Volume 4, Issue 3 – June, 2001
Linda Howard: Men in Uniform and Magic Dust
Linda Howard writes New York Times bestsellers like All the Queen’s Men, Now You See Her, Kill and Tell and Son of the Morning about tough, dangerous, demanding men and the women who stand up to them. The suspenseful plots sizzle like the fuse on the opening of Mission Impossible, while the romances generate enough heat to burn your fingers as you turn the pages.
(Photo by Jean Marie Ward)
But Howard’s passion for Tomcats and F-14 fighter planes (she always wanted to fly them), men in uniform and characters pushed to the edge coexists with a firm belief in the importance of dreams and the “magic dust” of creativity. “If you dream it, you can write it,” Howard told a group of area writers in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., in April. But as a person who saw — and heard — heroic tales in her head from childhood, Howard wonders, where do writers’ dreams come from? “Are we listening to other people’s stories, or are we creators?”
Crescent Blues: What is it about a guy in uniform that so turns you on? Why do you think they make such good heroes?
Linda Howard: Because when they put on that uniform, that is proof that they are willing to put themselves between you and danger. It’s a visual statement.
If the willingness to put themselves between you and danger is the key to your heroes, what’s the key to your heroines?
Equal strength. They are also willing to put themselves in jeopardy to protect the people they love. One of the things particularly for my heroines is that I want them to be honorable. I don’t like heroines who do petty stuff. They can and do make mistakes, but not be petty or little. There’s just no reason for it. I want them to think, to have standards and morals. And I want them to be strong. I think strength is what I go after every time.
So you seek a basic equality between your hero and heroine.
Everything needs to be balanced out, that you have different strengths. Equality is not fifty-fifty. Equality is complementing each other and appreciating each other for what you are. That’s equality.
You can easily see this notion of equality at in your contemporaries and your romantic suspense. Was it harder to inject this notion of complementary strengths into your historical romances?
You’re asking me if I analyzed it beforehand, and the answer is no, I never have. I never analyze a book when I’m writing it. It’s only afterwards, when people ask me questions, that I realize why I did what I did. At the time, I don’t even think about it. I just do it.
Does this way of working derive from the dreams and stories you told yourself growing up?
Always. Always. And I don’t tell the stories to myself. They are just there. It’s like they tell themselves to me, and I have to listen closely enough to catch all of it.
Do your characters form the same way — you listen to who they are?
Yes, when I first start writing a book, I have to know the characters’ names. Obviously. Sometimes that’s the hardest part of it — finding out what their names are.
I can’t just pick a name. Sometimes, I’ll just know their name immediately, and it won’t be a name I would’ve chosen in a million years. But that’s their name, and I can’t change it. Sometimes, I think: “Well, I’ll name the character this, and I’ll just start writing the book.” And it just will not work. Finally, I’ll realize that’s not the character’s name, and I’ll have to find out what is.
Is that how Mr. Perfect started — with the names of the characters?
No. No! With Mr. Perfect, it was the voices that I was hearing. I was in the kitchen cooking, puttering around, and this conversation started playing in my head. It was the conversation in the bar where they’re talking about the qualities [of the perfect man]. It was The List. And I was giggling to myself, listening to the voices of these four women talking. I thought it was hilarious. It was like I was eavesdropping. And that was all I had. The entire book was built around that conversation.
Gradually, I found out what their names were. The character of T.J. — I mean, she’s a woman. Why is her name “T.J.”? I don’t know. But that was her name, and it just popped like that. And Jaine [Jaine Bright, the heroine of Mr. Perfect] — I didn’t know her name for a long time. I went over baby name books. I went right down the lists, and nothing seemed right. Then, all of a sudden, this one name… It’s like it’s written in bold letters. It just pops out, and it does that for a lot of writers.
Speaking of things popping out, the scene where Jaine’s looking out her kitchen window and sees Sam Donovan [Mr. Perfect’s hero]… [Here the interview breaks down as both Linda Howard and her interviewer dissolve in very ungirlish laughter.]
That scene played itself in my head too. I was listening to [Jaine], and when she called [Sam] and he said, “Get an eyeful, did you?” And she says, “Yes, thank you.” [More laughter.] It was, literally, like I was not writing it. I was listening to them.
That’s wonderful, because it’s a funny, funny book.
I laughed so much when I was writing it, because I never knew what those people were going to say. Sam was outrageous, and Jaine held her own with him. She certainly did.
Complementary strengths.
Yes, complementary strengths.
I understand you’ve got a new book coming out around the end of July called Open Season. Could you tell us a little bit about it?
Open Season is not Mr. Perfect, but it is still lighter in tone than some of my other books. It’s about this… She terms herself an “old maid.” She’s about 34. She’s a librarian. She lives with her mother and aunt, and she decides that what she really wants out of life is a husband and family. And she’s not getting any younger, and she has let herself become so dowdy that she has to do a complete image change. She’s just sure she does.
