I am a Courtney Milan fan. I’ve read all her novels and novellas. She shines for me in two very clear ways. One, she is a superb novella writer. Two, she incorporates science into her books seamlessly and accurately.
I contacted Ms. Milan via a mutual Twitter friend and asked if she’d answer a few questions. She graciously agreed to do so.
I think of you as a one of the best novella writers out there. Somehow you manage to tell a complete story with complex characters and detailed plots in a relatively short format. Is your process of writing novellas different than your process for writing full-length novels?
Well, thank you! I really appreciate that.
(This answer has mild spoilers for The Governess Affair–but I think should be okay for most people.)
The answer about process is both yes and no. I basically write both full-length books and novellas the same way: I start with two or three basic ideas about the work in question, and then build up from there.
There are two differences that I can think of. The first is in what books I can write as a novella versus a full-length book. In a novella, the main driving plot points need to also be about the main character’s growth arc. Thus, for instance, Hugo’s character journey in The Governess Affair is about seeing himself as a person separate from his ambitions, and that’s very much also what the main plot is about.
That’s not always true in full-length books. The two are always related, and the plots intersect, but they’re often separate threads that get developed separately–perhaps through some of the subplots in full-length books.You can have a successful full-length book where the character’s growth arc coincides with the plot points, but I don’t think you can have a novella where the reverse is true. If the growth and the plot are not synonymous, in a novella, you’re going to have to either sacrifice a compelling plot or character growth.
The second thing is that in a novella, you need to be very careful with when you explore subplots versus when you close them off. So, for instance, in The Governess Affair, I felt like it was important to show Serena’s relationship with her sister, and so that stayed–but I had to hew the line very closely and make sure I didn’t make the book too much about what was going on with Freddy. Likewise, the things Hugo is doing to make money for the Duke of Clermont might end up as a subplot in a full-length book; in a novella, you just need to know that they exist, and maybe have mild hints at them.
Both the Brothers Sinister series and the Turner series feature three “brothers.” (In the Turner series, the men are biological brothers; in the Brothers Sinister, the men are related to one another and see themselves as bonded.) What appeals to you about that motif? Do you plot out a series before you begin to write it?
Books about family appeal to me. The fact that the thread tying these books together happen to be brothers is basically happenstance. I think family relationships have shown up in almost every book that I’ve written–Elaine and her mother inUnlocked, Serena and Freddy in The Governess Affair, Minnie and her aunts, Robert and his mother, in The Duchess War…
I think I’m better at writing family than I am at writing romance, honestly. The few things I’ve written where family relations don’t play a major role are the ones that I personally feel are my weakest.
I don’t plot out books before I begin to write them–that is, I don’t know the conclusions–but I do try to plot out the problems. So when this series started, I knew the hero and heroine of each book, and had an idea of what the main driver of the plot would be in each book (of the books originally planned–Lydia, Free, and Rose are all getting books that were not planned from the start).
Those basic bare-bones sketches were not really “plotted” in the sense that most people mean plotting. It was more like having someone say, “If you want to get to Leeds, go about a hundred miles that-a-way, and try not to fall into the bog.”
You are a ferocious advocate for the women you write. A Milan heroine overcomes the social and legal limits society and government impose upon her. Your women are determined and seek more than the traditional romance heroine goals of marriage and children. Do you think you’ll ever write a heroine who doesn’t marry at all and/or stays childless by choice?Â
In the 19th century, “childless by choice” and “involved in a sexual relationship with a member of the opposite sex while we are both fertile” is really difficult to achieve. It’s hard to underestimate how our lives have changed due to the pill and relatively safe, cheap, effective methods of birth control. This was compounded by a complete misunderstanding of human fertility and ovulation–there were actually some doctors at the time who believed that you were most fertile when you were bleeding, and least fertile about halfway through your cycle, so people who tried to practice some version of the rhythm method quite often got it completely wrong.
