She writes romantic stories, spiced with vivid sex scenes: She wants women to fall in love with her characters, and she explains the definition of love (PHOTO)

Modern love novels are very popular with a lot of female audiences. They show stories every woman expects to experience at least once in their lifetime, and a tense plot with a happy ending is something rarely any lady can resist. Writer Samantha Young is the real master in writing such stories.  

The woman who wrote the "Shopaholic" and charmed the Serbs, has a strong message for those who like shopping. She also revealed a great truth about love (PHOTO)

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She was born in Scotland in Sterlingshire. She graduated from Edinburgh University. Soon she began to write teenage novels, and then novels for the adult audience. Her works are genuine bestsellers around the world, and with each new book, this young lady is becoming more and more popular.

Samantha spoke with Telegraf about her work, about what her writing looks like and what moves her in her work. She highlighted what she liked the most with her readers, but she also discovered what love meant for her.

• Where do you find inspiration for your novels and are some of them inspired by true events?

I find my inspiration in the people around me, in music, movies, books, and poetry. I wouldn’t say the stories are inspired by true events word for word, but there are elements of my books that are inspired by real life.

Dialogue, experiences and some of the issues I tackle in the stories are all from either my life or from the lives of close friends and family.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

• You were known as a writer for teenagers, and now you write for adults. How do you manage to separate those two roles? Was it difficult to change the audience?

It wasn’t difficult, it was just different. There are limitations to what you can write in teen fiction because as a writer you’re responsible for the message you deliver to young, curious and developing minds.

With adult fiction, I’m less limited by the situations and language and, to a certain extent, the kind of characters I can explore. I like the challenge presented by both audiences.

• The themes of your stories are always love, family, friendship, stories where leading heroes get to know themselves and find happiness at the end. Do you see your books as modern fairy tales, because the leading heroes go through all hardships to be happy at the end?

I can see why my books would be described as modern fairy tales, and, in a way, I agree they are. But when I think of fairy tales I think of stories of myth, magic, and legend.

Because I like to take from real life as much as possible, I like to think my contemporary romance books are more tangible, more real, and more relatable than a fairy tale.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

• How would you describe love in your own words?

Love is easy, hard, scary, freeing, overwhelming, soothing, frustrating, enduring and complicated.

• Do we as a society miss romance nowadays? Many ladies complain that men don't know how to seduce them.

I think we enjoy romance as much as we’ve ever done but it’s something now more openly discussed and acknowledged, especially in modern romantic fiction.

I don’t know if we, as a society, miss romance within our relationships. To some women, romance is your partner doing something as simple as cooking you a meal after a long day at work, to others it’s your partner sweeping you off on a surprise romantic break. I think it depends on your personal definition of romance.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

• In your novels, you present the audience a very strong and descriptive sex scenes. How much is that important in your writing and do you find it as one of your stronger sides in your work?

Modern romantic fiction has developed over the years and I do believe in one way it has changed is in how descriptive readers expect every aspect of the romance to be. Although the sex scenes in my books are graphic they are not gratuitous.

I don’t just write a sex scene for titillation. My readers expect descriptive sex scenes in my novels because they punctuate the development of the romance between the hero and heroine. They passionately convey to the reader how the feelings between the hero and heroine are progressing.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

• Your female characters are strong women, with a few problems from the past. Some of them also have a bad relationship with their family, they were hurt, but they believe that they will be happy one day. They also have a lot of charm, they are very independent and female readers can relate to them. How much is that pattern important in your writing?

This is so important in my writing. Most of my readers are women and I want them to fall in love with my characters. I want them to be able to relate to my heroines. There is nothing more thrilling than receiving emotional emails from readers telling me how a heroine of mine made them feel less alone.

That they connected so completely with them because they’ve shared similar experiences. That’s all I want. I want my readers to connect with my characters. If they connect then they fall into the story and I provide them with escapism, which is one of the most important jobs a writer can do.

Foto: Samantha Young

• Is the blend of a good love story, real problems, and sex, a real recipe for success because it keeps the reader's attention from beginning until the end? Or you can see yourself in another genre?

I have a lot of readers around the world who enjoy my contemporary romances and for as long as they continue to enjoy them I’ll continue to write them. However, I love different genres so I hope that in the future I get the opportunity to branch out into other genres.

• Have you always wanted to become a writer? How does your writing process look like?

Since I was seven years old and read C.S. Lewis’  THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, I have wanted to be a writer. I’ve written stories ever since. My process now is to take the fruit of an idea and explore characters for that idea.

I break them down into character profiles so I can get a really good understanding of who my characters are and once I have that I write a pretty full summary of the story.

From there I start writing chapter summaries. Once I have a few chapter summaries I’ll sit down at my laptop and start to write the story.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

• Have you always believed in yourself or there was a time that you were thinking of giving up your writing?

I think every writer goes through periods of doubt about their writing. I don’t think that will ever go away. It’s like any job. Some days you feel like ‘yes, I’ve got this, I know what I’m doing’ and there are other days when you doubt every word you’ve put on the page. But I’ll never give up.

• Do you enjoy your popularity, what do you think about your readers and how do they react to your books? What kind of book should we expect next from you?

I love my readers. I have the most supportive, wonderful readers in the world. I’m a pretty reserved person so I never like being center of attention, but I love that people enjoy my books because it means I get to keep working in my dream job, making readers happy.

Up next from me is a novella from the ON DUBLIN STREET series and it’s two of my readers’ favorites, Liv and Nate. They’re back after ten years of marriage.

Beyond that readers can expect a new teen book THE FRAGILE ORDINARY, with a heroine who means a lot to me.

Foto: Promo/Laguna

Moreover, I’ll be returning to Scotland, this time Glasgow, for a contemporary romance in my new PLAY On series. I have lots of stories in the works. It’s going to be a busy year!

• You are very popular in Serbia. Do you plan to come to our country and to hang out with your readers?

I’m delighted to know that readers in Serbia enjoy my books so much! It’s definitely on my bucket list to come over and meet all my amazing Serbian readers.

(Telegraf.co.uk / A. Taskovic -  a.taskovic@telegraf.rs)