INTERVIEW WITH GRACE BURROWES

“…confidence comes almost exclusively as a result of our failures. We become confident not from success, but from the try, try, again aspect of getting to success.”

It’s my pleasure to have, historical romance author, GraceBurrowes, again visiting Over Coffee. Grace is a relatively new author; her first book debuted in December 2010. It hit the Bestseller’s lists. 

Over night success? Hardly. 

Grace writes truly enthralling Regency romance and filled with fascinating families and unforgettable characters that touch your heart.  I truly love how Grace explores the complexities of the era—it’s not all lightness and parties. Her characters face some tough choices amid some of the darker aspects and problems of Regency society. Always her tales are entertaining—they make you laugh, sometimes want to cry, and you always feel good at the end. 

Grace was nice enough to answer some questions. No worries, I offered her sustenance and a spot of her favorite beverage for her efforts. J

• What is it about the Regency era that draws you to set your stories there?

My very favorite keeper authors write Regencies: Mary Balogh, Loretta Chase (though she’s drifting Victorian of late), Mary Jo Putney, and others. I love the diversity of the world—the elegance and the looming threat of war, the class structure with the emerging rights of the common man (sic), and so forth. Then too, there are horses in the Regency—always a plus. 

• You don’t write the usual Almacks, endless balls and assemblies, and silly debutantes thankfully, but you do write your stories to fit the mores and culture of the era—you just shift the focus a bit. I know as a reader I appreciate seeing more of the regency world aside from Ton parties but what intrigues you, as a writer, to explore darker issues or the edges of the Regency society? What makes it fun for you?

I’m increasingly aware that some of what we think of as the Regency (the balls and simpering debutantes, the strict propriety) is what the Victorians wanted us to think of their parents and grandparents. And while that picture isn't wrong, the reality also included child brothels, horrendous odors, infant mortality, childbed fever, and much unpleasantness, particularly for women and children. That complexity, and how members of society ignored it or dealt with it, fascinates me.  

• In your latest release, Darius, you write about balancing honor with hard choices one has to make to take care of family. Despite his choices, what are the things you really about Darius? Is he someone you’d like your daughter to meet? 

Of course I’d like my daughter to meet him! He’s fundamentally honorable, though suffering what I think of as moral fatigue. Darius’ strength and heroism lies in his honesty. He’s not whitewashing his choices, not minimizing their impact on his well being  He recognizes that his choices take a toll on him, ethically, and that he can’t keep paying that price indefinitely. When the woman he loves is threatened by the choices he’s made, he un-makes them. 

• Lady Vivian seems to defy people’s expectations. On one hand she comes across as weaker a damsel in distress. But, she’s not really, is she?

Some might view Vivian as “passive,” though considering her absolute lack of legal rights and material resources, and her lack of honorable male family, I think of her more as pragmatic. She’s ready to make the same compromise Darius did: To stay where she can keep somebody she cares about (her child) safe, she’ll make a deal with the devil. That’s the choice of somebody who doesn't realize they’re truly, deeply loved by others. It’s an orphan’s choice, but when she trusts Darius, she makes the heroine’s choice and gambles everything for love. 

• Without spoiling the story, what was your favorite scene in Darius?

The fight scene, oddly enough. I am not a fan of violence in any form, but readers have told me that in the past, I've let some bad folks get off with a wrist slap. Darius was nearly at the end of his rope, contemplating dire alternatives when he instead found something to live for. The fight wasn't so much about administering justice as it was about Darius’s struggle to hold onto his honor, to fight his way back to a place where he could love and be loved. That surprised me. 

• Even though your stories are set in the past, you tend to write about worries, flaws and insecurities people face; regardless of what time period they live in. Is the fascination in pitting those personal issues against the restrictions and limitations of the times?

Hmm. Not consciously?  As you note, people are people, regardless of the era, and true love is true love.  What often solves the conflict for a romance is the hero and/or heroine healing an old wound in themselves. They regain the courage to love, shed their old dysfunctional coping habits, and in so doing, regain parts of themselves they’d discarded previously. Thus renewed emotionally, they can approach some external problem (the wicked uncle, the murderous cousin) with a wider view of the possible solutions. This isn't an era-specific process. 

