Catching Up With Robyn Carr

We had a chance to talk to Robyn Carr at our local book club meeting to catch up with some of our favorite characters in her renowned series: Virgin River. Some of our questions could be of interest to other Robyn Carr fanatics. So settle back, read our interview and then click for a chance to win her latest: SUNRISE POINT

Between Jack and Preacher - two key and kingpin central characters of the Virgin River series - there is always a ready connection or shall we say welcome wagon for anyone at loose ends after leaving the military. Was your own family's history with first a military life and then moving on the impetus for these two characters?

Actually, no.  My real military experience came with my husband.  He was in his last semester of college when the US instigated the draft lottery.  He hadn't planned on the military, but if I remember correctly, the word was that the first 200 numbers (assigned by birthday) would be called, and we were in the thick of the Vietnam war.  His number, I think, was 53.  There was no choice but to enlist or be drafted.  And then there was little choice for us but to either get married or go our separate ways!  So he enlisted in the Air Force, went to pilot training and we spent ten years moving around from base to base, assignment to assignment. 

I've known some heroes in my day and like everyone, I've heard stories of amazing military men and women.  Jack and Preacher are composite characters meant to put a very positive spin on our men and women who serve. 

In each of the Virgin River series there is someone with challenging issues - always diverse as is life - but none the less a bridge to cross. How difficult is it to come up with an obstacle that can be dealt with in a compassionate manner and be dealt with a hopefully optimistically ending?

Not hard, not hard at all.  All I have to do is listen to people, observe, pay attention.  In addition to relationship issues we have women's issues and I'm fascinated by both.  The statistics alone are staggering – the percentage of people who have survive abuse, divorce, assault, death of a parent or child, it goes on and on.  I never write about specific people or a specific problem that's been shared with me, but the things I hear about or have personally experienced fill the well.  Add to that, my editor and I have long conversations about what "issues" haven't been dealt with in my stories.  What my readers love is a blossoming relationship in balance with real-life challenges that can be overcome in (I hope) a positive and intelligent manner. 

I love a happy ending but life doesn't always work that way. Have you ever developed a character and realized there just was no happy ending in their future? And if so did it end up on the cutting floor or were you gutsy enough to include it?

Oh gee, I'm sorry – I didn't get the memo!  You mean real life comes with occasional unhappy endings?  No, no – real life comes with difficult challenges, sometimes horrific challenges, but everything but death can be turned to a useful lesson.  And death – I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's not an ‘if' – it's a ‘when'.  As far as I know, no one gets out of this alive.  And there are so many lessons to be learned along the way.  To be fair, if we ran a poll we would find an unfortunate number of people who insist life sucks or is hopeless.  But my God – I have known people who have survived in POW camps or Auschwitz who have gone on to lead full, productive, happy lives! 

But let me stop – perhaps I misread the question.  Certainly there are bad people in my books who come to bad ends, but that's what we call consequences.  And I will add that there are some issues I won't confront – not because they're hopeless but because I'm just not qualified. 

Family relationships are key in Virgin River even though most of the characters come there to relocate due to some problem. Military life also means moving around a lot - was that the source for the wanderlust or nomadic background of some of these characters?

Lest you think I'm delusional, I know that Virgin River is an ideal.  A fantasy.  My readers know it, too – that it's the place they'd like to go if it existed.  A town buried deep in the mountains where people pull together and is just coincidentally filled with drop dead gorgeous men.  Right.  But wait – the values are not necessarily idealized.  These values of helping, pulling together, doing the right thing, commitment – these are things that can be recreated in any neighborhood.  The women are beautiful and the men handsome because these are romance novels, but the traits that draw the men and women together aren't limited to only handsome/beautiful people. 

A large percentage of the military who've gone to war are women. So far all your books have male veterans, will there ever be a female veteran coming home from the war and some of the things she would face?

Well, you're dead wrong – ANGEL'S PEAK featured a female veteran in Franci.  She served as a flight nurse, transported wounded from the front and that's where she met and fell in love with Sean Riordan.  And right now I'm writing a heroine who is still in service – I hope I can do her justice. 

More of veterans now survive to return home due to the advances in treatment. Some of your books include stories of veterans who've lost a limb in service. Is there someone close to you that has gone through this?

No one, but let's face it – it's daily news.  My son is an orthopedic surgeon in the Army, a veteran of Iraq, and he was a great help to me in the writing of that story.  And since writing PARADISE VALLEY I've gotten lots of letters from amputees, appreciating that storyline as it's their lives. 

Virgin River is filled with characters we get glimpses of during the individual novels but only a couple in each gets the detail treatment. Let's talk about some of our favorite secondary characters: do Cheryl and Brady have their book? Or Rick and Liz as more than secondary characters?

I answer this question a lot.  Not every character who crosses the stage gets a book dedicated to them and by 20 books, Rick & Liz, Dan Brady and Cheryl have appeared in many, many books; they've had many conflicts to overcome and have.  Take Rick and Liz – they've lost a baby, been separated by war, Rick's been disabled by war – what more should we do to them?  It's impossible to write a book my publisher will publish or my readers will read without conflict, without drama; I can't just write HEA's from page 1 to page 350!  Once characters have reached a resolution – whether it's a final admission of true love or have overcome a serious problem or are ‘settled' in some way that sets them up to be happy from now on, it's time to move on to the next troubled character or couple.  The only way to keep writing about those characters is to do something to them, put them up a tree and then bring them down safely.  No one, not even our favorite fictional friends, deserves to be troubled over and over and over again. 

I do, however, let several of the most beloved characters back on the scene from time to time so my readers can check on them and see that they're perfectly all right.  But I can't do that with every character who ever crossed the page – I would have books so populated no one would be able to follow them. 

You build very detailed worlds in your Virgin River series and include glimpses to other series from your past work. Loving the two communities of Virgin River and those in "DEEP IN THE VALLEY," will there be more books set in both?

I don't know.  The Grace Valley series was a trilogy, a three book story arc that was completed over 10 years ago.  When I finished the 3^rd book, I felt it was done.  Many of those Grace Valley characters have appeared in Virgin River novels.  If I continued to write those books, those characters, over and over, readers would be so bored.  The idea is to create new stories.  And while I never say never, right now I think it's time to spin off one of the characters from Virgin River into a new town, a new challenge, a new relationship and environment.  That's what I'm working on right now. 

Tell us how it's best to have readers connect with you.

Through my website – www.robyncarr.com  

Thank you so much Robyn for answering our questions, and as a special gift we'll be giving away a copy of SUNRISE POINT. All you need to do is answer the question: What book features a female veteran who falls in love with Sean Riordan?