Show notes
Soraya Lane has an impressive backlist in contemporary romance, but she’s
hitting the Kindle best seller lists
with her most recently published work, World War II fiction centered on women’s
stories.
Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Soraya talks about the
road to being a successful international author and why she’s not going to
apologise for treating writing as a business.
Six
things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:
How many novels Soraya finished before she sold one
Writing Montana romance from New Zealand
How her passion for horses helped write romance
On being a workaholic and (usually) loving it
What its like to be international best seller unknown at home
On doing law and them discovering she didn’t want to be a lawyer!
Where to find Soraya M Lane:
Website: www.sorayalane.com
Facebook: facebook.com/SorayaLaneAuthor
Twitter: @soraya_lane
Instagram: @sorayalaneauthor
What
follows is a “near as” transcript of our conversation, not word for
word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.
Jenny: [00:00:00] And now here Soraya. Hi there Soraya.
And welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us.
Soraya: [00:00:07] It’s wonderful to be here. Thank you
for asking me.
How Soraya got started
Soraya M Lane Amazon best selling author
Jenny: [00:00:10] Beginning at the beginning was there a
Once Upon a Time moment that got you started in writing and was there any sort
of catalyst for it.
Soraya: [00:00:22] Look I don’t know if there was a
specific catalyst for it. I’ve always been a huge reader and I’ve probably been
a writer all my life really, from when I was first at school. I came up with
these wonderful stories that I used to share with my teachers. So I think I’ve
just always enjoyed writing and always loved reading. I think sometimes if
you’re a very keen reader the next step often is to try and write something
yourself. And so I started. I found my way into writing again when I was at
university and just thought ‘I actually want to do this.’ I want to see my
books on the shelf with my name on there. And I just started and went from
there.
Jenny: [00:01:00] Fantastic. Well you’ve now got an
extremely impressive list of contemporary romance to your name, as well as the
historical fiction we’ll be talking about. You’ve been writing pretty solidly
since university?
Soraya: [00:01:14] I started writing quite seriously
actually, writing my first full length novel when I was at university. I was
probably around 19 or 20 and it took me two years to write that first book. So
I had been writing for a long time. I sold my first book when I was pregnant
with my first child. And I was 27 then. So I have been I had been writing for a
little while now. I guess I’ve been published for about nine years.
Jenny: [00:01:38] Fantastic. So you’ve now got a really
impressive list of contemporary romance nearly 30 books that counted on your
website. And we’ll talk about that contemporary romance a little later. But the
most recent books are branching out into historical fiction and they’ve been
doing particularly well. Both Wives of War and The Spitfire Girls have been
Amazon charters and Kindle best sellers. Now they are World War Two
historical fiction. Tell us why you made that change?
Switching from romance to history
Wives of War – Soraya M Lane
Soraya: [00:02:13] Oh look, it was it’s something that
sort of came about organically in the end. I mean I still love writing
contemporary romance but I actually went back to university and did an MFA so a
Master of Fine Arts and Creative Writing at the University of Canterbury and I
went back there and thought I need to challenge myself and write something
different.
[00:02:31] And I’d had
this idea for a historical World War II story for quite some time and I thought
you know this is this is the chance. This is the time for me to to really
challenge myself and write something different. So that’s how it all started.
And by chance that ended up being my best seller, the novel I wrote during my
MFA. And it’s really just gone from there and it’s been just so exciting seeing
those books do well and and yet seeing Wives of War on the top 20 Amazon charts
was just probably one of the most exciting moments of my career to be honest.
Jenny: [00:03:04] Yes I can imagine that you are still
doing the contemporary romance as well?
Soraya: [00:03:09] Yes I am, I am. So I’m still writing contemporary romance for St. Martin’s who a division of Macmillan Publishing in New York and yet so I still do write the contemporary though it’s not. Not so much now. And I do miss it but I’m really enjoying writing historical fiction. And yeah I guess it’s quite a challenge it’s been very different starting out in a new genre and finding my way but I am really enjoying it now. So pleased with the direction we’re going in.
