Olivia Gaines always knew she wanted to be a writer.
“I wrote my first short story when I was 9 or 10,” said Gaines, who didn’t know then that her dream of becoming a writer would lead her to write more than 55 novels and become a “USA Today” bestselling romance novelist.
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The Hephzibah author said she thought her path would take the nonfiction route. As a teen, she wrote for her high school newspaper, and she later studied journalism in college. She worked in radio, for newspapers and wrote for the Army.
“I never thought I’d be a novelist,” she said.
Gaines has a refined process when she writes her novel.
Those in the trade have two words for authors. They are either plotters or pantsters. Plotters plan in detail what they will write before they write it, while pantsters tend to fly by the seat of their pants and write words as they come.
“I’m a plotter,” she said.
Gaines has written several different romance series. All of them are in the interracial subgenre. She’s in the middle of writing an ambitious series — a contemporary mail order bride series with one book set in each state.
Before she makes the first key stroke on a book, she already has a plan in place. For the mail order bride series, Gaines visits the state and finds out about small towns with interesting places and eateries. She takes in the sites and picks up on the local lingo to add authenticity.
She also knows what the heroine’s home looks like, how it’s laid out. She knows what her characters’ features are and how they sound.
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That last one threw her for a loop in her mail-order bride series set in Maine.
“Lobster, Bisques and Berries” is the 12th in the series.
Her hero is a native American Indian patterned after the book cover model. He’s 6’1” with long jet-black hair. But one thing didn’t quite fit when Gaines met him.
“He sounded like a surfer from Malibu,” she said
So, she added that into the story.
Once all her preparations are complete, she blocks out her scheduled to grind out 3,000 quality words a day.
Although she lives in the area, local readers won’t find Gaines at nearby book signings.
“I’m not big on book signing events. They make me uncomfortable,” said Gaines.
She attends one major romance writing conference a year.
To learn more about her and her books, visit her website ogaines.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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