If you run the numbers on their birth control methods, the chances that someone of average fertility would not have children, even if they were trying not to do so, was not large–not unless they were limiting themselves to sexual choices that literally would not allow for such a thing. At the time, birth control was advocated to help spread apart female pregnancy–something that especially in an era when nothing was known about vitamins or prenatal nutrition, was an absolute necessity for women’s health. And while abortion did exist and was an option, it was extremely dangerous. Any kind of surgery, pre-antibiotics, ran a huge risk of infection and death, and the non-surgical methods had massive side effects.
That’s a huge aside on the question–but I say this because I think it’s important for us to realize how historically lucky we are today to be able to have so much control over when and whether we reproduce. This is not a freedom women have always had, and it has made a massive difference in all our lives.
I marvel at the level of scientific/medical detail in your books. Whether it’s the impact of epidemiological studies on 19th century medicine (A Kiss for Midwinter), the mathematical progressions of comets (Unlocked), or complex calculus (Proof by Seduction) your books bring science and math to life in ways that illuminate characters and enhance plots. Where does your love of science come from? What’s your favorite field?
Well, I was a science undergraduate (math + chemistry), and I have a masters’ in theoretical physical chemistry. My exact field of graduate study was doing computer simulations of glassy behavior, which is one of the great unsolved problems in physics. (Unsurprisingly it remained unsolved, even after I worked on it.)
The graduate work I did required me to know a lot of things. Mathematics, because any theoretical work requires you to have a strong grounding in mathematics. Chemistry (obviously.) Physics. Statistics. (Statistical mechanics is actually considered a branch of physics rather than chemistry in Europe.) And the stuff I was working on was a branch of the strange interdisciplinary science that gets called “complexity theory”–and so when you talk about things that exhibit glassy behavior you don’t just include window glass, but also things like protein folding (and mis-folding, in the case of something like mad cow disease) and traffic simulations and a number of other things.
So for a while, it was my job to learn math, computer programming, and everything I could about a ton of branches of science–from genetic algorithms to gene encoding. I spent as much time being a scientist as I did being a lawyer.
My favorite field is, “Wow, this stuff is cool, now how can we apply it to something totally different?”
You have a law degree and have both practiced and taught law. Many of your books explore the laws of the 19th century and the great harm the legal system inflicted on just about anyone who wasn’t a titled white male. Who had the worst plight in 19th century England: a poor man like William White (This Wicked Gift) or a titled woman like Louisa, the wife of the Earl of Harcroft (Trial by Desire)?
Well, it’s going to depend on the exact situation. The wife is in a worse situation vis-a-vis her husband, but if the Countess of Harcroft owes someone money, she’s way better off than William White. The Countess of Harcroft can’t be thrown in debtors’ prison or arrested in civil cases. And the Countess of Harcroft (assuming her husband is a peer and that’s not a courtesy title) gets many of the benefits of peerage, including trial before the House of Lords in the case of a felony.
But if her husband is a dickbag, she’s still stuck–although if her brother has any power, that’s going to play a role too.
But in general, I’d say the peeress is almost always better off before the law than the poor man, and by a fairly substantial margin.
Your Brothers Sinister series is self-published. What made you leave the traditional world of publishing? How’s it working out for you?
Let me answer the last question first.
As of my last royalty statement from Harlequin (sales through June of 2013), I’ve sold 34,569 English-language copies (print and digital) of Unveiled, the first book in my Turner series. I make between 56 and 65 cents per copy sold on that book (and pay my agent 15% on top of that).
As of the end of November 2013, I’ve sold 96,430 English-language copies (print and digital) of The Duchess War, the first book in the Brothers Sinister series, at an average of $2.31 per copy sold.
Unveiled has been out more than twice as long as The Duchess War.
Or take audio versions. Harlequin has credited me with a grand total of $554.07 on the audio version of Unveiled, which came out in October of 2011.
The audio version of The Duchess War came out on October 9 of 2013–so that would be 2.5 months ago. In those two and a half months, I’ve made a profit (after accounting for the costs of production and my assistant’s time in scheduling things and doing quality control) of $4,500.