Jenny: [00:03:37] Yes and
– why World War II?
Women befriended in war
Voyage of the Heart – Soraya M Lane
Soraya: [00:03:40] I think the first idea I had was at the
end of World War II. it was actually called The War Bride Club then and it was
later re-branded by Amazon as Voyage Of The Heart. And after that one did well
my editor said to me let’s do another World War II story. That was fantastic.
And so it really went from there and the books have sold well and we’ve had
great feedback. So it’s just been a natural fit really to keep writing during
that time period.
Jenny: [00:04:05] Fantastic. Now the ones I’ve seen, each
of them focuses on three quite different women and they come from different
backgrounds and their experiences being thrown together in war mean that their
lives become interwoven. Is there something about the number 3 that had
particular appeal either for readers or for you as a writer.
Soraya: [00:04:29] Sure. Well actually the first book that
I mentioned before our Voyage Of The Heart that has four main women in it. When
I wrote that one I realized how hard it was to have four main characters and
interweave four stories like that. So I actually ended up for the next story I
decided to do just three main characters. And then it just it felt like a
really natural balance for me. There was enough going on enough conflict having
those three characters. And it didn’t feel too onerous trying to balance them
and I found it much easier than doing four.
Pearl Harbor book out in July
[00:05:00] So I’ve kept
going with having three main woman and in my novels the latest one I’ve got
coming out in July is The Girls of Pearl Harbor. And that story I did start
with four women and that story. So it’s a wee bit different in that it does
start with four women and one of them is put in quite a difficult position and
may or may not make it to the end of the story.
Jenny: [00:05:24] No spoilers here. That’s right. Yeah.
Soraya: [00:05:27] Oh that sounds fabulous actually. Yeah.
I love the whole thing around Pearl Harbor. So it’s really got my interest.
Jenny: [00:05:34] It was great to write it. It was a
really great story actually.
Cowboy romance and loving horses
American cowboy fiction – readers love it.
Soraya: [00:05:38] Yes fantastic. And as we mentioned you
are also a very experienced contemporary romance author.
Jenny: [00:05:46] You’ve written quite a few cowboy
romance set in Montana and Texas. And I wondered. I’m just in awe of somebody
who can write romance in Montana or Texas because it seems such a big jump from
New Zealand. So I just wonder have you actually had the experience of living in
America or how did that come about?
Soraya: [00:06:09] That’s a good question. You know early
on in my career when I was writing romance I was told rightly or wrongly that
Americans like reading about other Americans in America. And I guess that was
something my agent said to me as well.
[00:06:22] And so I guess
those stories I just started thinking sort of more widely. I’ve sort of always
approached my writing from a very business focused place and just realized that
that was the biggest audience for me. I needed to really appeal to American
readers. I know now a lot of Americans love reading about New Zealand. But when
I was first starting out it was American romance that seemed to be doing
better.
[00:06:44] I’m a huge horse lover and I’ve always owned and ridden horses and we still have horses. So for me writing about cowboys I guess I felt I could be authentic in terms of describing what they were doing on horseback and the riding and being around horses which was really important for the stories.
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And then also I do have an American agent and I had an American editor as well so I was able to draw on I guess if I needed anything it to be steered in the right direction and with Americanisms or anything like that I did hope that those two pairs of eyes with my agent and my editor. And it was a it was a great moment when my agent said to me that there were less Kiwi-isms and my stories and she was not having to correct so many things. So that’s sort of how it came about really.
The business of writing
Jenny: [00:07:26] That’s fantastic. So how as a New
Zealand writer did you get her an American agent?
Soraya: [00:07:32] Yes well that wasn’t easy I can tell
you! I think it’s sometimes harder to get an agent than it is to get an
editor. So I’ve always been involved
with the Romance Writers of New Zealand organization which a pretty incredible
bunch of woman to be honest.
