Under the name Selena Montgomery, Abrams penned eight romance novels beginning with 2001sRules of Engagement.
I dont know how not to write, she tells EW.
Its a pivotal part of how I think about the work that I need to do.
Credit: ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Youre a lawyer and a politician.
Was writing romance also always a life goal of yours?
I knew Id read espionage stories with women as primary characters and with women front and center.
AVON
I realized that I was watchingGeneral Hospitaland reading romance novels.
And being thoughtful about how you do it.
It respects the diversity of our experiences, and it creates space for broader conversations.
HarperTorch
Do you feel romance is inherently political as a genre?I would say we all lead political lives.
How do you identify the obstacles in regards to getting there?
You write romantic suspense and your stories often deal with crime, spies, and more.
Henry Holt and Co.
They deserve a space and a platform.
We have a responsibility to those around us.
No ones alone, and its our obligation to serve and to help one another.
In a scene inNever Tell,my protagonist meets a woman whos a victim of domestic violence.
She says, Sometimes we need someone to believe in us until we can believe in ourselves.
I do know that it stunted my sales.
Ive never hidden her.
I started publishing in the early 2000s.
It was a bad marketing ploy.
I came up with a pseudonym that was much more evocative and sounded more romance novel-ish.
Im proud of who I am and what Ive done.
Im proud of the stories Ive told and the experiences Ive gotten to live vicariously through these books.
I wrote a piece on Mesopotamian astronomy that got published in a physics journal at the local university.
My very first public work was nonfiction.
Ive always been very comfortable moving between genres and moving between ideas.
Its one of the most parts I found the most fun about being Selena Montgomery.
WritingMinority Leaderwas the first time I was being so directly inward.
I wanted to write a how-to book.
That part was a lot of fun, especially realizing all the places Ive been wrong myself.
My parents loved reading and storytelling.
My mother would read to us every night.
What books symbolize is the broader world thats available.
I knew I wasnt alone in this and my opportunities were greater than anything I could have imagined.
