Renée Rosen: On Writing Characters Down the Wrong Path
Bestselling author Renée Rosen discusses what she learned in the editing process of her new historical fiction novel, Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl.
Renée Rosen is the USA Today bestselling author of The Social Graces, Park Avenue Summer, Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants, and Dollface. She is also the author of Every Crooked Pot, a YA novel published in 2007. Renée lives in Chicago. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
In this post, Renée discusses what she learned in the editing process of her new historical fiction novel, Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl, the importance of listening to our characters, and more!
Name: Renée Rosen
Literary agent: Kevan Lyon
Book title: Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl
Publisher: Berkley/PRH
Release date: April 25, 2023
Genre/category: Historical Fiction
Previous titles: The Social Graces; Park Avenue Summer; Windy City Blues; White Collar Girl; What the Lady Wants; Dollface; and Every Crooked Pot.
Elevator pitch for the book: Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl is a historical novel based on the rise of Estée Lauder as she goes from making face creams in her Upper West apartment to dominating the makeup counter at Saks Fifth Avenue and the cosmetic industry as a whole.
What prompted you to write this book?
I had just finished The Social Graces and when I mentioned to a friend that I had absolutely no idea what or whom I going to write about next, she casually suggested I take a look at Estée Lauder. One quick Google search later, I was hooked.
I found her life so fascinating and her climb to the top of the cosmetic industry so inspiring that I knew I had to write about her. Frankly, I was surprised that no one else had already written a novel based on this remarkable businesswoman.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took me a good year to write the first solid draft and then another six months or so to revise and polish it up, which is always my favorite part. As for the idea changing, because I don’t outline, my stories always change dramatically during the writing process.
I tell people that after I breathe a certain amount of life onto the page and into the characters, they start taking over. That’s when they begin telling me their story, and I’ve learned the hard way to follow their lead. Whenever I try to force a character to act a certain way, or follow a certain path, it backfires, and I’ll find that I’ve written myself I into a 20,000-word corner.
It’s taken me years to trust that my characters each have a destiny to fulfill and that they know exactly where they’re going and what they’re going to do next. It’s my job to just write what they tell me and be surprised.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I always learn a great deal about craft during the editing process. I think it’s the most important part of the writing process for me. In the case of this book, the key learning moments had to do with my character arcs.
In early drafts I could see that my characters weren’t growing and changing with the events around them and with the passage of time. Essentially, I had to start them in a very different place emotionally and give them an opportunity to grow into themselves.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
The ending was a very big surprise. Again, because I don’t outline, my process is pretty organic, so I never have any idea how a book will end. I remember really struggling to reach a satisfying ending for this story—precisely because I wasn’t listening to my characters. I was trying to impose an ending on them.
I thought I had finally cracked it, but something didn’t feel quite right. I went back, looked at it again and realized it was basically the same ending I’d written for one of my previous novels. Obviously, I deleted that and went back to agonizing over the ending.
I remember I went to bed one night pondering how this book could possibly end, and one of my characters woke me up at five in the morning to say, “It’s me. I’m the one.” It took me totally by surprise and that last chapter pretty much wrote itself.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
First and foremost, enjoyment and escape. We need that now more than ever. But on a deeper level, I hope they’ll be inspired by Estée’s story to go after their own dreams. She had a vision and was so determined that nothing was going to derail her from reaching her goal. I truly hope that comes across in the book.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Aside from read, write, revise, the most important piece of advice I can offer has nothing to do with craft and everything to do with believing in yourself. You have to be able to bounce back from rejection and disappointment. For every one reject you get, send out five more queries. For every manuscript you finish, start writing another one. Be every bit as determined as Estée Lauder was to succeed.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
