Author Spotlight - Phillipa Ashley

Today we are very happy to welcome the extremely busy Phillipa Ashley to the Minxes blog to answer some of our devilish minxy questions. Take it away, Phillipa!

Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

I’d just started creative writing. In late 2005, I watched a TV adaptation of North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell which inspired me to write a romantic ‘modern’ fan fiction tribute to it. After that I wrote Decent Exposure and I haven’t looked back since.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Publishing is changing so rapidly that I don’t think any writer (or publisher, for that matter) can afford to make predictions five years ahead. I’ve realised I love variety so I’d like to be exploring new ideas within the romance and women’s fiction genre and hopefully, selling even more copies!

Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Apart from Pride & Prejudice? Only joking. I was a judge for the 2011 RNA’s Love Story of the Year and there were some lovely romances on there, including the winner, The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst by Louise Allen. I wish I’d written that – but I’m not a historical writer so I wouldn’t know where to begin. Other than that, almost anything by Ian Rankin. I’d love to have a wee dram with Inspector Rebus.

Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?
Studying English Lit at Oxford put me off writing myself, because I knew I’d never measure up to greats like Jane Austen. It was actually North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell, or rather the TV adaptation, that kicked off my own writing career.

Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?
I love writing them and most of mine contain humour, just like in real life! Though, I can’t bring myself to write ‘certain’ words or body parts...

What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?
All the thoughtful little things done by my husband, like framing my book covers and making me a montage of pictures from the movie version of Dating Mr. December – and bringing me cups of tea in bed at the weekend. We’re celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next year so I hope there are many more romantic moments to come.

What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?
That it would be far harder and yet far more fun than I’d ever imagined. Not everything has gone to plan but I’ve also had some amazing unexpected highs – like the movie of Decent Exposure and this year, when I have four books coming out.

What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?
“Plot is not a series of events but of actions with consequences.”
In other words, be led by the characters, rather than a pre-set plan.

Tell us about your latest release.
Deep breath: I have four books out this year!
Brief Encounters
Later this spring, I have two ‘sweeter’ short stories in a fun romantic anthology called Brief Encounters published by E-scape with a Book. The other authors are RNA members, Nell Dixon and Elizabeth Hanbury. These are new ventures for me as one story is written in the first person and the other from a male POV entirely.
In June, Sourcebooks will release Wish You Were Here in the USA (originally published by Little Black Dress). My inspiration came from a holiday on the sultry Mediterranean island of Corsica. I wanted to explore what would happen to two people who meet again many years after an intense holiday romance.
In July, Samhain is publishing, Fever Cure, my new contemporary romance. It’s emotionally intense and very sexy – probably the hottest book I’ve written - and features an aristocratic doctor hero and a sparky teacher heroine. When I was a student, I once sat opposite a guy in a library who was a minor aristocrat and studying medicine. It must have left a deep impression on my mind because this my second book with a doctor hero.
In autumn, Sourcebooks are releasing It Should Have Been Me in the USA. This is another of my Little Black Dress novels and also features a gorgeous jungle doctor. In fact, the hero, Matt, is a friend of Tom from Fever Cure.

What’s next for you?
Another women’s fiction release for Sourcebooks in spring 2012 - and I’m working on a new romance at the moment.

Thank you having me, Sally – I love the idea of being a romance minx!

You can find out more about Phillipa at her blog here

Thank you so much for being minxy for the day, Phillipa! I love that writing advice, and look forward to reading an awful lot more from you in the very near future!

A sense of place – starting with location

There are lots of ways of starting a book and one way of starting a book is with location. I like being immersed in my surroundings in the first couple of paragraphs when in a book and find it very effective.

Here’s a few examples…

The first example is from Kimberley Lang’s What happens in Vegas…
That was an actual mirrored disco ball spinning over a lighted dance floor. Hundreds of sweaty bodies crowded the dance floor, moving to a techno dance mix, and the bass line thumped like a heartbeat. This club-The Zoo- had strobe lights, LED-lit jungle vines hanging from the ceiling and zebra-striped furniture. This place took tacky to a whole new level.


Next, from Kate Hardy’s Good Girl or Gold-Digger?

Someone really had broken into the fairground museum. Several people-and pretty drunk, too, judging by the number of smashed bottles around the gallopers and the vomit sprayed nearby. Yobs who’d thought it would be a laugh to cut off the horses’ tails and spray-paint obscene graffiti along their sides. And they’d used the café as a coconut shy and lobbed stones through the plate glass, wrecking it.

Finally, to show that I really like opening a story this way, here’s a location passage a couple of paragraphs in from the start of my current wip.

Grey clouds blackened, swelling with rain. A low rumble, then the heavens opened, dashing a fierce quiver of angry rain arrows towards the group huddled next to the open grave. In an instant, a flurry of umbrellas soared skywards, painting the monochrome scene with colour.

What's your favorite way of opening a story?

Bite Me!

I am in mourning.

(Don't read on if you are a Being Human fan and haven't yet watched the series 3 finale. Honestly, don't.)

My favourite vampire ever literally bit the dust on TV last Sunday evening, and I don't mind telling you that I cried big fat tears.

Now, this is not a new thing for me. I have fallen for quite a few vampires over the last couple of years.
Eric Northman is just sex on legs, Bill Compton is charming and Edward Cullen is beautiful, but for me none of them can hold a candle to the mighty John Mitchell.

For those who haven't yet had the absolute knicker twanging pleasure....

I cannot begin to tell you how you how deep my love for this show runs, or how gutted I am that they decided to end Mitchells story.
I've loved every minute of the three series of BH. Watching the dynamics develop between the three unlikely main characters - a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost - has been a blast, and the bromance between Mitchell and George was probably the most touching thing of all.  Hats off to both actors for making it so heart wrenchingly believable.

