Volume 4, Issue 4 – August, 2001
Katherine Sutcliffe: Characters in Crisis
For Katherine Sutcliffe, people always come first. Her characters’ back-stories — especially the history of her trademark dark heroes — drive the situations in which they find themselves, and allows Sutcliffe to immerse them in crisis from the very first page. Driven by her characters’ demons, Sutcliffe’s stories race across the landscape of the imagination, galloping as hard and fast as the horses this Texas woman loves so well.
Sutcliffe boasts a fair amount of back-story herself. She worked for oil companies and wrote for soap operas. Like many of her characters, she uses her horses to keep herself grounded. But Sutcliffe, who won the 2000 Romance Writers of America Write Touch Readers Award for Best Historical Romance, long wanted to write a full-out romantic suspense novel. Sutcliffe’s wish came true with Darkling I Listen, which will hit the stores this month, and Sutcliffe looks forward to her next foray into suspense.
Crescent Blues: How did you get from writing for Another World and As the World Turns to writing romance novels?
Katherine Sutcliffe: Actually I wrote romances long before I wrote for television. I was first published in 1986. I lucked into the television job when Bill Graham, who searched for writers for Procter and Gamble, happened to mention to his wife that they needed someone to refocus the stories more on romance…and his wife was a huge fan of mine, reading Miracle at the time. She basically said, “Here’s your writer.”
How long did you write for the soaps?
I wrote as consultant head writer for nearly two years — 1995/1996, mostly for Another World.
Did you live in New York for the duration or telecommute?
When I first accepted the job it was with the understanding that I could stay in Dallas. As the long document writer — the one who came up with the six month story lines — there shouldn’t have been a problem, since my stories would have been put into the hands of the breakdown writers.
Alas, I found myself flying up every two weeks if not more, and ultimately the networks wanted me to move to NYC so I could be available at the drop of a hat. I just couldn’t do it at the time. I had three teenagers in school, 30 horses, etc. And from what I could see, writers for television can be employed one day and the next on the street. I couldn’t risk such a move and suddenly discover I was out on my kiester. Besides, writing books was far more fulfilling…and much less stressful.
Did any of your experiences or any of the stories you heard while working with on these shows make their way into your newest book, Darkling I Listen?
No. I haven’t written for television since 1997.
How closely does the stalking of Brandon Carlyle (the hero of Darkling I Listen) mirror the situation of the actors you’ve known?
Obsessive fans are the norm for anyone in any entertainment field. In fact, during my research I was shocked by the people who find themselves stalked — really anyone, from men and women in the every day work force to housewives, to teenagers. I’ve made my girls read the material so they will recognize the signs should someone cross the line.
Were any of your friends or colleagues ever stalked?
No one I know has yet to be stalked, thank God, because once it begins it’s almost impossible to end it.
Do you see Darkling I Listen as changing the direction of your career?
I see it as a variation of my career. Many of my books have been suspense driven: Love’s Illusion, A Heart Possessed, Shadow Play. But until recently there wasn’t a sub-genre in which to put those books.
How long have you wanted to write contemporary romantic suspense?
Since I became published.
Can readers anticipate more romantic suspense tales in the near future?
I’ve just been offered a contract from Jove for another contemporary suspense!
Are you far enough along with that book to give our readers a hint of what it will be about?
I plan to set it in East Texas again — possibly Caddo Lake, a very creepy, prehistoric looking lake that straddles the Texas-Louisiana border. It’s the only natural lake in Texas and looks like something out of Jurassic Park. At the very least, I plan to set it someplace in the South.
Any chance that characters from Darkling I Listen, Whitehorse or some of the other romances you’ve set in the contemporary Southwest will make guest appearances in the new book?
As yet, I’m sorry to say that I haven’t yet firmed up the story line or characters. I would love to pluck someone out of Darkling to use…perhaps the psychic or the L.A. Detective, Ron Peterson, and replant him in Texas.
Are there any blond heroes in your romantic universe?
Nope. Sorry. Blondes just don’t flip my switch.
What’s your definition of a “dark hero?” What makes these dangerous guys so compelling to you as a writer?
Someone on the edge. The threat that they could go off at any moment keeps them fascinating to me.