• In your working life as attorney, you do deal with families and children in crisis. How much do you that do you draw on for your stories? (For instance, there is quite a bit of realism to Sophie and Maggie’s (Windham series) choices and worries over children of their world.) 

Excellent question, and spot on. I see both tragedies and miracles in my lawyer life, and have often witnessed children in foster care unable to choose options many would say were “obviously” in the child’s best interest.  As children, the instinct to stay with and protect our progenitors, even when those people are dangerous to us, trumps the survival instinct. It’s probably the most heartbreaking reality of my work, and one I relied on specifically in Maggie’s story.

Grace, speaking from a professional counselor’s perspective, I would have to agree, and what I appreciated about most Maggie dilemma. You do a great job with showing the worry, guilt, and sense of responsibility the child in question may face in such a situation. I really loved Maggie’s story. 

• As a writer, how do you deal with doubts and setbacks?

Another excellent question. I’m a reader with specific tastes, so I absolutely respect that not every book I write will work for every reader. It’s the reader’s hard-earned money, and he or she should spend it on books they love. That said, I've become very, very selective about who I associate with as a writer, where I browse on the web, and what discussions I’ll become part of. I love to write, so I try to stay close to that aspect of published authordom—and stay away from places of contention, sniping, competition, and destructiveness. 

• Do you think we benefit from setbacks or even failure?

I recently came across a study that concluded most of us radically underestimate the effort required to achieve success (Gladwell’s 10,000 hours being just the start), and that as a result, confidence comes almost exclusively as a result of our failures. We become confident not from success, but from the try, try, again aspect of getting to success. That rang true for me. 

• If you could spend your day however you wanted, what would you do? 

WRITE, take a walk with my dog, meet one friend somewhere quiet and unpretentious for some good food and good talk. 

• What’s coming next from Grace Burrowes?

The Lonely Lords series launched with Darius earlier this month, and the rest of the fellows are schedule at the rate of about one a month though early next year. I have many books in production, but I’m also working on a Regency trilogy about the things, people and ideas that can hold us captive. And I feel a Scottish Victorian Christmas story coming on… For more info and updates on coming titles, please visit my website, www.graceburrowes.com.

Grace, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. I also want to thank you for the wonderful stories you tell. They have given me hours of pleasure. You have renewed my love for a good historical. 

“What often solves the conflict for a romance is the hero and/or heroine healing an old wound in themselves. They regain the courage to love, shed their old dysfunctional coping habits, and in so doing, regain parts of themselves they’d discarded previously.”

DARIUS BY GRACE BURROWES – IN STORES APRIL 2013

A story that breaks all the rules...

Darius is a gripping and remarkable tale of desperation, devotion, and redemption from award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes. Her gorgeous writing and lush Regency world will stay with you long after you turn the final page...

With his beloved sister tainted by scandal, his widowed brother shattered by grief , and his funds cut off, Darius Lindsey sees no option but to sell himself—body and soul. Until the day he encounters lovely, beguiling Lady Vivian Longstreet, whose tenderness and understanding wrap his soul in a grace he knows he'll never deserve...

AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND, INDIGO/CHAPTERS

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Monday's Musings: Defining Success

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote historical romance. Did you know that? 

Now, let me reassure you manly guys, in Doyle’s time, adventure fiction was considered romantic because the story consisted of idealized, adventurous or heroic characters—larger than life. Since there was no genre designation for science fiction, stories he wrote such as The Lost World, were also under the term romance. Yes, some of his stories had some romantic interest between characters, but the thrust of the story was always the adventure.

My husband and I were talking about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this weekend, and the things in his life that affected his writing and his perspective of that writing and how he defined success. We're both fans of his writing and have read his biography.  His mother was a storyteller. She told him heroic stories from babyhood. Doyle's going to college (where he entertained many with his oral stories) changed his outlook on life. He got another point of view from going adventuring, getting married, juggling his work as a practicing physician and father with his ambition to be an author. How life experiences can change a writer’s perspective of what they write. The difference between critical acclaimed work and commercial success—especially in the writer's mind.

