30 July 2018
1. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
Not everyone knows it, but history is filled with hundreds of different mythologies, and each one is bursting with a plethora of monsters and legends. It’s a fascinating subject.
Now imagine if all these legends were real, if all these gods were alive… somewhere. That’s the idea I’ve been toying with for a few years now.
2. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I am passionate about mythologies. That started out when I was in school and we studied Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt. I’ve read many books on the subject, and I’m delighted to have to read some more as part of the research I have to do for this series.
3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’m currently editing the second book in the series, and I’ve started outlining the third one. So you can look out for some more Vale Investigationnext year.
4. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?
Though question. I guess I wouldn’t mind being Candice Kennedy, the news reporter. She’s smart, doesn’t take no for an answer and she stands for what she believes in.
5. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
The best one is “You’re the only one who can kill your dreams,” and that is so true. I can’t remember any bad advice… but, the general misconception of writing being easy comes to mind. Or the one that says all self-published books are bad, which is very untrue. There are amazing books and really horrible ones on both sides of the publishing fence.
6. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I always outline; it’s a very important part of my writing process which takes me several months. I forbid myself to write so long as the outline’s not finished. Long ago, I made the mistake of writing as ideas come and ran of ideas in the middle… that book still isn’t finished.
7. How do you maintain your creativity?
I take my time to write, and usually publish one book per year. Some people are more productive, but between my day job and my personal life, that’s the natural pace for me.
8. Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?
Why, I love them all!!! I’m a very character-focused kind of writer. To me, their emotional growth is more important than plot. Actually, the plot is a tool I use to take my characters from emotional point A to emotional point B.
Now, if I really had to choose a favorite—and I mean it, like my life depended on it… I guess it would be Zian, the tech wizard and hacker. He’s funny, in a very endearing way. And he has a lot of potential.
9. Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?
Angels, so long as I feed them quality Swiss chocolate.
10. Anything else you might want to add?
On my website, I have two prequel novellas that you can download for free. “Redemption Road” is a prequel to the Vale Investigation series—it’s the story of Vale and Death’s first encounter.
The second is “Personal Favour” and that one is set in my series of cozy mysteries The Neve & Egan Cases.
Originally posted @ The Rogue’s Angels