Ask the Author: Sherryl Woods
Answered Questions (36)
Sherryl Woods
Hearing from readers. While writing is a pretty solitary life, getting feedback from so many people is wonderful. It means the world to know that a particular book has meant a lot to a reader, helped her cope with a tough situation or given her a laugh during a difficult time. And so many of you have shared the books with your daughters or your moms or your friends. What could be more rewarding than that?
Sherryl Woods
Willow Brook Road, which hits stores tomorrow (9/29), is Carrie's story, so it's a natural outgrowth of the prior books about the O'Briens. Unlike many of the people in her driven family, she's floundering to find her purpose in life. I always find it interesting to explore how people who are surrounded by over-achievers react and build their own lives. It's been a theme of sorts in several Chesapeake Shores books. There's a huge amount of pressure in this family to be not just good, but great.
Sherryl Woods
Sit in front of a computer and do it! Talking about wanting to write or dreaming about being a writer won't get you there. You have to sit down and BE a writer. That first sentence or first page or even the first book may not be great, but until you've done it, you can't call yourself a writer. And once that first chapter or book is done, put on your thick writer skin and listen to comments from people you trust. If one criticism keeps popping up, you might need to pay attention to it.
Sherryl Woods
Thankfully I've never faced this problem. If my muse goes missing, I have to grab her and yank her back.
Sherryl Woods
I've considered that, Karen, right along with adding a family tree, but somehow it never gets done. Both require a degree of organized left-brain function that I somehow forget to engage when my creative right brain is wandering through a new story.
Sherryl Woods
Chesapeake Shores is not a real location, though the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding communities are very real. I tend to make up the vast majority of the locations in my books so I can put things where I need them to be and not have the locals yelling at me that I messed up. Of course, because I occasionally mess up the details in my own fictional world, it's readers who -- mostly gently -- bring that to my attention.
Sherryl Woods
I wish I had some profound answer for this, but the truth is simply that I enjoy making up stories. The irony is that I have a second grade report card on which I received satisfactory or better marks for everything EXCEPT making up stories. Maybe this career is just my perverse way of proving to that teacher how wrong she was.
Sherryl Woods
I do have some input or, more precisely, names are run by me, but when it comes to the final decisions, those are way above my pay grade. That said, I've loved what I've seen on film so far. The actors and actresses are nailing the emotions of this opening movie. I couldn't be happier.
Sherryl Woods
Cherry-Ann, looking back with all these books under my belt, it seems as if it must have been a lot easier than it was. And the transition from writing a daily newspaper column or feature story to even a short contemporary romance was even more difficult. I kept staring at that blank page -- yes, it was before the dawn of computers, at least in my life -- and wondering where my quotes were, where the facts were. And then someone reminded me I was writing fiction. "You get to make it up!" What a concept!!!
Sherryl Woods
Actually, Jamie, I'm an only child, so the O'Briens are my idealized family! I do have a large extended family thanks to a couple I've known since college. One of their daughters is my goddaughter, so I've "adopted" her siblings, all their spouses and all the kids. I spend a week with all of them in the Outer Banks every year to get my big family "fix."
Sherryl Woods
Abigail, I get ideas for characters from people I meet, see on TV, read about in newspapers, in other words, just about everywhere. I'll take a trait from one person, a career from another, a background from yet another and weave them all together into a new character. As for the process, each book starts with some nugget of an idea. I don't outline,but I do write very long synopses, a bunch of scenes that almost become a short story version of the book. Then I break those scenes apart and spread them out through the book. Then it's a matter of filling in the scenes to bridge those scenes and pull the whole story together.
Sherryl Woods
Christmas is my very favorite time of the year! I love shopping, wrapping gifts, all the lights and decorations and the general good will of the season. Of course, at the center of that is the religious significance, but I think even people who aren't Christian share the joyfulness of the season.
Sherryl Woods
Edna, you can always find out the order of my books by going to my website, www.sherrylwoods.com, and clicking on the checklist. All of my books are grouped by series and titles are listed in order, top (first) to bottom (most recent or upcoming).
Sherryl Woods
Thank you so much, Nancy.
Sherryl Woods
Nell will live forever, which is one of the reasons the series is winding down with Willow Brook Road and the novella Bayside Retreat. I just can't bring myself to let go of her warmth, wit and wisdom. I've lost too many people in my life with those traits, so I need Nell around in my imagination!
Sherryl Woods
Oh, Meg, that missing recipe has frustrated a lot of people, me and Chef Teddi Wohlford included. I could have sworn it was in the book. Teddi was sure she's come up with it, but neither of us knows where it went. Trust me, you don't want MY meatloaf recipe!
Sherryl Woods
I think my favorite books of all time go back to my childhood when my mom and I read all of the Little House of the Prairie books together. I can't imagine a childhood without books being a huge part of it. Sadly, far too many kids don't have that experience when they're young. As for my favorite of my books, that's almost impossible to answer. Each book or series was written with some particular challenge for me as a writer. I love writing about families and about strong friendships, because those are the things that truly matter in life.
Sherryl Woods
Thanks, Maria. It always means a lot to me when I touch on an issue that resonates personally for a reader. I'm so glad you had a positive outcome!
Sherryl Woods
Deb, dialogue has always been the easiest part of writing for me. I think that's because of my background in journalism in general, and as a television critic specifically. As a journalist -- in an era before we recorded every interview -- I had to train myself to listen closely to the way people phrased things so I could quote their comments accurately. And over the years I heard a LOT of television dialogue.
Sherryl Woods
Sharon, that depends on the book. I've recently edited all of my old Silhouette Desires to clean up the language and to tone down any bits of more graphic sex to bring them in line with my much tamer current books. I was never terribly graphic -- probably the 'coolest' Desires ever written -- but still felt I needed to give all ten books a bit of revision. Other books just get new covers and, perhaps, a new introductory letter from me.
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