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 Frances, first of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity to review
your second book Love Under Fire, I really enjoyed reading it. Tell me
please, how did the idea for this novel come to you?
Well having read the book you’ll have guessed that part of the idea
came from an actual happening that was reported in the New Zealand
newspapers and had us all aghast that something like that could happen in a
sleepy backwater. I had it in my mind for a few years and when I knew I had
to write a story for my secondary characters, Jo and Rowan, from The Man
for Maggie everything just seemed to slot together.
Your first
book The Man for Maggie had a paranormal element with a psychic
heroine. Do you plan to write more books with that type of edge?
I have a paranormal element in
Trouble in Paradise which will be
my fourth book. My editor loved it and I’m just waiting to hear about it,
and Winner Takes All, my third. If there is one thing I’ve learned
about publishing it’s that the wheels grind slow.
You mention on your
website
that all your books are linked. Do your find your ideas for your next book
coming to you while you are in the middle of your current work in progress,
or do you take a break between each of your books?
They stand alone as stories, although there is a thread started in
Love Under Fire that won’t be solved until I’ve written the last book
about Jo’s four brothers, starting with Trouble in Paradise. I have
sent away proposals for it and Surrender of Innocence and have plans
ready for the next two. Added to those, Jo and Rowan appear in Winner
Takes All as the hero, Scott, is Rowan’s brother and I also have plans
for Taine the youngest brother and Jamie Thurlo who has a bit part in The
Man for Maggie
and Winner Takes All. I think that should keep me going for a little while.
What is the most satisfying thing about writing to you?
Telling a good story with a satisfying ending that hopefully will make
the reader sigh aaah that these two people will have a life together.
Who has most influenced your writing style?
Too many authors influenced me in the beginning, writers like Robyn
Donald and Nora Roberts. It wasn’t until I gave up trying to write like
them that my own voice was allowed to come through and I can still remember
the moment I realised that had happened.
What do you feel has been the most important advice anyone has ever
given you in relation to your writing?
It came from the continuing education teacher who told me I should be
taking a creative writing course.
What would you say to an aspiring writer?
If you don’t love reading a line, then don’t try to write for it.
Editors won’t be fooled for it will show in your writing.
Describe for me your typical writing day?
Describe typical. Just lately my routine has been shot to pieces, but
when I have a deadline in front of me, I find I write faster and better by
starting around 6a.m. and working through to lunch time.
You’ve recently acquired an agent, congratulations. Do you plan to
diversify into single title romantic suspense?
Yes, I have a mainstream romantic suspense that has been haunting me
for a while. I’ve spoken to my agent about it and she is keen for me to
start. And since I’ve sent off another Intimate Moments proposal and
finished making bookmarks for the conferences I guess I can’t
procrastinate any longer and will have to write something other than the
title in the file named “Got the T-shirt”.
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WHERE
THERE'S HEAT...