Meet Jean Adams, Romance Writer

February is romance month at The Writing Corner and I am talking to romance writers. One thing interesting about romance writers is that they come from all walks of life and they all have a different story to tell about getting started, why they love to read and write romance and how it fits into their daily lives.  My guest today is New Zealand author, Jean Drew, who writes romance as Jean Adams.  Her latest book is No Other Love.

Jean, how did you get started writing romance?

 I didn't start out writing romance. I wanted to be the next Agatha Christie and write wonderful mysteries. but somehow my plots never worked out. Then someone loaned me a few Mills & Boon's. I fell in love (no pun intended) and I've never looked back. I love to write about soul mates meeting, overcoming obstacles while falling in love and finally getting their HEA. 

  

Did you always want to be a writer?

 No. I wanted to be a policewoman, but alas, I was too short to be accepted.  But I was always good at essays at school and think I drifted naturally into writing from there.

 

What comes first for you, your plots or your characters?

 Usually it's the characters. I start with the hero, build him a compatible heroine and then build the plot around the two of them. 

 

Where do you come up with your ideas?

 Who knows? Sometimes I ask "what if" questions.  But most of the time the ideas find me. All I know it that, at present, I have 14 ideas waiting tio be written and all are in various stages of completion.  

 

 What advice would you give a beginning writer?

 I always give the same advice, given by Sir Winston Churchill: "Never give up. Never. Never. Never." 

 

Tell us a little about your new book, No Other Love.

 That was a typical build-the-hero-first book.  He is a wounded hero who falls in love with a woman who has her own plans for the future. He becomes her friend and protector, even though he knows she will never be his. It isn't until she almost loses him forever, that she realises she's made a terrible mistake. 

  

You write mainly contemporary fiction, but I understand you are also working on an Egyptian trilogy.  Can you tell us a little about that?

 The best time to have been born a woman in the ancient world was Egypt. They had all kinds of privileges other cultures could only envy. My three heroines come from three different pharaonic periods, so I am able to incorporate part of the lives of three pharaohs.  Some time ago I wrote a time travel set in ancient Egypt. Once I had that under my belt,.I decided to venture into the trilogy. .   

 

 What is your next project?

 My current WIP is a light-hearted story about a gorgeous Greek billionaire who finds the woman of his dreams where he least expects to. I've just submitted the first three chapters for consideration while I work on editing the rest of the book.  I'll be sorry to see him go when the book is finished but happily he has two brothers, so I won't lose him completely.. 

 

 How can readers find you online?

 My website is www.jeandrew.co.nz

Twitter @genie5


Thank you, Jean, for being my guest.  Good luck with your new book and on your next project. What about the rest of you? Do you find yourself coming up with new ideas outside your current genre?