Nambucca Heads’ own Annie Seaton knows how to write a strong female character because she is one.
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“I guess it comes from the sort of person I am. I’ve had a lot of careers. Whatever I do I’m determined to get to the top,” she said.
Her latest book Diamond Sky launched nationally this week and debuted at number 13 on the iTunes top selling books chart.
The third and final book in the Porter sister series follows the trajectory of a third sister, Dru, embroiled in corporate espionage and diamond heists in the harsh desert landscape of the Argyle mines.
It is attracting rave reviews from readers pulled in by the gutsy heroine and its visceral depictions of the Kimberley.
“These are my first three print books with an Australian publisher. Even though I started by writing formulaic romances, I’ve always written strong female characters,” she said.
“Dru is a very, very strong shut-down character.”
“It is harder for a woman to break that glass ceiling, I think it takes strength of character. As a female that’s something you develop as life goes on, but I can imbue my characters with those qualities straight away, they don’t have to learn them.”
Seaton leaves Nambucca each Winter to immerse herself in the landscape she is writing about, helping her to write engaging prose.
“Until I know what the air feels like on my skin, what the local bush smells like, the gritty dust blowing in the wind...unless I’ve been there I can't really tell it like it is. If you haven’t experienced it, I don’t think you can convince your readers that you know what you’re talking about,” she said.
Her books have attracted a large male readership and transcended the unflattering stigma attached to the romance genre partly due to her meticulous research methods.
She even learnt to fly a helicopter to write the first book, despite being afraid of heights.
Seaton is currently researching her next book in the Whitsundays for a two-book deal she just signed with Harper Collins Australia.
“My enduring lifetime dream was to write a book. Now I’ve done that I’m going to keep on going... Next in the pipeline is a story about the Wellington shipwreck off the Nambucca Heads Breakwall. I’d like to do a book a year for the next 10 to 15 years,” she said.
She returns to Nambucca for her Diamond Sky local book launch at the Nambucca Heads library on July 20 at 10:30am.
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RSVP to attend launch by calling (02) 6568 6906.
Diamond Sky is now available at the Book Warehouse at Coffs Harbour.