I've been tagged by fellow writer Anne Bennett to participate in The Next
Big Thing, where authors tell you all about their latest book. So here goes!
What is the working title of your new book?
Never Trust a Rake
You can buy it here: Never Trust a Rake
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I have no idea - I was
probably doing something incredibly boring and drifted off into a daydream. Why
my daydreams so often feature Regency Rakes pursuing innocent young misses is a
question probably best answered by a psychiatrist.
What genre does your book fall under?
Regency romance.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters
in a movie rendition?
There are no actors
sufficiently rakish to portray any of the heroes I dream up. That is why I have
to dream them up for myself, rather than becoming a fan of someone real (and
therefore flawed).
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Rake meets his match in an
innocent country miss.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an
agency?
An agency? Do you mean, do I
have an agent? No, I don't. But the books I write are published by Harlequin in
the US, and Mills & Boon in the UK and Australia.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of
your manuscript?
It usually takes me about 6 -
7 weeks to do a first draft of a book, during which I just fling everything I
can think of at the page. Then I print it out to see what I've got, groan in
despair, and start frantically revising. This part often makes me feel as
though I'm shut in a dungeon trying to spin gold out of straw. When I've gone
through the entire story to my satisfaction, I print it out again, and usually
by this stage it only needs a few more tweaks before I feel it is in good
enough shape to send to my editor.
What other books would you compare this story to
within your genre?
I can't compare my work to
anyone else! I do the best I can, with ideas I think I've come up with all by
myself - but who was it said that a writer's mind is a bit like a compost heap?
I write the kind of story I enjoy reading, so I'm sure I've been greatly
influenced by Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and everyone else who's ever
written a regency romance since I've been old enough to read them. But I
wouldn't dare say my work is like anyone else's - it would either make me sound
as though I was boasting I was as good as them, or as though I was writing pathetically
slavish parodies.
What else about your book might pique the reader's
interest?
Well, if you enjoy
light-hearted regency romance, then you might enjoy reading about a man who
doesn't trust women, but needs to marry to produce an heir, go about the
business of finding a wife he can trust - and getting completely bowled over by
the unsuspecting girl he targets.
The next author I’ve tagged to tell you about her new book is my fellow Novelista
Trisha Ashley.
