Onirik : How did you succeed to get your first book published?
Jan Colley : It was very stressful!! I was one of five winners on a logline pitch where I had to sum up my story in two sentences. The prize was to pitch the story to Melissa Jeglinski, Senior Editor of Silhouette Books in New York. As the time for the chat drew near, I found I was unable to get into the Harlequin chatroom, a requirement of the contest. I tried several different computers and had the PC guys come to my home but nothing worked. In the end, I was replaced by another contestant and cried many tears. But I didn’t give up! I stayed up all night trying and finally, one hour before the chat started, I somehow managed to get into the chatroom. Luckily Melissa was there early and agreed to hear my pitch. She requested the full manuscript, I sent it and five days later, she asked for revisions – lots of revisions. Two months later, she called me at home and said she wanted to buy my book! That was Trophy Wives, which was released in December 2005.
Onirik : Who are your favourite authors? Do they inspire you for your own books?
Jan Colley : I have not been reading romance novels for very long and mostly read contemporary political books by people like John Pilger, and a lot of autobiographies and non-fiction. I loved Ayn Rand, the great philosophical writer of the 1950s. I loved the historical adventures of James Michener. I love Harry Potter and Diana Gabaldon. In romance, I love Nora Roberts, and also her ‘In Death’ series, writing as J.D.Robb. Bronwyn Jameson and Jennifer Greene are my favourite Desire authors. Sadly, I don’t read as much as I should and tend to be quite analytical when reading, a very bad thing!
Every author brings a different perspective. Some have great characterization and I strive to invent characters as real and honest as I can. Others write wonderful love scenes or heartrending black moments that make me cry. I would love to think I could move a reader to such depth of feeling, but really, I think my stories tend to be a little lighter and warmer as opposed to tragic and heavy.
Onirik : When you write plots, do you have your own limits or criterias or do you have limits or taboos fixed by the publishing house? I know that criterias are different according the nations, they’ve all got different tastes…
Jan Colley : Every imprint in the Silhouette or Harlequin lines have ‘guidelines.’ For Desire, the key words are Powerful, Provocative and Passionate. The guidelines have changed since I became published, a fact which has caused me some problems. The editors want extremely rich alpha heroes. Before a doctor or a lawyer could be a Desire hero, alongside the more common tycoons, princes and cowboys. Now they must be billionaires, owners of very large wealthy companies. They must be very alpha, more like a Harlequin Presents hero. They don’t sit around bemoaning their fate, they get out and challenge the world to move to their drum. The conflicts are multi-layered and more emphasis put on the external situations rather than rationalizing why they can’t fall in love with this person. Aside from all that, each author brings a different voice and a different slant on the enduring themes.
Onirik : In ‘Melting the Icy Tycoon’ you suggest family misunderstanding. The hero has a heavy past. The parents/children relationship subject, is it something that you’re particularly interested in, or is it the human relationship complexity that interests you best?
Jan Colley : My heroes are usually not alpha enough to suit the guidelines and I am always being told to make them more ‘hardnosed’. With Conn’s story, I decided to try to write a wounded hero, someone who pushed everyone away and could not believe that he deserved to be happy. Of course, the worst person for him would be someone warm and optimistic, who believed in love, even though she had had her hard times too.
Because we need to write such powerful stories, with layered pasts, the parents often are a catalyst for their emotional well-being. I wanted both of them to have had nice family situations. Problems yes, but basically, they had both known great love from their families and so (hopefully) it would be believable that they could recognize and embrace love again.
Onirik : A surprising aspect with your hero: he was really guilty, (yes, it was an accident but his mind was bad) I appreciate that he was not perfect, we see his strength but his weakness too. It’s not very frequent with harlequin heroes but he becomes human…what do you think?
Jan Colley : I think that Conn was terribly guilty about killing his girlfriend in the accident, but more than that, the worst thing was his behavior right before the accident, when he broke up with her while using her celebrity as a way to get attention from the public, the papers etc:
‘Conn’s inhalation was deep and wretched. “What I can’t bear is that she went to eternity with my rejection ringing in her ears. I hate that they witnessed that, that I made it so public.”’
To him, the worst thing wasn’t that she died, it was that he sacrificed his decency, the way his parents brought him up, just to get a bit of notoriety with the papers. That’s why he couldn’t forgive himself.
I think more and more we are seeing an aspect of the hero’s weakness in Desire stories since the conflict and motivation has to be so deep and layered, and he has to be so alpha and strong. You need a deep and complex motivation for him to fight so hard against falling in love, more than just a failed love affair in the past.
Onirik : I’m touched about this story because you refer to your country New Zealand with warm-hearted feelings, notably when you describe the construction of a new stadium for the world cup and the fervent – not just about supporters but all the population – it isn’t fiction – it is reality – do you like to introduce a real context?
