Author Spotlight - Kate Walker

This week the Minxes are proud to welcome back multi award winning and USA Today Bestselling Author Kate Walker. Kate has recently had her 60th title accepted and I'm sure everyone agrees she is an absolute inspiration to all aspiring authors.

Kate has very kindly offered a signed copy of any of her backlist books to a random (non-Minxy) commenter today, winner will be picked randomly and announced at the bottom of this month's Man of the Month post on Friday 7th October.

What is your writing process?

I’m half plotter, half panster!! I spend a lot of time before I put finger to keyboard thinking about my hero and heroine and getting to know them so that I hope I know how they will react to things. Then I have the basic ‘seed’ of an idea – it’s ‘what if he is this and she is that and then this is what starts things off.’ I have a good general idea of what the main conflict between them is and why it’s there – and how they meet. Then I have a strong idea of some key scenes along the way. After that it’s like introducing two people to each other and seeing what happens. I have a sense of where I want to head but not too sure how I’m going to get there – but knowing the characters and what they are feeling keeps me heading in the right direction. After that it really depends on the story – some books need more careful planning than others, for example if there’s some sort of mystery to be revealed or an explanation to be given. My latest book is inspired by Wuthering Heights so there was a basic backstory already set out and I knew I had to start the point where Heath comes back after a long absence. But with books where I don’t have that theme to work on, often the most difficult thing is knowing where to start the story for the best.

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

I just had my 60th title accepted (The Devil and Miss Jones out in March 20120 so I’m well used to the good day/bad day thing that can happen with writing. I also know from experience that there will be days when it’s like ploughing through mud – some days through mud mixed with treacle! – and there are rarer wonderful days when it flows. I wish there were more of those. What keeps me going? A contract! And a deadline! (I call them dreadlines!) I know that I’ve been here before and sweated blood to get it moving so I sit at my desk and I put the words down, even if they are rubbish. As – I think it was Nora Roberts said – you can always edit a bad page, you can’t edit an empty one. And sometimes you have to go through the tortuous days to set the scene ready for the good ones. But sometimes I do give in and go shoe shopping! There is a lot of advantage to relaxing your mind and letting it roam free while you're wandering about looking at shops – often that gives the confusion/muddle in your head time to shake down, settle and then inspirations strikes. And I have a lovely husband who if I’m really stuck I’ll go for coffee with, and tell him what I’m puzzling over then he asks what he calls ‘idiot questions’ – why doesn’t she do so and so or what if he thinks . . .. I usually end up saying ‘No way!’ but because I know then what he/she wouldn’t do, it becomes clearer what they would do.

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

3 years ago I made a resolution that I was going to do something to counteract the effects of hours spent sitting at a desk. I decided that if I was going to take any exercise, I had to do it first thing in the morning - if I get started writing etc then I would just keep on doing that and never get the exercise. So I decided that I would ‘walk to work’ – I go out of the house, walk for a set time and then go back home ready to start work. I started with 30 minutes and now I do an hour almost every day. I love to do this early in the morning when everywhere is quiet – there’s a park and some woods near our house and I walk through there. I meet lots of dog-walkers and I get plenty of quiet time to think. I can work out knots in my story that way – and plan scenes or dialogue. I had to force myself to begin with but now I miss it if I don’t go.

Do you believe in writer's block?

If you mean the sort of temporary block I’ve described above, then yes it happens all the time – but real solid permanent writer’s block when you never write again . . well, I’m glad to say I’ve never experienced that. I do think block’s happen through lack of confidence and through not knowing your characters well enough. Even after all this time and 60 published books – more if you include the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - I can still get horrible days when I think I can’t do this and the fraud police will find me out. But I have great writing friends who’ll listen to me moan – I’ll do the same for them – and ask questions, make suggestions that make me grit my teeth and go on again. Because the only way past writers’ block is to write.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble?

No I can’t say I have – but really every book has a bit of me and a bit of things I’ve known, seen, experienced in them. I just wouldn’t use them wholesale but change the details to protect the guilty!

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

Being a published author is constantly changing, the longer I do it. I started out with a manual typewriter, turning in a book when I could, waiting two years or more for it to be published, doing very little promotion, not even having the books go into different lines – there was no Modern Romance etc in the UK. Now I work on a computer, submit by email, connect with readers through the internet, and have fixed deadlines. . . I never expected that I would go to America and meet readers there. One thing I never ever expected was that I would be so much in demand to teach writing - and that I would end up writing the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance so that now lots of people write to me to tell me how much it’s helped them. I regularly run courses in Wales and all over the UK and next year I’ll be teaching a week long residential course in Tuscany - I certainly never saw that coming!

