Welcome to our New Faces column, where we're pleased to introduce new authors in the romance genre. This time we're visiting with Leslie Carroll, whose contemprary romantic comedy, Miss Match, is now available from Ballantine under the Ivy imprint.

Leslie, welcome to The Romance Reader! Tell us about yourself.

I'm a native New Yorker, born and raised here. And ever since I can remember, I've been immersing myself in the world of books. In fact, when I was a little girl, I didn't like my name, and I guess I didn't like where I was very much at the time, meaning that fantasy seemed a lot more fascinating than reality to me. So for a while, I called myself "Dorothy" and for another spell I called myself "Alice," evidently preferring Oz and Wonderland to the Bronx. When my sister and I were little kids, we went on a lot of long car trips with our parents and when I wasn't singing heart-wrenching ballads at the top of my lungs, I was in my own head, creating scenarios with imaginary friends. I'm still one of those people who walks down the street making up stories in her head. I don't look out for oncoming traffic as much as I should because I'm thinking about my characters or pirates or something. Sometimes, dialogue just pops into my head, usually while I'm on a cross-town bus, and I have to scrounge for something to write it down on or pray I can still remember it by the time I get where I'm going.

I went to a terrific grammar school and high school where, luckily, the very progressive teachers really encouraged students to follow their bliss - so much so that some of them even set fire to the school a couple of times. For me, that meant pursuing my passions for writing and acting - my twin loves ever since I can remember.

My late grandfather, Carroll Carroll, was a professional writer: a humorist, satirist, lyricist, copywriter, journalist, playwright, poet: you name it, he did it. And he taught me the basics of the craft, passed on his knowledge to me…everything from how to watch a movie with a critic's eye to the form of a sonnet. I remember falling in love with Cyrano de Bergerac and asking him how to teach me how to write a ballade. A few months ago, I came across one he wrote for me (I think I was about nine years old at the time) about becoming a writer. I didn't remember ever having seen it before. I burst into tears on the spot. April 11, 2002 would be his 100th birthday. To honor him, I chose it for the date of my launch party for Miss Match, my very first novel, at The Players, the theatrical and literary club where both my grandfather and I have been members. It was founded by the 19th c. American tragedian Edwin Booth and Mark Twain was one of the club's incorporators. In fact, I signed my very first publishing contract up in Booth's well-preserved bedroom. Me, my agent, her daughter, one of my dearest friends, four flutes of champagne and photographs of my grandparents, who were the profoundest influences on my life and my art. I have a sneaking suspicion that Booth himself smiled that day, too.

I'm also a professional actress as well as a novelist, and have been performing professionally for more years than I care to share J. I've played virgins, vixens, and villainesses in New York and in regional theatre, have appeared in commercials, on voiceovers and talking books, and daytime dramas. My favorite plays are the classics and I've played the leading ladies of Shakespeare, Molière, Coward, Wilde, and a staggering number of Shavian heroines. I'm also very proud to have had the opportunity to read, help develop, and perform new plays by Meir Z. Ribalow, Olga Humphrey, Arthur Giron, James McLure, Jack Heifner, and Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday, among others.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

Oh, dear. Several other jobs, actually, and I still work at three different day jobs while managing to write as well. In addition to keeping lawyers organized and being an actress (which has never provided steady employment), I've worked in politics, advertising, public relations, and journalism. So I've got a bit of a checkered past, but I feel that everything I've ever done, good and bad, has prepared me for my writing career. If we're encouraged to write from experience, I've certainly had a lot of them!

Back in 1989, when I felt I wasn't getting enough work as an actress, I decided to make some, so I founded my own non-profit professional theatre company called Survivor Productions that specialized in "neglected" English plays of the 19th century. I produced about eight seasons before reaching burnout. Running my own company, nearly single-handedly, taught me so much about the business end of show business and helped hone my promotion, marketing, and publicity skills. Also, the plays we did - choosing a repertory based on themes or ideas that were important to me and which I felt had wider resonance for the community - provided me with the opportunity to shape an artistic vision and share it with the public, something that authors do every day, so by the time I began writing novels, I was no stranger to the concept.

What led you to write romance?

Ahhhhh. Actually, it was a man's idea for me to write romance novels. I was on the Long Island Expressway enroute to the Hamptons in the summer of 1998 when I pouted and said "I want to get paid to write." My dear friend Meir took his eyes off the road, turned to me and said "you may not like this, but you're a natural for writing romances. You're the most romantic person I know." Or words to that effect. But that's how I remember it. And when facts become legend, print the legend, as they say in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

So, after Meir planted that little seed in my fertile brain (probably somewhere around Exit 57), by the time we got to East Hampton my mind was already sprouting plots and characters. I think I started writing something as soon as I got back to Manhattan, but I was amassing research that very weekend for an historical novel set on the Eastern End of Long Island during and after the American Revolutionary War. That became A Matter of Honour.

The following Monday, I began a part-time job as a theatre journalist and editor. I had been on the job for three days when an idea for a contemporary novel struck. Within six weeks, I had written my first complete novel. Now before everyone gets all jealous, let me hasten to add that even my own agent (whom I adore) told me that this book was more or less the highly satisfactory equivalent of literary training wheels and to throw it in a drawer. I have trusted her advice on everything since we started working together. I threw the manuscript in a drawer. A year from the big idea to launch a career as a romance novelist, I had written three full manuscripts and fragments of others.

