1.
Do
you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales
in many forms? Do your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Are there
genres you wouldn’t attempt?
I mostly write Romance but I have written an as yet unpublished
children’s book, and I’ve also had quite a bit of poetry published. I have an
idea for a Romantic Suspense story too (still romance though, so maybe it
doesn’t count). If I attempted anything else I think it would be a family saga.
I don’t think I would ever attempt adult fantasy or horror.
Although I enjoy reading romances my choice of books is far more
eclectic than that. I enjoy many different genres and types of book but only if
they are well written. I can’t abide books that turn me into an editor as I try
to rewrite them in my head.
2.
Heroes,
Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorites to write? Does one of these come
easy and why?
Heroes I think, although I don’t know why. Maybe a psychologist
would have the answerJ I
enjoy choosing my heroines, and sometimes villains are a necessary evil for the
plot, but the hero is still my favorite to write despite being the most
difficult. Why? Well I guess I fall a little in love with each one as I write
about them.
3.
Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination
create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or
after you have the idea for the story?
My heroes always arrive after I’ve had the idea for a story. The
heroine comes fully formed at the beginning and then I develop the plot. Only
when that is in place to I start to search for the hero. Unlike the heroine,
who is usually based on a picture I’ve seen, he is almost entirely a figment of
my imagination. I look at who the heroine is and what she needs, and then I find
a hero to match.
3.
Heroines.
How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or imagination create the woman
you want the reader to root for? Do they appear before the plot or after you have
the idea for the story?
I’m a very visual person so I can’t start a story until I know
exactly how the heroine looks and who she is. This only happens once I’ve
‘seen’ her, maybe in a picture in a magazine, or on TV, or I might even just
pass her in the street…but until I can fix a face in my mind, I can’t start writing. Once I have her face, her character begins to develop, and after that
it all begins to slot into place.
4.
Villains
or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad
guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining
their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human?
Mmm…not so easy to answer. Although I have had a few villains in
my books, they usually appear when I need them and develop with the story. Much more difficult is the ‘inner’ villain in
my characters. I mostly write Romance and in my books the hero and/or the
heroine are frequently their own worst enemies.
Finding a way past their hang-ups and obstinacy to the happy ending they
are searching for is far more challenging than any number of villains.
5.
What
is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?
My latest release is Saving
Katy Gray: Book 3 of my When Paths
Meet trilogy. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MMXVNAO Katy Gray is the
heroine and she is used to losing
things. By the time the story starts she’s lost her childhood home, her career
and reputation, and finally, and most dreadfully, her identity. So when she
meets Emlyn Brooks, the hero, she isn’t about to trust him, or anyone else. She
just wants a job, so why does she challenge him when he offers her one without
the courtesy of a proper interview? And
later, why won’t she believe him when he tells her that the blonde, beautiful
and spiteful Lucy is of absolutely not importance.
6.
What
are you working on now?
A difficult question because I have a children’s book I want to
re-write, another Romance that I’m about one third of the way through, and a
third book that is still a host of shadowy characters in my head. I don’t
usually have 3 books on the go at once and I know I’ll have to prioritize, and
that it will probably be the partially written Romance, which is set in London
and Florence, and is about a failing jewelry empire.
8.
How can people find you?
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Thanks so much for inviting me to visit your blog Janet. I enjoyed talking to you.
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