My Interview with Veronica Wolff

Well here is the interview with Veronica Wolff that I promised to post. Veronica Wolff was nice enough to grant me an interview about her writing. Even though she was busy with her writing she was nice enough to answer the following questions as soon as she could possibly get them done. She is also setting up a forum for her website that she told that is the link to her Forum. Here is the link to the review of her first novel Master of the Highlands. Now here is how the interview went:

Phoebe: When did you know that writing romance was going to be what you would do with your life?

Veronica: I always thought in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a writer but I just never thought it was something I could really do. And now there’s no going back for me—I’m addicted! Even if people stopped buying my books, I can’t imagine not working on one.


Phoebe: Did you know what type of romance you wanted to write about or did you experiment with different genres before you chose?

Veronica: I’m a long-time fan of both fantasy and Scottish-themed fiction, and I knew that whatever I wrote would skew that way. Honestly, when I began writing, I thought it would be more of a fantasy, but my imagination kept straying back to the Highlands!


Phoebe: What was the first fiction you ever wrote?

Veronica: Believe it or not, it was Master of the Highlands. The first half of the book underwent some major revisions, though! I should note, too, that I worked for years as a writer and editor of promotional and editorial content, so I had a lot of experience with sitting in front of a blank computer screen.


Phoebe: How much research did you have to do for your novels Master of the Highlands and Sword of the Highlands and did it take you a long time to gather that research?

Veronica: I was much more of a seat-of-the-pants writer and researcher with Master of the Highlands. It helped that Clan Cameron has such fantastically thorough online resources! I spent more time researching Sword of the Highlands before I began, reading James Graham’s autobiography and learning about the time of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. I’m getting to be even more of a plotter the more I write, and my third book (Warrior of the Highlands, February 2009) saw me doing much more extensive research before I began.

My general approach is to know enough about what is occurring historically to have plot milestones. I write these on sticky notes and put them on a white board. I love how it enables me to jiggle around the storylines, see holes, and best of all, visualize the ending. Once I have that done, I begin writing, and as I go, I do the research necessary to delve deeper and make the story richer. For example, I’ll know which battles were fought when, and with what outcome, before I begin. But I research smaller issues on the fly. Like, what constituted soldiers’ rations, or what types of trees and plants would’ve grown in a particular spot, or what sort of book or music someone would’ve had access to. Those are all the sorts of things I explore as I go.


Phoebe: What process did you have to go through to get your first book published and did you take you long?

Veronica: I’m grateful to have had a very lucky and serendipitous path to publishing. Back in 2006, I found out about a “Pitchapalooza” being held at the San Francisco main library. Brainchild of Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, authors of Putting Your Passion into Print, the Pitchapalooza gave anyone off the street sixty seconds to pitch their book to a panel of publishing professionals.

I pitched my book, followed up with an email to Arielle, who is an agent, who forwarded my email to her colleague Stephanie, who happened to be a fan of Scottish time travel. I swear, Steph is the Greatest Agent Ever, and everything continued to move along quickly from there. Believe me, I recognize what tremendous good fortune this was, and I’m so thankful the stars aligned as they did.


Phoebe: How did you feel when you finally saw your first published book out in print and how do you feel about your second novel being published in a couple of weeks?

Veronica: It is beyond exciting! I am so grateful every day that I get the chance to do this. I know it can change on a dime, and that there are some amazing books out there that never see the light of day, so I am trying to savor this whole experience. It really is a thrill.

Phoebe: Are your two novels connected?

Veronica: Yes and no. The magic I’ve created is something that spans all the books. But my second book predates my first by almost a decade. And although the plots are unrelated, you’ll see Ewen, the hero from my first book, as a teenager in my second!

Warrior of the Highlands comes out in February 2009. It’s also set during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and is much more connected to Sword of the Highlands than my first book was.

Phoebe: Is there any advice that you would give to an aspiring romance writer that you wish someone had given you?

Veronica: That you need to write the book that excites you, not the one that you think will sell. Don’t be overwhelmed by the big picture—as Anne Lamott wrote, just go “bird by bird.”

Help and support often come from the unlikeliest of places. So do discouragement and snarky comments. Which brings me to the next bit of advice: don’t take anything personally. Just keep your eyes on the prize.

And finally, turn off that Internet connection and make yourself write for a set amount of time every day. And most of all, know that you can absolutely do it!

Thank you Veronica Wolff for the interview. Good luck with your future books, which I will be looking out for and hope to interview another time. If you want to visit Veronica here are the links to her website and the Romance Readers & Writers Forum that she is registered to and visits to post about the writing process, research and marketing.