Anna Campbell - romance author

O, to be in England...

..now that the 2004 Romance Novelists Association Conference is here!

Actually the RNA Conference took place on the first weekend in July at the University of Leicester. Nearly 150 attendees invaded the campus to network, meet old friends, make new ones and discuss writing and romance novels. Very like an Australian conference, in fact.

The wonderful Sophie Weston, who attended our Passion in Paradise Conference at the Gold Coast in 2003, invited me to attend when she realized that I was going to be in the UK at the same time. I thought, “Why not? At least I’ll have some novelty value as the only Antipodean.” A plan which was foiled when I discovered that Karen Phillips from Western Australia was also going, not to mention two New Zealanders. My novelty value shrank to being the only person there who sounded like Louis Armstrong after a week on the tiles, thanks to the typical end-of-trip flu. That definitely got me noticed, I must say, although I doubt if it will translate into a publishing contract.

I’m not sure what I expected of the British conference – cucumber sandwiches, formality and people speaking like the Queen? “My husband and I are very pleased to launch this glorious Mills & Boon Sexy…” But our romance-writing sisters over there are as funny, smart, generous and welcoming – and noisy – as their Australian counterparts and I had a marvelous couple of days.

Kate Walker, multi-published Mills & Boon author, shepherded all the newbies. Prior to the conference, we all received a series of newsletters including introductions and information, most of which I promptly forgot. But what I did remember was that there were 36 other first-timers and it all sounded very welcoming.

The conference opened on Friday night with a tea party (well, this was England after all!) and then an official welcome from Anthea Kenyon, the RNA Chairman. After dinner, we all adjourned to the bar for a session to welcome the newbies (by this stage, I was beginning to feel like the newbies were the guests of honor!). Something else this conference had in common with the Australian ones is that the bar was one of the more popular spots at the venue.

Saturday was packed with workshops covering topics like agents, computers, synopses, sensual writing and historical romance. Sheila Hodgson, Mills & Boon editor, addressed the whole conference about what Mills & Boon and Harlequin are looking for and Jim Parker spoke about Public Lending Rights.

The keynote speaker was Barbara Taylor Bradford who was an absolute model of professionalism. I had no problem at all seeing how she has become such a success. She has sold over 75 million books. Yes, the whole room gasped in admiration too. Her comments focused on A Woman of Substance, her first book. After several false starts as a writer, her ‘lightbulb’ moment was hearing Graham Greene say, “Character is plot.” After this, Emma Harte’s story came together and a great writing career began.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was a session on beloved romance novels of the past. There were sincere tributes to The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates and Katherine by Anya Seton, which was my favorite book in the universe when I was about fourteen.

But the best was yet to come. A full-on performance including Slavic accent by historical writer Elizabeth Hawksley as she read from the steamy 1907 bestseller, Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn. The excerpt featured a half-naked Balkan princess lolling in teeth-gnashing passion on a tiger skin while she seduced an understandably nervous (and virginal) British hero. All the hilarity had a serious point, as Sophie Weston remarked in her introduction. Sometimes we don’t pay adequate tribute to the women who came before us as romance writers.

After dinner, Eileen Ramsay (who enjoys a very successful career as a historical saga writer) spoke about the perils of changing genres. After a lot of pain and discouragement, she ended up producing the bestselling Someday, Somewhere, so I think the message was that in the end, it’s worth it.

Sunday started with more workshops including panels on respect for the genre and on the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme. This is a very successful arrangement where new writers pay a premium on top of their RNA membership for a published author to assess their complete manuscript. Promising works receive a second reading and even, sometimes, are submitted to a publisher or agent. While it is not a competition like the RWA’s Emma Darcy Award, manuscripts which go on to be published are then eligible for the New Writers' Award each year.

There was a panel on perils for the newly published – more than I imagined, actually – and Elizabeth Chadwick, multi-published historical novelist, spoke about her creative process from idea to finished book.

So what did I learn from the RNA conference? Apart, that is, from good bladder control after all that tea! I learnt that the British market is a little different from the Australian market and a lot different from what I understand about the US market. Romantic suspense hasn’t caught on at all in Britain, while 20th century historical sagas are still very popular. UK publishers blanch at the words ‘chick lit’, although a lot of stuff that is chick lit by any other name is still being published. Apparently they prefer the term ‘commercial women’s fiction’.

Mills & Boon Historicals seem to be in a healthy state and they are actively pursuing a variety of settings and time periods. Barbara Taylor Bradford was an inspiration in terms of maintaining focus and determination which is something I think we all need to remember when the going gets tough – as well as always avoiding clichés like the plague. And I got to meet Sara Craven whose writing I have admired since I was a teenager.

If the bank account allows, I’ll definitely go again. The people were lovely, the sessions were informative and the tea was copious. And Australians were definitely made to feel more than welcome. So if any of you are over in the UK in early July next year, why not book a berth? It’s well worth it.

This article first appeared in Hearts Talk, the newsletter of Romance Writers of Australia, in September 2004