2010 Emma Award — Author of the Year
2007 Emma Award — Favorite New Author
2006 Romance in Color Reviewers Choice Award — Favorite New Author
About Gwyneth
Gwyneth Bolton was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. She currently lives in Syracuse, New York with her husband Cedric.
When she was 12-years-old, she became an avid reader of romance by sneaking her mother's stash of Harlequin and Silhouette novels. In the 90s, she was introduced to African American and multicultural romance novels and her life hasn't been the same since.
While she had always been a reader of romance, she didn't feel inspired to write them until the genre opened up to include other voices. And even then, it took finishing graduate school, several non-fiction publications, and a six-week course at the Loft Literary Center titled Writing the Romance Novel; before she gathered the courage to start writing her first romance novel.
Gwyneth has a BA and an MA in English/Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English/Composition and Rhetoric. She teaches classes in writing and women's studies at the college level.
She has won several awards for her romance novels, including ten Emma Awards and the Romance In Color Reviewer's Choice award for new author of the year. When she is not teaching or working on her own African American romance novels, she is curled up with a cup of herbal tea, a warm quilt, and a good book.
What is your favorite color?
Brown
What is your favorite quote?
"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." Fannie Lou Hamer
What is your favorite pastime?
Reading and shopping… Shopping and reading…
What music do you listen to?
Hip-hop, Rhythm and Blues/Soul and Reggae
What is your favorite kind of movies?
Romantic comedies/ Chick Flicks
What books do you like to read?
Romance novels, science fiction, mystery… What can I say? I'm a genre fiction junkie.
What are your favorite scenes to write?
Emotional scenes, the ones that make me laugh or cry as I write them.
What do you do in your spare time?
Read and try to make it through my ever-growing to-be-read pile.
Who are your favorite authors?
I have way too many to name and the list grows daily. But I'll try… Brenda Jackson, Christine Feehan, L. A. Banks, Adrianne Bryd, Tananarive Due, Octavia Butler and Jennifer Crusie to name a few.
What is your favorite genre to write?
Romance, of course!
Who are you, really?
By day I'm a mild-mannered college professor...By night I'm a sultry-seductive weaver of romantic tales...Okay, seriously, I teach at the university level and live in upstate New York with my husband. I have been an avid reader of romance novels since I was around twelve-years-old. I published a non-fiction book on women and hip-hop culture titled Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture and the Public Sphere. I have also published several non-fiction essays and articles. But fiction writing has always been near and dear to my heart. I have an MA in creative writing and composition studies and a Doctorate in English (Rhetoric and Composition). In 1996, I received the College Language Association's Margaret Walker Creative Writing Award for a one-act play I wrote when I was an undergraduate. I'm at my happiest when I'm either writing or reading.
When did you first start writing?
I can't really narrow it down. I remember in the fifth grade I was in-love with the movie Grease and I wanted to write a black version. I remember re-writing the movie and practicing in my best friend's back yard. And then in the 6th grade, because of all the drama I saw playing out between the boyfriend/girlfriend relationships of my peers, I kept my best friend amused with my on-going drama "Sesame Street Soap Opera." I wrote little stories loosely based on our classmates and I got a kick out of it. I also remember my first attempts at novels, written on loose-leaf paper.
When did you realize you wanted to become a published author?
One thing clearly sticks out in my mind. When I was in the 7th grade I told my teacher, Mr. Safian, that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. And he said, "So What." He was a mean and sarcastic man. But I plan to send him a copy of both my academic book and my romance novel and thank him for making me want to write just to show him, so what. I wonder if he's still at PS #13?
What's it like to go from non fiction to fiction?
Since I'm still writing both, I haven't made a switch from one to the other. I will say that in some ways my nonfiction projects, because they usually entail more research seem to take a little longer. For example I'm currently working on a nonfiction book on Black women's book clubs and reading groups. I did a lot of surveys and went to several literacy events to research this project. I also conduct research for my fiction writing. For example, I had to do some research for I'm Gonna Make You Love Me since the characters are a part of the Black elite. Even though I like to think of myself as a princess without a country, alas I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. So, I had to read a lot to learn about this group of people. It was fun and I learned so much in the process. However, the research wasn't as intense as the research I do for my nonfiction. And the fiction just flows from me in ways that the nonfiction doesn't. When I'm into the characters and into a story the writing sort of pours out of me onto the screen. I think I use the same tools—research, outlining, etc. But I use them differently depending on if it is fiction or nonfiction.
How can you be a Women's Studies professor and a feminist and write romance novels?
