By Mary Jo
Friday Edith and I talked mostly about her wonderful new release, His Dark and Dangerous Ways, from Avon. (The perceptive will note that another June release is Loretta's Your Scandalous Ways. Why two Avon historical romances in the same month have Ways in the title is A Mystery.)
Today I'm asking Edith more about her writing career in general, from earliest stirrings to how she's grown and changed over the years.
MJP: Edith, how did you start writing? Were you making up stories in kindergarten with a pencil clutched in one chubby fist, or did you come to the trade later? And might you have ended up an sff writer?
EL: I began writing when I was eight. I remember the year, because my parents had sent me away to camp - which I hated. So I wrote a 'revenge of the camper' book. I still recall the plot: Our Heroine is sent away to Camp. She hates it. She runs away. ( fade to scene of parents anguishing. “Oh woe! Why did we send her to that terrible camp? Oh poor us!”)
Our heroine finds a lovely family of “hill-billies” who take her in. (Hill-Billies? In upstate New York?) Nonetheless they love Our Heroine. She explains things to them. One thing I distinctly remember - her telling them that lightbulbs are not “little bowls for fish.”
Ah. youth.
Eventually she goes home. Much celebrating. The fatted knish is served. Parents vow to never ever send her to Camp again.
Fin.
A whole, real book! And I wrote it. I cheated, though. I bought a marbleized notebook, and when I ran out of description and dialogue, I illustrated it, so it would fit, cover to cover, like a real book.
It was one of many items thrown away when we moved. We moved a lot. sigh.
Then I wrote poetry.
When I was eleven I wrote one that I showed to my brother - the English Major at college. He said it was too good for a child to have written. That evidently I had read it somewhere and "unconsciously" plagiarized. (He was also taking an Elementary Psych course) I tore it up and never wrote poetry again. It also gave me a lifelong terror of plagiarizing. Which isn't all bad.
(Note from MJP: Many people who grow up to become professional writers are accused early of plagiarism because they're "too good." It's a real joy-killer)
Then I wrote short stories.
I also used to write plays, once upon a time, in college. I was good at it, too! Had a one act produced and won a prize, even.
But the field was murder to get into. Especially for a woman.
So then I wrote publicity. Then, free lance newspaper and magazine features - that were published!
And then—novels.
One of my first efforts at a novel was Science Fiction.
MJP: How did you become interested in writing historical novels?
EL: After writing all that freelance stuff I needed more room. I decided to go with a novel.
I wrote the above mentioned Science Fiction novel, a Mystery, and a Historical Romance (because I so loved Georgette Heyer) and sent them all out. I loved them all, but decided to go with whatever sold first. I sometimes wonder what my life and work would have been like if I'd sold one of the others first.
MJP: What was your first book, and how well do you think it characterizes your latest work?
My first published book was The Duke's Wager for Signet. Took me over two years to sell it. (I've told 
that story too often!) And then, turns out it was reprinted it a lot.
It's a “traditional regency.” In spite of the setting, it's not much like my latest works. My style was denser, more circuitous then. More: "Regency." A single sentence could run for half a page.
My latest work, like other recent ones, is more modern, freer. Less “Regency speak,” too.
I guess the difference is if you took one of my pages from Wager and put periods in instead of commas wherever they appear, you'll get the gist of the difference.
MJP: What was the biggest mistake you made when you first began writing?
Starting every book with weather. Rain. Or snow. Or fog. I liked to do settings, as in Victorian novels. I'm not sure that was a mistake, but we just don't do that anymore. And I'm not sure if that's better, actually.
MJP: I loved those moody, scenic introductions! Not for nothing were you called The Weather Queen. Which of your characters is your favorite, and why?
EL: Ah. That's like asking which of my children is my favorite. I don't know, can't say, and besides, my opinion changes every day. <g>
MJP: Which book, if any, was the most difficult for you to write, and why?
EL: No one book in particular. Some come easy, like fresh laid eggs: immediate, whole and perfect. Others need constant tinkering. Some need heaps of research and timelines.
Some were books I wrote for SIGNET: The Crimson Crown, about the Princes in the Tower, The FIreflower, about the Restoration and the Great Fire of London, the “straight” Historical, Queen of Shadows (written as Edith Felber) about Edward Second's wife, Isabella and more.
I also had two books set in Victorian America: The Gilded Cage and The Silvery Moon for SIGNET; and The Wedding and A True Lady set in Georgian Times for POCKET, and even more.
Yes, I've traveled through time, and love to do it. Even others set in periods I know very well sometimes give me even more work - if the characters are difficult and rebellious once I start writing them.
MJP: What do you consider key elements of a great story?
EL: Great characters. That, to me, is the most important thing. And the writer's “voice.” My favorite authors give me that. I try to write that way too. Plots are important, of course. But, as with movies I love, it's the characters that make them great.
MJP: Are there any trends you hope to see in romance in the next few years? 
EL: More history in historical novels. Not just "wallpaper" for the backgrounds.
MJP: What is the best part about being a writer? The most frustrating?
EL: The best? I'm doing what I must. I really don't think I had a choice. I write. That's that.
My mother tried to write a novel. My brother was a news writer. My brother-in-law was a famous comedy writer.
Two of my kids are writers. (One is a visual artist, but I’ll stick to the writers today. <G>)
Adam's book Schrodinger's Ball came out last year.
He performs comedy too. He also writes for Bill Maher on TV, and is on NPR's WAIT WAIT, DON'T TELL ME. His website: www.fanaticalapathy.com.
MJP: I love listening to Adam on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, which is one of the funniest shows on radio. ( http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/ ) He’s got a great deep voice, and he’s amazingly good at news quizzing. When he’s on, he usually wins.
EL: My daughter Susie performs comedy and writes as well. She does the TRU TV (formerly Court TV) website, and has a blog on www.babble.com: http://www.babble.com/cs/blogs/toddlertube/default.aspx and she also has one at: http://felberfrolics.blogspot.com/
So I guess it's really in the blood. If I don't write for more than a week, I have nightmares. True!
The most frustrating thing about writing? Sometimes the plot, characters and concept turns out altogether different from what I thought it would be. That's no necessarily bad, but it is frustrating. That - and not being able to sell a book (shudder) of course. <g>
MJP: We haven't even touched on your wonderfu novellas or lots of other questions, so we'll have to do this again someday!
Remember—a signed copy of His Dark and Dangerous Ways goes to someone who comments on either of Edith’s interviews by midnight Wednesday.
Thanks so much for sharing, Edith. I shall cherish the image of the goose dancers forever. <g>
Mary Jo