Jacqueline
Diamond
It took ten years of rejection
slips (after I graduated from college--I also collected a
few earlier) before I sold my first book, and that was just the beginning. My
writing grows and changes as the years go by.
My
first successful novel, the Regency romance Lady
in Disguise, sold in 1982 to Walker and Co. for $2,500.
Not exactly a fortune even that many years ago! The good news is
that I've reissued it as an ebook, along with four other light-hearted
Regencies set in Jane Austen’s era.
From
the age of four or five, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I was born in
1949 in Menard, Texas, where my father, Maurice
Hyman M.D., was the only doctor in town. He delivered me and my older
brother, Paul, at home. When I was six, we moved to Louisville,
Kentucky, where Dad did his residency in psychiatry.
Five years later,
we moved to Nashville, Tennessee. With a psychiatrist for a father and a
ceramic sculptor (Sylvia Hyman) for a mother, I grew up in a creative
environment.
My early publications
included an essay in the old American Girl Magazine as well as
stories and poems in my school literary magazine. I attended Peabody
Demonstration School, now University School of Nashville.
After
graduating from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, I spent a
year in Europe on a writing fellowship from the Thomas Watson Foundation.
The play I wrote about Lorenzo de' Medici was never produced, but I
learned a lot about writing, culture and myself, as well as improving my
French and Italian.
My
next move, at age 23, was to Southern California, where my brother lived. I worked briefly in public relations, then for two newspapers and
The Associated Press bureau in Los Angeles. I covered a variety of news
stories as well as theater from 1980-1983, when Ieft to write novels and
start a family. In 1993-1994, I wrote a
nationally distributed TV column for AP. Along the way, I had the fun of
interviewing stars including Debbie Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Pearl Bailey,
Lily Tomlin, James Garner and many more.
All
this time, I was writing plays, scripts and books. Except for a couple of
plays produced locally, they came back with painful rejection slips.
In
1980, I fell in love with a PBS series based on Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice. Reading her
books led me to discover Regency romances.
A
year later, I sold my first two Regencies (the second was Song
for a Lady, also now available as an ebook). Over the next few
decades, I sold a paranormal suspense novel (Echoes),
a fantasy novel (Shadowlight),
two mysteries (The Eyes of a Stranger
and Danger Music), a
paranormal romantic suspense (Touch Me
in the Dark) and romances in subgenres ranging from medical
romance to screwball comedy. My
publishers included William Morrow, St. Martin's Press, Berkley, Five
Star, Walker and Co., and Harlequin.
I've written under the names Jacqueline Diamond, Jackie
Hyman, Jackie Diamond Hyman and Jacqueline Topaz, as well as one book as
Jacqueline Jade (romance publishers used to demand exclusive names for an
author). In reissuing my books, I've put them all under Jacqueline
Diamond, since it’s better known. I’ve also retired some titles
that I consider too outdated to revise.
For
Harlequin, in 2009, I proposed three
books set in a small California town at a hospital specializing in
fertility and maternity care. The Safe Harbor Medical® series launched in
2010 with The
Would-Be Mommy and grew to 17 books.
I’d
been eager to return to writing mysteries. Longing
for creative independence, I decided to self-publish a mystery series featuring a
doctor. Why not use Safe
Harbor, where I felt at home? This
four-book series launched with The
Case of the Questionable Quadruplet. I’m grateful for the
support of fellow writers who critiqued for me, including
retired Orange County Sheriff’s Investigator Gary Bale.
More
recently, a half-dozen authors from my longtime critique group decided to
write loosely coordinated romantic comedies featuring couples over age 50.
My first book in the Better Late collection is Really?
At Your Age?, followed by Don't
Be Silly! At My Age? Discovering that these tales of two
sisters naturally began a new series of my own, I'm calling it Sisters,
Lovers & Second Chances. The third book, Going Home, At Your
Age? is due in 2022.
On
the personal side, my husband of more than forty years and I live in Southern California. Our
younger son is a science writer, while our older son works for
Google. Our family also includes two terrific daughters-in-law and a
grandson!
Here
are a few q-and-a responses:
What
is the easiest part of writing for you?
Scenes
in which two characters have an intense confrontation. Sometimes the
pages just fly.
What’s
the hardest part?
Weaving
in exposition, or background so the reader doesn't get hit with big
boring chunks (known as a data dump), but isn't left clueless with
inadequate information.
Do
any of the celebrities you’ve interviewed stand out in your
memory?
I'm
a big Star Trek fan, so it was a thrill interviewing actors
from those TV series, including Patrick Stewart, George Takei, LeVar
Burton and Rene Auberjonois.
And,
having grown up watching Perry Mason, I was honored to have
lunch with Raymond Burr. Sadly, he died only a few months later.
Two
of my "lasts" stand out—the last theater interview I did
for the Associated Press was with the delightful Donald Sutherland.
The last TV interview of mine that AP ran featured Michael Caine,
who was so much fun to talk to, I'd love to do it again!
Which
of your books would you describe as your favorites?
I'd
certainly include The
Case of the Long-Lost Lover, my self-published science fiction novel
Out of Her Universe and, among the Safe Harbor romances,
Falling
for the Nanny.
Among
my favorite romantic comedies are Cindy and the
Fella, Designer
Genes and Yours, Mine and Ours.
Where
do you get your ideas?
Ideas
spring up everywhere—from news stories, from conversations, from
chance comments in TV shows, books or movies. But developing the
germ of an idea or a single plot twist into a full-blown novel is
the challenge.
I
ask questions such as: Why would that happen? What would happen
next? Who would do that and why?
The
next step is outlining the characters and plot. Then, finally, comes
the actual writing, creating scenes in which the reader can immerse
herself or himself. Much of what I’ve learned about writing,
I’ve assembled in a short ebook, How to Write a Novel in One
(Not-so-easy) Lesson.
Writing
is always a voyage of discovery for the author. Thanks to my readers
for taking the journey with me!
The Safe Harbor series consists
of books that stand alone and can be read in any order. You can find a
complete list at Safe
Harbor Series Page. What
do you recommend for aspiring authors?
-
Read
a lot of books in the genre you want to write.
-
Write,
write and write some more. Rewrite. If necessary, start over.
Some books are best considered a learning experience.
-
Take
classes, join a critique group, find an online loop or site and
listen carefully. Not all advice is good, but authors have to be
prepared to learn and revise.
-
Read
blogs and learn about the publishing industry.
-
Books
about writing can be helpful, although there's no substitute for
individual feedback.
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