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?

Promotion shouldn’t be a dirty word. As a writer you create a - I hate to call it a product but that’s what marketing would do – you create something you are proud of and you want to reach as many readers as possible. It makes sense to let people know about that. You can’t force them to buy but you can hope to let them know your book is out there and hope that they will pick it up. After that the best way to sell your next book is to write the best possible one this time so they want to see more. I join in chats on the internet, on the romance writing site, I run my web site and keep it up to date and I blog regularly at Blog Kate Walker. I also have regular guest posts on other blog – like Tote Bags ‘n’ Blogs, The Pink Heart Society and We Write Romance.

What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Never do the hard sell – I have an inbuilt resistance to someone praising something because they're pushing it. And I strongly believe that readers will feel the same. In the end, what it really comes down to is as I said above – the best way to promote your other books is to make sure that the one in the readers’ hands is the best you can possibly make it.

What did you learn while writing this book?

As I said, this book is inspired by Wuthering Heights as part of the special mini-series The Powerful and the Pure. I have always loved Wuthering Heights as a book, I read it when I was young, I grew up near Haworth where the Bronte sisters lived and I studied it for both my first degree and my MA – I wrote my thesis on Emily and Charlotte Bronte’s books - so I loved going back to it again and relearning – not learning new – just how brilliant a novel it is and how amazing Emily Bronte was as a writer.

What was the most fun part of writing this book?

I had the perfect excuse to reread this fabulous book - and watch all the different films/TV adaptations of the novel – then to go away and create my own Heathcliff, rework his story in the spirit of, but not copying the original – and to give Kat and Heath (my characters) the happy ending the original Heathcliff and Cathy could never have had because deep down Wuthering Heights isn't truly a love story – it’s about passion, possession, power – but I got to put the love in there!

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?

When Heath comes back after so many years away, he has made a new life for himself by going to Brazil and working there. He’s made himself a fortune out there too, and bought a huge estate where he breeds horses. Kat has stayed at home in Yorkshire all that time, so I’m positive he would want to take her to South America to show her his new home and his very different way of life – but then I have a suspicion that they’d make their home back in Yorkshire in the end.

Thank you to the Minxes, for inviting me along to Minxes of Romance. My Maine Coon Charlie loves rewarding readers – and he would like to offer a special giveaway of a  signed book from my backlist to one commenter.

The Return of the Stranger by Kate Walker

M&B Modern September 2nd 2011
Presents Extra October 4th 2011

Standing high on the windswept moors, the lone figure of Heath Montanha vows vengeance on the woman who destroyed the last fragments of his heart... Lady Katherine Charlton has never forgotten the stablehand with dangerous fists and a troubled heart from her childhood. Now the rebel is back, his powerful anger concealed under a polished and commanding veneer. When ten years of scandal and secrets are unleashed, with a passionate, furious kiss, Heath's deepest, darkest wish crystallises... Revenge -- and Kat -- will be his!

Buy The Return of the Stranger at the following:

Amazon UK, Amazon US, eHarlequin, Mills & Boon, Mills & Boon Australia

Where can readers find you?

Website
Blog
Facebook
Author Page created by Romance Book Paradise Promotions

How much do you want it?

I've had this blog post in my mind to write for months and have promised it since mid summer [sorry, Minxes!].

Many times I've heard it said that you are not a real writer unless you have been rejected as that gives you something to show for the hard work you put into your writing.

I didn't really understand that until this summer when I received my first real rejection. After entering the Feel the Heat competition almost two years ago now, I was asked to send something else directly to an editor at Mills & Boon. I was overjoyed with the request and thought I was on my way--I had dreams of hearing back in record time and contract offers!

Life got in the way a little and it wasn't until 7 months later that I sent a new, sparkling chapter to the editor in question who I was lucky enough to meet at the RNA conference last year. She asked for the partial to be sent directly to her. Again, I had the same excited dreams of instant success.

Then I landed in the real world and came back down from post conference romancelandia euphoria. Although I had the partial written, something was stopping me from sending it off. I then heard about the medical fast track and thought it was a wonderful opportunity. After all, instead of waiting for months, you heard back within a month--guaranteed. I talked myself out of it, after all I already had a partial request I needed to send. But on a car journey to the seaside I had *the most amazing idea*. You know the ones, they are the ideas where you literally have to stop the car and scribble down notes to yourself.

