Connie Briscoe Presents–
Author Anita Bunkley

Bestselling author Anita Bunkley has written nine fiction books, two romance novels, three novellas, and one work of nonfiction. She was rejected 32 times before finding her first publisher and has gone on to write for Signet, HarperCollins, Kimani, Dafina and others. Bunkley also mentors aspiring authors.

Connie Briscoe: I read somewhere that you faced 32 rejections before your first novel was published. How did you find the strength to keep on trying?

Anita Bunkley: I loved my story! If you love what you write, the chances are good that others will love it, too. I believed in my material, so I just kept pushing ahead.

CB: How do you come up with your characters?

Anita Bunkley: I try to visualize the people who will be walking across the pages, and I work hard to make them so interesting that readers will believe they are real. I also tear pages out of magazines when I see an interesting face and use these as inspiration.

CB: That’s a great tip! Do you outline? If so, can you tell us how you go about it?

Anita Bunkley: Yes. I outline. I spend a good deal of time setting the parameters of the story. I nail down the central conflict, the main characters, the climax and the resolution. It always changes as I write the novel, but it serves as a road map to keep me from going too far away from the heart of my story–it is soooo easy to wander!

CB: I can’t help but laugh because I know how true that is. Do you write the first page first or last?

Anita Bunkley: I start at the beginning and write to the end. If a scene pops into my mind that I plan to use later, I might stop and write it but not often.

CB: How many times do you rewrite your novels?

Anita Bunkley: An outline and two drafts before my agent gets it. Then another pass after we’ve talked about it and then off to my editor. The editor may send it back for revisions then there is copyediting. So the novel gets four to five edits before it is printed.

CB: Do you feel pressure to write more frequent or more intense sex scenes in your novels these days?

Anita Bunkley: It is necessary to keep up with the market and the demands of the readers. Since I began writing seventeen years ago things have changed a lot. Sex in mainstream women’s fiction and romance has evolved, becoming more open and explicit. I strive to write sex scenes that are realistic expressions of the storyline and not sex for the sake of sex.

CB: Good points. How much do you draw from your real life for your novels?

Anita Bunkley: Very little. I do travel a lot and incorporate locations I have visited.

CB: Tell us something personal about yourself that most of your readers don’t know.

Anita Bunkley: I love to invent things and hold a US Patent and three Trademarks. My Read-EZ!Ô Reading pillow–seen on my website– www.anitabunkley.com–has become a very poplar item among serious readers.

(You can join Anita Bunkley for a live chat on February 19, 2008, at 8:00 CST. Register today at www.niapresentsanita.com/register.html)