Your love for classic authors like Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters shines through in your writing. How have these literary giants influenced your own storytelling style and themes? I think one of the main lessons I’ve learned while reading the classics is the importance of the setting and how characters are moulded/influenced by the people around them. Another lesson is of course that mankind hasn’t really evolved since the time Jane Auster wrote her stories!
It’s clear that family plays a significant role in your stories. Can you tell us more about how you incorporate family backgrounds into your characters’ development and the overall narrative? The older I get the more human behavior interests me. Why are we the way we are? Why do we behave a certain way? For me it all starts with the family, or sometimes the lack of family. Most of the wounds we carry with us through life, stems from childhood wounds and overcoming those, I’ve found, is the key to growing. So that’s why I love to write about families – we are who we are mostly because of where we come from.
Your husband sounds like a supportive partner in your writing journey. How does his encouragement and feedback contribute to your creative process? I’m really one of the lucky ones who married the bad boy who turned out to be a really good man. We got married so young, neither of us had a clue what it all meant, we just knew we wanted to be together! He’s a wonderful dad, a supporting husband and my best friend. He encourages me all the way and bonus, he doesn’t mind if I need to practice on him to try and get a scene just right. :)
You describe your heroines as beautiful, feisty, and independent, and your heroes as strong yet sensitive. What inspired you to create characters with these qualities, and how do you ensure they come to life on the page? I love reading about a fiery heroine, willing and able to do her own thing. These days heroines doesn’t sit and wait for a hero to rescue her, she’s quite capable of doing it all on her own, thank you very much. I like the heroes to have a sensitive side, even though they’re strong probably because my husband and both our sons don’t mind showing theirs to the world.
As someone who has been reading love stories for as long as you can remember, what do you think sets a truly memorable romance novel apart from the rest? When sparks literally jump at you from page one! I don’t mind kissing and sex scenes, I love writing those, but it’s the slow burning that gets me every time!
Your Honors studies introduced you to classic authors. Can you share a specific moment or book from that time that left a lasting impact on you as a writer? George Eliiot’s Middlemarch. It’s such a richly layered story, I try to read it every other year, there is also something new to take away. George Eliot (her real name was Mary Ann Evans, but she had to use a man’s name to be published) includes real historical facts with several storylines – it’s a work of art and I’m in awe every time I read it.
How do you approach crafting the perfect kissing scene in your novels? Are there any particular techniques or considerations you keep in mind? I love writing kissing scenes! When you kiss THE ONE for the first time, something extraordinary happens (or should happen, otherwise walk away!) It’s a sensory explosion! And that’s what I focus on when writing kissing or love scenes – it’s more about the feelings, the emotion than the body parts. :)
With three grown-up children, do you find any aspects of their lives or personalities sneaking into your characters or plotlines? I don’t think it’s a conscious decision, but watching them do life, handling problems, loving their significant others, do sneak it at times.
What do you find most challenging about writing romance, and how do you overcome those challenges? I’ve written 70 stories up until now, 14 of those are in English, the others in my mother tongue, Afrikaans. The challenge is to keep the stories fresh, to keep up to date with technology because the characters should know about all of it, to keep thinking of ways to give your reader the tropes they love but to find different ways in which to do it.
Looking ahead, what themes or story ideas are you excited to explore in your future writing projects? I’m writing a series for Tule about cowboys and I’m really enjoying writing something new! I’m also considering a cozy mystery series …
BONUS: What is one book that you would consider to be your comfort read that you will always reach for? Happy ever after – Nora Roberts. There is just something about Malcolm Kavanaugh, the hero!
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