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Interview with Shelley Munro
Jun 19, 2008
Hi Shelley,
I literally had to pull myself out of your website—I was so absorbed in the tale of you—where you’ve been, what you’ve done and how prolific a writer you are. I’m as full of questions as I am full of answers that I found on your beautiful website. So, if you will pull up a cozy chair we’ll let our readers in on a bit about you and your books.
First off tell us who is Shelley Munro—you live in New Zealand—that sounds exciting enough but tell us more—what do you do when you aren’t writing? What are a few of your favorite things—tell us about your sassy dog and all.
Firstly, hello, and thanks for inviting me to spend time at Manic Readers. As mentioned I live in New Zealand with my husband and our little dog. I love the outdoors and when I’m not writing, you’re likely to find me cycling or walking while plotting and thinking about my current work-in-progress at the same time. The little dog is quite old now. She still likes to walk but she’s pretty slow these days. Like most writers, I love to read. I read a lot, both for pleasure and to keep up with current trends as much as possible.
I also love to travel and explore new places. Luckily, my husband enjoys traveling as much as I do and we’ve spent a lot of time in various parts of the world, visiting places such as Britain, Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Central America. We actually spent six years on a working holiday in Britain, working in pubs between trips to different places.
Did your dog have anything to do with inspiring your talking dog series? I’m curious—what are these books about—there are three at the moment, am I right?
Yes. J I wanted to write a story about an alien crash landing on Earth. I was trying to write one day, and our little dog kept bothering me, telling me she wanted food. “Right,” I said, and I wrote her into the scene I was working on. She appeared out of some bushes and talked to the aliens, asking for food. To my consternation the aliens took a liking to the little dog and she stayed in the book, requesting food frequently throughout the entire story.
That first book Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters is about Janaya and her aunt, Hinekiri, who crash land in New Zealand. Janaya is an elite security guard and wants to return to her home planet of Dalcon. Her aunt, Hinekiri wants to see the migration of the wildebeest in Africa. Janaya meets Luke Morgan, a New Zealand cop and the story and romance evolves from there.
The second book, Never Send a Dog to do a Woman’s Job features Lily Morgan, Luke’s sister and Alex, an alien prince who is undercover. He wants a normal life instead of the smothering existence in the palace on Dalcon. Alex wants to start a tourist company, bringing aliens to tour Earth. Lily, who is a travel agent, helps him sort out an itinerary. Killer, the talking dog goes along as a secret chaperone. She’s not very good at her duties and Lily and Alex get up to all sorts of mischief.
The third book Romantic Interlude features Hinekiri and Richard Morgan, Luke and Lily’s father. Hinekiri finally gets her trip to Africa and Richard and Killer go along to check out the wildebeest. They become involved in poaching, and of course romance blooms.
The magic number for you was four—being that you sold four books to four different publishers in 2004. How exciting—tell us about that fantastic year because that will lead us up to the phenomenal number of books you have under your belt now.
I sold my first book in Jan 2004. I think it was 2 Jan when an email popped into my inbox. I kept checking it to see if it was a mistake. I sold three more books fairly quickly after this to Ellora’s Cave, Medallion Press and Wings. I remember the acceptance from Ellora’s Cave and the one from Medallion Press came one day after the other. I rang my husband in great excitement both days. It’s funny the way acceptance and rejections seem to travel in herds!
So how many books do you have published or under contract as of May 2008? How do you manage to write so many books? What is your writing/work schedule like?
I have 29 published books and six under contract at present. I write full time and most days I write at least 2000 words. Writing has become a habit. It feels weird if I miss a day.
Of all the books you’ve published so far, what is your favorite and why?
Usually my work in progress is my favorite book because I’m excited about the creative process, and it’s all new with the characters and plot unfolding. I do have a soft spot for Scarlet Woman, which is the first book in my Middlemarch Mates series. This book is set in New Zealand and is about a family of black leopard shifters. I love the characters and they really feel like part of my family since I’m currently working on book seven.
I read the first book you sold was Aislyn—tell us about that book and the trail to publishing—how long did it take you to write it and get a contract for it?
I wrote Aislyn or rather completed Aislyn during a Book in a Month challenge down here in New Zealand. I think I’d written about four or five chapters before the BIAM started. After polishing, I entered it in several contests and submitted it to agents and editors. I did fairly well in contests, placing in several but received rejections when I submitted it to editors and agents. I hadn’t really submitted to e-publishers at that stage and decided I would try. After a short wait I had a contract offer and went from there. I probably worked on/polished/submitted the manuscript over the period of a year while working on other projects at the same time.
