This week I’ve been invited to join the My Writing Process blog tour by my friend Kate Blackadder. Kate writes short fiction and is widely published in women’s magazines: you’ll find her at katewritesandreads.blogspot.co.uk.
I don’t often think much about how I write so the questions the blog tour asks proved very stimulating.
What am I working on?
I’m looking forward to the publication of my first novel, Thank You For The Music, on 20 February (Tirgearr Publishing) and so I’m starting to deal with the promotional and admin side of the publication process - watch this space for a peek at the cover!
In terms of the writing side, at the moment I’m coming to what I hope is the end of my NaNoWriMo novel from November. Tentatively titled No Time Like Now, it’s a romantic suspense - my first in the genre - set in Majorca. The hero is a geologist who discovers something very nasty during the course of his research, and ends up relying on my heroine for rescue. Pity they fell out, very, very messily, some years before…
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I’m going to say that I think I write about real people. I know everybody says that but I’m trying to move a little away from the stereotypes usually associated with romantic novelists and make my characters a little more real. Of course this runs the risk that they may not meet readers’ expectations of a romance novel, but I’m prepared to take a chance.
Why do I write what I do?
Because I can’t help it! I’m very strongly influenced by places and often find that when I arrive somewhere new - whether it’s on holiday, on business or just by accident - I want to write about it. (I have a background in geography and Earth science and I do some travel writing so perhaps that’s inevitable.) But as for writing what I do - I write pretty much anything. In my life I’ve tried everything from literary fiction to romance to crime, with varying degrees of success. But romance and romantic suspense is where I am right now, and I’m loving it.
How does your writing process work?
Just as the nature of my writing varies, so does the process. Sometimes I’ll spend many months teasing out characters, writing, rewriting and changing my mind before abandoning the whole project. Other times I sit down and write a novel. (It really is as simple as that.) For my current piece, I had the idea while on holiday, when two characters from many years before finally met and found a plot. I roughed out the synopsis, started on November 1 and had the first draft finished within two weeks and revised by the end of the month. Pity it isn’t always this easy….
Who’s up next?
Well, it’s two of my colleagues from Tiregearr, Troy Lambert and Kate Robbins.
Troy Lambert began his writing life at a very young age, penning the as yet unpublished George and the Giant Castle at age six. He grew up in Southern Idaho, and after many adventures including a short stint in the US Army and a diverse education, Troy returned to Idaho, and currently resides near Boise.
Troy works as a freelance writer, researcher, and editor. He writes historical site characterization reports, software instruction and help guides, and edits both fiction and non-fiction. His true passion is writing dark, psychological thrillers. His work includes Broken Bones, a collection of his short stories, Redemption the first in the Samuel Elijah Johnson Series, Temptation the sequel to Redemption, along with the horror Satanarium, co-authored with Poppet, a brilliant author from South Africa and published by Wild Wolf Publishing. He has stories in several anthologies including the partially for charity Happily Ever Afterlife published by Untold Press. His newest novel Stray Ally will be released by Tirgearr Publishing this spring.
Troy lives with his wife of twelve years, two of his five children and two very talented dogs. He is a skier, cyclist, hiker, fisherman, hunter, and a terrible beginning golfer.
Author Website: www.troylambertwrites.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authortroy
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Troy-Lambert/e/B005LL1QEC
Kate Robbins writes historical romance novels out of pure escapism and a love for all things Scottish, not to mention a life-long enjoyment of reading romance. Her journey into storytelling began with a short screenplay she wrote, directed, and produced which was screened at the 2003 Nickel Film Festival in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She has also written and directed several stage plays for youth.
Kate loves the research process and delving into secondary sources in order to give readers the most authentic historical romance possible. She has travelled to Scotland and has visited the sites described in her Highland Chiefs series.
Bound to the Highlander is the first of three books set during the early fifteenth century during the reign of James Stewart, first of his name.
Kate is the pen name of Debbie Robbins who lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada with her hubby, the man-beast, and her two awesome boys, the man-cubs. You’ll find her blog at www.katerobbinsauthor.com