[00:07:45] And I had been going to their conferences. They have an annual conference every year and they have agents and editors from America and the U.K. coming out there and I entered a contest. I’d been pitching to agents for probably three, four, five years, constantly querying them and and trying to get them to read my work.
But I happened to enter a contest which was for the first three chapters of a romance novel and I won the contest. I won a pitch with the agent who was coming out, who was Laura Bradford, She is my agent still to this day. And she placed me first in that context as well and so did the editor who was writing it and I ended up signing with that agent and selling to that editor.
[00:08:27] So I always
encourage new authors or emerging writers to enter contests and be brave about
putting their work out there, because especially if there is a fantastic judge
at the end of it. It is the most amazing way to short track that process and
have your work read by an editor or agent or perhaps both. So that was
fantastic for me. I met my agent at the
conference in Auckland. She was from San Diego and we just clicked. She liked
my work and we signed a deal with her then. That was nine years ago and we’ve
had a fantastic relationship ever since.
Jenny: [00:09:02] That’s great story. You sound as if you’ve
really come through that track of starting out with Mills & Boon because
you did Navy SEALs romance as well didn’t you?
Soraya: [00:09:14] I did. Yes.
Mills & Boon apprenticeship
Texan kings series – Soraya Lane
Jenny: [00:09:15] And then graduating from that further
and further along. So you would have seen some huge changes in publishing over
that time as well.
[00:09:24] Oh just
enormous changes and particularly within the romance genre as well. I mean I
know publishing has changed in America particularly has changed dramatically in
all genres with many publishing houses closing down and you know e-books taking
off and imprint books not selling so well anymore.
[00:09:41] And I’ve also
just seen that the romance market became quite saturated. There was just so
many authors whether it was self publishing or through publishing houses just
so the market was so saturated which is one of the reasons I was quite keen to
branch out into historical fiction and I do think that the market’s constantly
changing particularly the self publishing market. But I do personally feel that
I mean my years with Mills and Boon were fantastic. My editors they were
amazing. They helped and taught me to write so tightly and helped me with plot
and characterization. So it was it was a great apprenticeship really coming through.
I think I wrote 14 books for them in total.
Jenny: [00:10:21] And we should mention that you have got
a very slightly different name that you write under your historical as you
write is Soraya M. Lane.
Soraya: [00:10:33] That’s right.
Two genres, two different names
Jenny: [00:10:34] And for your romance fiction It’s just
Soraya Lane. Is there a reason for that difference?
Soraya: [00:10:39] Yes well I’d always written Soraya Lane
and then after my first historical fiction book came out, Amazon who is my
publisher – Amazon Publishing – my editor there came to me and said ‘we think
we need to just do a slight variation of the name just simply to make it clear
that the Soraya M. Lane brand is slightly different to the romance as you write
as Soraya Lane.’ So it’s just a very small difference there.
[00:11:05] But my
historical fiction appeals to a completely different market and I don’t have a
lot of crossover. My contemporary romance is very much either cowboy or soldier
romance. It is very American and my historical fiction is, I think as you
mentioned before. I normally have three woman. It’s very much woman’s fiction
as opposed to romance.
Stories deep in character
Hearts of resistance – Soraya M Lane
Jenny: [00:11:25] I was wondering about readership
generally and whether you also noticed a difference between New Zealand and
Australian readers and American readers in terms of what they respond to.
Soraya: [00:11:42] Sure. Up until recently my New Zealand
and Australian readership for my historical fiction – which is what I’m mainly
focusing on now – I haven’t really had that much feedback, whereas my biggest
markets are the US and the UK. I do get a huge amount of reader emails and
messages on social media from my US based and UK readers. It’s been really
fantastic seeing New Zealand libraries start stocking my books and having that
feedback from more New Zealanders, which has been great. I think there are also
a lot more Kiwis and Australians buying my books on Amazon and reading the
Kindle versions.
