You don't get to be the most popular author on the planet by not knowing your mind. Nora Roberts is delightfully frank about her new novel, the "outside world" and the only thing that earns respect and success for romance writers.

MB: What frustrates you most about the 'outside world's' perception of romance?

NR: This is such an old drum to keep on beating. Really, what's the point? And I certainly don't believe the 'outside world' has any attitude about the genre which frustrates me. Otherwise, the genre wouldn't sell as successfully as it does.

Certainly there are some who dismiss the genre out of hand, (saying it's) all the same silly, smutty, fluffy and horny. Nothing I say will change that perception if the person holding it is dug in.

I will say that relationship books are about people, and those that fall within the romance genre include the key element of two people falling in love, working their way through obstacles and conflicts toward a lasting bond with each other.

I don't understand why books that celebrate that, and the power of love, aren't to be respected.

MB: What would you like to see readers and the industry -- writers, publishers -- do from within to help change the public's perception?

NR: I can only say I don't much care about the perception of someone who elects to dismiss an entire genre of fiction out of hand. Why would I?

There is only (one) thing I -- or any writer -- can control. The story. Write good books about interesting characters -- that's it.

I try to do that, and certainly I try to comport myself in a professional manner in the public -- without being ridiculous or stiff about it. Everything changes, everything cycles. Readers' tastes, moods, cover art, trends and so on and so on. All a writer can do is write the best book he or she can at that particular time.

Certainly if a writer does an interview and giggles her way through questions about the sex or sensuality in her book, or the genre, or goes on and on and on about how hot, how steamy, how explicit the sex is in her novel, she's asking to be dismissed or snickered at.

MB: Let's talk about your new novel. What or who inspired "Angels Fall?"

NR: This is a question I can never answer well, as it's rarely anyone or anything that "inspires" me to write a book. I had an idea and the idea centered on someone witnessing a murder at a great distance. Too far away to help, or even to provide real details. What would you do if you saw someone being murdered, and could do absolutely nothing?

Then, I wondered, what if -- due to circumstances -- the witness wasn't believed? No one finds any evidence of the crime, and no one believes her. OK, what if... That's what's next for me.

What if the witness has emotional or psychological problems -- a past trauma? Hmmm, what kind? How is she dealing with it? Who was she? Who is she now? Where did she come from, and how did she get here?

And where could someone see a murder at a distance, be unable to call for help, unable to provide any, unable to reach help before -- if there had been a murder -- the killer could tidy up after himself?

It's all a building process for me, from whatever element starts it off, until, hopefully, I have a solid foundation to set the story on.

MB: What do you like most about "Angels Fall"?

NR: Another pretty impossible question. I certainly like the characters a great deal. I couldn't put all that time and effort, that energy and passion into telling their story otherwise.

I liked the idea about telling the story of a woman's coping mechanisms, how she could creep and crawl and claw her way back from a horrible experience. And I liked meeting the kind of man who would and could help her without carrying her away from all the bad stuff. A man who'd let her deal.

A lot of the action takes place in a diner. I enjoyed building the diner, and the cast who works there.

MB: Who's the most heroic person you know?

NR: Too many choices, too many variables, too many definitions of heroism.

MB: Who's your romance hero -- dark, brooding bad boy, or white knight in shining armor?

NR: I don't have a romance hero. Why would any reader, or writer, want only one type? It depends entirely on the story. Plus, you could have a dark, brooding bad boy in shining armor. A shining knight doing some serious brooding.

I see no point, no need, to limit ourselves. Added to it, romance novels are entertainment. Entertainment fiction. I'm not looking for a romance hero, except within the bubble of the story I'm reading or writing. So I can be wonderfully fickle in that area.

MB: It's been said that romance is at a "tipping point," that soon it will become popular in the mainstream. What are your thoughts on that prediction?

NR: I don't think about that sort of thing. It seems to me romance has been popular in the mainstream for a long, long time. Who predicts this stuff, or comes up with terms like tipping point?

I have to say, again, I just don't worry about it. My concern is the story and doing my best by it.