DOREEN HIGHT
- GUEST AUTHOR -
G'day folks,
Today, I interview an author who has written under various names. Doreen is the author of 66 books, novellas and various articles. Born in the UK, she now resides in the USA.
Welcome, Doreen ...
1.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT
YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
I guess my career as an
author began in London, during WW II. I
was five years old when England declared war on Germany, and I spent a great
deal of my childhood in bomb shelters. I
told stories to my classmates, spinning the tales off the top of my head,
without really knowing what I was doing.
It kept their minds off the gunfire and explosions, and that was all
that mattered. My first published work
was a letter to a national newspaper. I
was eight years old. It wasn’t until
forty years later that I attempted to publish again.
2.
WHEN AND HOW DID YOU
BECOME A WRITER?
I’d been writing most
of my life – short stories, poems, newsletters for my British Club, etc. Now living in the U.S., facing my fiftieth
birthday, married and the mother of a teenage son, I read a somewhat
patronizing article about women writing romances at the kitchen table and
decided to give it a shot. I’d been
reading romance novels for years, so I knew how they worked. I wrote four of them on a typewriter, all of
which ended up in the trash, then started work on the fifth.
Meanwhile I attended a
writer’s conference and met a wonderful editor from Harlequin/Silhouette who
invited me to send her a proposal. Two
months later she wrote and asked me to send the full manuscript. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I invested in a computer, finished the novel
and sent it in. Two months later, on
February 6th, 1987 at 2.30 in the afternoon, I received the
call. I was a published author. I think the entire neighbourhood heard me
scream.
3.
WHAT TYPE OF PREPARATION DO YOU DO FOR A
MANUSCRIPT? DO YOU PLAN EVERYTHING FIRST OR JUST SHOOT FROM THE HIP?
I write mysteries now, so plotting beforehand
is pretty much essential. Before I start
writing the book I have to know who died, who killed him, why and how he was
killed, who are the other suspects and their possible motivations. I think of it as building a house. First, I need the setting, and it has to be
unique, like another character in the book.
Then I lay the foundation, which are the main plot points. After that I start writing the chapters,
adding the rooms with all the interactions with the characters. Then I go back and fill in the decorating and
furniture, which are details of scenery, emotions, self-examinations of the
protagonist, etc. It works for me, but
that doesn’t mean it works for everyone.
A lot of excellent authors I know fly by the seat of their pants.
4.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST
ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
So many things!
I guess the most enjoyable aspect of it all is escaping to a world I’ve
created. When I’m in the zone, I am
there, sharing in their adventures. My
characters become like family to me.
They intrude on my days and wake me up at night to tell me where I’m
going wrong, or where they want to go next.
When a series ends I feel a deep sense of loss, as though I’m saying
goodbye to people close to me.
5.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST
THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
Sitting down every morning in front of a blank
page. I can find so many things to do
instead. Once I actually start writing I
can stay with it for two or three hours, but that initial motivation to open up
the manuscript is sheer torture. I don’t
know why, as I love writing. Maybe it’s
an obscure fear that I won’t be able to produce – that whatever it is that
prompts me and allows me to write will be gone.
6.
WHAT GENRE DO YOU
WRITE?
I used to write romantic suspense and have
twenty-six books published with Harlequin.
I now write nothing but mysteries.
They are cozies, similar to the work of the great Dame Agatha Christie,
though I could only hope to reach such majestic heights. Twenty-four of them are set in Edwardian
England, nine in WW II England and the rest are contemporary.
7.
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS
FOR NEW WRITERS?
If you want to write a book to make money, find
another hobby. If you want to write a
book because something inside you is driving you - a need to write, a
dedication to your ideas, words that are in your head clamouring to get out -
then sit down and write. It takes time
to learn to write well enough to sell.
Yes, I sold the first manuscript I sent in to a publisher, but it wasn’t
the first book I wrote. I spent half a
lifetime honing my craft before I felt ready to be published. Learn all you can. There is so much information on the Internet
now – so much that wasn’t available to me when I was learning. Listen to criticism but take what you feel is
right for you and discard the rest.
Pour your heart and soul into your writing and above all, NEVER GIVE
UP. Believe in yourself and you can make
it happen.
8.
DO YOU SUFFER FROM
WRITER’S BLOCK?
Yes, I do.