[00:12:18] I don’t know if there’s necessarily much difference in feedback. I do get some very upset UK readers telling me that they don’t like the American English or vice versa and it’s something that’s out of my control that my editor or publisher takes the lead on.
But I think in general I think most readers and whether it’s Canada America Australia or New Zealand are all looking for a similar type of read. They like those stories that really go deep with the characters and just are a big exciting read that they can escape into.
Jenny: [00:12:51] Sure. When we talked a little before we came
on line you were mentioning to me that ironically although you would be one of
New Zealand’s most published authors in
this genre, your books aren’t really available in your home country are they?
Soraya: [00:13:10] So no they’re not.
Jenny: [00:13:12] That’s just because you’ve got an
international publisher is that why?
Best seller unknown at home
Soraya: [00:13:15] Look I suppose so. And it probably
comes down to different distribution as well. I think on the one hand it is
quite nice to not be known in your home country and it’s fantastic just having
such big readerships in the US and the UK. But at the same time it would it
would be lovely to see more people here being able to read my books or you know
seeing my books on bookshelves at Whitcoull’s and Paper Plus. That would just
be fantastic, and I do sometimes I find that quite hard, not seeing my
paperbacks on the shelves here.
[00:13:47] But I think slowly that is changing. I have another friend who writes in a completely different genre to me and you know for a while there she was wildly popular in America and no one in New Zealand knew her name.
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But it’s been really nice seeing her books stocked on the shelves in New Zealand now and you know quite rightly, seeing how well they’ve done here too. But no it’s interesting, I think it probably does come down to distribution, there just isn’t distribution. I mean the books are available for booksellers here but probably there may not be as aware of them.
Jenny: [00:14:20] And also a lot of the New Zealand companies
are now owned operated from Australia as well. That makes it just one step
further removed as well.
Soraya: [00:14:25] Sure. Yes. Absolutely.
Jenny: [00:14:32] So what kinds of things have you
noticed in terms of reader taste and preference over this period of writing. Is
there anything that comes to mind?
A boom in World War II fiction
Soraya: [00:14:44] Look, when I started out writing
historical fiction and particularly the World War II genre you know for a while
there no one – I mean publishers – hadn’t been buying World War II fiction. It
certainly wasn’t that popular. And then suddenly the genre took off again. I
think it’s quite interesting because it can be heartbreaking writing something
that just simply isn’t popular at the moment. And it’s interesting just seeing
how it’s a real cycle of certain genres being popular and then falling off
slightly and something else taking over.
[00:15:13] So I certainly noticed now there is a huge amount of of World War II fiction in particular being published within the historical fiction genre. And I think romance – that still so strong. But as I said earlier the market really is saturated.
There are so many authors writing romance. So it’s hard to stand out in that market. But I think that the biggest change I’ve noticed is simply the change with self publishing. So when I first started out you know self publishing was almost a dirty word. You know it was sort of what you did if everyone else had closed their doors in your face.
It certainly wasn’t something that many people talked about and then that really change, and self publishing is a very valid way to get your material out there now.
A rapidly changing market
[00:15:55] So it’s probably had the biggest impact on the market. Price points for Kindle e-books and other e-books in general have probably been pushed down because of that. Some of the big five publishers in New York are still trying to get you know perhaps $12.99 for an e-book version in the US.
Whereas a self publishing author might have that book out for $2.99. So I’ve seen a real change in price points. in the number of authors putting the material out there and also just in that self publishing market and e-books as well. I mean e-books have just taken off.
[00:16:25] I probably
sell perhaps 90 per cent – I think the
last statistics I read – I had 92
percent of my sales were Kindle e-books. So it’s you know makes up a huge part
of my career and my income now is selling e-books.
[00:16:39] And I gather
there has been a bit of a dip in author incomes as a result of all this change.
