You have written in so many genres, from romance to science fiction to mystery. Yet of all the genres, romance seems to get the most criticism as a valid art form, while remaining the most popular genre of books sold in America. Romance novels are well loved by millions of people, but the literary critics routinely trash the genre—quite unfairly. Why do you think this is true?
Part of the reason is that romances are 99% written by women, for women, and the pursuits of women simply don’t have the status of masculine pursuits in our society. (Or any other society that comes to mind.) Another part is that romances are viewed as anti-feminist because the women in romances enjoy rather than revile men; thus, romances are seen as politically incorrect. The rest, and probably the biggest, part of the reason romances are held in contempt by critics is that critics are steeped in modernist views: anti-heroic, in a word. Humanity’s failures, cruelties, and venality are often the theme of many critically acclaimed modern novels.
Romances, along with much of popular fiction, are anti-modernist. Romances are about the possibility of transcendence in everyday life. They are modern myths told around urban campfires, and the theme of these stories is that anything is possible. Even love.
How conscious of your audience are you when you write?
Not at all, I’m afraid. I’m so caught up in the writing itself that I don’t even see the computer screen; I see the characters, hear their voices, share their thoughts and dreams and fears. The idea of readers simply doesn’t occur to me.
Your books are so rich in emotion. Do you ever feel drained after a day of writing, or after a novel is finished?
Yes. Always. To both.
What’s the secret behind your sizzling love scenes?
I have been asked that question many times. I wish I had an answer. I don’t approach writing love scenes any differently than I approach any other action scene in the book. Perhaps it is as simple and elusive as the fact that making love, rather than having sex, is an emotionally complex act. I try to bring that complexity to the page. Let’s face it. We all know the mechanics. But what it means to the characters . . . ah, that is a different scene entirely. A much more intense one.
You and your husband are a rarity these days, with thirty-four years of happy marriage. What do you believe are the secrets to a successful marriage?
First, understand that love is a beginning to a good marriage, not a guarantee of one. Both people really have to want the marriage to work. One person’s desire simply isn’t enough to make a marriage viable. Second, both of you must understand that you argue not to win, but to resolve. In a marriage, if one person wins, both of you lose. Keeping score is a certain way to lose first love, then the marriage. Third, you need mutual respect, which is based on the certainty that both of you can stand alone, but you choose to stand together. This isn’t a choice you make only once. It’s one you make every day of your married life.
If you were magically given a full week with no deadlines or family responsibilities of any kind, how would you spend it?
With Evan. Fishing in Alaska.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Although I have written many types of fiction, I will always have a place in my heart for stories that revolve around a growing relationship between a woman and a man. While I no longer write that form of brief, pure romance, it was wonderful to revisit two lovers and to rebuild a story that has been out of print for more than fifteen years.
In those intervening years, the story that began life as a short romance called Fires of Eden grew into a longer, fuller book called Eden Burning. With the freedom to add pages came the ability to put in new scenes, to flesh out old ones, and to look at the relationship between Nicole Ballard and Chase Wilcox in a different way.
Some friendships ripen through the years. For me, Eden Burning is one of them.
About the Author
Elizabeth Lowell’s many remarkable historical and contemporary novels include New York Times bestsellers, Forget Me Not, Only Love, A Woman Without Lies, Autumn Lover and Winter Fire. Her latest major accomplishments, Amber Beach, Jade Island, and Pearl Cove were instant New York Times bestsellers. Ms. Lowell has more than fifteen million books in print. She lives in Palm Springs, California, with her husband with whom she writes mystery novels under a pseudonym.
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Credits
Jacket design by Honi Werner
BOOKS BY ELIZABETH LOWELL
Amber Beach*
Autumn Lover
Beautiful Dreamer*
Desert Rain*
Eden Burning*
Enchanted
Forbidden
Forget Me Not*
Jade Island*
Lover in the Rough*
Midnight in Ruby Bayou
Moving Target*
Only His
Only Love
Only Mine
Only You
Pearl Cove*
Remember Summer*
To the Ends of the Earth*
Where the Heart Is*
A Woman Without Lies*
*Available as a HarperCollins e-book.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
EDEN BURNING. Copyright © 2002 by Two of a Kind, Inc., based on FIRES OF EDEN, copyright © 1986 by Ann Maxwell, writing as Elizabeth Lowell. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
The excerpt from an interview with Elizabeth Lowell by Claire E. White originally appeared in The Internet Writing JournalÆ, http://www.writerswrite.com.
Copyright © 1997-2001 by Writers Write, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
All rights reserved.
EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2001 ISBN: 9780061801976
Print edition first published in 2001 by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
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