And that answers your first question. Before I self-published, between the writing and the day job, I had no time. I didn’t take a day off for years. I neglected really, really basic tasks, like eating properly and sleeping (I was averaging around 5 hours of sleep a night). Never mind things like getting exercise and spending time with the people I cared about. There was a particularly memorable week I spent with my parents in Hawaii where I literally spent 9 hours every day of that *cough* vacation working on a book because I didn’t have the time to take a break.
At some point in late 2010 I realized I was hitting the wall. I couldn’t continue to write and have a day job at the same time, and given the costs of promotion and the reality of law school loans, I couldn’t afford to quit my day job on the income from my traditionally-published books.
I had to walk away from something. At the time, it was a choice between self-publishing and seeing if that would work for me, or quitting writing altogether for the sake of my health and sanity.
(We can talk forever about why the sales numbers above differed so wildly, but included among them should be this: as publishers go, Harlequin does not have a strong empirical track record of selling historical romances. Different publishers might, and do, yield different results.)
What’s next for you? I know there’s a planned fourth Brothers Sinister book featuring Frederica, the sister of Oliver Marshall (the hero of The Heiress Effect.) What else can your readers look forward to?
Next up is a series that I’m tentatively calling the Worth Saga. It’s about a family (tentatively two brothers and two sisters, but I’m still settling details so may delete a brother or add a sister, depending) of the last name Worth.
Their father was the Something of Something (title not yet decided because it’s totally irrelevant). Then the family fell into disgrace: the eldest brother, Anthony, was convicted of grand larceny and transported to Australia, and once attention had fallen on their family, it was soon discovered that their father was a traitor. He was tried by the House of Lords, convicted, stripped of all his possessions and his title, and committed suicide before he could be executed.
The three children remaining in England were left to make their own way with no money, no skills, no possessions, and no social status whatsoever.
Meanwhile, when Anthony Worth’s ship lands in Australia, he is no longer on board and there is no trace or record of where he has disappeared.
The series will start with the children in England, and move on to the question of what has happened with Anthony.
I call it the Worth saga rather than the Worth series because there are actually two entangled series plot lines–the one about Anthony Worth, and another about…another organization that I’m not going to say anything about because I’m still settling the details and also spoilers.
Lastly, will you ever write a redemptive story for Lady Cosgrove, the tragically bitchy cousin of Evan, the hero of Unlocked? Are there any other secondary characters in your books whose story you plan to tell?Â
I’m very unlikely to write Lady Cosgrove’s story–I’ve never had an idea for a story for her. Her problem is that she’s already married to someone, so do I conveniently kill him off (not my thing), or do I reconcile her with someone who’s treated her like crap and cheated on her for years? Neither option strikes me as a story I want to write, so no.
That’s pretty much the only criterion I use. Do I have an idea for a story? Is it a good idea? Do I want to write it more than I want to write the other things I have ideas for? If so, then I will write that person a story.
If I don’t have an idea, I’m not going to search for one just to write a story for a character, no matter how much I–or anyone else–might like that character.
I think I’ve announced all the Brothers Sinister books at this point: Free is getting a book, and there will be another book about someone named Rose Sweetly who is not-yet-appearing in the series. And then that’s it–I’m done, I don’t want to write about them anymore.
Thanks so much for talking with me, Courtney.
AAR readers: Courtney Milan is giving away three copies of The Countess Conspiracy to three lucky readers. Just leave a comment below and we’ll put your name in a random drawing.
Dabney Grinnan
Thank you for this nice review.
Is the giveaway available for non US residents, too?
Yes, it is.
I would love to win a copy of this book.
I too was a science undergraduate ( math + computers ). I have bought and read Proof of Seduction and loved it. This interview was wonderful and now knowing about all her studies, I am going to try to read all her books.
Dabney – thanks so much for arranging this interview!
Courtney – thank you so much for the illuminating remarks about your writing process and how your professional background influences your books. I’m pleased that self-publishing is profitable for you, too.
