This morning’s New Zealand Herald published a surprising conversation with Nora Roberts, surprising in that the bestselling romance writer seldom grants interviews. In the August 22, 2010 article, “Nora Roberts: Storyteller at heart,” however, reporter Karen Wilson conveys Roberts’ views on how she has managed to sell over 300 million books during her career.
Roberts tells Wilson that her Irish background is one factor in her success. "I'm of Irish extraction on both sides and the Irish are great storytellers," she says.
She credits her parents, too, with giving her the sense of discipline she has needed to write nearly 200 titles. “You can be a great storyteller, but to be a writer you have to sit your butt down and do it," she points out.
Roberts reveals that part of the joy she finds in writing comes from what she learns in the process. "I know the old chestnut is write what you know, but I don't believe that,” she says. “I think you write what you want to find out.” Roberts investigated the background of trainers of search and rescue dogs in writing her most recent romantic suspense novel, The Search.
Character development continues to provide the core of Roberts’ novels. Of her characters Roberts declares, “A long as they have backbone, a core of honour, I'm interested in telling their story.”
When it comes to developing plots, Roberts follows her instincts. “A lot of it is just gut because fiction is just a big entertaining lie, but I have to see if it's plausible,” she tells Wilson. “If I don't believe it then why would the readers?"
Roberts believes that much of the appeal of her books comes from the interest people have the romance genre. She explains that appeal in these words: "I think every culture is the culture of couples and that leads to family and that is what we strive for as human beings. So we like to read about how other people overcome obstacles, what they each bring to the table that attracts the other, and how they move from attraction to an emotional commitment."
Roberts will publish three additional titles during the winter of 2010. Happy Every After, the concluding novel in her Bride Quartet, will be released on November 2nd as will Indulgence in Death, the next title in the In Death series which Roberts writes under her J.D. Robb pseudonym. The In Death novella, "Possession in Death," will appear in the anthology The Other Side on November 30th.
For more information:
Nora Roberts recalls the first time her books made the New York Times bestseller list
Collins’ New Yorker article hailed by Nora Roberts’ fans
NPR host Scott Simon interviews Nora Roberts at 2009 RWA conference
Barnes & Noble's award-winning Studio features interview with Nora Roberts
Sue Grimshaw interviews Nora Roberts on Borders True Romance
Nora Roberts interviewed by Australia’s Herald Sun
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