Nora Roberts has sold 300 million books. Karen Wilson asks her how she does it.
She dominates the bestseller lists with her romance and suspense novels and has sold a staggering 300 million books during her career. In a rare interview, US author Nora Roberts attributes her success to her Irish heritage and old-fashioned hard work.
"I'm of Irish extraction on both sides and the
Irish are great storytellers," she says in a gravelly voice that is often punctuated by laughter. "So I have a lot to thank my parents for - but I also credit them with the gift of discipline. You can be a great storyteller, but to be a writer you have to sit your butt down and do it."
Roberts has been writing novels for three decades and writes five books a year: two installments of a romance trilogy or quartet - the most recent being The Bride Quartet series, two futuristic suspense In Death books under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, and one Big Nora, a standalone romantic suspense novel.
She is often asked how she manages to be so prolific. "I write every day, between six and eight hours. I treat it like a job because it really is. Writing can be very frustrating, but I love what I do so it is a joy. I'm also lucky that I have a fast pace."
Her latest Big Nora novel, The Search (Piatkus, $36.99), is the story of Fiona Bristow, a feisty and independent woman, who has rebuilt her life after being the sole survivor of a killing spree. She runs a canine rescue centre and the last thing she is looking for is a relationship, but then artist Simon Doyle shows up wanting help training his dog, and the sexual tension is immediately palpable.
But then another killer puts Fiona in his sights. This is vintage Roberts: a page-turning read with strong and vital characters at its core. "I want to write about strong people, or people that find their strength during the course of the book," explains Roberts.
"I don't want to write books about women who are waiting to be rescued - I would find that irritating and boring. So in The Search, when Fiona meets Simon, the male protagonist, he is not the answer - he is a gift."
Roberts views writing as "building" and often the story stems from one central idea.
"I know the old chestnut is write what you know, but I don't believe that. I think you write what you want to find out. In this case I wanted to make the central female protagonist a dog trainer so I had to do a lot of research on how you train, not only puppies, but problematic dogs. It's fascinating stuff."
Characterisation is always in the fore of Roberts mind.
"Characters are like piano keys. There are only 88 keys on a piano but you can make a lot of music from this. I don't care if they are rich or poor, or whether they've had a wonderful childhood or they've been abused by their father, as long as they have backbone, a core of honour, I'm interested in telling their story.
"I may have to tweak them and figure them out, but by the time I've finished the second draft I know their pathology and their background. There may be things that I don't pass on to the reader, but I have to know the character or intuit them."
Creating a balance between suspense and romance in her novels is something that Roberts also leaves to her intuition.
"I'm not a very analytical writer. A lot of it is just gut because fiction is just a big entertaining lie, but I have to see if it's plausible. If I don't believe it then why would the readers?"
Robert's novels attract readers of all ages and the romance category remains strong with women.
"People are always interested in relationships, whether they are romantic relationships or friendships or family - and a love story is universal," she points out.
"People want to fall in love and they want companionship.
"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."
It was during a blizzard in 1979 that Roberts first started writing, snowed in with two young children. She believes this was serendipity.
"I always loved to read, but I never thought about writing. I really thought everyone made up stories, but when I started writing I immediately fell in love with the process and I thought why haven't I been doing this all along?"
Roberts freely admits that she has no other ambitions beyond writing.
"I love my life. I certainly can't think of any other job I would like to do.
"There is so much you can do, and so many places you can go, when you are working on a book. I'm always interested in finding the next story that I want to tell."
