An author’s labour of love (From Borehamwood Times)

An author’s labour of love

11:36am Friday 13th February 2009

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How hard can it be to bash out a few bestselling romance novels? Harder than you think, according to Mills & Boon writer Melanie Hilton, who spoke to Rebecca Lowe before visiting Radlett Library this week.

We all know the formula. Boy meets girl; boy woos girl; boy loses girl; boy wins girl; boy and girl get hitched and break up ten years later in a blaze of rows and recriminations over infidelities and heating bills.

When my friend and I first decided to try our hand at writing we thought any idiot could do it, but it turned out to be a considerable nut to crack

Melanie Hilton

Okay, maybe scrap that last bit. After all, Mills & Boon novels are not known for their gritty realism, tending to end where real life begins. But according to Melanie Hilton — aka Louise Allen, scribe of 30 historical romances — these novels are more complex than their reputation suggests.

“When my friend and I first decided to try our hand at writing we thought any idiot could do it, but it turned out to be a considerable nut to crack and took a lot of effort,” she says.

“Just like any sort of fiction, it is very tough to get published. You can’t just be a good storyteller, you need to have something the publisher wants.

“It’s not as easy as some people think it is. Mills & Boon has a huge pile of unsolicited manuscripts.”

Ms Hilton, 59, first began writing in 1995, when she worked for Hertfordshire Libraries. At the start she and her friend struggled to produce one book a year. However, since being made redundant in 2007 and branching off alone, it now takes her about three months.

“We were writing very, very slowly at first. It took a few years before we really knew what we were doing. But after a while we got the hang of it and produced eight books together.

“Now I’m writing alone it’s very different. It was extremely strange at first, and I had to get used to the new voice. But the more experience you get, the better you get.”

Ms Hilton dismisses suggestions that Mills & Boon writing is easier than other writing because of its tight structure.

“Everyone says its formulaic, that it’s not as hard because you’re working to length, but all fiction is like this. You have a structure and a context and a rhythm.

“You have to write what is expected, to an extent, when writing a historical novel, but at the same time make it fresh. It’s a difficult balance.”

The best way to grab the readers’ attention, according to the author, is detailed research.

“I have a pretty large research library, which I dip into constantly. It’s important to be accurate when describing what people are doing. If I’m writing about the time before the Battle of Waterloo, I’ll look at memoirs, letters and so on from the time.”

But not all the characters are products of their time. Ms Hilton admits occasionally including friends and colleagues in her books, at their bequest, including several from Hertfordshire County Council.

“I have a small queue of people who want to appear, so I often give them bit-parts. I once wrote in a very senior colleague from Hertfordshire, Sue Valentine, who wore red shoes and wandered down a street shopping.”

Not all characters in her books are quite so obedient, however; some of the more feisty, independent personalities have an awkward tendency to leap from the page and make off in unexpected directions.

“They do sometimes have a tendency to take over,” she says wryly. “Heroes especially do things I don’t want them to do. In my last book the man proposed far too early, so I had to go back and slap him back into his box.

“Once a man in one book strolled quite unannounced into another, so I had to basically promise him his own book to keep him in his place.”

Despite these grapples with recalcitrant heroes, Ms Hilton has no regrets about becoming a full-time author.

“I loved working for Hertfordshire,” she says. “But I love writing more.”

Do you have a Valentine’s Day story to tell or a photo to share? Email it to bwnews@london.newsquest.co.uk

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