The first answer to that question is feminists fall in love too and can appreciate a great love story just like anyone else. The second answer is that I don't buy into limited understandings of feminism that foster false restrictions. The third answer is that love and feminism are not mutually exclusive in my mind. And the fourth and final answer is because I want to, that's why!
What aspect of writing do you love the best, and which do you hate the most?
I love the initial stages, the part where you get the ideas and things start to come together. I love the writing, especially when it flows. I also love working with editors and making the work stronger. The part that I hate the most would probably be the waiting. I hate that waiting period between sending a manuscript and waiting for a response. My stomach usually hurts until I hear something back. The thing that irks me the most about this "waiting for a response" is that it never ends! Even when you sell the manuscript, you still have to wait to see if the editor likes your revisions. When it's published, you have to wait and see what the reviewers' responses will be, what the readers' responses will be. You feel all torn because you really want to know what people think about your "baby." But you're also nervous. What if they don't like it?
How do you handle writer's block?
Mostly when I can't write I think about the characters and the story and I imagine them in various situations. I play with them in my head. I'm in my head a lot—daydreaming and stuff. I go to sleep thinking about them and I dream about them in my sleep. My dreams are crowded with unwritten stories and re-written stories. Even characters that I think I'm done with come to me in my dreams.
Where do your ideas normally come from?
Everywhere, mostly my dreams, I'll have these reoccurring dreams and bits and pieces of the character's stories come to me. And once I grasp onto them and start writing them, they sort of live in my head and never leave.
How do you juggle it all- family, house, work, writing?
Juggle it? Is that a joke? A trick question? I don't know that I do a really good job of juggling. I'm working on it. Since we don't have kids yet it makes my life a little bit freer. When I'm really into a piece of writing I write write write. And sometimes, the house just has to stay a little messy, and we just have to eat out.
What do you feel is the key to writing convincing characters?
Opening up a vein and letting it flow. I find that I have to tap into my emotions big time to bring the kind of emotional intensity I want to my characters. Even though I may not have experienced what they are going through, I need to tap the space in myself that can best relate and let the emotions flow from me to them. The other advice I got at a writer's workshop once was to love your characters and then put them through hell. I loved the advice because you really have to find something to love in the characters in order to make the readers love them and you have to take them through something to keep the reader turning the pages.
Advice to writers struggling with rejections?
If only I knew! I guess I'd just say that you only need one yes, and keep writing and sending it out until you get that yes. Rejection is never easy. I remember when I was looking for a book contract for my academic book, the one that my tenure and career rested on, with the tenure clock ticking away, and there have been a lot of cut back in the academic market and academic presses are really hurting. So I got letter from editors saying that they were only going to publish established scholars and recognized names in the field, and I was like well how am I, and other junior scholars, supposed to be recognized and become established. But I met this one editor at a conference, and she loved the paper I gave, and she talked with me about the project, invited me to contribute and essay to an anthology on third wave feminism and encouraged me to send me my book proposal. She was very excited and encouraging and she is the acquisitions editor that ended up giving me a contract. It only takes one yes.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Just the joy I get when I get an email from someone who has read my book and enjoyed it. When readers connect with the words I wrote enough to sit down and write me and email or go to my website and sign my guest book, that is just always a surprise, a pleasant surprise. I still get all giddy and can't believe it. Having readers connect like that blows my mind. As a writer, I thought no experience could match getting the call from an editor saying I want to publish your work. But getting a note from a reader who read my book and loved it is right up there with that experience. I've decided that my new favorite thing is checking my email and getting a note from readers.
What should a new writer know about the publishing business?
That it is just that, a business. I think a lot of writers, myself included, like to think about the creative space that our stories come from and don't like to concern ourselves with the nuts and bolts. A lot of us are just happy to see our names in print and hold something that we wrote in our hands. But if we want to build a career and have longevity, we need to be more aware of the business aspects of the publishing market as well. A little business savvy has never hurt anyone! I think we can look at any of our favorite writers especially the ones who have been prolific and see that talent and business sense go hand in hand for a successful career. I know it is something I plan to work on myself!
Are you a member of any national groups and professional organizations?
I'm a member of the National Council for Teachers of English, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Modern Language Association, the National Women's Studies Association and Romance Writers of America. I am also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
If you had one wish for the genre, what would it be?
I guess my one wish would be that white readers and writers in the genre were as open to diverse voices as Black readers and writers are to white novels. Black women who grew up reading romance and have been fans of the genre before the inclusion of diverse voices in the 90s are willing to read romance across race. We will buy and read books with white characters because we have always read them. And we know, in a way that is measurable by our purchasing history and record, that love and romance aren't tied to any one color. If I were granted one wish for the romance genre it would be to get rid of the biases, prejudices and racism that exists in the romance community among some readers and writers.
