Anna Campbell - historical romance author

Meet Debut Author Anna Campbell!

Kim Howe, runner-up in American Title III and 2006 and 2007 (double!) Golden Heart finalist, interviews Anna.

Please welcome Anna Campbell, a talented historical romance author from Down Under! Anna's new release CLAIMING THE COURTESAN is receiving rave reviews, so feel free to check out your copy today.

KH: First of all, I'd like to say how much I enjoyed reading CLAIMING THE COURTESAN; the plane ride to Barbados passed in a blur thanks to your talented writing. Given my love of thrillers and suspense, the novels I read are often plot driven. CTC was a refreshing change, as it was very much a character driven novel and I loved the push and pull of the relationship. Can you describe your writing process, developing an epic novel from characters rather than plot?

AC: Thanks, KJ, for saying those lovely things about CLAIMING THE COURTESAN and for inviting me to do this interview. Before I answer your question, congratulations on all your success! I can't wait to see what happens next in your writing career. It's almost as suspenseful as one of your books!

Also thank you for saying you found the story epic. It sure felt like an epic when I was writing it even though the palette I use is fairly small - only a couple of settings, only a couple of characters, no major subplots.

All my books are character driven - I really admire people who can construct a detailed plot like you can! My stories emerge very much from my subconscious. A character or two and perhaps a situation start up an annoying scratch at the back of my mind. Slowly stray ideas attach to the germ of a concept. So my idea with CTC was a duke from a dysfunctional family decides he wants to marry his mistress, London's most notorious courtesan, basically to thumb his nose at his appalling ancestors (and living relatives!). Having read the book, Kim, you know it moved a long way away from that! Those characters eventually take over my life and insist that I start writing their story. Then something weird happens in the process of putting the story down on paper. It never emerges as I think it will, even if I've got a reasonably good road map of character arcs, etc., in my mind.

KH: Your research for CTC was impeccable. Can you tell us a little about your research techniques or share your favorite sources? I'm especially interested in the role of courtesans.

AC: Thank you! I tried really hard to be true to the period, although it's the little details where you come unstuck. The things you'd never even think to look up. I try to give my characters attitudes appropriate to their times - to me, that's the fascination in a historical. How did people navigate their way through the strictures of that particular society to find happiness?

I've always been a voracious reader--of anything, really--and I've read historical romance since I was a kid. Reading writers like Barbara Cartland or Georgette Heyer, you pick up a lot of historical detail accidentally. I also read stacks of nonfiction. I guess I'm saying I have a good historical general knowledge that works as a raft that I can build my story on. Once I come up with a specific story, I start reading specifically even as I'm writing. It keeps me in the world of the book.

The courtesans were amazingly interesting--partly because they were so varied. A book I would recommend highly is Katie Hickman's COURTESANS. It gives short biographies of famous courtesans and you get a real sense of what these women would have been like. That's what I wanted - their personalities and the fabric of their lives. Strangely, I came across a courtesan called Elizabeth Armistead who fell in love with one of her lovers and married him, very happily (although obviously she was never accepted in society). By that stage, I'd written the first draft of CTC but this woman had so much in common with my Verity that I thought the universe was giving me the green light!

KH: Justin was a wonderfully tortured hero, a throw-back to the gothic days. Rumor has it that his take-charge attitude in the bedroom has some readers gasping for air. You have touched on a fascinating and controversial issue regarding sexuality in novels. Why do you think so many readers enjoy the dominant sexual male?

AC: Have I told you these are fantastic questions? They are!

Personally I think it's the taming the beast fantasy. Although I hate the thought of 'taming' anyone and I think Justin is far from a beast. There are reasons behind anything he does and he learns from his mistakes - seems to me he's pretty human! But going back to the fantasy, it's the Heathcliff thing, isn't it? Byron. Mr. Rochester. That love can redeem the least likely candidates and all that bad boy passion can be channeled into a loving focus on just one woman. So the rogue male turns into the warrior protector of the woman he loves and his children. I think romance is such a powerful form partly because it plumbs these archetypal depths. Most of my stories are Beauty and the Beast - this one definitely is.

