Joss Whedon and Hot Doctors: An Interview with Lucy Clark

Australia. 1995. A young, hopeful author receives The Call for a medical romance penned for Mills and Boon.

Mere hours later, she learns she's pregnant.

More than ten years later, her two children are growing like noogoora burr, and her career is keeping stride. She's a big fan of Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris, and Zach Braff. But then, who isn't?

Because we often focus on the American audience to the exclusion of international readers, I thought it would be fun to hear from a prolific author who not only isn't American but whose books don't often make their way to American shelves.

Be sure to ask Lucy some questions of your own, or just leave a comment. She shipped three of her books across the pond for three lucky winners of a random drawing.

Tell us about your newest release.

My newest release is "Children's Doctor, Christmas Bride". It's a Medical Romance set in the goldrush mining town of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It does have a pretty Christmas tree on the front cover which is nice. Here is the back blurb (written by my editor) in all it's glory:

A Christmas Wedding

Christmas has arrived in the small town of Ballarat - along with paediatrician Summer Hoyts and her young son! Summer left the city for a fresh start, so she's not about to act on her unexpected attraction to her handsome new colleague Jason Daniels...

Jason's ex-wife never wanted children, so he gave up on his hopes for a family. But Summer and little Tommy have stolen his heart. He soon finds himself wanting a very special gift this year - and vows to make this single mum his bride by Christmas!

Now - a little tit-bit. We called the hero Jason Daniels so we could get the JD reference in there. No, not Jack Daniels as in the Scotch but JD from Scrubs - which my hubby and I both love (Gotta have a bit of Braff!!) I put lots of movie references in a lot of my books. Last Christmas was my "Doctor Who" book with heaps of references to Doctor Who and I've also done one with a lot of Firefly references (yay Joss!!!!). Earlier books had a lot of Star Trek references and of course Dr Cusack's Secret Son (which was my 25th Medical Romance) had a lot of John Cusack references from his various movies.

What is your writing kryptonite?

I loathe synopses. I would rather write the entire book again and again than do a two page synopsis. In fact, it can take me 2 weeks to write a two page synopsis and during that time, I can get a pretty solid draft down so yeah - I really loathe the ol' synopsis. I'm not the hughest fan of revisions and it takes me a while to switch my brain from left (creating) to right (editing) but once I'm there, it's fine. The synopsis, however, does not happen no matter how I might procrastinate (and I like to think I'm quite inventive when it comes to the procrastination stakes!).

Any chance your books will cross the pond and hit some US shelves?

They have been spotted here and there in the States which is excellent news. Some Borders stores do stock Medical Romances but I'm not sure which ones. Some stores in California are a definite but again, it's up to the store owner so go and BUG THE STORE KEEPERS to stock them. Thanks. Much appreciated. Other than that, it's easier to buy from the internet.

How does the Mills & Boon career track (especially for medical romance) compare to the North American Harlequin/Silhouette/M&B author career? Would you say the different markets create different expectations for you than (for example) American authors have from the Silhouette editors?

For the most part, it's all quite similar - the main difference (monetary wise) for Medicals are that they're not sold retail in North America. We (as a group of writers) have asked Harlequin head office about this and they've said that a lot of Northern American readers would not understand the "English" in the books. eg - we call our ER - A & E, standing for Accident and Emergency. We call our phones "mobile phones or mobiles" rather than "cell phones" and for some reason, head office seem to think that our North American readers aren't... savvy enough to figure things out and therefore wouldn't buy them. At least, that's the story we've been told. The Medical Romances have been given a "trial" on US shelves and the books were printed with a "glossary of terms" in the front of the book.

As far as the Silhouette, M&B, Harlequin difference, I'd say it's not much. Each editor is rather individual and each sub-genre has it's own guidelines which must be adhered to. Harlequin, on a whole, want their authors to build up readerships. In Australia, our romance books are released as Harlequin Mills & Boon or Harlequin Silhouette etc so there really isn't much division with regards to whether they were edited out of Canada, USA or UK. In Australia, however, colour coded :) (Medical Romances are pink - just in case you were wondering!)

What author is your guilty pleasure?

Jeremy Clarkson. (not the man but his books - just want to make myself abundantly clear on that point.) Yep - probably not what you were expecting me to say. He's the guy from the British Top Gear (car show) and he is very funny. He writes a column for a British Newspaper (and it's not always about cars although I do have a passion for cars) and a lot of these columns have been combined into book form. I'm usually found chuckling away or nodding my head at what he's written. He has a great style that I love and above all, he's honest and I totally appreciate that in a person and a writer.

If and when you read American authors, is there anything that makes you laugh, snort, or roll your eyes?

I do read a mixture of British, Australian and American authors and I think the biggest thing are the words and phrases that we just don't use. You say "she lighted the candle", we say "she lit the candle". Also, with American stories, there seems to be more "product placement" for want of a better phrase. I've had to ask friends for information on "Preparation H", "Captain Crunch" and "Zapple" just to name a few. Through the UK editorial office, we're not allowed to have anything major in case audiences don't understand. Quite a few of us, though, have fought to get "Tim Tams" into the books. These are not the run of the mill chocolate biscuit. They are heaven's choice of chocolate biscuit. Hugh Jackman just gave Oprah and her audience a taste of Tim Tams because they are the best EVER. Hmm... I seem to have forgotten the question... :-) However, in reading these stories, I "do" understand them. I don't need a glossary of terms in the front to educate me on the differences in our societies!!!

