Please find the instructor spotlight on Angela Knight.
How long have you been writing?
I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was 9 years old. I wrote a book called “The Mouse who Went to the Moon,” about a mouse who stowed away on an Apollo mission because he thought the moon was made of green cheese. My mom made such a big deal out of it, I was immediately hooked on writing.
I moved on to stories about horses – think Black Beauty -- then graduated to Star Trek fan fiction in junior high. I tried my hand at writing science fiction, and in 1988 I published a three-issue comic book mini-series called CYCOPS which was published by a small press called Comics Interview.
I finally decided romance was where my heart lay, so I submitted my first erotic romance novella to Secrets, a small print anthology series. I published seven or eight erotic romance novellas and my first erotic vampire novel with them.
Berkley Sensation editor Cindy Hwang discovered my writing through Secrets. She thought erotic romance was going to be the next big thing, and emailed asking if I would like to submit a couple of story ideas. I pitched the Mageverse and Time Hunters series, and Master of the Night was published in 2004. My books soon started hitting The US Today bestseller list, The New York Times list and the Publisher’s Weekly list.
I wrote paranormal erotic romance for Berkley for 14 years, until the company decided paranormal was dead. They asked me to do contemporary romantic suspense, but I love world building and letting my imagination go wild. I left Berkley and went to work writing and editing for Changeling Press. I’ve been with Changeling for more than 20 years now – I actually wrote shorts for them while I was writing for Berkley.
What do you wish someone would’ve told you about writing or publishing?
FINISH THE DAMN BOOK. Though I knew I wanted to be a novelist when I was nine, I was 40 before I pulled it off, mostly because I’d write three chapters, start polishing them until I was sick of them, then go off to write something else. Don’t do that. It’s the kiss of death.
What is the biggest lesson that you learned about writing or publishing?
Write what you love, not what’s hot. If I tried to write something because it was popular – say, motorcycle club romances – the book would suck because MCs aren’t a genre I love. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great genre, and I have terrific writer friends who sell the hell out of it – Harley Wilde, Marteeka Karland and AK Nevermore, among others – but it isn’t where my heart is.
What piece of information do you want to pass on to authors?
If you’ve never written a novel before, start with shorter fiction – a novella or short story. A novel has a LOT of moving parts and getting them all right is TOUGH. Writing 100,000 words write out of the gate is just too big a job for a beginner.
I suggest starting with a scene – say a sex scene, because that’s simple – with the objective of creating two strong characters, depicting what they want, what they see in each other, and why this one-night stand turns out to to be a lot more. Write a bunch of those scenes, then graduate to writing novellas of around 25,000 words. (Roughly a hundred pages.) Once you’ve got the hang of that, then try a novel.
That’s exactly what I did – started out with 22-page comic books, did some kinky short stories, then novellas, then novels. I’ve written more than 60 novels, novellas and e-books over the 29 years I’ve been a romance writer.
Why do you like teaching authors?
I’m 64 now, and though I’ve written a lot of books, teaching is my way of leaving a lasting legacy. If I can help other writers realize their publishing dreams, that’s something to be proud of.
What can students/registrants expect to take away from your workshop?
You know the old writer rule, “Show, don’t tell?” Well, there’s no better way to show the passion between your characters than a love scene so hot, it burns the reader’s eyebrows off. Unfortunately, love scenes can be hard to write well. Too, how do you craft a sexy romance that’s more than a string of sex scenes?
How long have you been writing?
I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was 9 years old. I wrote a book called “The Mouse who Went to the Moon,” about a mouse who stowed away on an Apollo mission because he thought the moon was made of green cheese. My mom made such a big deal out of it, I was immediately hooked on writing.
I moved on to stories about horses – think Black Beauty -- then graduated to Star Trek fan fiction in junior high. I tried my hand at writing science fiction, and in 1988 I published a three-issue comic book mini-series called CYCOPS which was published by a small press called Comics Interview.
I finally decided romance was where my heart lay, so I submitted my first erotic romance novella to Secrets, a small print anthology series. I published seven or eight erotic romance novellas and my first erotic vampire novel with them.
Berkley Sensation editor Cindy Hwang discovered my writing through Secrets. She thought erotic romance was going to be the next big thing, and emailed asking if I would like to submit a couple of story ideas. I pitched the Mageverse and Time Hunters series, and Master of the Night was published in 2004. My books soon started hitting The US Today bestseller list, The New York Times list and the Publisher’s Weekly list.
I wrote paranormal erotic romance for Berkley for 14 years, until the company decided paranormal was dead. They asked me to do contemporary romantic suspense, but I love world building and letting my imagination go wild. I left Berkley and went to work writing and editing for Changeling Press. I’ve been with Changeling for more than 20 years now – I actually wrote shorts for them while I was writing for Berkley.
What do you wish someone would’ve told you about writing or publishing?
FINISH THE DAMN BOOK. Though I knew I wanted to be a novelist when I was nine, I was 40 before I pulled it off, mostly because I’d write three chapters, start polishing them until I was sick of them, then go off to write something else. Don’t do that. It’s the kiss of death.
What is the biggest lesson that you learned about writing or publishing?
Write what you love, not what’s hot. If I tried to write something because it was popular – say, motorcycle club romances – the book would suck because MCs aren’t a genre I love. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great genre, and I have terrific writer friends who sell the hell out of it – Harley Wilde, Marteeka Karland and AK Nevermore, among others – but it isn’t where my heart is.
What piece of information do you want to pass on to authors?
If you’ve never written a novel before, start with shorter fiction – a novella or short story. A novel has a LOT of moving parts and getting them all right is TOUGH. Writing 100,000 words write out of the gate is just too big a job for a beginner.
I suggest starting with a scene – say a sex scene, because that’s simple – with the objective of creating two strong characters, depicting what they want, what they see in each other, and why this one-night stand turns out to to be a lot more. Write a bunch of those scenes, then graduate to writing novellas of around 25,000 words. (Roughly a hundred pages.) Once you’ve got the hang of that, then try a novel.
That’s exactly what I did – started out with 22-page comic books, did some kinky short stories, then novellas, then novels. I’ve written more than 60 novels, novellas and e-books over the 29 years I’ve been a romance writer.
Why do you like teaching authors?
I’m 64 now, and though I’ve written a lot of books, teaching is my way of leaving a lasting legacy. If I can help other writers realize their publishing dreams, that’s something to be proud of.
What can students/registrants expect to take away from your workshop?
You know the old writer rule, “Show, don’t tell?” Well, there’s no better way to show the passion between your characters than a love scene so hot, it burns the reader’s eyebrows off. Unfortunately, love scenes can be hard to write well. Too, how do you craft a sexy romance that’s more than a string of sex scenes?
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