How closely do reader reactions to your male characters approach your own? How did readers react to Jason Batson’s “day job,” for example?
Readers loved Jason Batson [the hero of Notorious]! I’m known for my bad boy hero and so those readers who want more edge to their men know they are going to get one from me.
Is it easier or harder to cast a dark hero in a historical?
Easier for me, definitely.
How do you meet the challenge of creating heroines to stand up to your heroes in a historical context?
I try to develop the type of character who embodies everything the hero needs to heal the hurt in his soul.
What are the most important characteristics of a great heroine?
Spunk, compassion and patience.
How important is “back-story” in the creation of your characters? Which comes first for you: the plot or the people?
The people always come first. Their present situation is always driven by back-story. I feel that’s the only way you can open the book in a riveting scene that will hook the reader. Characters come in at a crisis point.
How much do you feel your own background influences your choices in these areas? What are the greatest lessons your personal and professional backgrounds have taught you with respect to writing?
I had a difficult childhood and was forced to attempt to understand people and their behavior. If you write what you know and understand, you’re going to better connect with the reader. If the reader can say “been there and done that,” or know someone who has, then that reader is going to become involved with the characters and story.
How do you think reader expectations have changed since you began publishing?
I feel readers expect a better written book.
Have you found expectations different among readers of different kinds of romance?
I feel that readers of historicals expect the stories to remain within the boundaries of the genre. Romantic suspense readers expect those boundaries to be expanded with more mainstream threads.
Will you continue to write historicals?
At this time I have no plans to stop writing historicals.
What are some of your favorite techniques for researching historicals? Do those techniques translate well into romantic suspense?
Over the years I’ve managed to build a terrific reference library. I certainly feel that suspense is easily translated into historical romance, such as Love’s Illusion (about a magician who is suspected of being Jack the Ripper) and in my Halloween novella “The Wolf Keeper,” the hero is a werewolf.
I understand your British husband, Neil, provided a great deal of background for Notorious. How has his perspective on Britain influenced your depiction historic England?
I really don’t think he has. [Sutcliffe laughed.]
How did you meet and decide to live in Texas?
We worked for the same oil field service company. I was born and raised in Texas, and that’s where we decided to stay.
How has your love and work with horses (and all the other animals in your menagerie) influenced your books?
Animals have a grounding effect on me. The horses in particular force you to get back to the basics of manual labor and sweat. There’s no 21st century easy way of mucking stalls or grooming a horse.
What do you feel are the greatest differences between the 19th century and the early 21st (on any level)?
People now are soft and spoiled and lazy.
How do you feel about the notion of political correctness in romance? How much do you feel this is a reader issue or a corporate notion?
I feel there is too much political correctness in romances today. I feel that is more of a corporate notion.
Your article on “The Editor From Hell,” in All About Romance, is one of the most painfully funny tales of corporate survival I’ve read in a long time. Any tips on how new writers can survive “the editor from hell” and their non-editorial counterparts?
Grow a thick hide and don’t take it personally.
How have editors positively influenced your writing?
Christine Zika (Jove) and Jackie Cantor (NAL) encouraged me to do my own thing. They realize I’m strongest when allowed the freedom to write how and what I want to write.
What first told you that you would be a writer? How did you go about preparing for the job and doing it?
I simply sat down and started writing and wouldn’t take no for an answer
What writers were your greatest inspirations when you started out? How has that list changed or grown over the years?
The Brontes first inspired me. Now I read Stephen King.
Do you tend to seek out writers with styles similar to your own or do you deliberately look in another direction?
I go in another direction. I don’t want to be like anyone else.
Do you have any special rituals that help you through the writing day? How do you unwind?
I’m at the computer by 8 a.m. when I’m working, five days a week. I never unwind when I’m working.
How do you relax when you’re not writing?
Read, of course. I’m now enjoying Stephen King’s Dream Catcher. I play Pogo™ games on the Internet and go to Bingo with my daughter, Lauren.
Is the process any different when you’re working on a short story or novella, as opposed to a novel?
No. When I’m in my zone, I’m in it, whether I’m writing a long book or an article or a long document for a television show.
What are your near- and long-term goals as a writer?
I’d like to write for television again some day.
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..