Subjects covered
Rebecca Hunter is a romance writer.
Rebecca began writing romance after reading Outlander, which broke all of her stereotypes about romance and opened her up to what romance could do.
Rebecca explained how becoming a member of Romance Writers of America helped her to learn everything she knows about writing romance. She also got her agent and publisher there.
Rebecca explained that as an early writer she didn’t think much about difference between genre fiction and literary fiction. She stressed the importance of understanding that because, depending on which a person chooses, their orientation as a writer will be very different.
To her the fundamental difference is that genre fiction is expected to come to the reader, whereas in literary fiction the reader is expected to come to the book.
Rebecca shared her process of writing books with Harlequin and praised the editorial support she gets.
Rebecca offered three tips for writers entering their career:
1. Ask yourself what your goals are and rank them.
2. For genre fiction, conceive like a business person and write like an artist, i.e., think about the market.
3. Find a community but do it carefully, to get feedback that is going to help publish your book.
Podcast editing and episode notes by author and podcast producer and host Matthew Félix (matthewfelix.com).