I've been an avid reader since I was three years old (almost anything I could get my hands on, though mainly fiction and biography); and I've always written, though not in novel form. And I've always loved romance and the notion of happily-ever-after. I firmly believe that everyone's one true soulmate is out there in the ether. We just don't always hook up with that person the first time around. But if we gave up searching, or simply settled, we wouldn't believe in romance and in True Love, would we? Oddly enough, while the other things I've written and what I most enjoy to perform are "costume drama period epics," my first romance novel to be published is an urban contemporary comedy. In my mind, it's close to a lot of the British chick lit in tone and humor.

And shortly before I began writing romances, I also began compiling research for a non-fiction niche guidebook called The Anglophile's Guide to Afternoon Tea in New York. I'm a rabid Anglophile. I'd love to be able to finish the book in the not-too-distant future. The whole notion of Afternoon Tea is so delightful to me. It hearkens back to eras of grace and a slower pace, a more elegant way of living than the freneticism around us these days. And it's such a romantic sort of meal. But how do we get our men interested in joining us?

Tell us about your road to publication.

It was a pretty smooth one, actually. I ended up becoming acquainted socially with a romance editor shortly after I began writing in the genre. She was interested in seeing a manuscript, so I sent her one or two things and she liked them. From the very beginning I decided that I wanted representation rather than try to get to publishers on my own, because that seemed like such a crapshoot to me. If I was going to take my life in a new direction, I was going to treat it with respect and take it seriously. I asked the editor if she knew of any agents who were looking to take on new clients; she gave me three names and permission to use her as a recommendation in my query letters. One of the three responded, was intrigued by the manuscript I'd described, and asked to read it. Right away, she agreed to take me on. At that time, I had only been writing for a few months. Ironically, the manuscript my agent fell in love with was not the first to be sold. My debut novel, Miss Match, was sold to Ballantine right away. My agent said "I know just the editor for this book" and by God, she was right on the nose.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

Living in New York all my life. Being a single woman who has met a plethora of losers as well as several highly desirable men who suffer from "terminal FOC" (Fear of Commitment) as my heroine puts it. Since the book is a comedy, and having a humorist for a grandfather, I may come by it genetically. I like to think that I write about New York (and men) with the humor and affection I have for them. If I gently poke fun of their individual and collective pretensions from time to time, it's out of love.

What are your influences as a writer?

That's funny, I was just thinking about that a few mornings ago as I was walking to work. Jane Austen. Jane Austen. Jane Austen. And F. Scott Fitzgerald (not just because he and I share a birthday); Hemingway…Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain certainly, for their wry way of looking at life (Austen fits into that category, too). And there's Dashiell Hammett. The Thin Man is one of those delicious books I could read once a year. I admire clean, elegant prose. Say what it is you want to say and move on to the next sentence; don't gild the lily. Then, there's my all-time favorite book, Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. The belief that "it is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye" is one of the most powerful, profound philosophies I can imagine. And, come to think of it, I've always strongly identified with the title character in The Little Engine That Could.

What does your family think of having a romance author in their midst?

They seem delighted. Finally, my parents sound like they're proud of me. With my first novel debuting, they're telling all their friends, acting as though I'm about to give birth. I guess I am in a way. Austen always referred to her novels as her "children." They've been extremely supportive in every way. My mother even put announcements for Miss Match in the envelope with each of her Christmas cards this past December.

Tell us about your plans for future books.

After Miss Match, I've got a second Manhattan-based romantic comedy, Reality Check, coming out in the spring of 2003, also for Ballantine. They're publishing the first chapter of Reality Check in the back of Miss Match, so readers will get an appetizer portion of the second novel when they buy my first book. Reality Check takes a wry look at our cult of instant celebrity, reality TV shows (the one in my novel is called Bad Date) and, a little more seriously, explores what can happen to close friendships when a million dollar jackpot is at stake. The heroine is a savvy advertising copywriter approaching burnout and the hero is an entrepreneurial restaurateur who, shockingly, believes in commitment!

While I enjoy the hell out of writing contemporary comedies and have a string of other plots bouncing around in my brain, don't be surprised if you eventually see me writing in different genres as well - though they will always be love stories with lots of crackling sexual tension in all of them. I've got plans for a trilogy of noir novels in a similar tone to the Thin Man books (meaning frothy and fun), set in New York City in the 1940s just after the end of the war. I've also got a host of sketched out historical plots. I like to think that just as my moods change, where some days I feel like glamming up and other days I just want to sit around in my bathrobe or throw on a pair of jeans (and I think a lot of women can relate to that), I would like to have the freedom to continue to explore all my author-moods: urban romantic comedy, sparkling noirs, historical romps. I just wish there were more hours in a day to write all the stories in my head and in various file folders all over my apartment.

How can readers get in touch with you?

I'm delighted to hear from readers. They can visit me on my website at www.tlt.com/authors/lesliecarroll.htm and e-mail me at LadyNovelist@aol.com

Leslie, thank you for joining us, and best of luck! Readers, we have a review of Miss Match on our Contemporary page.

April 4, 2002