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How long have you been writing, Louise?
Ever since I could wield a pencil.
Tell us how it felt when you got your first
acceptance?
Like an orgasm!
Well, how about rejections? Have you had any? If
so, how do you handle them?
About fifty times as many as acceptances. Go into a total
decline then pick myself up again and tell myself there is
always another editor or publisher or, if the worst comes to the
worst I can write another story.
Your latest release, CHANGE OF SKIES, features two characters
that appeared in an earlier novel, THE PUMPKIN SHELL. How did
you come to pick up the threads to tell their story?
LP I don't plot, it just doesn't work for me (the big
drawback to this is that I am unable to write a synopsis until I
have finished the book) so when I read the reviewer saying they
would like to know more about Sue and Davey I thought 'Well - so
would I.' Then I thought, 'I wonder how Sue really felt about
Australia when she actually lived there,' then 'Did Davey make
it?' I moved forward in time 8 years to answer my own questions.
However, bearing in mind that many readers might pick up this
book without having read the earlier one, I wrote CHANGE OF
SKIES as a stand alone book. I found this an interesting
exercise, letting the reader know, where necessary, what had
happened in the earlier book without actually recapping and thus
annoying readers who had read THE PUMPKIN SHELL.
Any new releases coming up?
Yes, another book with Rocky River Romances due out Nov/Dec 2004
I think
How do you structure your working day? Do you
have a routine?
LP I am not very structured at all. I can always be lured
away from the computer by telling myself that 'writers must live
or they have nothing to write about' but I do try to get an
average of at least 500 words a day done, any time between
breakfast and midnight, when I am working on a novel.
What are you working on now?
A
while back I wrote a 30,000 word
short novel at the instigation of my agent who then told me it
was extremely bad and not saleable. I decided to re-write it
into a full-length novel and added another character who seems
to have taken over so I’ve started the whole thing from scratch
making it her story. Then browsing through the bits and pieces
on my computer I found another beginning of about 3,500 words I
had quite forgotten about and have decided that this will be
incorporated into the new work in progress.
How do you approach a new idea for a novel?
Basically I start with two things, the main character, then
'what if.....'
The character usually comes
first. Sometimes the situation, then I begin to think how would
such and such a character react. Every now and then I think of
the title first and/or a single incident. This happened with my
book due out shortly with Rocky River, OUT OF TIME. This may
seem a sacrilegious thing to say but I never actually set out to
write a romance! I set out to tell a story. The romance is part
of that story.
What do you do
to get over "writer's block"?
Stop writing and don't worry about it!
What authors do you like to read?
I
like authors who tell a good story that reflects life. My
favourite authors are Marcia Willett, Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde
Pilcher, Alexandra Raife, Belva Plain, I think there are also
some very fine American writers. I read primarily for pleasure,
seldom to improve my mind!
Is there anyone or anything that's had a profound
effect of your writing?
Primarily my parents who were both 'bookaholics' and also
wonderful 'readers aloud' so that my earliest memories are of
books galore, listening and then reading and discussing books.
Both my parents were also great admirers of Rudyard Kipling and
I think the Just So Stories were among the first I heard. My
father could recite most of the poetry in Alice in Wonderland
and would entertain us on long car journeys. Words and phrases
were always ringing in my ears, books and book tokens were my
favourite presents and authors were looked upon as the magic
makers of the world.
And lastly, Louise, what words of advice would
you give to a writer just starting out?
Write about what you know. Remember your everyday world may well
be an exotic setting to someone else. You must care about your
characters, laugh with them, hurt with them, cry with them. If
you don't feel what they are feeling how the hell can you expect
anyone else to? Don't worry about whether it should be a comma
or a full-stop there, read it aloud to yourself, if you find you
are getting breathless then obviously you need some more commas
or whatever. The most important thing of all is to tell a good
story, the nuts and bolts of punctuation can be put in
afterwards. Be an eavesdropper - listen to people talking. Get
into conversations with people yourself, you never know when
someone is going to drop a choice phrase! Above all, ENJOY
writing. If you don't enjoy it and feel that it is something you
have to do - well - there are easier ways to earn money!
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