Because there’s so many self published authors who just are willing to price
their books low so they can just get them in front of reader’s eyes. Has that
made a difference to the whole market.
Changing price points
Soraya: [00:16:57] I think it has definitely made a difference
to the market. And there are some publishers who have either started up or
changed the way they operate. I mean I’m very fortunate to be published by
Amazon Publishing. You know I always think of them they’re just an absolute
marketing machine and they really do have their finger on the pulse. So my
books are priced I think I’m at $4.99 now in America for my historical fiction
titles.
[00:17:18] The earlier ones were t$3.99 and they’re very much aware of price points and where you need to price in the market. I mean you don’t under price but you also don’t want to be so expensive that someone’s not going to click on your books and buy them. And my books are certainly on sale at various times for Kindle daily deals or Kindle monthly deals for 99 cents or $1.99.
I think it’s just a matter of making the market work for you and the publishers that have really jumped on board with that with the e-books I think are still doing well and those authors are most likely still earning good money from those sales. But yeah it can certainly be tough if your books are priced correctly.
Jenny: [00:17:57] Sure. Yeah yeah. Turning to your wider
career just talking a little bit beyond the actual books you’re the Mom of two
boys living on a small farm in New Zealand. Tell us a little bit about your
life before you got into writing and also when you’re not writing now.
Soraya: [00:18:15] Sure. It seems a long time ago life
before writing.
Jenny: [00:18:20] Yeah pretty much most of your life.
Committed to a goal
Soraya: [00:18:22] I have and you know I think I’m
probably different to some of the other authors that I know well a lot of a lot
of authors come to this later in life or they may come to writing you know when
they’ve got small children or they are taking a break from their career for
some reason and I think that I feel really fortunate that I actually started
writing before I really had another career as such.
[00:18:43] So I was so determined to be a writer and I think I’ve always just had that determination that I was just going to keep going and I wasn’t going to give up. I feel fortunate that I did sell to an international publisher and I was able to make a career of writing.
I graduated with a law degree back – oh I can’t even think what year it was. I went to university actually at 16 so I skipped what was then a seventh form year and went straight at 16 to university and did law. So I graduated when I was 20 and I suddenly had this moment where I thought ‘oh my gosh I don’t really want to be a lawyer.’
An utter determination to succeed
[00:19:16] And so I ended
up going into – freelancing – I was a
freelance writer for some years. And so I was able to work for magazines and
different publications during the day from home and then squeeze in writing and
you know I wrote a lot at nighttime until I sold. I wrote seven books actually,
seven full length manuscripts, before I sold my first title. So yeah.
[00:19:36] So I guess I
don’t really remember too much about life before writing. I’ve always been
writing, always trying to get published and then suddenly that phone call or
email happens and you find out someone’s going to publish a book. So that was
fantastic.
[00:19:50] I do vividly
remember how hard it was when I sold my first book. I was pregnant with our
first son Mackenzie, and I had a
newborn, I had a two two book contract – so having to write the books on that
contract and I had my day job. I was
still working when I was in labor. I was working the first day at the hospital
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[00:20:10] I look back
now and I just think – I mean the words
I was putting out was incredible. I was just constantly writing. So I feel very
grateful now to only have one job which is writing fiction and then obviously –
Ues, it’s busy having the two boys. I
got Mac and Hunter, and they are eight and five. So they’re both at school now.
I’ve had incredible help from my Mum. I owe her everything.
[00:20:33] Whether it was
holding newborns during the day when they wouldn’t sleep so I could write
– she was here every day helping me and
I’m so grateful for that. The family support has been amazing. But yeah I guess
when I’m not writing you know I guess every mother knows what it’s like. It’s a
constant juggle between work and family.
Family life a priority at weekends
[00:20:53] I don’t tend
to work weekends anymore unless I have to. We’ve got three lovely ponies here.
