Volume 4, Issue 4 – August, 2001
Mary Jo Putney: Trial by Romance
Alcoholism, spouse abuse, infidelity, abandonment — not the first things you think about when someone says “romance.” But bestselling author Mary Jo Putney’s stories, like her characters, overcome the odds. Together they travel the hard road to a happy ending, transforming anguish into strengths.
Although best known for her historicals, Putney brought her trademark intensity to the world of contemporary romance in The Burning Point. The book provided a welcome break from the early 19th century and inspired some of her most gratifying reader response to date. Crescent Blues caught up with Putney shortly after she completed work on her January 2002 contemporary to talk about writing in two periods and torturing characters for a living.
Crescent Blues: What first attracted you to the “dark side” of romance?
Mary Jo Putney: I’ve always been interested in stories of people overcoming the odds to build a better life. Everyone has troubles — it’s how we deal with them that matters. There’s something very heroic about a tormented person who has the courage to risk life and love despite the wounds they’ve suffered in the past. And it’s uplifting to read about characters who have been strengthened by their trials rather than becoming embittered.
You’ve dealt with a number of controversial topics, including rape (Dearly Beloved) and spouse abuse (The Burning Point). Based on reader response, which books and situations have generated the most intense reactions?
The Burning Point certainly generated plenty of steam, but since few people were online when Dearly Beloved was written, it’s hard to compare. In other stories, many people responded well to the alcoholism in The Rake (originally published as The Rake and the Reformer) and the epileptic child in Dearly Beloved. They found the positive portrayal of those characters very hopeful.
Any theories on why The Burning Point proved to have such resonance?
The most common domestic violence story told in popular culture is of the abusive husband who turns into a homicidal stalker. That’s a true and horrible story, but that black and white scenario is far from the only possibility. Though some people think that a person who has once committed a violent act is irretrievably evil and doomed to hell, real life is much more a matter of grays.
It’s really not that uncommon for a person with abusive tendencies and poor impulse control to change if deeply motivated. This is particularly true if youth, substance abuse, and being a victim of abuse are present, as was the case in The Burning Point. The hero was highly motivated, and he changed. But I can understand why someone who has personally experienced abuse and the abuser didn’t change would have trouble accepting this as reasonable.
Incidentally, in the time since I wrote The Burning Point, I’ve seen reviews of two other books where the abuser changes, and the challenge is to get beyond the past. One was a Christian novel, and the other a young adult story. Apparently the time is coming to think more about these shades of gray.
The Burning Point also marks a departure from the historical romances of your past. What inspired this foray into contemporary romance?
I was running the risk of historical burn-out, and the surest cure for that is new challenges. Also, there are some stories that will work only in a contemporary setting, just as others are inherently historical.
What particular challenges did you face in “torturing” your characters in modern dress?
The biggest technical challenge was developing a contemporary voice, since my natural writing voice is very Regency. I spent a lot of time working to refine and simplify the writing style to suit the new kind of story. Other than that, writing the book was like writing any other book: hard!
What was the most rewarding aspect of writing The Burning Point?
Receiving an e-mail from a woman who read the story, realized for the first time that the situation she was in wasn’t all her fault, and left her abuser. That outcome was worth all the difficulty I had with the book.
What did you feel when you “returned” to the 1830s period of The Wild Child for The China Bride?
It was very comfortable to return to familiar territory, and also fun because I’d spent months doing something different.
The characterizations and backdrop of The China Bride represent a different kind of departure. How did you go about researching the book’s fascinating Oriental locales and characters?
Besides Internet research and a buying a ton of books, any Chinese-American reader who made the mistake of writing me a fan letter got drafted onto my reader review board. [Grins.] I’ve acknowledged them all in the book. Their help was invaluable, since I didn’t want to make stupid assumptions from ignorance, and I certainly didn’t want to be involuntarily offensive. There is no substitute for talking to people who have experienced what an author is trying to write about.
Did you have a historical model or models for Troth Montgomery?
I didn’t have any particular historical character in mind, but when I worked in England I had a co-worker whose name was Troth, and I thought it was a terrific name. It was in the back of my mind for years, and this particular heroine was the one it fit. I also have friends of mixed blood, and it’s a situation that intrigues me: to be part of two cultures, yet not feel fully at home in either. One Japanese-American friend said that it requires a kind of schizophrenia to be Asian-American because one must retain two separate realities in the mind at the same time. It’s a very interesting theme, and one I want to revisit in a contemporary setting.
Kyle Renbourne’s transformation from a self-centered man of the world (in The Wild Child) to a complex, believable hero (in The China Bride) reflects a continuing theme in your work: the villain turned hero. What’s the essential ingredient for such transformations?
