No, no, no – not the movie!…
I’m a really slack person and I’m belatedly adding my 2c. This blog tour is where writers and authors answer questions about their writing process. Fantastic Australian writers Joanna Lloyd and Tea Cooper have posted theirs and now it is my turn.
What am I working on?
In addition to writing, I work full time (fun fact: having a novel published is no guarantee of a life riches), so I need to be disciplined about my time, so tend to work on one title at a time as well as manage promotion of my debut historical romance, Moonstone Obsession. At the moment my second novel Warrior’s Surrender is being edited and I’m starting work on a sequel to Moonstone Obsession called Moonstone Conspiracy. Sometime the muse has a mind of her own and other great ideas pop up. When they do, I try to write a two page treatment and there they will wait until they’re ready to be written.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I write historical romance -a very crowded genre! My work tends to differ in that I like to tie the story to real historical events and have the characters very aware of the life and times in which they live. Instead of writing costume romances, I love to put the history in historical romance.
The secret to being an author. SIT – sit down at your desk even when you don’t feel like it. STAY even when you feel like giving up
Why do I write what I do?
I’ve always been steeped in history and reminded that people in all ages past lived, laughed and loved as we did. Human nature doesn’t change, so the stories of people who lived 400 or 4000 years ago are timely and relevant. CS Lewis refers to ‘the snobbery of chronology’ which infers that because people in the past didn’t have access to technology or scientific knowledge, that they were stupid. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason why we read Shakespeare today is his works explore transcendent truths that we can identify with today. I hope my stories will do the same.
How does your writing process work?
Some days I think I’m a pantser other days I might be a plotter. I tend to work by plotting the narrative framework and as I research, I allow the historical facts of the era fill in the spaces in between. Sometimes that requires an expansion to the story, other times whole ideas have to be jettisoned.
Then I write, hopefully getting down 2500 words per writing day.
I’m so grateful for the support of the marvellous writers I’ve met through Romance Writers of Australia, ideas , crit partners are such a valuable resource.
I’m especially blessed to have a husband who is an accomplished writer in his own right so is such a wonderful support. He is also my proofreader and editor who’s not afraid to give an honest opinion.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post!