You write, blog, take care of hubby and family dog—you participate in anthologies and all sorts of chats, contests, etc. You must have some heavy duty time management plan. Tell us how you keep up with it all?
No, I don’t really have a time management plan. I put time for writing first, because without a good product I can’t sell anything. I fit the rest around daily activities, and with promo, I choose to do the things I enjoy most. No one can do everything. I just do the best I can. When I find things piling up a little I tend to write lists and tick chores off as I complete them. I find lists quite helpful.
Your most current release is Wanderlust released this month from Cerridwen Press, an imprint of Ellora’s Cave. Tell us about this book.
Wanderlust is a romantic suspense, set in India. It’s about Anna, a tour leader, who works for Wanderlust tours. Her younger sister is booked on the tour, to Anna’s consternation, and her casual boyfriend turns up as a passenger and then someone starts killing off her passengers, one by one. Things become quite tense and scary for a time until the murderer is caught, and of course she finally comes to terms with love and her relationship with Sebastian, her boyfriend.
India is one of my favorite travel destinations, and I managed to pack quite a bit of my travel experience into Wanderlust. Of course, I’m not telling which parts are fact and which are fiction. You’ll have to read it and make up your own mind.
Most, if not all your books seem to have some paranormal element in them. This, I’m assuming, is a love of yours. How do you decide what genre to write in? Does the story dictate it or do you start out saying I think I’ll write a contemporary paranormal romance today?
Yes, I’ve been a fan of paranormal for a long time, and I tend to write mostly paranormal stories. I do like a bit of variety, which is when I’ll step into another genre. I think this helps keep me fresh and helps me to continually challenge myself and grow as a writer. Generally the story idea dictates the genre.
Do you belong to any writer’s groups—The RWAs I’m sure of, but what other ones and why? Do you feel groups are important to keeping your writing career in growth mode?
Yes, I do belong to a few writing groups. When I first started writing I joined Romance Writers of New Zealand and later joined Romance Writers of America. I belong to the Kiss of Death and Passionate Ink chapters. I also hang out at Romance Divas when I can. Writing is such a solitary pursuit. Belonging to a group and talking to like-minded people is a real buzz. Only other writers fully understand what it takes to write a book and what it feels like to have your baby rejected. Writing groups also help me keep up with market information, which I think is extremely important.
Do you have a favorite author, one who inspires you, one you pick up every new book by that author as soon as it comes out? What else inspires you to write?
It’s difficult to pick one particular favorite since I read widely. Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich are two of my favorites. I really love their books, but have many other favorites as well, especially in the paranormal genre. So many things inspire me—television, movies, newspapers and magazines, other books and the places I visit.
I noticed you have several gayrotica books—tell us why you chose to write in this genre?
After Brokeback Mountain came out, I noticed the surge in gay romances. I purchased several and enjoyed reading them, so decided to try writing my own. I really enjoy the dynamics between the two heroes and think everyone, no matter who they are, deserves a happy ending.
You have many publishers from Medallion Press to New Concepts, Ellora’s Cave and more—that signifies to me that you are able to write in a wide variety of genres as well as sensuality levels—why so many publishers, why so many styles and genres?
It’s true I started off with several publishers, but these days I write mainly for two publishers—Ellora’s Cave and I’ve just sold a manuscript to Samhain Publishing. Writing in different genres keeps me fresh and I like to try different things, challenging myself with each book. I tend to read lots of different genres as well, so my writing in different genres was a natural progression.
Finally, where can our readers find out more about you, your events, your books and how to buy them? Do you have a newsletter, blog, social network page?
The best place to catch up with me is at my website and blog. www.shelleymunro.com I also have a newsletter, which I send out on a monthly basis and includes my latest news, excerpts and contests. Readers can join from my website or blog.
I blog most weekdays and my website is generally up to date with news of latest releases and excerpts. I also have several background articles on my different books. I have a MySpace page www.myspace.com/shelleymunro and also belong to two group blogs – the Dynamic Trio www.dynamicthree.com and a new group The Danger Zone www.dangerzoneauthors.com which is a group of writers who specialize in action and adventure stories. Check out the blog for the Danger Zone. The blog is amazing with some really interesting topics including gorillas in Rwanda, volcanoes in Guatemala and sci-fi travel to name a few.
Also for those who are interested, I have a photo album at my website, where I have shots from some of the various countries I've visited over the years.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. Write like the wind and many sales to you!!!
Thank you! I’ve enjoyed my visit very much.
Interviewed by: Billie A. Williams at Manic Readers
View Shelley Munro's Author Page
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