Whispers and Lies

"I love hearing that someone stayed up all night to finish one of my books."brbrNow aiNew York Times/ibest-selling author of popular psychological novels, Joy was eight years old when she sent her first story to a magazine. She wrote plays that she and her friends performed for their parents during summer vacation at the cottage. "As a child, I played with cut-out dolls until I was fourteen years old, long past the age when my friends still played with them. I made up elaborate stories with my paper dolls, letting my imagination run wild." In her last year of high school, her English teacher announced to the class that she was going to be a writer. She loved writing and was a good student. Her mother told her there was nothing she couldn't do well if she really wanted to do it.brbrAt the University of Toronto, however, she decided she wanted to be an actress. She performed in campus productions and starred in the student movieiWinter Kept Us Warm/i. When she graduated in 1966 with a BA in English Literature, she went into acting full-time, played the lead in CFTO'siRumble of Silence/iand appeared iniTwelfth Night/iat Stratford; she moved to Los Angeles and landed a role in an episode ofiGunsmoke./iShe also travelled to Las Vegas where she got to kiss Elvis Presley. She stayed there almost three years, acting, working in banks and starting a novel; but eventually returned to Toronto and her first love, writing. The acting background enriches her novels. "I approach the heroines as if I were a Method actress." Her theatre training taught her to see scenes, build structure, and "go for the drama".brbrHer first novel,bThe Best of Friends/b, was written at her parent's kitchen table within the first five weeks of returning to Toronto. Publishers in both Canada and the U.S. saw potential, and it was published in 1972. Less than ten years and several novels later,bKiss