One of your favorite books is The Branigan Brothers series by Leslie Davis Guccione. What do you love about these books?

I confess I have yet to read the whole series. I simply can't get my hands on a few of the books. I do love series books and I like a lot of Nora's series romances that she's done. But with regards to the Branigan Brothers, the pictures painted by the author were so vivid. It really made me want to visit the places she was writing about - to see a Cranberry farm and it was because of those books that I first tried cranberry juice (and found I loved it). I do like series books and finding out what has happened to beloved characters. Also, to this end, I have a map of where I've set different books and if I set one in the same town as a previous book, then I make sure those previous characters are mentioned (does that make any sense??)

Do you have a favorite theme or set of themes you like to explore in your books?

I do like reunion stories. I like it that they've met before, whether good or bad, and then end up together. Themes - it took me a long time to understand theme but I guess I tend to have a generalised theme of "hope", of "learning to trust" and of "believing in yourself". The last one is something I struggle with every day, of believing that "I" can achieve the goals I've set for myself and I think if I'm struggling with it, then my characters should be struggling too.

Why medical romances specifically? What drew you to write them, and have you ever had the urge to step outside of the genre (both romance in general and medical romance specifically)?

Hmm... why medical romances? I could say "why not?" but the real reason is rather an interesting answer and so I'll give it. I was madly writing "Sweet" romances (Tender romances in the UK and Harlequin Romance in the US) and being rejected and then in my writing group, we got word that M&B were looking for Medical Romance authors. I was currently working at a hospital as a secretary to 3 orthopaedic surgeons and decided to give it a go. I wrote 3 chapters (and the dreaded synopsis) and sent it off. They had it for MONTHS and then requested the whole manuscript. This I wrote and then they had it for LOTS MORE MONTHS (I started suffering from letterboxitis) and finally, I received a "nice" rejection. This was where the editor pointed out what was wrong with the story and how she would like it to be fixed "if I thought I could address the issues". I did this and that first Medical Romance became "A Surgeon's Reputation" released in 1996. (see? wasn't that an interesting answer??)

Do I ever have the urge to step outside the genre?

Not initially but I think that was because I also had young children and trying to write 4 books a year with a young family was difficult in itself. Now, though I have a great desire to be writing other books but I would never give up on my Medicals. They're such a part of me. I not only want to step outside the genre of romance, I want to step outside the medium of books and write movies. (and I LOVE Sci-Fi)

If you could have Joss Whedon's babies, would you ever stop? Seriously, if you could pick his brain, what would you ask him?

Although I totally adore Mr Whedon (I'm not worthy) there is no way on this earth that I am having ANYONE'S babies, ever again! Two pregnancies and enormous babies with NO TIME FOR DRUGS (me, not the babies) was enough. However, if by "babies" you mean working on writing projects with Mr Whedon (I'm not worthy), then I should love to have hordes with him. If I could pick his brain, I'd probably be mortified with myself because it would be pretty gross and rather bloody (all that CSF - Yuck!) and I doubt I'd learn much. I have had the opportunity to breathe the same air as him (at a conference) and that almost made me hyperventilate!!! (along with the other 4,000 people in the room - Nathan was there too. It was a good moment!!) To be able to sit down and talk to Joss (ahem Mr Whedon - I'm not worthy) would be... amazing and I think, after I'd managed to control my breathing, to untie my tongue from the inevitable knot it would be in and stopped trembling, I'd just ask him to talk... and I would simply listen and learn. I'd also like to talk to his wife because she must be an incredible person to support such a genius.

How many times have you watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog?

How many times? Another excellent question. Too many to count is probably the answer. My kids have the songs on their MP3 players and the other day, they were watching it in fast- forward so the songs all sounded Chipmonky :) All I can say is "this is his hair".

How incredibly awesome is it that Dr. Doogie Howser is also Dr. Horrible?

It is legen... wait for it... dary! (heh) Too many delicious men to watch. NPH and NF. Delightful.

What would you say is your best book so far?

The book I love the most is Undercover Doctor. It's where the heroine is a doctor but she's also a spy. She round kicks the hero and knocks him out, she breaks into the morgue and she rescues a girl from a burning building. And she does this all whilst falling in love with a man she suspects of murder. What can I say - I was going through my ALIAS phase :)

Does your doctor know what you do for a living?

Of course he does - you can't hide anything from a man with a TARDIS and a bleeping sonic screwdriver!!!



Thanks, Lucy, for stopping by and sharing your perspective on romance, medical romance, and the random awesomeness that is Joss. Not to mention Zach, Nathan, NPH, etc.

Remember to leave a comment for a chance to win an awesome Aussie romance! ETA: I will announce the three lucky winners on Monday, December 8, so you have all weekend to jump in.