Actually one’s a bit small for the boys now, but we love getting out with the
horses on the weekend. We’ve got a big crazy energetic dog who drives us all
mad who we have to exercise constantly and yeah we just love hanging out together
and being at home. We’re a pretty tight knit family.
Jenny: [00:21:13] It’s amazing – it impresses me that you did seven books
before you found an agent to publish any. It takes real grit and I’m sure that
some of those probably are even with a little bit of the extra work
publishable. Have you ever been tempted to go back and put them out there?
The secret of her success
Soraya: [00:21:35] You know I think sometimes rewriting is harder than writing. I just haven’t. And I know the first few were not worthy of publication. The others may have some merit but unless you’re actually a writer I don’t think you’d understand the energy and effort that goes into writing an entire novel and then the crushing feeling when nobody is interested in publishing it.
You just have to put it down and pull yourself up off the floor and start the next book. I think only another writer can probably understand the emotions and how hard that is. But I was just so determined that I was going to be published and I didn’t want to just have one book published. I wanted a career as an author and I guess I just didn’t want to give up. It’s obviously what got me through, because I just didn’t want to give up at all.
Jenny: [00:22:25] Yeah that’s fantastic. This leads very
naturally onto the other favourite question that I like to ask and that is, is
there one thing in your writing career more than any other that’s the secret to
your success. I think in your case it’s sheer determination isn’t it?
Soraya: [00:22:41] Oh look it absolutely is. It’s just that determination of never giving up. And I think also just in terms of my outlook on my career I very much think of it as a career. It’s a business for me. I’m very focused on that.
Not only do I need the income from writing. But I need to work and I’d personally much rather be at my computer at home than working in a law office or doing anything else that I might have ended up doing. And I think the other thing too is that you know my editors will send me revision letters still to this day after all the books I’ve been writing with the same editor.
They always want changes they always want you to do different things. In my case when I started writing historical fiction for Amazon I was actually writing contemporary women’s fiction for them as well and they said look those books are selling well enough they’re doing okay but you know we don’t want to publish them anymore.
Changing course to try new things
[00:23:31] We want to
grow you in historical fiction and you know it was hard because I could see how
much harder historical fiction was and how much longer those books would take
me to write. But you know I just focus on the career and on the bigger picture.
And my editors and my publisher and the marketing department – everybody is so experienced and they know
what they’re doing and I just trust their advice and I take their advice on
board and make the changes I have to make.
[00:23:59] So I think
being adaptable, especially in publishing when the market just changes so
dramatically sometimes that it’s just so important to be open to change and to
look at new directions and take feedback on board.
Jenny: [00:24:12] Your comments about the World War II
and the way that it does seem to have burgeoned. There are a lot of books being
published in that niche.
Soraya: [00:24:37] And I think it’s you know it’s always harder to stand out when there’s more and more books published in the specific genre you are writing. I keep an eye on the Kindle Top 100 best sellers and the number of historical fiction books that are in that Top 100 now has just grown enormously.
Some of those books – there’s a very popular book also published by Amazon called Beneath A Scarlet Sky that is a very different historical fiction book to mine. I mean I’m very much writing woman’s fiction and but they’re all doing well and I think it’s you know male and female readerships have really embraced that genre or that specific World War II period which has been really interesting to see.
Soraya as reader – old and new favs
Lucinda Riley – the Seven sisters
Jenny: [00:25:19] Yeah. Yeah. But this podcast is called
The Joys of Binge Reading. So turning to Soraya as reader yes you obviously
have read all your life. Are you a binge reader and who have you binge read in
the past or maybe perhaps even be binge reading today.
Soraya: [00:25:38] Sure. You know I’ve actually just started the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. I have heard so much about it. And my mother in particular has been telling me constantly that I must read it. So I’ve actually just started the first book.
