your writing spirit animal?
I don’t really have a spirit animal unless you count my cats. They are always in the room when I write. Princess likes to walk on the keyboard.
Do you read reviews? How do you deal with the good and the bad? Has this changed over time?
I do read the reviews every now and then and love the great ones and ignore the rest. You can’t worry about the haters unless everyone hates you.
How do you balance your family life with your writing career?
My phrase is work hard, play hard. I don’t garden, play sports or do crafts. I teach and write. My children are grown and independent now, so my life is now about what I want to do and where I want to go, more than it ever was before. When not teaching and writing, this year is all about traveling, and so far that’s been Detroit; Hawaii; Houston; and Stockholm, Sweden; with Ireland, England and France this summer, along with Florida, Cincinnati, and Toronto in the fall.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself about writing?
Don’t worry about what others think. Your inner voice is the only one that matters. Or in the words of my friend Jodi Thomas, “Leap and the net will appear.”
What is the name of your most recent or upcoming release?
One Suite Deal is my 28th release from Harlequin Special Edition and debuts June 25, 2024. It’s the 4th book in the Love in the Valley series.
Sum up your most recent release or upcoming release in one sentence.
An opposites attract when a snowbound tryst turns unconventional love triangle for an undercover billionaire boss.
Give us three words that describe your most recent or upcoming release?
Forced proximity, small town, secret identity.
Who is your favorite character and why?
I love Lana because she’s a feisty, gutsy girl heroine who’s not afraid to leave the past behind in order to reach her dreams. I had a lot of fun writing Edmund because he’s a fish out of water.
Michele Dunaway is a bestselling contemporary romance author who writes happily-ever-afters set in small towns with cookie stores and wine. Michele writes "Hometown Sweet with a Hint of Spice,” using the places she’s lived and visited as inspiration for her stories.
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