Hello, and happy New Year FURL followers. Our Local Author’s Spotlight is featuring Laralyn Doran. Laralyn is an author who has lived in the Urbana area for almost 20 years. After several years as a stay-at-home mom, Laralyn began writing as a way to stay productive and engaged after her youngest began school. She is a member of several writing organizations including, Romance Writers of America, Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers, and Washington Romance Writers, and Contemporary Romance Writers. Her manuscript “A Child of Eden” won the 2019 Sheila Contest in the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal category. Her newest novel, “A Fast Woman,” was released in September 2020.
Laralyn Doran, author
Below, Laralyn answers FURL’s author spotlight questions. She discusses the inspiration for her latest story, provides sound advice for “budding” authors, lists some of her favorite authors, talks about some of her favorite memories of the Urbana Regional Library.
You can follow Laralyn on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon and Goodreads.
How did you get started writing?
It actually started with an FCC Continuing Education writing class. I’d been a stay-at-home mom for fourteen years and my youngest had started kindergarten. I have two children with special needs and had to be free for therapy appointments, so I couldn’t go back to work. I needed something new to stimulate my mind. I was an avid reader and audiobook lover and figured I’d give it a try. I wrote two complete award-winning manuscripts before writing “A Fast Woman.”
Where did you get the idea for your first book?
I was flying to the national Romance Writers of America conference in Denver, and on the plane, I read an article about young women NASCAR drivers in the Drive for Diversity program. They were teenagers dominating a sport that had been traditionally male. I’d followed Danica Patrick’s career and rewatched interviews through a different lens noticing how much underlying prejudice there had been. It made me wonder, how do women navigate such a dangerous, male-dominant industry and how did it affect their overall lives and those who loved them?
I threw the idea around with some of my author friends and a few editors, and they loved it.
CJ, my heroine, was formed while I was there. It’s fitting that CJ was developed while I was surrounded by a group of strong, opinionated, straight-talking women who were leaders in their industry.
How long did it take you to write it?
Well…all and all about a year. I have two other manuscripts and one of my other manuscripts, a rom-com, had me distracted for a bit. But ultimately, I loved the premise of “A Fast Woman” and CJ wasn’t a character I could keep quiet. Even now, as I write the next in the series, she pops up and commands a page.
Was there any part of the publishing/promotion process that surprised you?
Romance is a multi-billion-dollar industry constantly changing and sells more than any other genre. I found it a close-knit community where well-known, best-selling authors will sit with unpublished writers and offered them their time and wisdom—I think that surprised me the most. I gave Sylvia Day (International Best-Selling Author of the Crossfire Series) a ride from BWI airport to a retreat in Westminster and then spent the weekend between events talking with her about publishing. She graciously told me her story, gave me advice about pitching, querying, scoop about agents and publishing houses and even steered me to the benefits of self-publishing.
Self-publishing, in this genre especially, turned the industry on its ear over the past decade. Many mid-list and best-selling romance authors are self-publishing now.
I think another surprise for me was how much non-writing work was involved. I have friends who publish with traditional publishing houses, and they do just as much promotion and marketing as self-published authors. We all need websites, a newsletter, multiple social media platforms with a sizable following and to be engaged regularly. For each new book there are launches and promotional online “tours” and book signings, etc. The business and marketing aspect can take up to fifty percent of our time.
Who are your favorite authors?
Ugh, I hate that question. It depends on my mood, the month, the moon cycle…just kidding. I stay away from anything too angsty or depressing because real life is full of that. I’m a romance author so I have to have a HEA—Happily Ever After.
I love urban fantasy, rom-coms, sometimes romantic suspense, or historical.
I’m excited for Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series that’s coming on Netflix. So, I recommend that series to read. It’s a regency series and her heroines are wonderful.
For urban fantasy I just finished Jennifer Armentrout’s new urban fantasy, the From Blood and Ash series. Sarah J Maas is also excellent. Other urban fantasy, speculative fiction or paranormal romance books authors would be J.R.Ward, Deborah Harkness, Elizabeth Hunter, Jeaniene Frost, Darynda Jones, Shadow Leitner, Dannika Dark, and Karen Marie Moning—but they all have romance elements.
For contemporary, I’m a fan of strong heroines and if there is witty banter and a touch of humor it’s a bonus. Penny Reid, Amy Daws, Kristen Ashley are great for that.
Mariana Zapata has great sport-related romance and more slow-burn stories.
Other favorite contemporary authors, varying in subgenre and heat levels—Shelly Alexander, Cate Tayler, J.L. Lora, Jessie Harper, Angelina M Lopez, Abbie Roads, Sharon Wray, Vi Keeland, Marie Force, and Penelope Ward.
What's the best book you've read in the past year?
I don’t know if it was in the past year, but one I think that resonated the most for me was Helen Hoang- “The Kiss Quotient.” The heroine is a brilliant economist who has Asperger’s and tries to use a logic and equations to find love and employs a gorgeous Asian male escort. I think it resonated because of the unique premise and the authenticity of the heroine. The author herself was identified late in life as being on the spectrum so it’s an Own Voice perspective. It’s unique, endearing, funny, eye-opening, and heartbreaking. It is also steamy, at times.
Is there any advice you would give to “budding authors”?
1. Study craft. There are a variety of resources online—courses, communities, seminars. Authors who’ve published twenty, thirty-plus books still taking craft seminars.
2. Find a group/association/community. The teacher I took classes with at FCC introduced me to Washington Romance Writers and then I joined the national Romance Writers of America—both gave me access to retreats, conferences, seminars and critique groups and a wealth of resources. There are groups for all genres—sci-fi, goth rom, mystery, etc.
3. Publishing is not for the weak. You have to be open to criticism and willing to learn from it. It sounds cliché, but it’s very true. That doesn’t mean changing everything that some one tells you to, but if three people tell you something doesn’t work—it’s worth revisiting. If you have to explain a scene to someone—it’s not working. Peers can be more brutal than seasoned editors. But when you get it right—it is an amazing feeling.
4. Don’t write in a genre you don’t love and aren’t reading. For example, don’t write romance if you aren’t a fan or don’t read romance—it will show. And don’t write to what is trending.
What do you like most about the Urbana Library?
My family and I have lived here for eighteen years and we’d walk there for story time from the time it opened. Besides picking up books, we came there to meet with tutors, or grab DVD’s for vacation trips, attend different events, to meet for dyslexia advocacy meetings—the library has always been at the center of the neighborhood. My daughter had many orthopedic procedures done on her legs when she was younger, and she loved coming to the library to get new books, dvd’s, etc. to take with us to Philadelphia to the hospital. There was a librarian who knew her from story time who always remembered who she was, which made it special.