One Author For a Change

Romantic_L_eads Recommendations and reviews of romantic fiction

An Author for a Change

FOR A CHANGE, I decided to introduce readers to a new writer and her journey to publication.

This month Deborah Hale's dream became reality, when her first novel My Lord Protector was finally released and put on bookstore shelves.

My Lord Protector is a fine first novel.

The depth of the characters and the complexity of the relationships transcend what could easily have descended into a stereotype story about a marriage of convenience.

Sir Edmund Fitzhugh marries Julianna Ramsey because she is in love with his nephew, Crispin. The marriage is just a stop-gap measure to ensure she would be safe from her lascivious step-brother, at least until Crispin arrives home from sea.

The marriage Sir Edmund and Julianna becomes a real relationship but different from the love Julianna thought she had for Crispin. How will Julianna be able to decide what love is?

The older, intelligent hero is refreshingly atypical. Hale says she kept a picture of Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart by her computer and, with that in mind, the reader can almost hear his voice speaking as the character Edmund Fitzhugh.

Writing a romance novel isn't as easy as some may think says Hale. My Lord Protector, published by Harlequin, has earned her the prestigious Golden Heart award from the Romance Writers of America but it took five years and countless rewrites to get to that point.

Hale thinks the secret to success, is a good friend to use as a sounding board, a lot of faith in yourself and, above all, hard work. She also joined a writers group called the Marshlands Romance Writers, based in Moncton, for feedback and support.

Hale now lives in the Halifax area with her husband and four children. Over coffee and cake in the dining room of her Lower Sackville duplex, Hale jokes: "If I had a nickel for every story I ever started, not even a whole chapter and said 'this was garbage', I'd be rich."

But Hale's friend Judy Gorham in Saint John wouldn't let her off the hook. So in 1992, with the skeletal plot of "girl marries uncle of her fiance", Hale recalls giving in to her friend's insistence.

Judy would write running commentary on the plot. "She would say things like: 'I don't like the heroine's name, we should change that.' So we did."

Just as Hale was getting productive and mailing a few chapters at a time, she unknowingly sent a cliffhanger. "I got a letter back from Judy, in it was $2, and it said: 'I don't care if you have the next chapter written, if you have just the next page, take this money, buy a stamp and send it to me'."

Excited and encouraged, Hale finished the manuscript and sent it off to a publisher. A short time later she received her first form letter rejection. She put the book away for a while and during her hiatus, gave birth to twin boys.

However, one day Hale discovered a book called The Weekend Novelist and decided to follow the book's advice and rewrote her already completed novel.

After finishing the second manuscript, Hale joined Romance Writers of America _ a large association dedicated to romantic fiction _ and made the finals in one of their contests. Hale used an encouraging letter from one of the contest judges to lift her spirits.

"I still pull out her letter and read it and think 'somebody likes me'," Hale laughs.

Naively, Hale says she decided to send her story off to the most prestigious contest for all unpublished romance writers _ Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart.

She now considers herself lucky to receive critiques and an offer of editing help from one of the judges of that contest.

"It was like having my own private writing course because she wrote so many notes and things. After a while I just internalized this stuff. "

Hale entered the Golden Heart contest for a second time and achieved a higher standing.

Around that time, she discovered a Compuserve writers' program called Critiques for Charity. "Susan Wiggs was there and I'm a huge fan of hers and she was still available. I'd have paid if she would have just look at my first page."

Wigg's praise was gratifying, Hales says, but "she didn't pull any punches and told me where the problems were." Heeding Wigg's advice, she deleted her first three chapters.

But the most difficult suggestion was to let one of her characters, who had died in earlier manuscripts, live.

"Susan was absolutely right, although it was hard. I mean, after you've had a story around for so long … And of course that meant I had to rewrite the last three quarters of the book," says Hale.

This new version was sent again to the Golden Heart contest, without expectations. To her surprise she won. "I was absolutely over the moon."

A literary agent contacted Hale and, supported with the prestigious award, her book was given a welcome reception by several publishers.

Hale has already sold two more novels to Harlequin. Her third novel, The Bonny Bride, loosely based on the amazing courtship of her great-great-grandparents, is set in Kent County, New Brunswick. Keep an eye out!

Janine Taylor is a Halifax writer and can be reached at romanticleads@hotmail.com

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