I started writing when I was young, but didn’t get serious about it until I’d been married awhile. I was a stealth writer – reluctant to admit I wanted to write – so I went to the library looking for some writing how-to books. I found two. One was awful. Discouraging. The other was Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande. Her book and my husband’s encouragement gave me the courage to try.
2: What inspired you to write?
I began writing personal essays and stage plays. Gradually I moved into fiction. Made my first sales in children’s fiction and non-fiction. I started writing novels because I read really fast and there weren’t enough novels that I liked to read to keep me supplied. Writing a book before I can read it slows me down a lot.
3: What do you like the most and least about writing?
I love meeting my characters and figuring out their story. It’s the “ride,” the magic of story, that makes me passionate about reading and writing.
What I like least, having to promote my books. I love talking books with other readers, but I don’t like being pressured to buy a book, so I can’t do that to a reader. But I have to get out there and let people know my books exist or I won’t get published. I try to introduce myself and let readers know I’m around, but I believe reading is such a personal thing, that readers need to decide without pressure whether to buy my books.
4: What do you for fun and relaxation when not writing.
LOL! I read. I love reading. I used to get in trouble in school for reading behind my text books and at home for reading under the covers with a flashlight. I also like to watch movies and have this not-as-secret-as-I’d-like addiction to critter flicks, like Tremors. I have no explanation for it, but if I’m scanning the dial and Tremors is on tv, I’ll watch it.
5: Which authors do you like to read?
Oh wow, there are so many authors that I love. Because I’m writing science fiction romance, I’ve been reading a lot of it. Love Linnea Sinclair. Also really liked Sarah A Hoyt’s Darkship Thieves. Diana L. Driver’s Ninth Lord of the Night is a fun action-adventure for older young adults. Very fun. Alexis Glynn Latner’s Hurricane Moon is very thoughtful SFR. Jasper Fforde. Lisa Shearin. Jack Campbell is new favorite. Love his Lost Fleet books. I don’t think there’s enough time to list all my favorites. LOL!
6: What’s the one thing you’d most like people to know about you?
That I’m not as scary as my books might indicate? LOL! I’m actually nice, I just like to make characters suffer and overcome things and fall in love while life is kicking them around.
7: Tell me about your current novel, where I can find it and your website/blog.
My latest release is Girl Gone Nova. Here’s the blurb:
Doc--Delilah Oliver Clementyne’s—orders are simple: do the impossible and do it yesterday. A genius/bad ass, she does the impossible on a regular basis. But this time the impossible is complicated by an imminent war between the Earth expedition to the Garradian Galaxy and the Gadi, an encounter with some wife-hunting aliens, and not one but two bands of time travelers.
You can find it on most online bookstores in both print and digital formats (including Kindle edition) My website is www.perilouspauline and there are links to my blogs (yes, I have three!) in my navigation bar.
8: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
My advice is to reject rejection. Like most authors, I racked up a lot of rejections before I got the magic “yes.” If you don’t try, you can’t get to that yes. This is a subjective business. There are so many options for authors now, so many small presses, that if major publishers don’t connect with your work, it’s not over. (If you’re looking for a good summary of publication options, I highly recommend The Naked Truth About Book Publishing by Linda Houle.)
9: Do you base your characters on real-life people?
No. I’d be afraid to do that. LOL!
10: Where do you get your ideas and what inspired you to write this book?
Ideas come to me in a variety of ways. Sometimes a situation will grab my attention and I find myself wondering, “What if…” Other times I “meet” a character inside my head and then I have to figure out what their story is about.
This particular book is the next in a connected series (stand alone books connected by the world I created), so I knew when and where it would happen and what the central problem was going to be. I also knew who was going to star as the hero. (He was in the first book and ticked he didn’t get the girl. When I created him, he wasn’t supposed to be a hero, just a pain in the neck, so he has an awful name. But he is persistent and I finally gave in.) I had to figure out the right heroine for him and for the story. I did make him suffer for being so persistent. (insert evil grin here).
I write “into the mist,” so I was surprised, and not surprised, when the story didn’t go the direction I expected. I had a great time figuring it out though it almost made my head explode figuring it out.
11: What are you currently working on?
After I finished Girl Gone Nova I committed a random act of writing that resulted in a Steampunk/science fiction romance novella called Tangled in Time (releasing 12/2010) that is the next in my connected series. While the story resolved for the characters, it didn’t for the story arc, so that’s what I’m working on now. It will pick up after Tangled in Time, have new main characters, but also feature some familiar guys from past stories (which is very fun to do, actually).
12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?
I love high adventure, romance and humor in my reading, so that’s what readers will find in my books—or at least what I try to put in them.
Excerpt
“How much time, ma’am,” her assistant asked, a slight tremor to his voice.
“About thirty seconds.”
The two men cursed again, but didn’t move.
“Where the foxtrot is EOD?” one of them snapped.
“Do you know how to defuse a bomb, ma’am?” The corporal’s tremor was worse.
The question was a good one, though a bit late in the asking. She found the wire she wanted, tracing it with her thoughts as the timer moved closer to detonation.
“No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
3 comments:
Many thanks for having me on your blog, Roseanne! :-)
Lovely interview, Pauline, and very encouraging for other writers. I agree with you, rejection is just something that goes along with writing, the thing is to move past it.
thanks for stopping by and reading! I really appreciate it! Most kind!
Post a Comment