So she embarks on this change, all in her manhunt — which is where the title Open Season came from. In the course of broadening her horizons — she’s going to clubs to dance and all — she sees something she shouldn’t have seen. Actually, she sees a murder, but she doesn’t realize she’s seen it. The murderers don’t know that she doesn’t realize what she’s seen, and they are hunting her.
And she’s oblivious to the whole thing.
Yeah, she’s oblivious. She’s such a naive character, but she’s good-natured and kind of starchy. I’m having a lot of fun with her.
Will this have another cop hero?
Yeah, the chief of police.
Frustrated, I’m sure, that the heroine’s so oblivious.
Well, mostly, he’s totally amused by her. She’s so good-natured and naïve, and at the same time, she’s so old-fashioned. She’s enthusiastic. She’s just an open person.
How much of her reflects you?
I don’t think any of them ever reflect me.
So you tell yourself stories about people completely divorced from yourself?
I think they are people in themselves.
Anyone who hears your wonderful drawl knows you’re from the South. Do you think your way of working stems a Southern story-telling tradition. Did people tell stories in your family?
Southerners always tell stories. It’s not the kind of stories that are written, but they recount things that have happened to them and draw it out so long. You sit around the dinner table and…talk.
There are a lot of Southern writers. There always have been. I think it goes back to the predominantly Scottish and Irish heritage — people who were also storytellers. I don’t know if it’s inherited or not, or if you just were sprinkled with the magic dust.
You said earlier that you always knew you wanted to be a writer…
No, I always knew I was a writer.
You always knew you were a writer. When did you figure out you could make a living from it?
When I was 29 years old. You know, I’d written for myself for years. I wrote my first book when I was nine, and it was for my own enjoyment. Totally. But all of a sudden…I woke up, and I had to see if I was good enough.
Did your husband support your calling?
Being a published writer is not a common thing. I was working full-time too. He didn’t think it would really ever happen. But I wanted to do this. What was he going to do? Tell me “No?” Excuse me. We were two adults. I was not dependent on him.
That’s one of the advantages of having your own job and paying your own way.
Exactly. And I wasn’t of that temperament anyway. You know, people say, “Oh, my husband will be so angry that I bought this.” That thought has never crossed my mind.But I bought a typewriter. I don’t think he particularly liked it that I would go off in a room, instead of sitting in the living room with him watching television. But I explained to him that wanting me to do that was no different than me wanting him to stop watching television and come into the room with me and watch me work. And when I explained it to him that way, it was: “OK.”But when I sold the first book — there’s nothing like that first check for an attitude adjustment. Then it’s no longer a hobby. It’s: “My God, there’s money.”
It’s real.
It’s real.
Not only among your family, but your friends change their attitudes too. She’s not “the scribbler” anymore. We don’t have to ask her when she’s going to be published.
i was always very private with my writing. The people at work didn’t even know I wrote. Very few people did.
Was it hard “coming out of the closet,” as it were?
Yes.
Do you have a problem with marketing yourself?
I have never done any self-promotion. At all. Not so much as a bookmark. That’s not my temperament. In school, I was the extremely shy person. I’ve learned how to deal with it, and as I became more self-confident, the shyness receded.I can speak in public now with no problem. So I am no longer a shy person. But when I sold the first book, I was terrified at the thought of losing my privacy. Now I know I have the privacy regardless, because the privacy’s inside. You just learn.
Sounds like the learning was a good process.
It was.
You mentioned that your husband is a “bassmaster?” What’s that?
He fishes the Bassmaster Tournaments. He has been a professional bass tournament fisherman, full-time, since 1991. That’s all he does.
I don’t recall fishing playing a major part in any of your books.
No, I’m not interested in fishing. That’s his obsession, not mine.
How do you coordinate your schedules between his tournament circuit and your book signings?
For the most part, it’s two separate things, because the way the tournament schedule is set up, they take off during the summer. They don’t fish during the summer months. That just happens to be when my books usually come out. So it doesn’t correspond.
How do you find time to write if you’re touring with him and touring for yourself?
Laptops.
So you got into the computer age quickly.
Certainly did. I currently have…how many computers do I have? One, two… But I can write in hotel rooms. I did some writing last night, but I did it by hand, because I didn’t bring my laptop with me here. We were just in Tennessee. [My husband] had a tournament in Tennessee, and I carried the laptop with me, and I worked during the day while he’s gone. I just left the laptop with him and flew up here.
You don’t have to answer this, but I’ve got to ask, because your drawl sounds so familiar. Are you from Alabama?
Yes, I’m from Alabama. I’ve lived in the same county my entire life.
That obviously proved no problem, either in terms of dreaming or getting published.
Actually, it’s been a benefit, because I’m so far removed from the politics [of publishing]. It doesn’t touch me, and it’s so much more peaceful that way.
How did you get your start? Did you find an agent? Did you send to the slush pile?