That’s been enjoyable I mean I do find it very hard to find time for reading and this we’re on holiday but I’ve started that. So I do love sort of suspense and thrillers. I often don’t read the same genre that I’m writing and because I like to sort of you know read something completely different so I did binge read a lot of Leanne Moriarty books and I really like her stories as well. So Big Little lies and The Husband’s Secret and those sort of books and then going back further in time. I loved the Bronze Horseman series by Paulina Simmons and that stands out to me as one of my absolute favorite series.
Jenny: [00:26:32] And yes I must admit I just been just
discovering Lucinda Riley I must admit I’ve been relying on the library to get
them so I’ve tended to read them out of order because it’s just when one you’ve
got on hold comes in.
Soraya: [00:26:44] Absolutely.
Jenny: [00:26:47] But yeah they are something absolutely
remarkable about them. I’m just really curious to know how it’s all going to
end up because I’m sure in the end we must find out a bit more about Pa Salt.
Soraya: [00:26:59] Yes absolutely. Well I’m on it early on into it but I can
already see it. It’s shaping up to be great. I’m very lucky. I actually tend to
buy my mom books that I would like to read. So she has all the books in the
series to date sitting there. So I’m very much looking forward to going to
stealing them all and reading every single one that might be for a holiday
later in the year. I can read all of those.
Jenny: [00:27:22] Yeah. The luxury to be able to read them
in order I think so. Oh absolutely not that it makes that much difference. But
you know I have found myself thinking now if I read that the twins birth the
twins now just one of them you know that sort of thing.
Soraya: [00:27:37] Sure absolutely.
The Bronze Horseman series – Paullina Simons – a favorite
Jenny: [00:27:39] And I know her other books as well I
mean to be fantastic standalone books. So I’m actually I’m just looking around
I’ve got all my books in my office here to see what other, I tell you the other
author that I absolutely love as an Australian author. Belinda Alexandra. And
she writes some fantastic stories as well. So she’s a favorite of mine.
What she’d do differently next time
Jenny: [00:27:58] Oh that’s fabulous. Thank you, right.
So we are starting to run out of time. So circling around looking back over
this wonderful career that you’ve had at this stage if you were doing it all
again what would you change if anything?
[00:28:15] That’s a great
question. You know I think there are things that I would like to change that I
probably would. I mean you don’t have any control over so I mean the amount of
years that I was writing before I was published I would like to shorten that
time from seven perhaps down to four years.
[00:28:30] I think I needed a few years as my writing apprenticeship just to find my voice and develop my style. But no you know I’ve been happy with how everything’s happened. My agent’s very proactive. We’ve got a great relationship.
She helps me find every opportunity and I take every opportunity even if it means that I have crazy deadlines and I have no idea how I’m going to meet my deadlines. I think as long as you’re always saying yes and open to change and new opportunities you know it just keeps your career moving in different directions which can be surprising but I’m actually happy with how it so all panned out to be honest.
Workaholic? Absolutely. No doubt.
Jenny: [00:29:08] Talk about your working style a little
bit. Are you a workaholic? Do you like to do a lot of plotting. How do you
approach every book?
Soraya: [00:29:17] Oh look definitely workaholic. And that’s sometimes out of necessity because you know trying to as a writer make sure that you have enough income coming in for the year and that sort of thing can be can sometimes be a juggling act.
But no you know I used to be what I guess you’d call a pantser. So writing by the seat of my pants and not doing a lot of plotting when I’m writing contemporary romance I think I can get away with that and I can enjoy that process. I ran into a lot of trouble trying to do it as a historical fiction author so I now do a huge amount of plotting for my historical fiction.
[00:29:51] I pretty much
work out of character arc and plot each individual character so often that’s
three main woman in my story. And then I also have an overall plot and a
general story arc as well. And then just trying to figure out how those
character arcs I guess or or meet together and how it all works out through the
story. And my editor now is insisting that I do a chapter by chapter plot or
outline which is just about kills me.