The combination of beautiful writing and casting a beautiful man worked on every level to make Mitchell utterly irresistible.
He was dark and murderous, yet sweet and loveable.
He was incredibly cool and scorching hot.
RIP Mitchell, you will be very sadly missed by your legions of fans around the globe.


I'll leave you now in the safe hands of the lovely Aidan Turner himself. Girls, we have treated you well with eye candy this week - naked chefs on Monday, and now bone meltingly handsome vampires. What's not to love?

Happy weekends people!

Author Spotlight - Leigh Michaels

I am delighted to host author Leigh Michaels here today. Leigh started her career with Harlequin Romance, and has since published nearly 100 books, including non-fiction, historical and contemporary romances, and On Writing Romance, a must-read book for all aspiring romance writers. She is also a co-founder, with Rachelle Chase, of the Chase the Dream contest.

Thank you very much to Leigh for joining us here at the Minxes today, to talk about her latest book, The Mistress' House.

* * *

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Totally burned out! After writing eighty sweet traditional romances for Harlequin, I’d said everything I had to say, and going to work in the morning was no longer fun. So I figured it was time to stop – and I moved on to other things (including editing and publishing other people’s books through the small press my husband and I own, and teaching more classes at Gotham Writers’ Workshop.)

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

I was co-sponsoring a writing contest with a fellow author and she challenged me to meet the conditions of entry – capture her attention in the first 1,000 words of a romance and make her want to read more. If it was fair for us to set that rule for entries, she said, it was only fair to live by it ourselves. And she suggested I try something completely different from my usual sweet traditional, too. So I wrote the first 1,000 words of a sexy historical short story, just to prove that I was not hidebound or behind the times. That short story eventually turned into The Mistress’ House.

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

I’d really like to be the Georgette Heyer of the 21st Century – writing lively, witty, fun social comedies set in the Regency period.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. They’ve done a terrific job with explaining the basics of fiction writing at a level that beginners can understand but experienced writers also find enlightening.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

I got hooked on Emilie Loring when I was in junior high school – she wrote fun romances that usually had a mystery or puzzle included. And of course Georgette Heyer.

6. Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?
Eye-rolling-worthy, actually. I always have to take several stabs at each love scene so it has both detail and emotion and doesn’t cross the line into purple prose. And making each one different – yeah, there’s a challenge!

7. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

A few years ago I was away from home, teaching at a writers’ festival, when my husband got the news that his cancer diagnosis was a lot worse than we’d expected. A friend drove him to the hotel where I was staying, and when I came in from class he was there in the lobby. He started to run to me, I dropped everything and ran to him – it was one of those Hallmark movie slow-motion moments. (Fortunately, despite the bleak prognosis, he’s still here and kicking 12 years later.)

8. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were published?

How important it is never to stop for the day at the end of a scene or a chapter! It’s so satisfying to have finished, and it’s so tempting to quit there. But it’s much harder to get started the next day when I’m facing a blank page.

9. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

“Never believe your own PR.” – Jacqui Bianchi, Editorial Director of what’s now Harlequin Mills & Boon. Jacqui was my first editor and she was a published author herself. While there’s nothing wrong with being proud of our achievements, no matter how great a review is or how many copies a book sells, an author is only as good as her next book.

10. Tell us about your latest release.

The Mistress’ House is a sexy Regency set in 1815 London. The Earl of Hawthorne buys a modest town house around the corner from his own mansion, intending to stash his mistresses there (one at a time, of course) – but the first woman he brings to the house captures his heart. Then his new countess loans the house to a friend, who also finds love while living there… and at last the earl hides his ward in the house, and she, too, meets the man of her dreams. It’s three stories, but it’s not an anthology because the stories weave together.

11. What’s next for you?

I’ve written two more sexy Regency romances. Just One Season in London, which comes out in July, features the Ryecroft family – young Viscount Ryecroft, his sister Sophie, and their mother, as they all try to marry well not for their own comfort but to make life easier for the others. Then in November The Wedding Affair comes out – the Duke of Somervale’s sister is getting married, but the guests at this country-house wedding have anything but marriage on their minds. All of my Regencies are triple stories, with the heroes and heroines interacting across the story lines.

You can buy Leigh's books here:
The Mistress' House: Amazon and Amazon UK
On Writing Romance: Amazon and Amazon UK

Check out Leigh's extensive back list at her website: www.leighmichaels.com

What lies beneath the apron?

It's official. Men who can cook rock my world.

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach don't they? Well, you know what? I reckon the same goes for us girls too. A man who can make dinner is a keeper in my book.

My other half, for instance,  is one of the most practical and intelligent people i've ever met, so why is it that the sight of a food processor is enough to bring him out in a cold sweat? He wields a chain saw around like a toy, yet would back away in terror from a hand whisk. Ditto the oven, it's all way too much for him to compute (much like the washing machine actually, but that is a lament for another day lest this should become a personal grumble about domestic inequality chez moi...)

Back to the pleasurable business of men who can perform culinary magic. That sounds almost dirty doesn't it.  Ooooh err!

First up for your delectation, the bad boys. The type of man you just know is all kinds of trouble and arrogant as hell, but that doesn't stop you imagining him without his apron.

Gorgeous Gordon...

and mad Marco...

Phew! Did it just get hot in here? Let's turn up the heat to full on sizzle and throw in everyone's favourite all rounder, the delectable Mr. Oliver. He's one of those men who just gets better with age isn't he?

But my personal favourite has to be the very naughty Gino D'Acampo. That gorgeous italian accent and cheeky smile is a killer combination, and he has just cooked naked for the nation on morning TV. What's not to love? 

Don't say we don't make an effort to brighten up your Mondays.... Enjoy!