I wrote a chapter and a half in record quick time and sent it off. Within two days I had a request for a partial. Two days!! Now I was totally spoilt. After sending off the partial, waiting longer than a few weeks was murder. I was lucky enough to get a full request, again very quickly, and decided why not send both--so while I worked to finish and polish the medical I sent off the Modern partial.

The medical went off in February this year and while waiting for an answer to the Modern partial I thought I'd better write the rest--just in case it was requested. I couldn't. I got to the mid way point and had too many other *wonderful new ideas* to concentrate. There was something wrong. Fast forward to summer this year and my first real rejection. A form rejection of the Modern. I felt deflated, sad, disappointed. But there was something missing. I didn't feel the gut wrenching agony I felt every time I thought about my medical full, the tingle in my stomach every time I imagined someone reading my story.

This taught me something valuable. If you are not emotionally invested in your work, if you don't feel the pain of your characters as they go through their black moment, if you don't cry along with them when they feel all is lost then how on earth will your readers feel it? My Modern may well have been a nice little story, but that's all it was. I was writing what I thought the editors wanted to read. I wasn't writing what was in my heart, I wasn't putting everything I had out there on the page.

And that really is the lesson I learnt this year. I'd read that advice before from published authors, that you need to bleed on the page, that you must feel for your characters because only part of that emotion would come through in your written words. But I'd never really understood what Michelle Styles and Donna Alward meant, never really *got it*. Now I do.

I hope!

Movie Review: Red Riding Hood

For weeks I drove passed an eye-catching billboard and thought "I have to see that movie!" Luckily it came out on DVD fairly quickly, and this weekend I got to enjoy director Catherine Hardwicke's take on this classic fairy tale.

For those who don't follow these things, Catherine Hardwicke directed Twilight (the first movie in the series). Since she worked as a production designer before becoming a director, it's no surprise that this latest movie is a visual feast. Red Riding Hood is sumptuously designed with stunning costumes and sets.

Don't expect historical accuracy. Do expect a fairy tale quality with more than a dash of sinister thrown in.

The film stars Amanda Seyfried of Mamma Mia and Letters to Juliet fame, and the back up cast is phenomenal: Gary Oldman, Billy Burke (also the dad in Twilight), Lukas Haas and Julie Christie. And for those who enjoy their eye candy (like me!), there are two rather attractive young men to ogle: Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons (son of Jeremy).

Interestingly, Shiloh Fernandez made the shortlist for the role of Edward Cullen in Twilight. He has a remarkable resemblance to Robert Pattinson, though without the squashed nose. I would have loved to see him in the role, but since that's never going to happen, I'll take whatever I can get of him!

As for the movie itself ... I loved it. Just the right balance of drama, action and romance for my tastes - and it's beautiful to look at! Go take a look for yourself.

Author Spotlight - Claire Robyns

Today's author in the spotlight is a friend of mine, a South African now living in England, and I am incredibly proud and pleased to be able to introduce her to you. Claire is celebrating the launch of her second novel through Carina Press. her first, Betrayed, is an historical romance set in Scotland, and her latest is a fun contemporary romance.

What is your writing process?

I don’t do detailed plotting up front. An idea usually comes to me slowly and in stages. Sometimes it’s a character, sometimes a plot arc — once it was just the title of the book. As I muse over the idea, which can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of years, the plot and characters take direction and start to form a cohesive story. Note, I say ‘start’… because once I start writing, nothing’s set in stone. Most times, it’s not even set in jello.

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

Is this where I admit how much I hate shoe shopping? I can never find what I’m looking for and usually come home grumpy and empty-handed!
But, if I’m struggling, the only thing that helps me is to write. Doesn’t matter if it’s only a couple of sentences a day, doesn’t matter if I end up deleting everything, just the processing of hitting keys and getting words out usually seems to start the rhythm again pretty quickly.

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

If lifting my arm up and down as I slurp coffee counts, then, why, yes, I do have an exercise regime, LOL

Do you believe in writer's block?

Whatever you call it, I think it’s natural for many writers to go through a dry spell where either ideas aren’t coming hard and fast, or the ideas are there but not the words to tell them with.
I do believe that any kind of block can be persevered through, be it by some free-writing, a change of scenery, maybe changing up your genre even with a short story, or whatever else it takes to push through. We’re all human, and sometimes we just overload ourselves.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble?