There has to be a basic decency and a capacity for self-awareness, plus enough suffering to justify any misdeeds he’s committed. I don’t really think of Kyle as being either self-centered or villainous in The Wild Child, though. While he’s the antagonist in that story, it becomes clear that he’s anguished because of losing someone he loves, and that he’s forced himself into a definition of duty that ill-suits his nature. This makes him something of a pain, but not a villain.
How do you create characters whose strengths and weaknesses complement each other to achieve transformation? (Is it a conscious process, or does one character suggest its own complement?)
As you suggested, it’s usually a matter of developing one character who is the natural complement of the other, so that it will be convincing that these two people are right for each other as no one else could be. Or if I start a book with a plot idea, the characters must be ones who will explore the potentials of that plot as well as suit each other.
Which comes first for you: the hero, the heroine or the plot?
It can be any of the three, though it’s more likely to be the hero or the plot than the heroine.
How does the story grow from there? Are you a linear writer, an outliner, a plug-n-play?
I’m very linear. I start at the beginning and inch my way through to the end. If I don’t know what happens next, I tread water and edit until I figure out how to proceed. I can’t even imagine writing in pieces and stringing them together; to me, the writing process is organic, with each section growing out of what happened previously.
Do you decide the story’s issue in advance or does it develop from your characters?
It’s a combination of both. I suppose that if I start with a plot, I also have a sense of the issue. Whereas if I start with a character, the issue grows out of him.
Who’s in control, you or your characters?
Me, without question. I think that anyone who says the characters took over really means that they didn’t know them well enough at the beginning. Once you know them inside and out, they don’t surprise you.
If fantasies could be made real, which of your characters would you like to meet?
Lord Robin Andreville, the hero of Angel Rogue. His sense of humor is based on that of my significant other.
Whose adventures would you most like to share?
Heavens, none of them! I’m a devout coward. [Grins.]
Once you decided to turn your first computer into a writing tool, you made your first sale in a remarkably short time (three months according to one book jacket). How did you accomplish this amazing feat?
Divine intervention? Everything fell into place quickly. I was fortunate to get feedback from a published romance writer. She suggested an agent who took me on (I still have that agent), and the agent sold my partial manuscript immediately. I’m still amazed when I think of this. Luckily I had a natural Regency voice and good storytelling instincts, and they covered up my writing deficiencies.
But I’ve spent a huge amount of blood, sweat, and tears since then learning how to write better. (I should also point out that in 1986, the market was more open than it is now; I could never have done this if I was starting out today.)
Did you sell based on a proposal or a completed manuscript?
Usually I contract with the publisher for two books at a time, story to be mutually agreed upon later. When “later” arrives, I give my editor an eight or ten page synopsis that summarizes the story, setting, characters, and themes. She comments, I tweak, and when we’re both satisfied, she gives the go-ahead.
What role (if any) did critique groups, fellow writers, writers groups, etc., play in this process?
I’ve never been in a formal critique group, but I do like to exchange manuscripts with a friend whose judgment I value. I do the same for her, so we both benefit by the arrangement. I’m also a member of several chapters of Romance Writers of America (RWA), as well as Novelists, Inc., and the Author’s Guild. As you can tell, I like writing groups — no one else will understand the whining better. [Grins.]
Did any of these groups become more or less importance as you grew into your new career? (I noticed that one Washington Romance Writers member created and manages your Web site, and you dedicated River of Fire to another, so I couldn’t help wondering what role WRW plays in your personal support system.)
Certainly I have many friends in WRW, but my home group is actually the Maryland Romance Writers chapter, which is around Baltimore and north. I learned a tremendous amount about the business from the more experienced members when I joined. RWA members in general are terrific, warm, supportive people.
Do you feel your experience as the editor of a British art magazine gives you an edge in understanding editorial requirements?
Actually, I was the art editor, and it was a political magazine devoted to Third World development. It was called The New Internationalist. This was the Seventies, and it was a great, funky group of idealistic young people. The experience was wonderful, but I didn’t learn a darned thing about writing or editing. [Grins.]
How did you convince your editor to trust a relative novice with such explosive subject matter (Dearly Beloved) so early in your novel writing career?
With Dearly Beloved, I was fortunate to have an editor who would allow any story that her writers could make work. (Bear in mind that she’d already accepted a book with an alcoholic hero.) Also, because I was changing genres with Dearly Beloved and The Burning Point, I completed the books before selling them so I could demonstrate how I handled the material. (These two are the only times I finished a manuscript before selling.)
What prompted you to later go back to some of your first published novels and expand them?
They were published as Regencies, and that’s a somewhat different market from historicals. Since the publisher would have re-released them anyhow, it seemed in everyone’s best interests if the stories would satisfy my historical readers, which meant revising them to suit historical expectations.