Most of the time I can work through it, but five years ago I had one
that lasted almost two years. I had
ended a twenty-one book mystery series and was convinced I wanted to
retire. I had been fighting deadlines
for almost thirty years and I was tired.
I had no new ideas and I’d lost the joy in the whole process. Then my husband and I took a road trip in an
RV around the entire country, following all four borders, stopping off to see
the sights and visit relatives and friends.
I don’t know if it was the change of scenery and lifestyle - living in a
motorhome for three months can be a challenge - but soon after we returned home
I was bitten by the bug again. I’m still
happily writing.
9.
DO YOU HAVE A
PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?
My husband is a late sleeper, while I am a
morning person. I get up early and write
for about three hours until it’s time to wake up Bill and get the day
started. It works for me, as my mind is
clearer in the morning. As the day wears
on, my head gets clogged up with all the chaos and uncertainty of living in
these modern times. I think that’s why I
started out writing historical mysteries - I could go back to a more quiet and
gentle time. I love the
upstairs/downstairs life of early twentieth century England, and always felt at
peace while writing those books.
10.
WHAT’S THE GREATEST
COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?
I have had readers write to tell me how my books have
helped them relax, find peace, etc, but when one of my readers told me he read
my books out loud to his dying mother in a hospital and accumulated a large
group of patients all eager to hear the next installment - that meant the world
to me.
11.
WHAT WAS THE WORST
COMMENT FROM A READER?
I had one reader who read all the books in the Pennyfoot
Hotel mysteries and wrote awful reviews of every one of them. He kept saying he couldn’t understand why
they were so popular. I couldn’t
understand why he kept reading them.
12.
WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES
INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?
Absolutely! The
Pennyfoot Hotel mysteries are based on the seaside hotel my family owned in
England, and the delightfully eccentric guests that stayed there. The Manor House mysteries, set in WW II, are
based on my experiences during the war, though I set the stories in a remote
village, so that I could tell the stories with a humorous touch, which might
not have been possible if I’d set them in London.
13.
OTHER THAN WRITING,
WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
I used to love dancing, ice-skating and playing tennis,
since I grew up in Wimbledon. These days
my pursuits are more sedate. I love to
play golf, play the piano and walk our little chihuahua mix dog.
14.
DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY
EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
No, I didn’t. That doesn’t
mean they didn’t need editing – and still do.
I have been fortunate to have some of the best editors in the business
work with me, and I shall always be eternally grateful for their help and
advice.
15.
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A
WRITER?
That depends on what
the writer wants. Fame and fortune come
to very few in this profession. In my
mind, if you write something that is read and enjoyed by even a few people,
that is success as a writer.
16.
WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM
YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?
I think readers should
have the satisfaction of knowing that no matter how big the problem, there’s
always a solution. You just have to dig
to find it. It’s not always easy, but
it’s always worth the effort.
17.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR BOOKS
MADE INTO MOVIES? EVER WRITTEN A SCREENPLAY?
Absolutely! I once had a producer in Los Angeles contact
me about televising the Pennyfoot mysteries.
Nothing ever came of it, but it was exciting at the time. I did write a screenplay and had it optioned
for a weekly series, but again, nothing came of it. Getting anything even read in Hollywood is
tough, much less accepted for filming.
18.
WRITING IS ONE THING. WHAT ABOUT
MARKETING YOU, YOUR BOOKS AND YOUR BRAND? ANY THOUGHTS?
I am notoriously bad at
marketing. I do have a website, I am on
social media to some extent, though not nearly as often as I should be. I am from the old school of thinking, that all
the marketing in the world is not going to help if you don’t have something
spectacular to sell. I’d rather spend
the time working on my books and making them the very best they can be.
19.
ARE YOUR BOOKS SELF-PUBLISHED?
No, most of them are
published by Berkley/Penguin and the rest by Crooked Lane. I have the rights back to several of the
Berkley books and I republished them as Ebooks on Amazon.
20.
ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
Thank you, Clancy, for
inviting me to contribute to your blog.
To any of my readers who might be reading this - my heartfelt gratitude
for your loyalty and your friendship. It
means everything to me. And to all
aspiring authors - I wish you the very best of luck. Stick with it, work hard and true success can
be yours.
Clancy's comment: You are most welcome, Doreen. It's been a pleasure. 66 books! Wow! I love the titles of your books. Best wishes with book sales, and keep writing.
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