| site search by freefind |
Romantic Leads
Award-winning writers show the world how it's done
By JANENE CAREY
[This article was published in The Armidale Express Extra, May 12, 2010.]
LOCAL authors Bronwyn Parry and Kelly Hunter are two of three Australian finalists in this year's RITAs, major awards sponsored by the Romance Writers of America (RWA).
Romantic fiction is a billion dollar industry in the USA, accounting for a quarter of all books sold, and Bronwyn and Kelly are firm believers in its value as a genre that prioritises the emotional side of life. "I think it has a lovely message," Kelly said. "Love conquers all. The books are feel-good, they're fun. I think they serve a really nice purpose."
According to Bronwyn, romantic fiction offers both men and women a way of exploring the difficulties of negotiating emotional relationships. "It gives people ideas about how to approach it in their own lives," she said. "And it's a genre that has strong women, strong women's voices."
|
Armidale romance-writer, Bronwyn Parry |
Bronywn's career as an author was launched in 2007 when she won the RWA's Golden Heart award for her romantic suspense manuscript, As Darkness Falls.
Starring two detectives, Isabelle and Alec, whose mutual attraction is ruthlessly exploited by an unknown killer who has abducted a small girl, the book was published by Hachette Australia in 2008 and by Piatkus UK in 2009, and in May 2010 it will be released by Blanvalet in Germany.
Bronwyn is contesting the RITAs with her subsequent novel, Dark Country; this time she is up against such best-selling authors as Nora Roberts, Karen Rose and Kylie Brant. The second in a loosely linked trilogy set in the fictional outback town of Dungirri, Dark Country picks up a minor character from the first book, police sergeant Kris Matthews, as she helps a man accused of murder to clear his name.
The RITA contest receives more than 1000 entries across 12 categories, with five to eight novels and novellas published in the preceding year being selected as finalists in each category.
Kelly Hunter is a finalist in the contemporary series romance category with her novel, Revealed: A Prince and a Pregnancy, a tale that begins in a Hunter Valley vineyard and ends up in a fictional Spanish principality. "That one in particular is a fantasy read," Kelly said. "Riches, glamour, a very determined heroine and a gorgeous alpha male hero."
A former CSIRO scientist, Kelly began trying to write romances as a diversion while working in Malaysia in 2000. "I was having a little bit of culture shock. And I found this row of really old Mills & Boons from the 60s that the wives of the royal engineers had left behind. I read through the lot, and I loved them. It was lovely to dip into them at a time when I was feeling really out of place."
With her family, she came to Armidale in 2001 and has been producing two or three books a year for Harlequin since first being published in 2007. "There's the benefit of not having to build your own brand," Kelly noted. "You get a built-in audience to start with. I have a backlist of about 10, which is a nice position to be in, particularly now that e-books are on the rise."
A disadvantage of writing for Harlequin used to be that books were on the shelf for only a month in each country, but these days electronic copies of older works by favourite authors can be readily purchased over the internet.
"Harlequin are at the forefront of digital publishing," Kelly said. "And phone publishing. In Japan you can download my books on a daily basis, one section at a time. "My audience, the people who read these books, read voraciously. They can never get enough of them, so if they find an author they love, they'll go hunting. And Harlequin have made that very easy."
The third Australian finalist is Elizabeth Rolls from South Australia, with a novel in the regency historical romance category.
The RITA winners for 2010 will be announced at a gala presentation ceremony in Nashville on July 31.
The New England Writers' Centre is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.