PhotobucketBecause of my illness I made only one public appearance as a writer in 2009. I’m trying to make up for that in 2010. Last weekend I attended my first ever romance writers’ event, a one-day conference organised by Romance Writers of Australia, where I was a guest speaker.

Although I was thrilled to be invited to Romancing the West, I had some misgivings. I wondered whether what I had to say would be relevant to what romance writers wanted to learn. I wasn’t sure whether attendees would want to do writing exercises, which I was including as a major component of my two workshops. I knew this event would be different from speculative fiction conventions, which tend to be based around the interests of fans (and not necessarily book fans) not those of writers. And it would not be like mainstream literary festivals, which tend to be thin on genre writers here in Australia. I prepared as thoroughly as I could, finding it a little daunting that course handouts had to be provided two weeks in advance so they could be bound into a book for participants.

I expected efficient organisation from RWA, and we got it, with sessions starting and ending on time, timely and tasty meals, and technology that worked as required. The busy schedule meant I was only free to attend one other speaker’s session, and I chose Fiona Lowe, who writes medical romances for Harlequin Mills and Boon. Fiona’s presentation was called Finding the Zen of your Back Story. She talked about building internal conflict between the hero and heroine based on what they believe about themselves, life and love at the beginning of the story. Fiona was brave enough to read us the opening pages of the first manuscript she ever submitted to a publisher, before she learned that you shouldn’t include the heroine’s entire back story in the first chapter. She used the movie The Holiday, and in particular the Jude Law / Cameron Diaz romance, to illustrate effective drip feeding of back story.

I presented two workshops, one on voice and one on research for historical fiction. I was also on an authors’ panel. It was a long day’s work and I had to drink black coffee at 9pm so I’d be sufficiently awake to drive home after the conference dinner. I took away a lot of good observations:

  1. The atmosphere of the day was welcoming and positive, something I have not always experienced at comparable events for writers in other genres. Participants ranged from beginners to published writers. Some were writers of ‘category romance’, the Mills and Boon type of short novel governed by tight guidelines. Some wrote other kinds of novel containing romantic elements (historical fiction, for instance, or fantasy.) Everywhere I felt a climate of support, acceptance and encouragement, with no snobbery or distinction between experienced and inexperienced writers.
  2. Everyone was there to learn and to participate to the full. All those who attended my workshops threw themselves into the writing exercises with intense concentration and good humour. I was astonished by the quality of some of the work they produced.
  3. Writing exercises probably work better when done individually rather than in groups, though our efforts to write a historical scene by committee came at the right time – by mid to late afternoon everyone was tired and in need of some fun. Each group wrote to the same scenario, with different historical settings allocated at random. The members of one group were laughing so hard they were incapable of reading their work aloud.
  4. Good writers are good writers, no matter what the genre. Romance writers are serious writers.
  5. There were masses of giveaways, mostly donated books but also gifts from the sponsors. I got the impression this is usual for RWA events. It lightened the atmosphere, got people chatting and generally made everyone feel good.
  6. I reckon the key to the conference’s success was great organisation plus enthusiasm. Every person was there to get as much as she could out of the day. And yes, the attendance was all female.

By the way, many of the attendees said they were regular visitors to Writer Unboxed. In the discussion about what craft books or references people used, several referred to our own Barbara Samuel as a source of writerly wisdom, and several more mentioned Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass as one of their most valued craft books. I had a great talk with Michelle Diener, whose debut historical novel, Illuminations, will be published by Pocket Books in March 2011. Michelle lives here in Perth, Western Australia and is a friend of blog mama Therese Walsh. Sometimes it’s a very small world!

Juliet Marillier has published more than a dozen novels for adults and young adults. Her works of detailed historical fantasy have been published around the world, and have won numerous awards. Her latest release, Seer of Sevenwaters, is the fifth book in her popular Sevenwaters series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Juliet Marillier
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