I just did, in Second-Guessing Fate 
I’m a total fortune-teller sceptic, exactly like Gemma in Second-Guessing Fate, but many years ago a friend dragged me, kicking and screaming, to her personal fortune-teller. I came away from that experience vaguely intrigued, but still a whole lot sceptical. I’ve always remembered the experience, though, and years later it wormed its way into my plot.
However, I’m more likely to use real-life incidents to spark a plot or character and that’s as far as the resemblance goes, not nearly real-life accurate enough for anyone to recognise themselves or confront me on the subject. So far…

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

Well, I’d been writing (let’s call it honing my craft) for about 8 years before I contracted my debut book. That’s a lot of time I spent hanging around with fellow aspiring authors and ‘stalking’ published writers. Also, because of the internet and especially the fantastic romance authors out there always ready to share their experiences and answer questions, by the time I finally sold a book I had a pretty accurate idea of what to expect after the champagne bubbles have fizzled out i.e. triple the work with edits and promo on top of the current WIP, but no hope in sight of giving up the day job to free up more time 

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?

I guess I don’t do anything unique or different from other authors. After a year of running a website and a blog, I’ve combined the two to make it easier to manage. I’m on Facebook but I’m far more active on twitter than anywhere else. I find twitter great for chatting with other authors and connecting with reviewers and readers.

What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Well, sometimes for me promo feels like preaching to the converted. One of my biggest challenges is reaching audiences beyond my usual circle. This year I’ve joined in Rachael Harries’ Platform Building Campaign, which has proved great so far in connecting with bloggers beyond my usual scope. In a similar vein, I think Blogfests are also good for this.

What did you learn while writing this book?

With my historicals, I always learn heaps because of the research required. This book, being a contemporary, I learnt more on the editing side than during the actual writing. As Second-Guessing Fate is set in Manhattan, my New York savvy editor helped out a lot and I learnt all about the Manhattan way of life.

What was the most fun part of writing this book?

Oh, I had such fun writing about Gemma’s antics as she attempts to get herself dumped. The whole situation was so bizarre that I could allow my imagination to roam free, the crazier the better 

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?

PARIS
Why? Because he’d ask advice from his buddies, of course, and here’s what they’d say…
Jackson: Paris, man, don’t even think about taking her anywhere else.
Billy, nodding sagely: Women really buy into that stuff about it being the City of Love. A little suffering up front goes a long way.
Gus: And don’t forget the kiss at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Chicks are weird that way. Do this right and our Saturday poker nights will be safe for at least the next year.

Tell us about your book.

Can She Outwit Fate? 

Gemma is on a collision course with heartbreak. At least, according to the fortune-teller her best friend drags her to see. Gemma doesn't believe a word of it, but when other predictions start to come true, she begins to suspect that gorgeous, gray-eyed Nick is the man foretold to break her heart before she can find her soul mate. Too bad she's never met a man she's wanted more, because now she has to get him to dump her before she falls too hard.

Nick has plans of his own. He's ready to settle down with Ms. Right, and everything points to the beautiful Gemma. He's determined to prove to her that he's the perfect boyfriend—even if she does seem to be trying her best to scare him off…

Thanks for having me here, Minxes 

* * *

Second-Guessing Fate is available wherever eBooks are sold. You can find it at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble and direct from Carina Press.

You can also catch up with Claire on her blog and on Twitter.

My Editing Checklist

As some of you will be out there polishing your New Voices entries (have just pressed send myself, gulp.) I thought I'd share my editing checklist. This is what I use to spruce up my writing and hopefully make it presentable. It can be a bit of a faff but I think it's worth it. Please add your own suggestions. What do you do to polish your writing?

1. Check for clichés and express using your own words.

2. Check for overused or ‘telling not showing’ words using the ‘Find’ function in Word – some of my guilty culprits are: was, felt, just, that, actually, began to, started, he/she felt, though, observed.

3. Reduce adverbs by simmering them gently on the hob…okay, sorry, couldn’t resist that one!

4. Cut pairs of adjectives, less is more!

5. Check for repetitions, choose the best and lose the rest!

6. Look out for unnecessary exclamation marks! (er, see above ;-)

7. Don’t show AND tell; we’re not at school anymore.

8. Cut unnecessary repetition of tense – I’d, she’d…

9. Look for repeated words and use thesaurus or imagination as required.

10. Make characters take note of surroundings, create a sense of place.

11. Use all the senses, layer in smells, sounds, colour, texture etc

12. Listen to it out loud, if your computer has a text to speech function use it, it’s amazing what it helps you pick out (the eye always sees what it expects to), if not try reading it aloud yourself, does the dialogue sound natural?

13. If anything bores you cut it. Face it, if you’re bored then your reader probably will be too.

14. Let someone you trust read it to look for typos etc

15. If you get to the stage where you’re thoroughly sick of it it’s probably time to submit the wretched thing :-)