Chesterfield couch, in royal purple – just perfect for our distinguished guest on tonight’s show.
Hi Elizabeth, it’s lovely to be sitting here on your purple couch and talking about my favourite topic—writing! Thanks for inviting me.
It’s always a pleasure to have you!
I love your excerpt from Engaging the Enemy on your web site.
There is some fabulous tension right from the get go. I read that I feel like I’m on the heroine’s side right away. Do you find getting yourself emotionally caught up in your character’s lives and perhaps getting angry, sad or that just-fallen-in love feeling as you’re writing?
Susanne Bellamy, a great friend and author of Engaging the Enemy released on August 1
Empathising with my characters is a hazard of writing and sometimes it’s hard to change points-of-view. But what an eye-opener that can be when you move into a new scene and adopt the other character’s perspective. It is a powerful reminder that we are shaped by our past and the experiences we’ve had colour our present actions. At times I need to ‘feel’ as one of my characters would in order to search deep for the truth of a pivotal moment in their story. For this exercise, I go back to some of my Drama teaching and apply Stanislavski’s theory. And sometimes I lie awake at night and dream-think through a scene. Don’t know what hubby thinks of that! ;)
Melbourne seems like a very special place for you. Can you tell us what you love about the city?
Before my daughter moved to Melbourne to study, I’d passed through the city once without having the chance to explore it. Now, we go to visit and see it through the eyes of someone who lives there. She takes us to great cafes, and we’ve explored a number of cultural places, taken tram and train rides (I’ve yet to have a carriage ride!), stayed both with her and at the beautiful Langham Hotel and so much more.
The Yarra River winds through the city centre and is a focal point for recreation and relaxation along its banks and there are so many beautiful old buildings and laneways to enjoy. I love the architecture; in fact, it was an abandoned red-brick building spotted from the tram that inspired the idea for Engaging the Enemy.
What is the starting place for your stories? Is it a scene? An emotion? A story arc?
I absolutely adore first meetings and love to hear how people met their partner so for me, it’s often that first sighting, be it breath-taking or brash that excites me. My new release began with seeing the red-brick building and wondering who would save it.
When I realised that there were two people for whom this building was very special and why each of them needed it, their initial meeting blossomed as an almost complete scene in my imagination.
My novella, One Night in Sorrento, began as we travelled the Amalfi Coast road with its 1600+ bends and endless possibilities. Again, I saw Luca and Rhiannon’s meeting which was inspired by the road and endless traffic.
I love the way you bring to life the exotic locations for your stories Hawaii, Sorrento, Melbourne… What kind of influence do they have on how the story develops?
Exotic places grab my imagination, probably because we have travelled quite a lot. Culture, attitudes, language all differ and therefore understandings or interpretations of even basic things can be challenging. My first attempt to order a latte in Tuscany highlighted this for me. A latte in Italy is hot milk, not the milk coffee we associate with the name here. Fortunately, an Austrian customer who spoke Italian and English cottoned on to my surprise and the situation was easily remedied.
Language incorporates different cultural understandings and these aren’t limited to languages other than English. Differences between various forms of English can be humorous as well. Matt, the Irish hero of Engaging the Enemy, cannot use the word ‘kid’ when referring to a child because he thinks of a baby goat but when he refers to the ‘bairn’, Andie doesn’t understand him either!
What is the most challenging aspect of the writing process for you?
Everyone should have enemies like him!
Engaging The Enemy by Susanne Bellamy
Balancing my writing time with all the other things an author is expected to do for him/herself today. I enjoy writing blogs and I love interacting with readers and other authors online but I still haven’t achieved a satisfactory routine. I also find it challenging to market my stories in a way that doesn’t feel awkward for me.
Oh, and I’m a technogumby! Yep!
Next week you’ll be off to the RWA convention in Sydney (jealous!). How has the organisation helped you as a writer and indeed on the journey to getting published?
Anna Campbell and Christina Brooks led the BWF romance writing workshop where I first heard of the RWA. It astonished me that there was a whole national organisation devoted to romance, let alone one that offered support, education and a whole range of services to writers. The wonder of it is that it also led me to wonderful friendships with other authors and continues to do so. Writing can be a lonely occupation in some ways and having connections to like-minded people who also hear voices in their heads and don’t think it strange is fantastic.
RWA contributed initially by offering competitions for unpublished writers. White Ginger won third place in the Emerald Award in 2011 and led to me pitching the story to a smaller publisher who picked it up and set me on my way. Since then, I’ve attended conferences and connected with amazing writers who generously share their expertise.
I understand that your next writing project is going to be ‘out of this world’. Would you care to elaborate? ;)
Indeed, I’m going off-planet in my next novella, one of four stories written with the fabulous Bathing Belles for a Christmas anthology, A Season to Remember. Four stories of four Christmases, from bittersweet to hopeful, written by south-east Queensland writers. Between us we write historical, contemporary and, apparently now, futuristic romance! EE Carter, Noelle Clark and Eva Scott are my writing pals in this Christmas gift to our readers, due out late November 2014. Watch our websites for its release!
Many thanks for hosting me, Jacqui. I love visiting with you and I love your purple couch. It would look so good in my lounge room!
Hands off lady, that purple couch is mine! :p
Check out Engaging The Enemy, it’s out this Friday – August 1. You can pre-order it here on iTunes.