Great interview! After a decent amount of Courtney Milan fan-stalking (I’m kidding…you know I’m kidding right?), I didn’t yet know about the depth of Courtney’s science background. I have a background in science and computers as well and two of my most interesting classes at university were honors seminars: one on the history of Western medicine and one on the history of great mathematicians — perhaps that’s why I enjoy the historical glimpses into the practice of science in Courtney’s books so much?
I really don’t read them for the science though. I read them for the emotional punch she delivers in every story. I do love a good, messy cry when reading historicals.
No need to enter me in the giveaway for The Countess Conspiracy as I’ve already nabbed it!
Wonderful interview, love the info about your science background, upcoming books, and very interesting your sales numbers (thank you for being so open with this info!).
Thanks for the interview, very interesting about the science background. I’ve already downloaded the Countess Conspiracy, so no need to include me in the draw. Great book by the way, so keep them coming 😉
Thank Goodness for self-publishing! It would have been a real shame to lose a writer of Ms. Milan’s stature. I agree with you Dabney, Ms. Milan writes some of the best novellas out there. Not that her full length books are lacking( they are not), but there is something about the way she can tell a whole story in a short novella format that amazes me. The Governess Affair and Unlocked have to be 2 of the best ever written. I am an avid re-reader, and Courtney Milan is on my re-read list every year. In fact, I’ve re-read Unlocked so many times it’s a good thing it’s an e-book and not print:-)
No need to enter me in the giveaway either, I too have already pirchased and read the Countess Conspiricy–twice
Great interview! Courtney is my favorite romance writer, mostly because of the way she writes her heroines, so thank you for offering us a glimpse into her creative process.
Great interview.
Love the books and would love to be entered into the giveaway.
I have all the books so I do not need to be entered in the giveaway, but I just wanted to say that Ms. Milan has the best writing voice. I love her books, from Ash and his dyslexia (which my son also is challenged with) to Smite to my new favorite Sebastian. Please keep writing about such talented, intelligent women.
Very interesting interview. Thanks for the chance to win!
Thank you for the interview and the opportunity!
I too adore sibling series and am looking forward to the Worth Saga .I do prefer the siblings to be brothers but that can’t always be done. Loved Brothers Sinister and Turner series. Am very impressed with the research that goes into them
Thank you for this interview. I have loved all of Ms. Milan’s books (both novels and novellas) and The Heiress Effect and The Countess Conspiracy were both in my top three reads of this year. Both were solid A reads for me. I am very happy that she decided to go the self-publishing route and that that she is continuing to wirte such wonderful books :-).
No need to enter me in the contest.
Thank you to both Dabney Grinnan and Courtney Milan for this interview. I think Milan is one of the, if not the, best historical romance writers currently publishing. I’ve mostly taken a hiatus from historicals this last year, but I cannot resist a Courtney Milan book and never regret the weakness. This interview inspired me to look at her website for more than just the book list, and all new information increases my admiration.
I am delighted that the self publishing route is working…and even more delighted that the writing quality has not only remained consistently excellent, but has continually improved; this is not the case for many self published authors (who frequently remind me of the value of good editors).
I do not need a copy of The Countess Conspiracy, so please do not enter me in the drawing. I purchased it immediately, read it, and highly, highly recommend it.
Thanks for the interview. I’m most interested in Free’s book!
Reading this was a great way to start my week. Over Christmas I was evangelizing for Milan, but I haven’t grabbed The Countess Conspiracy yet (because her books go to the top of the TBR, and there are SO MANY books languishing already). Thanks for the interview and the giveaway.
Milan is, without doubt, the top romance writer today. Her explorations of the effects of cruelty, agoraphobia, trauma, class, and social limitations–all within touching and life-affirming romances–deserve to be read by anyone who likes to think. She should be reviewed by the mainstream media, but because of their deep-seated contempt toward romances, probably won’t be. I read Courtney Milan because of her humanity and intelligence which shines on every page.
Thank-you for the interesting interview too. And I’m always so interested in how self-publishing is working out for authors. So happy that it worked out as it would have been a shame for such a valued author to have to stop writing!
