Please welcome Robyn Thomas for some Straight Talk!
When you are getting ready to start a new book, what’s the first thing you do?
I toss my characters and their issues around for a while in my mind until I’m invested in them, and then I share the shiny-new story idea with my critique partners. Telling them what I intend to do is my way of committing to the project, and then I’m free to make a start.
If you could have dinner, coffee, or drinks with a fictional character, who would you choose and where would you go?
Mr Darcy. The London Ritz for afternoon tea.
What was the inspiration for your book?
The movie Touching The Void is based on a true story of two climbers who reached the summit of the mountain they’d climbed but barely made it down again with their lives. Aside from moving me to tears, the movie sent my imagination into overdrive. I wondered what kind of person would put their hand up to film that sort of expedition, and how they’d cope if they made it out alive while their best friend didn’t. Alternatively, how would it feel to be pregnant and waiting at home only to receive news of your husband’s death on a remote mountain? I suddenly had a hero and a heroine who’d been traumatized by the same event, and yet their perspectives and lifestyles were incredibly different. I had to write their story.
How difficult is if for you to come up with a title for your books?
Titles usually just come to me, along with character names and setting details, before I begin to write. I’m making it sound easy, but whilst my working-titles help me to define and write my stories, they’re not marketable and will inevitably be changed.
Who would play your hero/heroine in the tv or film version of your book?
In a movie of His Unexpected Family, I’d love it if the guy off the cover played the hero. Enough said.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Absolutely. Never give up. Write as often as you can. Don’t be afraid to try something different. Find another writer – or several – who will give honest, constructive criticism. Learn from dissecting their work as well as your own. Read the last thing you’ve written and look for yourself on the page… things like your humor, emotions, values, unique turns of phrase, or small similarities between situations in your life and those in your book. If those things are there and you feel comfortable reading it then you can be confident that your voice is coming through.
Are you a pantser or a plotter?
I’m a pantser. I fall in love with my characters before I start, and that allows me to trust them to do the right thing by each other. I know they’re inherently good and I feel their pain as they struggle to make the right choices, failing as often as they succeed. It’s an unscripted journey that we all take together.
What’s in the works for you?
I have two more Indulgences due out in Fall and Winter. The next one is about a UK rock star and an Aussie chef. It has a working title of Famously Engaged and is a Cinderella story with a fake engagement. The Winter one is much hotter and is set in New York. It’s called Anything Goes and that’s a concept the characters explore. The hero is a sculptor, and I’m so attached to him that I’m reluctant to share.
About Robyn Thomas
Romance and fairytales are the best ingredients to work with because they go with absolutely everything. Inspiration for new recipes is everywhere I look, and who wouldn’t want to pursue a career where the only limit is your imagination?
I remember making the decision to write my first book, but since then writing has become more of a compulsion than a choice. It’s less about having complete silence, a gorgeous work space, a free hour or two, and a steaming hot coffee, and more about getting my fingers to the keyboard any chance I get. The coffee helps, though.
I reside just outside of Melbourne, one of the most livable cities in the world, with my wonderful husband and two sons. Writing romance helps to balance the effects of living in an all-male household. I love to cook, hate to clean up, and keep very odd hours. My writing days used to be solitary, but they’re not anymore. I now have Seven Sassy Sisters online, and their friendship and support is invaluable.
About His Unexpected Family
Sometimes you have to take the leap…again.
Newly widowed with a new baby, Ren Jamieson is putting her life back together after her thrill-seeking husband’s death. But when she’s called to show a high-end property to a prospective client—a commission she desperately needs—she meets a man who makes her pulse pound like nothing she’s ever known…
Cole Matthews is more than he seems. Real estate is only part of the reason he’s in Australia – the other is to see Ren, and make amends somehow for the life lost. The last thing Cole expects is a woman whose humor, sweetness and sexiness give him a rush greater than any he’s ever experienced…
Torn between her growing feelings for Cole and the risks of loving yet another adventurer, Ren will have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground…and taking the most dangerous leap of her life.
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