[00:30:18] But the first
time I did it which was actually the last book I wrote with her. It was just
amazing how streamlined it was. The revisions that we had and the edits that we
worked through was so much lighter because we’d kind of nutted out all the
issues back and forward for each chapter. So although there were surprises
still through the novel it did make the writing process much much better for me
so I’m now a converted plotter.
Jenny: [00:30:41] So do you do all of that before you
even start writing a single word.
Soraya: [00:30:48] Yes. Well actually I did start writing
the first chapter just to get a feel for the story. But yeah I mean my
historical fiction I normally do a lot of research first. I have all those
research notes and then yeah I often do what I sort of probably call a book
cover blurb. So I sort of do a two or three paragraph pitch for my editor and
then a basic outline and if she’s happy with it then we develop that out and I
write a bigger outline. She sends it back to me with all sorts of notes over it
and we sort of go back and forth like that so that I guess we’re both happy
with the amount of conflict, how the characters and how the characters sort of
change through the story and how it all works out.
Jenny: [00:31:23] It sounds amazing. So what is next for
Soraya the writer? I mean what have you got on your plate say for the next 12
months.
The Starlight Stables series
[00:31:31] Sure. So I’ve got The Girls of Pearl Harbor which is coming out July 16th which I’m very excited about. I’m also pitching new ideas for new historical fiction. So I’m hoping that I’ll have details of those new stories on my website in the next few months.
I’m finishing up a contemporary romance story at the moment as well for St Martin’s Press, And I never mentioned to you that I also write middle grade fiction for children. So I write those stories as Soraya Nicholas.
So I had a series that was actually available in New Zealand it was in all the bookstores which was great. And that was called Starlight Stables. So I really enjoyed writing for children and that sort of I guess 8 to 12 age readership. And I’m working on a new middle grade story as well so I am definitely when you asked before whether I was a workaholic. I think you’d probably say yes I’m always working on multiple projects and always thinking of new ideas.
Jenny: [00:32:27] Fantastic. You mentioned your website.
So it sounds like you are very active in the marketing side of things as well.
Whereabouts can readers find you online and how is it best to interact with
you?
Where to find Soraya online
Soraya: [00:32:40] Sure. So you can find me online and more information at my website which is www.Sorayalane.com. I’m also on Facebook which is probably where I have most of my interaction with readers as well as Twitter and Instagram. But if you head to my website you can find all those links. So Facebook is probably the fastest way to to engage with me online but I always answer emails so it may take me a day or two sometimes but I always respond to my readers I love hearing from readers.
Jenny: [00:33:12] Thank you so much. Soraya I’m sort of
blown away by how much you’re doing.
Soraya: [00:33:19] So am I sometimes.
Jenny: [00:33:21] But it’s been wonderful talking to you.
And I think the Pearl Harbor book sounds wonderful. We’ll look for that with
interest.
Soraya: [00:33:28] Great. That sounds fantastic. Thank you
so much for having me here today.
Jenny: [00:33:31] You’re welcome. Thank you so much.
a signed paperback copy of The Spitfire Girls .
If you enjoy Soraya M. Lane’s World War II women’s fiction, you might enjoy Mark Ellis’s World War II Blitz Thrillers or Rennie Airth’s War Weary Gentleman detective, also on the Joys of Binge Reading.
Thanks To Our Technical Support:
The Joys of Binge Reading podcast is put together with wonderful technical
help from Dan Cotton at DC Audio Services. Dan is an experienced sound and
video engineer who’s ready and available to help you with your next project…
Seek him out at [email protected] or
Phone + 64 – 21979539. He’s fast, takes pride in getting it right, and lovely
to work with.
Our voice overs are done by Abe Raffills, and Abe’s another gem. He got 20
years of experience on both sides of the camera/microphone as a
cameraman/director and also voice artist and television presenter. Abe’s vocal
delivery is both light hearted and warm and he is super easy to work with no
matter the job. You’ll find him at [email protected]