Virginia Kantra

Bethlehem Writers Group: I first met Virginia Kantra last summer where she was signing books at a Nora Robert’s multi-author event in Boonsboro, Maryland. Her infectious laugh and warm personality drew a crowd of fellow writers around the dinner table to talk about books, the writing life, and family. We all left as friends.

Virginia Kantra: Yeah, that’s me. Warm and infectious. Kind of like the flu.

BWG: Your latest novel, Carolina Girl, releases in June. Can you tell us a little bit about the story?VK: I’d love to, because I adore my heroine Meg, who thinks she has everything she’s ever wanted until she loses it all. (And I’d marry my hero, sexy builder Sam Grady, in a heartbeat!)

Carolina Girl is a reunion story, about first times – first crush, first sex, first big, big mistake – and second chances.

It’s also about our fears about turning into our mothers – or not – and discovering that maybe Mom isn’t exactly the person we always imagined.

BWG: Who is your favorite romance novelist and why do you admire him or her?

VK: No surprise, since we met at Nora Roberts’ Turn the Page bookstore, that, she remains my favorite writer. I love that the romance in her books is about so much more than lust. I think she nails family dynamics, and I’m in awe of her work ethic and productivity.

BWG: You’ve changed from paranormal to contemporary romance. What inspired you to make the decision to change genres?

VK: For me, it’s always about the love story, the romance. Everything else is just a way to get the characters where they need to go to earn their happily ever after. The basic stuff I have to say about the truths women know, the strength of family, the importance of relationships, the power of love, that stuff doesn’t change.

But in tough times, I’m like most people. I want to go to my comfort place. Contemporary romance is my comfort place. It’s also a way for me to focus on the emotional conflict that’s at the heart of every story.

BWG: Your website explains that you enjoy reading fairytales and that these stories have influenced your novels. How has your love of fairy tales affected your writing?

VK: Fairy tales are about ordinary people who are forced by circumstances to do extraordinary things: the younger son who has to seek his fortune, the children abandoned in the forest, the girl locked in a tower of her own or someone else’s choosing.

The characters in my contemporary romance don’t go on quests, but they do go on personal journeys that force them to become heroic, to learn to give and accept love.

BWG: Your travels have taken you around the country. Have the locations you visited influenced the settings in your novels?

VK: Absolutely! My family always took vacations to the coast of New England, the setting of the Children of the Sea books, so that obviously had a powerful effect on my imagination. After several years of being dragged to the cold and rocky northern coast for vacations with his in-laws, my husband finally persuaded me to try the North Carolina beaches where he’d grown up (his dad was stationed at Camp Lejeune). “Just one week,” he coaxed. “Just this year.”

Well, the man certainly knows my weaknesses. “Just this year” became every year. Eventually we moved to North Carolina, in part to be closer to the beach!

Dare Island (named for Virginia Dare, the first child born to English parents in North America) is a fictional island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. But its inspiration is everywhere up and down the Carolina coast. I loved doing the research, talking to people about their lives: the girl behind the counter in the gift shop, the couple running their own bed and breakfast, the teacher in the parking lot, the fisherman coming in with his catch at the end of the day. The first three Dare Island novels tell the story of three generations of the hardworking, sometimes quarrelsome, but always devoted Fletcher family amid the changing tides that sweep their tight-knit community.

And those trips to the beach? Research! At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

BWG: You talk about the “Italian Guy” a lot on social media. How has your real life romance with your husband shaped the way you view love in fiction?

VK: It’s definitely made me more authentic about the ways that men and women negotiate their relationships. Courtship, marriage, sex – they’re about coming to mutually agreeable terms, deciding who does what and when and how often.

I also believe in love. Some of the most poignant reader mail I get is from women in their twenties who say reading my books has helped them to believe in love or in their right to demand the love they deserve.

BWG: One of your most respected workshops is about Deep Point of View. What is one piece of advice you can give to aspiring writers about Deep POV?

VK: Deep POV springs from character, from your characters’ experience and emotions. Do your research and use your imagination, so that your characters’ thoughts and feelings come from an honest place.

BWG: Do you create your characters with real people in mind? Who is your favorite character?

VK: Yes. Please don’t tell my children. Or my parents. (Italian Guy already knows. Sorry, honey.)

The Dare Island stories are set very close to home for me, both geographically and emotionally. At the heart of the series is the Fletcher family, this wonderful, messy mix of family ties and conflicts. I keep finding pieces of my own life in there, anecdotes about my retired USMC father-in-law or teasing exchanges between my children. In fact, I was writing a scene in Carolina Girl, where Matt, the hero ofCarolina Home, gives Allison his grandmother’s engagement ring when it hit me that I was describing the ring I received from my husband’s family...right down to the color of the box.

I’m invested in all of my characters, but I feel particularly close to Tess. There’s one scene between Tess and Tom, where she says,

“I just worry about them, Tom, no matter how old they are. Matt’s not happy, and Meg’s living with that man who’s never going to marry her, and now Luke—”

“You can’t live their lives for them.”

“I’d do a better job,” she mumbled.

His laugh rumbled in his chest. “You did a good job already. It’s their turn now.”

“But I want them to have what we have.”

“I’d be happy if they’d just stop dumping what they have on you.”

Yeah. Well, anyway, I feel close to Tess.

BWG: As a veteran writer, you’ve seen the publishing industry change over the years. What is your impression of self-publishing?

VK: Self-publishing is like the old gold rush. There is definitely gold in those hills, if you have the right tools, if you’re smart and persistent and lucky. And you can also go bust. Writers whose work I really admire, like Courtney Milan and Laura Florand, are self-publishing these days. I’m self-publishing updated versions of my early MacNeill Brothers' books, and I’m delighted those stories are finding a whole new audience. I'm also traditionally publishing. Each writer has to find the path that works for her.

BWG: With the every changing market in traditional publishing, do you have any advice for emerging writers?

VK: I think craft still matters. Story matters. Author voice and emotional payoff still matter. Everything else is logistics – getting the story to the reader – and, as I said above, that's a choice for each individual.

BWG: What’s on the horizon for you in the next year?

VK: Right now I'm finishing Luke’s book (Carolina Man, Berkley Sensation, March 2014) and planning the next Dare Island novel. I'm also hoping to find time to self-publish a Dare Island novella.

And if I can, I'm going to the beach!