Ladies – thank you so much for such a fascinating interview. I’m a massve fan of Ms Milan’s writing so getting a little inside information was a real treat!
The word that comes to mind when I read something by Courtney Milan is delicious.
What a really interesting interview! You do seem to be a real polymath – mathematician, scientist, lawyer and writer. (I do appreciate that there are transferable skills from each which apply to the others, but even so…)
Thank you for the interview. I have all Courtney Milan’s books so no need to include me on the drawing. I simply love Courtney Milan’s writing, especially the way she writes her heroes and heroines. Even though her books are set in 19th century England, she always manages to keep her heroes and heroines to be ahead of their times while they still stay true to their characters and time period.
Great interview! Happy New Year!
Great interview! Courtney’s books are some of my favorites because they’re never just the same old historical romances with recycled characters. She does things that other authors never dare to do (maybe because she has more freedom as a self published author?). I just read A Kiss For Midwinter, so I’m moving on to The Heiress Effect now!
Great interview. Makes me want move her books to the top of my tbr pile.
Please, please, please!!! Would love to win!
I really appreciate the interview. And fingers crossed for a win!
Courtney Milan is the best!
I had the book about two seconds after it was available…..so no entry please.
I have so enjoyed this series, the first book, The Governess Affair is one of the best stories I have ever read….I meant it!
Thanks for the interview Dabney! Happy New Year!
I have loved every one of your books, including the great first short story on your website! I’ve been out of town visiting family so I haven’t bought your latest book…so please enter me in the drawing 🙂 Thanks!
Thank you for a wonderful interview!
Thank you for being so upfront about traditional vs. self-published earnings. It’s so refreshing and eye-opening on those rare occasions when an author just lays the numbers out there. Thank you!
I was so impressed when I met you briefly at RWA, I had to buy a book. UNCLAIMED was recommended by everyone for the virgin hero, and I found every page of the book fascinating. The heroine was even more unusual than the hero, I thought, but what I really loved was the historical version of a trend that goes viral and gets mutated from its original purpose.
Law school loans are more than mildly soul crushing.
Thanks for the interview. I enjoy reading Courtney’s books. I have the first book of the new series in my TBR pile and I look forward to reading it.
Once again, AAR does a wonderful job in providing us readers with insights into the book world. A BIG Thank you to Ms. Milan for her openness in the article and kudos to her for her many talents in bringing magic into our worlds through her marvellous stories. Keep up the GREAT work!
And, yes, please include me in the drawing. I appreciate the opportunity.
I already have the ebook version but would love a hard copy.
I have never read Courtney Milan’s book, but I have Unveiled waiting in my tbr pile. I would love to be the winner!
As an international reader I have to wonder if you miss the global reach of Harlequin. A couple of your HQN books were translated into my language, but I highly doubt your self-published titles will ever make it into my country 😉
AMK: What country?
Poland 🙂
That’s one of the countries where it makes no difference whether I self-publish–Harlequin stopped putting my books out in Poland before I started self publishing. They have no plans that I’ve been informed of to put out the next books that they own the rights to, so it’s hard for me to miss something I wasn’t going to get.
It’s more likely that those first two books in the Turner series will end up in Polish because I get the language rights back and either my agent sells them to a Polish publisher or I directly self-publish them in that language, than it is that Harlequin will put the books out in Polish.
The only country I miss is Greece.
Thank you for the wonderful interview!
I love all of Ms. Milan’s works, but like Dabney, I am a huge fan of her novellas. The thing is, before reading her The Governess Affair, I pretty much avoided novellas thinking (erroneously as it turns out) that the medium could not do justice to most stories or at least the kind of stories I was interested in reading. When I put together my top 100 list for submission to AAR, two of Ms. Milan’s novellas were included on this list. So yes, I’m a big fan!
I enjoy all your books, novels and especially audio books! you have an interesting background which might explain the unconventionality of your stories 🙂 I hope you can keep up the good work – maybe less lawyering and more writing? Looking forward to the Countess Conspiracy. Best wishes.
