Interview with Linda Swift

Our RWA guest today is Linda Swift whom I first met in 1999 when she regularly attended our Flying Ducks meeting in Harrogate while her husband was temporarily working in Hull. She says that when she returned to the US, she left a huge chunk of her heart behind and hopes to return again some day. She also wrote an article for the Romance Writers of America (RWA) comparing it and American authors, with RNA and English authors, and apparently gave the RNA the highest rating! Thank you for that, Linda. I’d love to hear how you first came to hear about the RNA.

I met Valerie Wood at one of her book signings and she had Linda Acaster call me about the RNA meetings. Then Valerie and her husband Peter invited me to travel with them to Harrogate to my first meeting. I attended others and became friends with Sylvia Broady and Ruth Pattison as well and have kept in touch with all of them.

Can you work anywhere, or do you have a favourite place to hideaway and write? 

My husband and I spend winter months in Florida and summers in Kentucky. In both homes, my writing space is in the guest bedroom. I use the guest bed for an "open" file cabinet, which then requires putting everything in drawers when we have guests. I need quiet to work, and prefer to have a block of several hours at one time without interruption. Who doesn’t?

Are you a plotter or a panster?

I am definitely a panster. I have a "loose" idea of where my story is going. I usually make a list of chapters and one thing that may take place in each. But I don’t always adhere to this framework. When I get the characters talking with each other, they often take their story in a different direction than I had planned. At that point, I feel more like a recorder than the author. It always works better if I get out of their way than if I try to maintain control.

Have you had rejections and if so, how did you deal with them?

I’ve had many rejections in my career. They are part of the publishing process. First form letters, then rejections with notes from the editors, then offers to take another look if I’d change this or that. Finally the moment when something is accepted. I have learned that it is true there are many reasons for rejections and it is my story, not me that is being turned down. Still, a rejection is a disappointment. But I was born under the sign of Taurus and I suffer from "dog with a bone" syndrome so I get up and attempt to break through the "wall" again. And again.

Do you use prologues or epilogues? Do you like flashbacks? How do you think they might help a novel? 

I use both prologues and epilogues when the story calls for it. My recently released Civil War story needed a lapse of time at the end to allow certain parts of the story to reach a satisfying conclusion. Another book released this year, had a prologue scene of a funeral taking place and only near the end of the last chapter did the reader learn who died. The beginning of Chapter 1 might have seemed tedious without this suspense. I do have a tendency to start slowly and gradually gain momentum and I know this is not very acceptable these days. I’m not fond of flashbacks and use them sparingly if at all.

Can you remember which craft tip helped you most?

Several tips from different people comes to mind but the first and one of the most important was from a college English professor who was teaching an adult ed class. I had begun my first short story of any worth and read the beginning to him. I was elated that this story had taken on a life of its own (my first experience with how the creative process worked) and he was obviously bored. But he pointed out that the narrator should never talk above the educational level of the characters in the story. And I had been narrating in my own voice. It made all the difference. And that story went on to win the Fiction Skills Scholarship at the Indiana University Writers’ Conference that year. (Thanks to a bored professor!)

Is a sense of place important in your writing? How do you set about researching it? 

Sense of place is vastly important in everything I write. But since I set my stories in many of the places I have lived, or visited, I often don’t have to do extensive research. If the story is set in another time period, that requires more effort but if I am familiar with the location, I can still make the story real.

Do you think it important for a writer to take time off? How do you relax? What interests do you have other than writing? 

I think there is a good argument for taking time off and for also keeping your nose to the grindstone. I don’t like to leave something I’m in the midst of. I lose momentum and have to make a greater effort to get back into the story. However, when I finish a book, it is nice to reward myself with a short period of non-writing activities. My husband and I do ballroom dancing every week. We also walk a couple of miles a day. And in Florida we use a pool. I enjoy traveling, including flying. And exploring as much of England as we could was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. We traveled with National Holidays most weekends and were the only Americans onboard. As most authors, I also relax by reading and losing myself in a book.

With the increasing popularity of ebooks, how do you think digitisation might help or change your own career as a writer? 

Digital publication has changed my writing career completely. I became an ebook author in early 2008 and I currently write for seven digital publishers. I wrote paperbacks for a NY publisher in the mid-90s so I have a good basis for comparison. I prefer digital pubs in every way except one--they don’t pay an advance and earnings are less overall. I am still in awe with the speed in which the entire process takes place. My first ebook was accepted and I had a signed contract in less than eleven days. Compare that to the two years I once waited to hear from a well-known NY publisher who had asked to see a complete. And then after the long wait, I got a form rejection letter!

Do you enjoy writing sequels or series? If so, what is the special appeal for you? 

I’m not sure that I enjoy writing sequels. I have a sequel to my published historical and it is still mostly in my head after several years. And I have a sequel almost completed to my contracted but unpublished shorter historical but this one has taken much too long to write. I’ve never done a series and don’t plan to. They bore me. And it seems to me they often get weaker as they trickle down. I suppose the original excitement is gone for the author as well as the reader.

Do you write under a pseudonym? What do you find to be the pros and cons for using one?

I write as Linda Swift which is my maiden name. My legal name is Linda Swift Reeder but that is too "cutesy" to be believed. And my agent at the beginning of my publishing career suggested that I shorten my name as the letters could be larger on the book cover. For the same reason--name recognition-- I usually request block letters and colors that are easily visible. Cover artists are sometimes reluctant to give up their vision of fancy unreadable script but I usually remain polite but firm on this point. My only problem with using my maiden name professionally is that sometimes people refer to my husband as Mister Swift which irks him a bit.

What are the particular difficulties you have found in writing about real historical figures? 

Obviously, writing about historical figures requires careful research. I have only written two such people into my books. The first was Mary, Queen of Scots. And I read Lady Antonia Fraser’s book by that title word by word, then went back often to check as I wrote the story. I did put words in the Queen’s mouth but felt I knew her well enough to do that after absorbing the book. In the book’s sequel, I have given life to Guy Fawkes who was a cousin of my imaginary character. My first historical, THIS TIME FOREVER, an American Civil War saga, has just been released by Canadian publisher, Champagne Books. A second historical, MAID OF THE MIDLANDS, set in 1573 England and including Mary Queen of Scots in the plot, is coming soon.

To find out more about Linda and her work, please visit her website http://www.lindaswift.net 

Interviews on the RNA Blog are conducted by Freda Lightfoot and Kate Jackson. If you would like an interview, please contact me at:freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk