An Interview with the Inaugural UnSinkable Heroine Award Winner

An Interview with the Inaugural
UnSinkable Heroine Award Winner, Sue Peterson
by
Sandra Chevalier Batik

"The Unsinkable Heroine" award is separate from the regular "Molly" contest scoring. The heroine in each entry is judged for spunk, imagination/creativity, memorability and unsinkability. As the category, Unsinkable Heroine and the prize, a beautiful antique Cameo, were so unique, the Heart Beat of Denver thought you'd enjoy a brief interview with our 1999 winner Sue Peterson with DECOY BRIDE, Long Contemporary Category.

HODRW: How long have you been writing?

S.P.: I started writing fiction approximately four years ago. Before that the only writing I did was for my job as a school psychologist. There isn't a lot of call for creativity in psycho-educational evaluations. Although in graduate school, one of my Abnormal Psychology professors told me that I wrote my personality evaluations like a Mickey Spillane novel! I wasn't sure how to take that, but many years later when I ran into him in a writers group, he told me that Mickey Spillane was one of his favorite authors. I joined RWA after about a year of writing. It was then that I began to really learn how to write. Before that . . . well let's just say that the manuscript I was writing that first year will never see the light of day.

HODRW: Why don't you tell us a little bit about Kate in decoy bride?

S.P.: Shhh, don't tell my sister, Margie, but Kate is actually modeled after her. Margie is fifteen years younger than me, and her love of life is a constant inspiration to me. Like Margie, my heroine Kate loves life and she celebrates life to its fullest. Both my sister and Kate approach everything with a sense of humor and a joy that can only be described as contagious. They're both fun to be around, and people want to be with them based of their lovable personalities.

HODRW: Why do you think the judges found Kate so memorable, so Unsinkable?

S.P. Kate has moxie! She's a "working girl" from Syracuse, N.Y. who is trying to keep her struggling investigative business up and operating. Unfortunately for Kate, her meddling mother has been trying to get her hitched for as long as she can remember. And Kate's mom isn't above fixing up her wise cracking, tom boyish daughter with one disastrous blind date after another--including her clammy palmed gynecologist, Ernie Minski. When Kate's Prince Charming, Alexi, comes calling, Kate
is too busy trying to save her business to realize he's "the one". I think it's Kate's delightful naiveté, her total ignorance of her own beauty, and her rebel heart that all add up to a heroine I sincerely hope readers will love as much as I do.

HODRW: Do you have any advice for those of us who are striving to write engaging characters?

S.P. This is going to sound silly and trite, but I truly believe that my best characters are ones which I base on people I care most about. The character I end up creating isn't truly "that" person, but a combination of characteristics possessed by people I like
or admire. I also love twisting typical stereotypes--turning them upside down and doing exactly the opposite. This always makes the reader sit up and take notice. I also like to add the little touches that make a character come alive. Kate loved to eat, and she constantly worried about her weight. At one point in the story, she was eating lunch and drooling over a slice of Key Lime Pie. When the hero showed up she worried about whether or not she should actually eat the dessert in front of him or somehow steal the dessert and take it off with her to eat in seclusion. I don't think there's a woman alive who hasn't agonized over the same exact thing while sitting across from a devastatingly handsome man.

HODRW: Have you entered other contests?

S.P.: I had to laugh at this question. My own RWA chapter (Saratoga Romance Writers) has been trying to get me to do a workshop, and my biggest excuse has been, "What do I have to teach any of you about writing?" Well they recently decided I should give a workshop on entering writing contests--I guess I've become a contest queen. In reality, I've been very lucky with the contest I've entered. I truly believe that contests are a great way to get feedback from other writers and to possibly attract the attention of an acquiring editor. I enter my manuscripts in early draft form (that doesn't mean they are my worst writing, just that they are in the early stages of development). I do this because I want to get the judges reaction to my ideas--to see if
they fly. At this point, none of the contests I've entered have lead to a sale, but they have given me the opportunity to receive some fantastic critiques, which have only served to improve my writing.

HODRW: After the Molly contest, there was a rather spirited discussion on the HODRW list concerning the value of the feedback from contest Vs the feedback, in some cases, rejection letters, from editors. How do feel about contest feedback?

S.P.: I've found the feedback from contests to be invaluable. I know that entering contests is not always a positive experience for some writers, but I can't say that's the case for me. I've always come away wiser. Sure, there have been times when a particular critique or comment has stung. What critique doesn't? But I've learned that when I feel my defenses snapping up, it's time to take a break. Inevitably, whenever I've put a critique aside and come back to it later, I've found something truthful and helpful in the comments given to me.

HODRW: Have you submitted the Decoy Bride to a publishing house yet? If so good Luck.

S.P.: Decoy Bride was read by an editor at Silhouette Intimate Moments. This happened because of it being entered into a contest. It didn't final in that contest, but one of the judges contacted me and suggested that I might consider submitting it to her editor at SIM. Of course, I did. But it was rejected--oh the pain! So I'll do some more revising and then look around for a new home for Kate. Thanks again for the wonderful opportunity to talk about my heroine Kate. Members of HODRW and the contest coordinators, you all are just the most fabulous people alive!