Thursday, December 4, 2014

Fridat's Guest - Tricia McGill Talking about Heroes, Heroines and Villains #MFRWauthor

1. Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms? Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?

My books are all romances but I have written across several sun-genres, including historical, time-travel, contemporary, futuristic, and mainstream. I especially love to read time-travels and historical romances, and have read a lot of contemporary romances, preferring a touch of humour. I hate horror and don't read mysteries, so would never write in those genres. I attempted a horror short story once and had nightmares over it. I'm the sort of person who can't watch anything creepy on the TV, especially before bedtime. Oh, and I just don't have what it takes to write erotica, more than likely because I don't care to read it. This is not to say I don't admire authors who excel at all these genres.
2. Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? Does one of these come easy and why?

My heroes and heroines have always come easily to me, and I usually have their characteristics all worked out at the start of the book. I don't like super alpha males and prefer characters with faults. I've written a few villains into my stories but nothing too sinister. I deplore killing or savagery for the sake of it, but no story would be authentic without at least one nasty person to upset the smooth progress of things.
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 have always been based on a particular person as far as looks go. Often that person will be Matthew McConaughey. I know what they will be like as soon as I begin. My stories are character driven, so the hero and heroine are worked out from the start.
As for personality I think my father had the most influence on how I see men and how I rate them character-wise. Although I was only 12 when he passed away I wasn't so young I didn't perceive his strength, kindness and supportiveness. These are traits I have to instil in the main male of my stories.
4. 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 don't picture the heroine as much at the start although I do end up with an idea of what she looks like. As with the hero I know each heroine quite well at the start of my stories, and the plot is usually based around her and her problems, frailties or situation.
5. 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?

My antagonists are built into the plot and put there for a very good reason, to upset the proceedings and make life difficult for the hero, heroine or both.
6. What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?

My latest release is a time-travel, The Laird,  Book 1 in my Wild Heather series. My heroine is Liz, PA to Andrew the hero. They travel back in time together to Scotland of 1050. But, this one is slightly different as there are two heroes in this story, Andrew, and the Laird of the title who bears a striking resemblance to Andrew. They meet up with him back in time. His mother and his fiancĂ©e are the nasties here and do their best to make life as bad as they can for Liz, seeing her as an arch rival for the Laird's affections.
7. What are you working on now?

I'm currently working on Book 2 in my Beneath Southern Skies series, tentatively titled A Dream for Lani. The books in this series are all contemporary romances set in Australia. Lani is a woman who has been cosseted all her life, and although she has never been badly treated and is wealthy she's never really known what it is to be surrounded by a loving family. She finds what she is desperately seeking within the hero's family circle. But naturally there are snags to be overcome before the happy ending.
8. How can people find you?
            Website: www.triciamcgill.com
            Blog: http://triciamg.blogspot.com

                 Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/authorTriciaMcGill

5 comments:

Victoria Chatham said...

Thoroughly enjoyed learning about Tricia's writing process. Looking forward to reading 'The Laird'.

Janet Lane Walters said...

Thanks for stopping by. Made a change. Put her name up too fast. Too many worries. My apologies

Margaret Tanner said...

Great post Tricia, it is always interesting reading about another author's writing process.

Cheers

Margaret

Tricia McGill said...

Thanks for you comments ladies, and many thanks Janet for the chance to be on your blog. I hope your life will be less worry free soon.

Janet Lane Walters said...

Tricia, We're working on it.

Margaret, Thanks for stopping by