Nancy Warren eBooks
Nancy Warren was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. After graduating with an honours degree in English literature from the University of British Columbia, she began work as a journalist. For five years, she worked her way up the journalistic ladder, from answering phones to writing to editing. The work taught her the need for brevity and clarity in writing, as well as the fact that an article must grab the reader's attention immediately. Ready for a change, Warren moved into corporate communications and public relations. She worked for both government and businesses and ran her own company for a time. She quit her job when her husband was transferred to Vancouver, and spent the next four years learning how to write a novel.
In 1999, she won the Molly Contest in the Short Contemporary Category. The following year, she entered Harlequin Books's 2000 Summer Blaze Contest. The contest, designed to highlight the new Harlequin Blaze line of category romances, required her to submit a 10-page love scene and a synopsis for a complete book. Warren won the contest, giving her a contract to write her Blaze novel. Two weeks later, Harlequin bought two manuscripts which she had previously submitted. One of these, Flashback, became her first published novel, a July 2001 Harlequin Temptation. The other, Shotgun Nanny, became a Harlequin Duet. Her submission for the Blaze contest became her second publication, Live a Little.
Interview with Nancy Warren
If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?
Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride and Prejudice. She's pretty, funny, and ends up with Mr. Darcy and Pemberley. What more could a girl want?
Do you ever write while intoxicated?
I have been known to drink a glass of wine or two while writing, especially if it's an intimate scene, but when you reach the point where you start getting muddled, you aren't in any shape to write.
What is the best contemporary novel you've read in the last year?
I'm reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova right now. It's really good so far. I enjoyed Shantaram and The Wounded Heart, an Amish novel by Adina Senft and The Five by Robert Maccammon. That's off the top of my head. I love reading! There are so many good books.
What is the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your writing career?
Believing in myself when it would be easier to give up. A writer's early career is the most difficult, when you get rejection after rejection. But even after you publish there are times that things don't go so well and somehow you still have to show up at your keyboard and make magic.
Have you ever felt embarrassed or shy about writing romantic scenes?
I give an entire workshop on writing love scenes and a big part of writing a great sex scene is getting over that shyness. I can't write a love scene if there's anyone else in the house. I just can't. I need quiet, privacy and then I have to shut out the inner critic, pretend my mother will never read this book (even though she's read all my others) and write the entire scene in one go. My belief is that you can always pull your scene back if you've gone too far, but if you write it too tame it's very difficult to add sizzle.
Did you ever regret wanting to be a writer?
No. Never. I am blessed to make a living doing what I love.
Do you ever base characters on real people you have known?
Nope. However, I sometimes notice someone's eyes or a certain habit they have, or style of speech or dress and that one detail may end up as part of a character. For instance, I had a manicure/pedicure the other day and my esthetician told me she used to be on the national boxing team. I loved the contrasts of this pretty, delicate woman who works in the beauty industry having this kick ass, macho hobby. One day I might write a heroine with a similar background.
What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?
I come from a British background so I grew up on Enid Blyton and C.S. Lewis books. I read all the Nancy Drews I could get my hands on, and as a teenager I adored (and still do) Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Jane Austen and Dickens.
How do you primarily interact with your readers?
Email, newsletters and twitter when I remember ...
Name a book that you'd blush to be seen reading on the bus.
Sex for Dummies
