“…a great story structure will make you unstoppable.” —Sherry Thomas
On Wednesday, October 1, Sherry Thomas will teach “Anatomy of a Romance.” In this class, students will learn not only a workable story structure for their romance stories, but also why that structure works.
Sherry Thomas, USA Today-bestselling author, decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of book she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio. A Study in Scarlet Women, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, and The Hollow of Fear, the first three entries in her gender-bending Lady Sherlock historical mystery series, are all NPR best books of the year. Her latest release is The Librarians, a contemporary mystery set in her neighborhood branch library in Austin, Texas.
Here’s what Sherry had to share with us:
Who are your earliest influences? What people and books made you a writer?
Sherry Thomas: My earliest influences would have been all the books I consumed in Chinese, when I was growing up. Lots of Jules Verne, Sherlock Holmes, Louis Cha and Gu Long’s martial arts epics, and romance novels from Taiwan and Hong Kong, which became available in my part of China just as I became a preteen.
What made me a writer was a historical romance I didn’t like. I’d read a lot of historical romances after I came to the US at age thirteen and had enjoyed this author’s works in the past. But that particular book, read when I was 23 and a frazzled stay-at-home mom, made me angry because it took all the free time I had that day and didn’t give me any enjoyment in return. When my husband came home that evening, I told him that I was going to write my own historical romances. And strangely enough, I didn’t give up in the eight years it took to get my first publishing contract.
What writing challenges have you faced? What have these challenges taught you about your process?
ST: I didn’t understand story structure in the beginning of my professional career—I did manage to write books with decent structure but only after a great deal of struggle under an editor who cared greatly about such things. When I finally got a grip on story structure—even though back then I didn’t know what to call it—my writing process changed. I used to be able to generate a draft from beginning to end in a fairly smooth process, with readable, even polished prose—but without recognizing that the story didn’t have a proper structure and had derailed at a fairly early point. Once I understood structure on an instinctive level—long before I could articulate about that understanding—my drafting process became iterative. I would come to a stop at or near where major plot disruption should happen and wonder why my story lacked forward momentum, and then I would go back and fix what wasn’t working and put the whole locomotive on the track again.
From your perspective, what’s the most rewarding part about being a writer?
ST: Having written and having written well. Although I am currently having an intense manuscript affair that is reminding me of the joys of creating in the moment.
Who do you write for?
ST: Myself. I can never gauge what other people will like but I know what I like.
What do you hope writers will learn from your course?
ST: Story structure. A great story structure will make up for all kinds of shortcomings in your writing. And if you already generate great prose, characters, and whatnot, a great story structure will make you unstoppable.
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Thanks, Sherry!
Click here to learn more about Sherry’s upcoming class.
