Like writers in general, romance writers start out in this genre in different ways and
different backgrounds. To gain insight of just how each romance novelist approaches
his or her story is an adventure in itself. Zebra Books, through Kensington
Publishing Corp, published Sharon's first book A Sacred Trust in 1997.
MEH: Does love conquer all and do you believe that love conquers all in romance
novels as well as in real life?
Sharon: Yes. And yes. I can't think of a single personal or world
problem that cannot be solved by love.
In romance novels, we deal with love in the context of the loving and belonging to one
person more than anyone else, the need to cherish and be cherished, and to be really seen,
understood, and accepted by that one special person. I believe that romance touches
us so deeply because it deals with this basic human need. All of us, at some level,
want to be seen for what we are, warts and all, understood even when we don't understand
ourselves, and accepted in spite of our frailties and our shortcomings. In a
nutshell, to be unconditionally loved for what and who we are. In life and in
romance novels, that deepest bond is usually with our lover. If we're lucky, that
lover is also our soul mate. Think about the popular songs, whether now or a hundred
years ago - they exalt the power of romantic love when it's present and pray to have it
when it's not. What we do as romance novelists is an echo of this same longing and
we are no less influential.
MEH: How did you get started writing?
Sharon: I tried writing my first novel when I was about twelve, and I'm pretty sure
that it was after I'd spent a Christmas vacation reading Zane Grey novels, which I adored.
When I looked at the structure of many of those books, they are classic romances
where the hero walks into the sunset with his lady after vanquishing the bad guys.
That first effort of mine was undoubtedly a terrible imitation of Zane Grey, but I
was hooked."
MEH: Why did you decide to write romantic suspense?
Sharon: I don't think I deliberately set out to write romantic suspense, but maybe
that goes back to reading lots of Zane Grey, Frank Yerby, Harold Robbins, and Leon Uris
when I was first becoming interested in writing. There were always bad guys to be
defeated. Bad guys come in a couple of different forms - the kind we associate with
mysteries, thrillers, and suspense and the kind that create tough life situations - the
disapproving father, the controlling grandmother, the judgmental community, and so on.
Huge danger in a story can come from either type of villain.
I like conflicts that have big consequences. One of the biggest is having your life
in danger. I mentioned earlier that I like that intensity of a hero who will
literally lay his life down for the heroine's. This can happen within the context of
a romantic suspense,
but it doesn't necessarily have to. Cassidy's Courtship is not a romantic
suspense, but this is a story with huge emotional danger to the heroine.
MEH: How is writing for Zebra different than writing for Silhouette?
Sharon: I don't know that I'm a good judge of Zebra's policies as a whole, as I did
only the one book with them. At the time they bought A Sacred Trust, they also
bought another book, which eventually became His Tender Touch. About the time A
Sacred Trust came out, Kensington made the business decision to focus their contemporary
romance program on the Arabesque imprint (which they subsequently sold) and build the big
name authors on their list. So, the rights for that second book were returned to me.
After stripping out a subplot to make it shorter, I sold it to Silhouette Moments.
Denise Little was the editor who purchased me for Zebra, and I'm grateful for the
doors that experience opened. Being at Silhouette has been wonderful, and writing
for Intimate Moments has been great-a good venue for my voice.
Books by Sharon Mignerey
A Sacred Trust - Zebra Books
Cassidy's Courtship - Silhouette Intimate Moments
His Tender Touch - Silhouette Intimate Moments
Too Close for Comfort - Silhouette Intimate Moments - to be released August 2001
Mary Hjerleid has been writing professionally for seven years, but got hooked on
writing late in life while getting an Associates Degree in Communications. She has
published several articles in Writers' Journal (July/August 2000) and Affaire de Coeur
(July, 2000) magazines in a "Love Conquers All" series of interviews of local
authors.
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