I sent to the slush pile. Once I decided that I was going to do it, I went to the library and I started researching — Writers Market and all that. And I read heavily. I still read heavily. I’ve never lost the enjoyment of reading. I don’t analyze it; I just enjoy it.I looked to see who was publishing the books I liked, and I wrote it all down, and I made a decision and sent the manuscript to Silhouette, because this is where I am right now. And I was right. I’m very analytical in some ways. I’m instinctive in my writing, but I’m very analytical in everything else.
You may have sent to Silhouette, but you have a deep, dark secret. You read science fiction and fantasy.
I read and write everything except horror.
Why haven’t you felt like you weren’t ready to publish a science fiction or fantasy novel?
It’s a growing process, and my natural strengths tend towards the romantic suspense. I haven’t reached the point yet where I’m skillful enough, I think, to take it over completely and do a straight sci-fi or fantasy. I play with it for my own entertainment right now.
You mentioned in your speech to the Washington Romance Writers last night that you enjoy the dreams of others as well as your own. Specifically, Farscape and John Crichton. Do these characters ever find their way into your fiction?
Their physical characteristics do but not their personalities or anything like that. In After the Night for example, Gray Ruillard was a physical combination of Adrian Paul and Antonio Banderas.
Oh man, I’ve gotta find that book!
He was a physical combination of those two. I think Adrian Paul [the star of Highlander: the Series] is one of the most perfect looking men I’ve ever seen. I don’t know anything about him, personality-wise, but physically…
I really enjoyed Highlander a lot.
I went into mourning when that show went off the air. At the same time, I understand why [Adrian Paul] was ready to move on.
At least you’ve still got Farscape, even if they do keep doing terrible things to John Crichton.
And they killed off Zhaan! And I’m pretty sure she’s really gone, because she’s not on the credits. And I don’t like this screaming person. What’s her name, Jool?
Maybe she’ll tone down.
Well, she’s amusing.
So you do occasionally use the body types and physical characteristics of actors in your books —
With Ben Browder [the actor who plays John Crichton], it’s his blue eyes. He may have been the inspiration for Sam’s blue eyes in Mr. Perfect.
And his cockiness. [Both women laugh again.]
Oh yes, Sam was cocky in both the literal and figurative meaning of the word.
Where do you see your writing going in the next few years?
I’m totally open. It’s whatever grabs me at the time.
Do you write one book at a time?
I have several ideas that are not ready. I may never be good enough to write these ideas. I know they are beyond me right now. It’s just whatever grabs me.
Why do you think romantic suspense has been such a fruitful area for you?
It’s a natural inclination of mine. My natural interests lie in jet fighters, weapons — which is strange for a woman, but still, if you believe in past lives, God knows what’s back there.It could be that in times of danger is when human beings are at their best.
It goes back to the willingness to put yourself in danger for those you love.
“Greater love hath no man…”
When you were growing up — this is going to be a variation on last night’s “orphan” question…
I had a wonderful childhood. I grew up in the country. I’m the second oldest of six. I have two sisters and three brothers. It was a very traditional family. My mother stayed home and took care of us, and she was the goddess of the world. My mother never bluffed. She never threatened. When she told you that you’d better not do something, you could take it to the bank. She never backed down. What she said was written in stone, and that was the most secure feeling in the world.
Given the fact that you always knew you were a writer, were there any books or stories that particularly inspired you?
No, for me, when I read, I just wallow in the enjoyment of it, and it’s always been that way.
Any particular reason you don’t read horror?
I read Cujo, and it so terrified me that I read no more Stephen King. I don’t want to be afraid of dogs, because I love them so. I read Silence of the Lambs and, literally, had nightmares every night for two weeks — not about the book, just different nightmares. It triggered something. My imagination is vivid enough, thank you very much. So [horror is] off-limits for me. I prefer something more uplifting. I prefer happy endings.
Before we close, is there any question no one’s ever asked you before that you’d like to speak to? Do you want to talk about your dogs?
People ask me about my dogs all the time. I don’t want to get started talking about my babies. I’m a very instinctive writer. I don’t trouble myself with “dos” and “don’ts,” the market, the politics. That’s the best part of living where I live, because I have this bubble of protection around me.
What advice would you give a new writer today?
Don’t pay attention to the rules, because there are no rules. Whatever rules that someone thinks there are, if you write a good enough book, it doesn’t matter. So the best thing you can do is concentrate on the book.
Jean Marie Ward
In addition to editing Crescent Blues, Jean Marie Ward writes for a number of Web-based and print magazines, including Science Fiction Weekly. She is the author of Illumina: the Art of Jean Pierre Targete (Paper Tiger) and several short stories, including “Most Dead Bodies in a Confined Space” in Strange Pleasures 2 (Prime Books). Her first novel, With Nine You Get Vanyr, written with Teri Smith, is scheduled to be released by Samhain Publishing in late 2006..