Interview Roberta Major,

co-author of Letters From the Attic, Book II: LATELY OF ENGLAND

by

Sara V. Olds

SARA:

What is the Letters project all about?

ROBERTA:

It’s actually a multi-generational saga of two very different twigs on a great big massive family tree. The first book was set in England and Scotland in 1745--because the authors thought it would be fun J--and by the time we finished YOURS IN HASTE we were filling in geneological pedigree charts for our characters and plotting which of the original characters’ descendants would have their own stories.

The main character in my book, BOUND, for example, is a distant relative of a minor character in LATELY OF ENGLAND of which I was particularly fond. (For those who care, Bess Murphy of BOUND is a second or third cousin of Mary Margaret Murphy, a bound girl in LATELY.)

As for the Letters projects themselves, they began as a writing exercise when my best pal and her husband moved away. I thought it would be a way of staying in touch. After the first one was finished, we both found we’d had such a good time that we got started on LATELY right away.

SARA:

What’s LATELY about?

ROBERTA:

About? About six hundred pages! Small print!  Comes with a magnifying glass! (Kidding--at least about the magnifying glass…) It’s set in 1767 in the American Colonies. The two stories--and two heroines--are very different. Mine is the wounded wife of a missing tavern keeper. My writing partner’s is a young pampered English runaway. They have all kinds of heart-wrenching adventures.

SARA:

How is your main character in LATELY OF ENGLAND, Glen Rose Chase, a departure for you as a writer?

ROBERTA:

She’s physically pretty. That was a real stretch for me. Many of my characters are attractive--but it’s the kind of attractive that comes from humor and intelligence and chutzpah. Glen Rose is like a beautiful broken flower. She’s strong in ways she doesn’t recognize, and she doesn’t see herself as pretty, but she’s by far the prettiest main character I have ever created. (This works because she is adopted! The Hollyforths are sturdy characters, but not beautiful.)

SARA:

As a writer, what do you do best?

ROBERTA:

I’m glad you asked that! I think that, with my background as an actress and playwright, character and dialogue are my strengths. Plot, on the other hand, is always a challenge for me. That’s why it’s so great to work with my writing partner. She has an incredible imagination. It takes me places that I could never have gone on my own. I find, as we are working on a Letters project, that my own imagination stretches much farther than it does when I am working on my own stuff.

SARA:

You write in two very different genres--Young Adult and Historical. What draws you to these diverse places? And will you ever write a YA Historical?

ROBERTA:

Last question first--I doubt it. Though my Historicals almost always have several secondary teen-aged characters in them.

First question last--I write YA stuff because my inner child is sixteen. It’s a great age to visit--but I wouldn’t want to live there!

I write Historicals because I am fascinated by the past--the little stuff: how they cooked, what they wore, how they fit in to the structure and limitations of the time.

Not to get too mystical about it, but I think I must have some kind of genetic memory of past eras that calls me back to the time of my greats. The past is also a great place to visit--but I wouldn’t want to live there either!

SARA:

What do you like best about your writing partner?

ROBERTA:

That she is my best pal first. We’re writing partners, but we’ve also been puppet partners, and play production partners. We’re parental cheerleaders for each other and, though we don’t get much “face time”, we really are “sisters of the heart”. Writing together is icing!

SARA:

Is there another Letters project in the works?

ROBERTA:

Absolutely! It’s set during the War of 1812. OVERTURES is set up a little differently than the first two. YOURS IN HASTE and LATELY OF ENGLAND are written as parallel stories. A reader could actually go through and read all the even chapters first, and then the odd chapters, and have read two different stories about completely different people. OVERTURES is still full of correspondence, but my writing partner created the hero and I created the heroine and there are several scenes where the two actually interact.

SARA:

Has it been harder or easier to write?

ROBERTA:

Harder! And easier! Ask me when it’s finished! J

SARA:

What’s coming up next for you?

ROBERTA:

Thanks for asking! I have a contemporary YA that will be released in October, based on experiences I had as a high school competitive speaker, titled COMPETITION. And in February, my third Texas Historical, PIECRUST PROMISES, will be released.

SARA:

Any other works-in-progress?

ROBERTA:

I’m glad you asked that, Sara. I’m also about 2/3 of the way through the first draft of my third Royal Pains book. This one is called  THE GOOD KNIGHT KISS. Very fun. Very tongue in cheek--though not the knight’s tongue in anyone’s cheek, you understand. J That would be highly improper!