Write a book about NASCAR, love, and romance, and sell it to Harlequin.
Then write another and do the same thing. And, to top it off, model your male hero on a real-life NASCAR racer.
Impossible? Not if you’re Nancy Warren, popular romance writer who will speak to writing about love and romance at the Shuswap Writers’ Festival.
Romance novels are one of the most popular genres in the writing field; some estimates put them at over 50 per cent of the fiction sold in North America.
Warren, who did not start out as a writer of romances, has written more than 30 novels. She spends three to six months writing each one.
Her breakthrough happened when she won Harlequin Books’ Summer Blaze contest in 2000. She entered by submitting a 10-page love scene and a synopsis for the rest of the book.
In March, Warren taught a course on writing the novel at Simon Fraser University.
She notes on her website that it is possible to create fiction from real-life experiences; it requires “distance and the ability to separate the character from the real person she or he is based on.” The result, she says, can be writing in which the strength of emotion comes through the page to the reader.
Warren will also present the keynote talk Sunday morning at the festival, on the dreaded “R” word – rejection – and why it can be good for you.
The Shuswap Writers Festival, which runs May 27 to 29 at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort, is designed for both readers and writers. Sessions include skill development workshops and open forums with authors.
Other associated events include a coffee house at SAGA Public Art Gallery, an evening of storytelling, music, food and beverages at Okanagan College, and more. For more information, visit www.saow.ca
