Romance novelist tells students to live their dreams
If someone has a dream of writing, they will succeed, RaeAnne Thayne said to a group of students Friday, Nov. 21. Thayne is a published romance novelist and Cache Valley resident.
“It may not be a New York Times Best Seller, but you can sell somewhere,” Thayne said.
Thayne, who is a stay-at-home mom and professional author, said she has sold more than 1.1 million copies of her work worldwide. Thayne met with about 20 students in a small classroom in the Ray B. West building to give a professional perspective to writing and how it has affected her life.
Thayne is a graduate of the journalism program at USU, and said the program really gave her a “leg up” in her chosen field. She said she writes her novels at home for about 10 to 15 hours a week, more if she has to meet a deadline, and loves it. She said loving her work is important to her.
“You have to love what you do, even if you’re covering basketball games in the middle of a blizzard,” Thayne said. “You just have to keep with it.”
She didn’t grow up wanting to be a novelist, Thayne said, but did enjoy writing assignments in high school while others despised it. She said while she was in high school, she took a journalism class as an elective course and discovered her passion for writing. She said it was somewhat surprising to her.
Thayne said her writing career didn’t stop after high school. Before classes started for her first semester at USU, she went into the office of The Utah Statesman, spoke to Jay Wamsley, the adviser of student publications, and asked if she could help with the paper, Thayne said. She said while writing for The Statesman she met her husband who was also working at the paper.
After graduation, Thayne was immediately hired by The Herald Journal and worked there for a few years as the city, county and government reporter, she said. After a time, she and her husband decided to start a family, Thayne said, and in 1990, their first daughter was born. She said it was while she was on maternity leave that she started writing her first romance novel. Thayne said she loved the creative control she had writing a novel.
“You’re the one in control,” Thayne said. “You have complete power in this world you’ve created in your mind. I love it.”
Thayne said in order to finish that first novel after maternity leave, and as she continued writing other novels for five years afterward, she would wake up at 4 a.m., write until 6 a.m., get ready for work and arrive there at 7 a.m. to read and rewrite stories for The Herald Journal. She said in the afternoon, she would arrive home soon enough to be a mom to her children, and then after the children were in bed, she would continue writing her novel for a few hours.
Thayne said she managed to sell her first novel in 1995, and soon after having her second child decided to quit her job at The Herald Journal and focus entirely on her writing.
Thayne said she writes romance novels in particular because it reaches such a wide audience, has real potential to help people and she enjoys doing it.
“I have a sign hanging on my wall,” Thayne said. “It says, ‘I may not change the world, but I can change someone’s afternoon.’ If you want to be a writer, figure out what you like to read and why you like to read it. It helped me figure out what I was doing.”
Romance novels account for more than one-fourth of all books sold, Thayne said, and 55 percent of all paperbacks. She said romance novels lead all others in genre-specific sales, generating $1.4 billion annually, while science-fiction novels earn $700 million and others earn less.
When asked which work was her favorite among those she has written, Thayne said she couldn’t decide, but said most important to her career is a novel entitled “Dancing in the Moonlight.” She said the book is based on the true story of a female soldier who returned from the war in Afghanistan after losing her leg.
Thayne said the strength of her stories is in the characters and the plot of her stories often reflects changes that characters are going through. Thayne also said she gets her ideas for characters in her novels from many different places.
“I love to go to a restaurant and eavesdrop on what people say just to hear the dialogue,” Thayne said. “Dialogue has always been one of my strengths from the very beginning. It’s good to gather ideas from people around you.”
Thayne also said when writing, it is important to meet deadlines and get work finished on time.
“Publishing is a brutal industry,” Thayne said. “I know lots of novelists who won’t write unless they have their muse sitting in their shoulder. I’ve learned you have to write whether you want to or not. I’ve learned to meet deadlines.”
The novelist must not be “married to every word” he writes, Thayne said, and to not take it personally when things are changed by editors. She said editors are necessary, but she is also conscious of the fact that the finished project is her work, and is willing to put her foot down every now and again.
“It’s my book, and my name is on it,” Thayne said. “If I feel strongly about something, I’ll fight for it.”
Thayne said no matter what students aspire to do with their lives, they should look to take full advantage of any career opportunities that come their way.
–space.lmh@usu.edu