KH: Australia is full of mystique and unique treasures - the perfect place to write romances. Can you share what the romance market is like Down Under? How many members belong to Romance Writers of Australia?

AC: I'm not sure how many members are in RWAustralia, but it would be in the many hundreds. We usually get between 200 and 300 to our conferences (which are great fun and worth a visit if any of you are passing).

The Australian romance market is dominated by Harlequin/Mills & Boon. Category books are an institution over here and we have a lot of great writers published with HM&B. Single title books have a big audience too - Avon is generally available everywhere (yay!) as are publishers like Bantam and Pocket, especially if you're talking about big name authors. Some mid-list authors are a bit harder to find although I think that's improving too as people become aware of the variety and quality of romance published in the US. There are five specialist bookshops in Australia (they're listed on the links page of my website) who get American releases concurrent with the US.

KH: Before you were published, you did very well in contests, including a double final in last year's Golden Heart. Do you feel that entering writing contests helped your career? What advice would you give unpublished writers about contests?

AC: Absolutely contests helped me. As many of you know, I was unpublished for an embarrassingly long time. One of the things that kept me writing was that I usually did pretty well in contests. It was that glimmer of hope that kept me plowing on. And the Golden Heart double final was a great calling card when my agent sent my manuscript to editors.

Actually, I've got quite a lot of advice about contests! Ask yourself why you're entering. Do you want some feedback on a story to see how it strikes a stranger? Or are you entering hoping to final and get your work on an editor's desk? If the second, make your work as polished as it can possibly be - the competition (no pun intended) is incredible. If one judge says something, it may or may not be true. If two or more judges say it, it's worth looking at. But remember it's your story and often judges are only seeing a small portion of a work and can't judge the whole story. So I think I'm saying hold onto your vision. Try and enter contests that allow for widely varying scores. CTC created love/hate reactions in judges. Fortunately more love than hate. But if there are only two judges and one gives you full marks and one gives you a bad mark, you have no chance of finaling. Lastly, I'd like to say that if you enter a lot of contests, it actually demonstrates that your work will receive a wide reaction out in the world and it makes you tougher. Having a bit of protective armor as a writer is a good thing as long as it doesn't shut you off from what inspires your stories.

KH: You have a fascinating work background, sampling many different jobs on the way to becoming a full-time romance writer. How did these experiences affect you as a person and as a writer?

AC: I think working in so many different jobs exposes you to a huge variety of human nature. And human nature, after all, is what we draw our stories from. I've worked in places I loved and places I hated and they all taught me something about how people react to different situations.

KH: After readers finish CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, I know they will be clamoring for more Anna Campbell books. What novels do you have in the works?

AC: UNTOUCHED, my second book for Avon, is tucked up and ready to go in New York and will be a December release. It's another Regency noir but the story isn't related to CTC. I think of it as a dark fairytale, sort of a combination of Beauty and the Beast (again!) and The Sleeping Beauty. And I'm currently working on book three which is another courtesan story.

KH: I'm picturing Glenn Close (a la Cruella de Ville) in the movie role as Justin's mother. Who would you cast in the lead roles of Verity and Justin?

AC: Hey, an excellent question. Glenn Close would be PERRRRFECT as the evil Dowager Duchess. That icy beauty! I usually have a 'type' in mind when I begin although the characters tend to change and become individuals as I write it. Justin was like a young Daniel Day Lewis, you know with that dark intensity and that beak of a nose and all that lean masculinity. Oh, mamma! Verity was like Olivia Hussey from Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet'. That perfect fall of silky black hair and the wide gray eyes. I think she was breathtakingly beautiful in that film.

KH: Daniel Day Lewis...yes, that's Justin all right! Thanks for taking the time to stop by to answer those questions. It's been a pleasure!