Sizzling Romances interviews author
ELLEN FISHER
March 2004



Ellen's Website | Ellen's Newsletter


Hi Ellen, and welcome to Sizzling Romances. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us.

Thanks for taking the time to interview me, Liz!

Tell us a little bit about your latest releases: ALL I EVER WANTED and THE NERD PRINCE.

Both my latest releases are from New Concepts Publishing. ALL I EVER WANTED is my first foray into contemporary romantic comedy. It's the story of Maxfield Sinclair, who's just an ordinary guy despite the fact that he's the famous writer of a science fiction series, and Drew Cooper, a snobbish literature professor who thinks that Max's books are junk. Max and Drew are total opposites... he eats pizza off styrofoam plates, while she eats caviar off antique china. Max falls for Drew, but she's not interested. Can he somehow convince her to give him a chance? I'm pleased to say that ALL I EVER WANTED has received two Reviewers Choice awards (one of them from Sizzling Romances!).

THE NERD PRINCE is about Cade Ryan, a nerdy, video-game playing guy whose lonely life is changed for the better when he meets Shell Anderson, the cellist upstairs. It's a contemporary short story. It's also the hottest thing I've written, rated "spicy/carnal" by NCP.

In ALL I EVER WANTED, Maxfield Sinclair is a popular writer of science fiction novels, while Drew Cooper is a professor of literature. Their personalities are extremely well developed. Do you base your characters on real people or celebrities? Or are they created completely from your own imagination?

My characters actually share some traits with me. For example, both Max and Drew possess certain facets of my personality. I like classic rock and genre fiction, like Max, but I also like classical music and "literary" fiction, like Drew. Most of my beta heroes have a bit of my husband in them-- he's something of a nerd, like Cade Ryan, but also a genuinely terrific guy. On the whole, however, my characters spring from my imagination without much help from the real world.

What did you enjoy most about writing ALL I EVER WANTED? What about THE NERD PRINCE?

I wrote ALL I EVER WANTED as an antidote to the seriousness of my first two books, THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS and LOVE REMEMBERED. Those two books were angst-filled historicals. I decided to write a contemporary comedy just for fun. I had a great time with the characters and the amusing situations they got themselves into.

THE NERD PRINCE was my first attempt at a short story. My editor e-mailed me and asked me if I'd write a short story for NCP's "Fourteen Days of Fairytale Romance." My first impulse was to laugh hysterically. My natural writing length tends to be about 100,000 words, so the notion of me writing a short story was, I thought, ridiculous. I had recently completed a 32,000-word novella, though, so I began to wonder if I could write something even shorter. After thinking about it for a few hours, I got an idea, told my editor I'd take a stab at it, and wrote it in a week (although it took me a couple more weeks to edit it). It came out to about 14,000 words, and I was thrilled to discover I really could write short fiction!

Your books are always so in-depth, even those of shorter length. How long does it take you to write a novel?

It's nice of you to say that, Liz. It took me years to write my first romance, THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS (Bantam, 1998, currently out of print), but that's because I wasn't really focused on it-- writing was something I did very rarely. Now I'm more committed to my writing-- I think it took me about a year to write ALL I EVER WANTED. It's hard to say, because I write, edit, put the book on the back burner for a while, then edit some more. My writing schedule is still rather erratic, and I tend to write two or three books at the same time. However, it only took me a few months to write my novella, ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?, and as I said above, it didn't take me long at all to write THE NERD PRINCE. I really want to write more short stories!

How do you get in the mood for writing those sizzling hot love scenes?

*G* I'm not sure my husband would want me to answer that question! Seriously... I don't really have to be in a sexy mood. If the love scene flows naturally from the story, I don't have any trouble writing it. (I do have to keep my little brats... er, darling angels out of my office, since nothing kills the flow of a sex scene faster than screaming kids.) The sex scenes in my first book were pretty brief and sketchy, because describing sex used to make me uncomfortable, but with practice I've gotten pretty good at writing them. I don't even blush... much.

Have you always wanted to write? What is it about the romance genre in particular that appeals to you?

I've always wanted to be a novelist. In junior high school, I wanted to write science fiction. That's all I read back then-- like a lot of my generation, I was strongly influenced by the first "Star Wars." When I was sixteen, though, I picked up a copy of DECEIVE NOT MY HEART by Shirlee Busbee, and from then on I wanted to write romance.

What do I love about romance? What's not to love? I enjoy the strong characters, the focus on the love story, and the guaranteed happy ending. And hot sex scenes are an added bonus, too!

What advice would you offer to aspiring writers?

First, don't let rejections get you down. Almost every writer amasses a whole lot of rejections, and you just have to keep going. That isn't to say you should ignore rejections, as they sometimes provide you with useful feedback. I revised ALL I EVER WANTED in response to two rejections, and those revisions did make it a stronger book.

Second, be willing to explore alternative routes to publication. E-publishers and small presses are a great way to break into the industry, to make a name for yourself, and to build an audience.

How do you feel about discussion groups and forums? Do you frequent any of them? Do you tend to lurk, or are you always in the middle of a discussion?

I love discussion groups and boards. They're a lot of fun, and they're a good way for an author to get her name out there. But you can't just post hit-and-run promos; that irritates readers, as well it should (they're called "discussion" groups, after all:-). So if you're an author and you join discussion groups, you need to make sure you're chatting about subjects other than yourself on a regular basis, lest you alienate readers. At any rate, I never met a topic I didn't like. I'm on a bunch of discussion groups, and I frequent a lot of boards, and I can usually be found yammering away on whatever subject comes up.

Are you working on anything now?

I have two books scheduled for the remainder of the year, both from NCP:

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC? is a romantic comedy novella (loosely related to ALL I EVER WANTED) about an out-of-work actor whose life is turned upside down when he meets the slightly loopy girl next door. I've finished this one, and it's scheduled for May.

NEVER LOVE A STRANGER is scheduled for release in August, although I blush to admit I haven't completed it yet. It's a more serious science fiction romance about Annie Simpson, who falls in love with a time traveling man, only to discover he's not really a man at all...

I'm muddling around with a number of other ideas, including a fantasy romance novella and a couple of romantic comedy stories, but I haven't presented any of them to my editor yet. I update my website, www.erols.com/ellenfisher , on a regular basis, so interested readers can check there for excerpts and news. I also have a newsletter (there's a button on my site).

Thanks so much for your time, Ellen!

Thank you, Liz!



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