I love the series thus far!
I’ve really enjoyed the stories I’ve read by Courtney Milan, and expect to read many more. I love that she writes not about the usual debutantes and aristocracy, but diverse and unusual characters that are interesting and unique.
I love this series so much. The Duchess War is what made Courtney Milan a favorite of mine. Thanks for the giveaway and good luck to everyone 🙂
Thank you for the thoughtful and thought-provoking interview. It was a pleasure to read. Courtney’s books are also a pleasure to read. My first was “”This Wicked Gift”” in “”The Heart of Christmas””. 🙂
(No need to enter me in the giveaway).
This was an amazing, in-depth interview. What was most interesting is the comparison of how Courtney’s self-pubbed books are performing versus her traditionally-published books. (Thank you, Courtney, for sharing the figures.)
Happy New Year, AAR and Courtney Milan!
I’vs just read A Kiss for Midwinter. And would like to win a copy of The Countess Conspiracy.
Thanks for the interview. I’ve not read any of Courtney Milan’s books yet, but I’ve heard lots of positive things about them. Will look forward to picking them up in the future. What I really wanted to comment on is her interesting career background — scientific, legal, *and* literary! Makes me feel like an absolute slug. Now, I’m going to have to get up and do something productive … after I finish my cup of coffee. 😉
Thank you for the interview. I am looking forward to The Countess Conspiracy!
Great interview – I have a bunch of Milan’s books on my TBR electronic pile, and hope I can add this one as well!
I found Ms. Milan’s comments about self-publishing very interesting. I have not read any of her books as of yet but based on her comments I intend to soon.
I have never read one of Courtney Milan’s books that I have not enjoyed and wanted to read again. Her prose is precise; her characters entice me into the stories; she never fails to remind me why historical romance is my favorite genre because she can call up the flavor of those times with perfection. She is such a talented author. I hope to be reading her books far into the future.
Courtney Milan is one of my ten 10 romance writers. Just finished reading The Governess Affair for the fourth time. Looking forward to The Countess Conspiracy.
Great interview! I have the Countess Conspiracy on my TBR pile now.
So very glad you found a way to keep writing!!!!
Ms. Milan is new to me; looking forward to reading her books.
Just listened to The Duchess War recently and loved it. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
I started reading your books after your dearauthor article on selecting colors for ebook sales. I’ve really enjoyed your unique plots.
I’m a big fan so thanks to Ms. Milan and AAR for the interview and giveaway!
Courtney — I love all your books. They are so satisfying. Thanks for the giveaway.
Great interview! I’m a huge fan of Milan’s work!
I just reread a bunch of Ms. Milan’s books; just as enjoyable the second time.
I have yet to read your books! Somehow I have missed them. I will be putting these down on the to buy list. They sound truly awesome. Thanks for the interview and giveaway.
mlawson17 at Hotmail dot com
Hi Courtney!
I’ve read quite a few posts by authors but loved that you shared so much today about your background we which don’t often here.
I started reading your stories since This Wicked Gift was published in 2009 and don’t think I’ve missed reading any of your stories ever since!
I love how you’ve grown as an author over the years and how complete your characters are. I must admit that one of the things I love the most is how complete you make your secondary characters and many time I’ve thought to myself that they deserved their own story and am always happy make you make that happen.
I can’t believe the history that you must have to consult before writing your stories and wondered if you ever deleted something from a book because you couldn’t find evidence that it would be accurate for the time period in which the book was set or if you’ve ever taken the liberty to “”stretch the truth”” to include something in a book because it explained something the characters did?
I haven’t read Courtney’s books yet – I don’t know why – I better correct that!
I just finished reading the governess affair and loved it!
Thank you for the awesome sneak peak into the mind of Couetney Milan!
Thank U for this insightful interview with one of my favourite authors. The things she says about self-publishing are amazing. But I wonder if that will work for everyone.
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Many thanks for an informative interview as well as for writing some of my favorite books, Ms. Milan.