The one book I didn’t do that with was my first, The Diabolical Baron. The story seemed too inherently Regency to successfully become a historical, so Signet re-released it the original form. But most of my other Regencies had plots that could work in historicals, so it made sense to expand and polish the stories. I didn’t want readers disappointed.
What were the greatest challenges and rewards of this project?
In some ways this was easier than doing a book from scratch because the general plots and psychological lines had already been laid down. In other ways, it was more difficult because the stories already existed in my mind and had to be rethought. Plus, the job of polishing the language was very slow and became progressively more difficult the earlier I went into my backlist. However, I enjoyed revisiting the characters, and it was very satisfying to know that the stories would reach much larger audiences in historical from.
Are you satisfied with your later works, or do you have the itch to revisit them too?
One can always fiddle, but basically the stories all hit the notes I had in mind when I started. I wouldn’t have turned them in otherwise!
Could you tell us a little bit about your current projects?
In June I finished The Bartered Bride, a spin-off of The China Bride. It will be out in hardcover next summer. Now I’m starting my third contemporary romance.
Will your next book be historical or contemporary?
My two releases this year are historical reprints: The China Bride from Ballantine in August, plus Silk and Secrets is being reissued by Signet in November. (The third book of the Silk trilogy, Veils of Silk, will be reissued in 2002.) My next contemporary is The Spiral Path, and it will be out in January 2002.
Do you plan to continue to write both contemporaries and historicals, or do you foresee your writing developing along a different path entirely? What kind of books do you expect to be writing in five years?
For the time being I intend to continue with both [contemporaries and historicals], alternating them. I have no idea what I’ll be doing in five years, except that it will be romantic stories with strong relationships.
Of all your novels to date, River of Fire, seems to make the most use of your background in art and design. Is there a particular reason why readers don’t meet more artists in your work?
I put artists in a couple of my novellas, but I didn’t want to do a full-length art book until I had the right story. River of Fire is my creative process historical, while The Spiral Path is my contemporary book about creative process, only the creative form in the latter is movie making instead of painting.
How do you feel your academic and professional background shapes your writing?
Everything a writer has ever done goes into shaping her writing. The subjects that interested me in my pre-writing days interest me still, and show up in the books. I think that writers tend to be very curious, so that’s a pretty broad range of interests.
The prose of your historical romances never sounds anachronistic, yet the cadences don’t sound stilted or forced. How do you achieve this balance? Is it in any way related to your degree in 18th century English literature?
This is an example of consistency in interests. As I said above, I have a natural Regency writing voice, and surely that is related to the fact that the 18th century was my favorite era of British literature. (I include Jane Austen in that; though she wrote into the 19th century, her sensibility is very different from the Victorian writers who came later.) The further I get from that Regency voice, the harder I have to work. What can I say? I love compound sentences and polysyllables. [Grins.]
Do you have any particular rituals you like to follow when you write or in your preparations to write (e.g., research)?
Well, I can waste a lot of time before I settle down to work. [Grins.] As to research, there is a certain critical mass that I have to know before I can write the story, so a major research phase precedes the start of each book. Research also gives me ideas that I’d never come up with on my own.
Is there a specific season you find particularly conducive to writing?
January through March are nice. The world is quiet and cold and people leave you alone so you can get on with your work.
What writers and artists most influenced you when you were growing up?
Among writers, the most influential were Mary Stewart, Dorothy Dunnett and Georgette Heyer.
How has that list changed over the years?
I read all kinds of things, but those original influences are part of me, so the list doesn’t change.
What type of art do you find most satisfying or inspiring?
I have a real weakness for Pre-Raphaelite painters. I also like the objects of everyday life that are found in museums like London’s Victoria and Albert: fabrics, costume, furniture, tools. Plus, I love music and always have it playing softly in the background when I write. No vocal music, though. It’s too distracting.
Do you paint?
No, I have no talent for that kind of creativity. I was always more of a designer than an artist — and interestingly, the process of design is not unlike that of creating a story that works. Both involved creating a balanced — well, integrated whole that looks so right that one can’t imagine it being any other way.
For most of us, an artistic inclination is a lifetime itch. How do you feed your graphics itch while working as a full-time novelist?
The designer sensibility is part of me and my world view, but I have absolutely no desire to work in graphics again. Been there, done that, but I do like having lovely, well-designed things around me. Things like flowers and Oriental carpets and antiques take care of my visual needs.
Any question you’d particularly like to answer that I neglected to ask? Soap boxes provided free of charge.
Nope. I’ve said more than enough!
Jean Marie Ward
Click here to learn more about Mary Jo Putney.