Love Romantic Comedy? Meet Author Terry Newman
Today I am interviewing award-winning romance author, Terry Newman. She writes romantic comedy with a splash of fantasy. She has some great writing tips and a new release to share with us.
Welcome Terry,
Why did you become a writer?
That’s a strange question: why did I become a writer. As I look back, I couldn’t be anything but a writer. Some years ago, a friend from high school said he thought I was so lucky to know what I wanted to do with my life from the start.
It’s not that I wanted to tell tales. It’s more of a compulsion, and it started at a young age. When I was in elementary school, we had ten spelling words a week. We not only had to know how to spell the words but also know the meaning. So each week we had to write a sentence using each word in a sentence. Your normal kid would write the sentences and be done with it.
But even then, I was far from normal. I’d start with one sentence and connect the others, ending up with a short story. My rabbit would find a fox and have some adventure. I probably wrote more than ten sentences, because I remember turning the sheet of paper with the spelling words over and continuing my sentences on the back.
So yeah, all I’m still taking words and making stories out of them.
Do you have a writing tip or advice for other authors?
I have two methods of unjamming a writer’s block. And both work for me 100 percent of the time.
Method #1. Instead of diving into the chapter or scene, narrate the scene using the first person. Tell yourself what you want your characters to do. When I do this, I find after a sentence or two, dialogue natural flows. I write it down, and the next thing I know the scene is practically writing itself. I go back later to introduce the scene or chapter. Sometimes you just have to take a moment to review the purpose of the scene or chapter. Once you’ve got that, your writing goes smoothly.
This is how I might do it:
My narration:
I know JJ has to have a conversation with Alex and Blake. She walks into the Physics Café and finds them. She’s wasn’t ready to speak with them, but
“Look, you two have been poking around in my love life and it has to stop.”
By the time I’m here, Alex will have an idea of how to answer her, and the scene starts flowing.
Method #2. Take pen in hand
When words don’t flow when you sit at the computer, then close it and reach for a notebook and a pen. Do the same thing as in Method #1, except you write it out in longhand.
My exact method (which you probably don’t want to emulate step for step) has me reaching for my journal, dating the page, and then addressing my muse, Moose. Then I tell him what we need to do. As I explain the scene, Moose comes through. I used this method a couple of weeks ago to start my new book, Love at the Speed of Light. I wanted the meet-cute to be a job interview, but I didn’t want to start off with it right away. I thought I could introduce the female main character while she was walking to the interview, maybe talking to a friend. I didn’t get that outcome though. I got something far better. Here’s a quick look:
“Cassidy, what do you mean you’re going to a job interview? You’re going to work? Honey, just come home. Please.”
“Mom, we’ve been through this a million times.” Mostly on the phone on the drive to Ohio from Georgia. “I’m not coming home to go to law school. I’m on my way to the Physics Café now.”
“The Physics Café?” her mother asked. “Is that some code name for a sex club?”
(For those of you who have not read my books, the Physics Café is not a sex club.)
What interesting jobs have you had? How have those jobs affected your writing?
One of my first jobs was as a direct response copywriter. I wrote advertising copy for two sister companies. One was a natural health publisher. The other sold dietary supplements.
For a short period, I worked with a nationally known advertising copywriter who taught me so much about writing—and not just advertising. He helped me with word usage and how to write for a specific audience. To this day, I use some of his advice. (Just so you know, his advice worked.
What project are you working on now or what book will be next?
I’m so glad you asked. I just submitted Murphy’s Laws to my publisher. It’s my first contemporary romantic comedy. It has no hint of fantasy or the paranormal. Murphy Clarke is a life coach who got left at the altar. She throws herself into her work and creates 7 rules to protect her heart. The first is never take vacations. The seventh? Don’t fall in love. While on the month-long vacation she swore she’d never take, she meets Noah Andrews, a yoga instructor who was once one of the most influence figures in the tech industry. Thirty days. Seven rules. One undeniable attraction.
And I’m less than a thousand words into Love at the Speed of Light. It’s part of my Whimsical Hearts series that features Alex and Blake. They’re the fictional creation of JJ Spritely, romance author. But somehow they’ve leaped out of their own book (several times now) to help others write their own love story. In this story, Alvin, who co-owns the Physics Café (definitely not a sex club) falls for Cassidy, a part-time employee and a doctoral student in English at the University of Northern Ohio.
Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
I tell people who want to write three things.
1. Read. Read. Read.
If you’re not already a voracious reader, become one. (I don’t understand why anyone who doesn’t read would want to be a writer.) You’ll absorb so much about the craft through osmosis. And don’t just read the genre you plan to write in. Read an array of different styles and authors.
2. Write. Write. Write.
You don’t have an idea yet of what you want to write. No worry. Get yourself a journal, and write in it. Write about the people you meet throughout your day. Write out the conversations you’ve overheard. Write about the mundane and the exceptional. Just write.
3. Learn the craft.
Before you can dive into writing, you have to learn the rules of writing (if only to break them later). This sounds boring, but when you study the craft it’ll show in your work. I recommend two books that have had a major impact on me.
The Elements of Style by Strunk & White. I bought this book for my first journalism class, and I still have that copy.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser. This is another book I bought for a journalism course. I’ve lost the original copy but I replaced it with a slightly newer one. It says it’s a guide for writing nonfiction, but your writing will benefit from it.
JJ Spritely, history professor and romance author, writes love stories, but her own happily ever after seems out of reach. She’s frustrated her most recent book is sitting in a warehouse instead of in the hands of her readers. And her relationship with her boyfriend has stalled. What else could possibly go wrong?
How about a return visit from Alex and Blake, the fictional characters from her yet-to-be-released book? They’ve jumped out of the pages of their book into JJ’s world before. They mean well, but they cause chaos wherever they go.
Kennedy King Cooper wants to propose to JJ, but his track record with this sort of thing isn’t good – and to further complicate matters, the new professor, Robert J. MacWhouton, is monopolizing JJ’s time. If he doesn’t ask her soon, he may lose her forever.
Alex and Blake are determined to give destiny a helping hand. They stand ready to do whatever it takes to help Kenn propose before a kilt-wearing romance hero wannabe sweeps her off her feet. If only they had a plan.
This time, it seems, no one is guaranteed a happily ever after.
AVAILABLE
ABOUT TERRY NEWMAN
Terry Newman, award-winning author, writes romantic comedy with a splash of fantasy.
As long as she could remember, she has played with words. In junior high school, she documented the life of a married couple: two No. 2 pencils, Penelope and Peregrine. In high school, she wrote about UFOs, and penned an occasional political satire.
She’s also written more normal things. She was the editor-in-chief and ghostwriter for a national health publication, a small-town reporter, and most recently, a freelance writer.
All of her novels are set in fictional towns in northeast Ohio, where she grew up. She has a daughter, a son-in-law, and a grandpuppy. She lives in North Lima, a real town in northeast Ohio with all of her characters. She reports it does get crowded at times.
Social Media Links
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Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60574351-heartquake?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=99H2V7dnWm&rank=1
Bookbub: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60574351-heartquake?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=99H2V7dnWm&rank=1
I love when Terry’s characters feel compelled to come out of their stories to help her. This is in my TBR kindle pile. Best of luck!