Are there any therapeutic benefits to modelling a character after someone you know?
A big YES. I base a lot of my characters on people I know or have met so when I find someone I don’t like I feel really good when I cast them as either villains or unpleasant people who upset others. I have got my own back!
Do you have any suggestions to become a better writer? If so, what are they?
I can only tell you what works for me. I have to write about a subject and in a style that I really like – not something that I feel is popular just to get sales. I find it hard to write about things that are not of interest to me – though I can. I am not very interested in romance/chick lit, so I don’t think I would do it justice. Others might disagree. I give my characters big definite styles, quirks, habits so they become real, rounded and hopefully readers get to like them so much they want to see what they do next. I have read good adventure books with all the right ingredients but found myself losing interest. I finally realised that it was because the main characters had little or no personality. I think you have to have strong characters whether they are bad or good.
Also write when you are in the mood. I know discipline is important but if your mind is on getting the dog walked, getting housework out of the way and all the other mundane tasks in life it will be distracting – so get chores done and have a clear field.
Do you like to create books for adults?
Absolutely. I have not the right empathy for childrens or teenage books. I have written a children’s adventure book which basically was a more childish version of the adult books I write – so it may or may not, succeed. It’s not published and I would have to research the appropiate market. I stick to what I know.
Does writing exhaust you or energise you? Or both?
Energise, energise, energise. I feel I have had a good and interesting day when I have achieved what I set out to do. If I do more and start or finish chapters that I hadn’t planned on, it’s a bonus. I might then feel a bit tired because my back begins to ache over the keyboard.
Have you ever travelled to research for your books?
Well —- yes and no. That’s because I had travelled extensively before I began to write. I have been lucky enough to travel to many countries and I do indeed use my knowledge of them as backgrounds for my books. What I don’t know about them I have pleasure in researching. It’s part of the fun process for me. I lived in Spain for two years so I have a really good knowledge of it which has proved invaluable in my second book. Not only the areas but the habits good and bad, of Spain and the Spanish.
How do you come up with character names for your books?
Easy – when walking my dog I often go to a cemetery and look at the names on gravestones. I find plain ones and exotic or posh ones. Long ones, titled ones and they give me ideas for the kind of character they would fit.
What inspired the idea for your book?
The first book inspired my second book. I saw it could – should – become a series so now I am writing my third in the series keeping the same main characters but developing them. They grow into better more experienced people, the quirks they have can be developed and the humour from this keeps me smiling. My books have huge dolops of humour even if the situation is serious.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I can be sitting in a cafe or bar, shopping, driving, walking the dog and I observe people, situations and listen into conversations. I write it down – not when I’m driving – to work it into the story. In fact I sometimes recreate a special situation for my characters and get them to react in whatever way I want them to. It might be a short funny incident or a chunk of the chapter.
What to you,are the most important elements of good writing?
Characterisation. Wishy washy characters make me lose interest even if the rest of the book is generally good. Good descriptions but not over the top. If you have a whole page of describing a scene, my mind tends to wander off. Also technical descriptions which are too long may seem necessary to the author but others may not understand – because they can’t. I have read beautiful descriptions of scenery and a house with all kinds of angles and measurements which I could not follow. If I had been an architect I would have loved it.
Would you and your main character get along?
Yes – but my second main character is more me. The dizzy blonde, daring, gungho, more intelligent than people give her credit forand endlessly amusing – even her best friend the main character sometimes under values her.
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