Jan Colley : Just imagine if I was French and my hero was a soccer player, or a cyclist in the Tour de France. Sports mean a lot to people. New Zealand is a small country, not very well known, but the one thing we are known for is rugby. Love for rugby runs through our whole society, because our ability puts New Zealand on the international stage. It is impossible not to feel the passion for rugby here. It is in the papers, on television and radio, in the bars, especially when we are doing well. I do try to at least mention the game in most of my books. In my first book, Trophy Wives, the hero and heroine attend an All Blacks game here in Christchurch. Conn was an ex-All Black. Zack played rugby at university in my third book, Expecting a Fortune.
Onirik : I am surprised to note that the writing in your novel does not follow the usual path of romance Harlequin. The double volume helped me compare a classical story and yours. The happy ending is not the usual one (we don’t know if the conflict with the parents or unknown sister of the hero will be really resolved) both heroes love each other but they do still have doubts. They know that life is not always a fairy tale, the steamy scenes are really steamy (you avoid the usual metaphors) what kind of style are you trying to reach or avoid?
Jan Colley : You are right, life is not always a fairy tale, and I think New Zealanders are perhaps not as romantic as say, the French! Sometimes I take too much for granted and have to be reminded of what Desire readers expect. My editor noted that Conn didn’t say “I love you’ at the end of Melting the Icy Tycoon, so I had to add it in. I’m still learning.
Actually I originally wrote the ending taking place in Eve’s mother’s house, but a day before I sent the manuscript in, I was having lunch at a restaurant and there was a large table with some deaf people eating there. One person stood and took the orders, using sign language, and passed it on to the waiters. I thought, yes! a great way to finish the story. Especially since Conn was so paranoid about his privacy. Having to admit that he loved Eve in public – even if they couldn’t hear! – would be excruciating for him. And we writers love to make things excruciating for our characters!!
I’m very pleased you thought I avoid the usual metaphors in the steamy scenes. It is difficult to write a love scene without using clichés. Sometimes, I leave the love scenes until I have finished the book and then go back and work on them. I never get it right first time. I strive to be fresh. It doesn’t always work, but my goal is to get better with each book. By the time I have written fifty books, maybe I will know what I’m doing!!
Onirik : Like Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Tami Hoag, Janet Dailey, Iris Johansen, Linda Howard, Jayne Ann Krentz, are you trying to make your novels evolve to a new genre (thriller etc) or are you comfortable in the format imposed by the publishing house?
Jan Colley : Of course I would love my editor to publish everything I ever wrote, exactly as I wrote it, but she knows what sells. Harlequin do a lot of research about their readers. Wealthy alpha male heroes sell. I want my books to sell. Never say never but I am very happy to be part of the Harlequin umbrella. I don’t like promoting myself and they take care of that and the massive distribution. I have finally gotten a website (www.jancolley.com) and sometimes, nice people like you ask me for interviews. Being a single title writer means a lot more work for the author. I don’t feel secure enough in my career to take that on, although I have considered writing for Desire and another Harlequin line one day. Of course, I would be guided by my editor, and she may not like my output being impacted by writing for another line. Silhouette Desire have given me a wonderful opportunity and I would hate to do anything to denigrate that.
Onirik : You’ve been published for three years only, do you have a particular ambition or do you go where your inspiration leads you?
Jan Colley : I have always had characters and stories in my mind since I was a young girl. I want to be a writer. I want to make a living at it. It’s the best job I ever had and I don’t want to be anything else. My ambition is to keep learning and write my stories a little better each time, but even if I never got published again, I would still write.
Onirik : Do you have a spoiler about the next novel?
Jan Colley : My third book was out in May last year, called Expecting a Fortune. That was a continuity and was set in South Dakota.
My fourth, Satin and a Scandalous Affair, will be released in the States in April this year. It is an author-led continuity and you can find information on the series on www.diamonds-downunder.com The six-book series is set in Australia and New Zealand and is about diamonds!! My book is the fourth one and is set in Port Douglas, a beach community in the north of Australia, and incidentally, one of my favourite holiday destinations. My heroine is a jewellery designer, the hero a diamond and fine arts broker who needs her to design a fabulous necklace for an incredible diamond. There are family feuds and secrets and lies, and a lot about diamonds.
My fifth book is called Billionaire’s Favourite Fantasy and is set in Queenstown, New Zealand. That will be out in July in the States. The hero owns an airline and buys the hotels the heroine works for. She has come home to Queenstown after climbing the corporate ladder overseas and finds it is not easy to fit back in.
I have just landed a two-book contract which will keep me busy until October this year, about two kiwi brothers. I will be sure to get rugby in there somewhere, just for you, Marnie!