Friday, July 7, 2023

Barbara Montjoy is visitign and talking about Panster or Plotter #MFRWAuthor #romance #lawyer #Nissoula

 

1.    Are you a panster or a plotter or perhaps a bit of both?

I’m definitely a bit of both—especially if I’m writing romance. After all, we know what the ending will be.  😊 Just a matter of finding the twists and turns appropriate with the characters and setting.  But I also write suspense and sci-fi, and in these I need more idea of what the plot will be and how to get to whatever end I anticipate. I’ll start out with a sketchy outline and then fill in the farther I get along.

 2. Which comes first - characters or plot for you?

 I’ve done both. For example in my Clan Elves books, the glass slipper appearing on my modern Montana sidewalk twisted the Cinderella story—so, plot.

In the current book I’m working on now, the lawyer heroine came to me first. She is tall, thin and has long, thick, wavy red hair, a criminal defense attorney in 1990s Miami. Just because she is also found in the Everglades next to a burned car with a body in it… I mean, redheads are naturally trouble, right?

3. What are you working on now? Is this a book in a current series or something totally new?

My lawyer Bet that I mentioned above is in a standalone book that is a pretty straight up domestic thriller. I had an agent ask for it at a recent conference, and I’ve got my fingers crossed it’ll go far! 

4. Do you have some kind of object or place that figures in most of your books? I use gems a lot, hospitals and caves.

 My elf clan series and my romantic suspense TENDER MISDEMEANORS are all set outside Missoula, Montana in the Bitterroot Forest and Mountains. It is a beautiful setting, and I loved living there in the late 1970s. Missoula definitely has a hippie vibe, just like Asheville, NC, where I live now.

5. Do you write everyday or just when the spirit hits?

I do something related to my writing every day. Back at the beginning, I could indulge myself and write all the time, but now I find myself promoting both my work and other writer’s works weekly, checking social media and setting up teaching gigs. So being an author is more than a full-time job, as you know.

 

6. Where can we find you?

Author Links

Website          http://Alana-lorens.com

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

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens

Amazon Author Page  https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens

Twitter:  @AlexanderLyndi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/

Alana Lorens (aka Lyndi Alexander or Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and five crotchety cats.

7. Who are your favorite authors? What about a book you’ve enjoyed?

 Stephen King, although I confess I haven’t kept up with his most recent books. I also grew up on Anne McCaffrey’s dragon books, gothic romance by Victoria Holt, Dorothy Eden and Mary Stewart. Oh, and Robert Heinlein’s later work—you know, the wild ones like Stranger in a Strange Land. And also… well. So. Many. Books.

 

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