When the Media Calls
For anyone who might get called
for an interview from the news media here's
something you can do WAY before you get the call
from them. Always have several bullet points that
you want to emphasize in an interview. You don't
really need to know the questions people are going
to ask you, it's the message you want to get across
that you focus on. You can turn any question into a
positive by turning it around.
The first important thing about a
bullet point is that it's a short and sweet
statement. Secondly, you need to your points not
just memorized, but you need to memorize them so
that they're second nature to you. So that you can
speak and expand on each point at the drop of the
hat.
PREPARATION
is the key to surviving a media interview of any
kind. The platform you choose should be your
personal platform. You can incorporate RWA's
viewpoints, the viewpoints of other romance writers,
but ultimately the points you make should be
personal because the more you reflect your personal
belief in your genre, writing or art form, the more
powerful the message and the easier to share that
message. Below are points that I personally use -
the parens mean these are secondary points to the
main bullet point. I might or might not use these
minor points when discussing each bullet point.
Bullet
Points
- Erotic romance is about
character development
- Sex is a natural part of a
romantic relationship. (It plays into the
character development, which is integral to any
romance.)
- Romance books are literature.
(It's an art form. We hang nudes by Titian,
Bougereau and other great artists in museums.
They celebrate the human body, why shouldn't we
do the same in romantic literature.)
- Women like sex. (We always
have, we just have a different viewpoint than
men. We like sex to be romantic.)
- Romance can improve
relationships(Men who read romance books,
generally have a wonderful relationship with
their significant other, because they pickup on
the repetitive themes in the book, and they act
upon them to improve their relationship.)
- Fifty percent of the
fictional market is comprised of romantic
fiction. (Romance is a fantasy in many cases.
It's about that initial meeting and the
chemistry involved with the couple and how their
relationship develops. Readers don't want the
day-in-day-out drudgery. They get enough of that
in their own lives. )
- People like to be
entertained. (Lots of men love watching James
Bond and the gorgeous women he sleeps with. Why?
Because the men are living a fantasy. Romance is
a different type of fantasy. It's about the
subjective nature of things--what appeals to
individuals.)
- Trashy romance books is a misnomer.
(Writing a romance is no different than writing
a Harry Potter book, a Stephen King novel, or a
Hemingway piece of work. Fifty percent of the
fictional market says a lot about romance books
NOT
being trashy.)
Possible Interview Scenario
Not all journalists will be as
aggressive as shown here, but worst case scenario is
best to learn from.
Interviewer
- How do you react when someone refers to your books
as trashy romance?
Writer
- Trashy romance is a misnomer when it comes to
romantic fiction. For a romance book to get
published it has to meet the same literary
requirements that writers such as J.K. Rowling,
Stephen Hawkins, Stephen King, Meg Cabot, Hemingway,
Shakespeare all met. You have to tell a good story
while developing characters that a reader can love
and identify with. You have to entertain. However
you do that is artistic license.
Interviewer
- But you're an erotic romance writer. Doesn't that
really mean you write pornography?
Writer
- Actually no. Erotic romance is simply an expansion
of the relationship between two people. Sex is a
natural part of a relationship between two people
who care about one another. The world has a large
population of people who weren't test tube babies.
I'd say sex is primary reason the rest of us are
here. *grin*
Interviewer
- (they won't let up sometimes) But why is it
necessary to be so graphic in your sex scenes?
Writer
- You know, women like sex to be romantic. We're
pretty cerebral creatures, and when I write my
scenes, they're not just about the love or
development of love between two individuals. The sex
scenes are about how romantic sex can be. If I
didn't include sex it would mean I'm not showing the
complete development of my characters. I'm
comfortable writing romantic sex in my books, and
there are a lot of women who crave reading romantic
sex. Truthfully if the significant others of those
women readers were to pick up a romance book,
whether one of mine or another writer of sensual
romance, they'd understand their woman a lot better
and they might even be able to eliminate the "Honey,
I have a headache" syndrome. *grin* Women want
romance in their lives, and in my books and that of
a great many other romance writers, we give them
what they want. Why else is 50% of the fiction book
market all romance?
Interviewer
- I guess it's pretty easy to write these sex
scenes, right?
Writer
- Oh no! Writing a sex scene that's romantic and
satisfying both from the characters perspective and
the readers perspective is the hardest part of the
book for me to write. Here's a challenge. *smile*
You're a writer, or you wouldn't be interviewing me.
If you'll sit down and write a love scene, I'll
critique it for you. Just make sure it's fresh,
inventive, doesn't tell the entire scene, in other
words, make me live it, and make sure you don't
repeat yourself with the 10-15 words you have when
it comes to describing body parts, actions, etc. Oh,
and make sure you include all the five senses and
you can't use the pyramid style of writing either.
It's very important to note that
this article cannot begin to reflect the body
language or tone that one must use in a scenario
like this. The more relaxed, pleasant and
professional you are, the better the presentation
you make to the interviewer. There will always be
journalists or others who ask questions simply to be
confrontational. Deflect their negativity with a
professional response and either redirect the
conversation or move to a different location.
One can't win every battle, but
presenting your case in a firm, yet professional
manner will go a long way for you.