For instance, everyone knows about Sherlock Homes. It’s probably the most famous and financially successful series that Sir Arthur wrote. He met the inspiration for Sherlock while attending medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Joseph Bell, who was known as "a master at observation, logic, deduction, and diagnosis." Sound familiar? 

When Sir Arthur was 27, he wrote, A Study in Scarlet, introducing us to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (although that wasn't their names in the original manuscript). Watson was loosely based on Doyle's own adventures as a medical officer serving on board a whaling ship sailing the arctic waters (which he loved) and again as a doctor on board another ship sailing between England and the west coast of Africa (which he hated). Sherlock Holmes was born from a young man's sense of adventure and the respect and admiration of a mentor.   

Even though Sherlock Holmes stories skyrocketed him to the bestselling lists of his time, Doyle didn’t particularly like his character. You see, Doyle wanted to be known as a serious author, in other words, he wanted critical acclaim.  He attempted to kill Sherlock off when he was thirty-four in The Final Problem.

Why would Doyle do that? The Sherlock Holmes Series was a moneymaking success and made him famous. Doyle, at the ripe age of thirty-two, felt Sherlock Holmes was too commercial and eclipsed his more serious work. What many don’t know is Doyle’s first love was the historical novel. The White Company was one of those novels written from his heart. It’s set during the Hundred Year Wars with brave Knight, Alleyne Edrickson, the squire hero; Sir Nigel Loring, the knight errant; Samkin Aylward, the master archer; and Hordle John.

“Thirty years later, he told a journalist, "I was young and full of the first joy of life and action, and I think I got some of it into my pages. When I wrote the last line, I remember that I cried: 'Well, I'll never beat that' and threw the inky pen at the opposite wall." “

Doyle wrote other tales of Sir Nigel and the White Company. They’re great stories, actually, and if you like Doyle’s writing and haven’t read them, you should check them out (you can find many of them on Amazon, BTW).

Not long after this, his life took a downswing. He got influenza, which which almost killed him, it took him some time to recover from it. He killed off Sherlock (although he didn’t hesitate to resurrect him, later, when he needed the money), his father died, and not long after that, first wife, Louisa, contracted tuberculosis. It was a dark time for him, he suffered from depression, and his writing reflected that. He delved into the “Spiritualism” of the time and became fascinated with life beyond the veil. Remember, this is Victorian times and many were interested in things of that nature. He wrote about these things in papers and some later became part of non-fiction books on the subject of the occult.

After nine years of being sick his wife died. A year later he married the love of his life, Jean Locke (allegedly related to Rob Roy which delighted Doyle). He loved his life, his wife, and their children. A couple years later he wrote his next commercially successful series, The Lost World, with the outrageous and larger than life hero, Professor Challenger. He wrote four more novels with Professor Challenger. I think he had a lot of fun with the humorous professor and his adventures. Plus, like with Sherlock, they were wildly popular with his fans and brought in a good amount of money.

Isn’t it funny, Doyle wanted to be thought of as a serious author?  I’d say he achieved that. He wanted critical acclaim and didn’t feel his popular series gave him that. Boy, was he wrong. If he could only see what’s been done with these two famous and long-lived characters. His body of work is quite substantial. King Edward VII, a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, Knighted Doyle (at the age of forty-three) for his service to the crown and work during the Boer Wars (including a non-fiction book written about his findings as a doctor).

Life changes us. We grow, our priorities change, as does our perception of life, but our desire to write, either as form of making sense of life or to tell stories, remain. 

When you read Doyle’s body of work, you see reflections of those types of changes  The stories of a young man’s sense of adventure, historical novels from the heart, various short stories and novels that were born in depression, books highlighting Doyle’s intellectual pursuits whether as a doctor or as a man fascinated by the unseen world of the occult, happy fun adventures written during a very happy time in his life.  

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, if he were here today, might debate over the terminology of being called a successful author, but in my opinion he was certainly a successful author and he continued to write regardless of what life threw him.

• What do you think? Do you feel he achieved critical acclaim or merely success?

• How would you define success for your writing?