Sunday 14 June 2009

Questions from USA - Part 1

Marilyn asked several questions on my last post. I'll answer them in stages so that other readers can also give feed back.
Kate, since you were so kind to ask, here are some questions that I'd love to have answered -- either in your upcoming JUST FOR YOU section or in this blog:
1. Did you have formal training as a writer? If so, what was it?
Ans. I did attend a creative writing workshop to learn the techniques and get what help I could. I also then joined the Romantic Novelists Association where it was possible to meet agents and editors and also hear them give talks and I also attended writing conferences. It can be a slow process getting published. A novel will take about a year to write and that does not guarantee success. My fourth novel was published.

2. Please tell about your experience when your very *first* book was published.
Ans. I still feel the same every time a new novel of mine is published. It is always a great thrill.

3. Which Loveday character is most like you? Ans. Senara

4. For your Loveday characters, do you draw on the nature of your friends? your family?
Ans. That could be a good way of losing family and friends . I shall put more of this in the Just For You section in the paperback of The Loveday Conspiracy.

5. So much happens to each Loveday character. How do you keep it all straight in your mind over so many years?
Ans. I have a head for trivia and after a year of writing about a particular family drama it tends to stick in my mind. I constantly have to recheck historical facts.

More later - Best wishes Kate

5 comments:

Sandra said...

Your answer to question one has given me hope. I have been disheartened because for the last year I have sent a novel to several publishers and it has been rejected. I have started novel number two but wonder if I am wasting my time as I have had no formal training. It seems such a competitive market. I love your books for their pace and excitement. If it took someone with your skill four novels to get published perhaps one day my own dream will come true.

Anonymous said...

Sandra,

We could ALL take a lesson from Jon Bon Jovi who said, "Success is falling nine times and getting up ten."

Keep writing and your dreams will come true.

Marilyn said...

Hi Kate,

Another question has surfaced. Call me inquisitive!

I positively love the mystical elements in your books. For example, (1) the sacred stone circle where Senara and Adam were married; (2) Senara's precognition; and (3) Senara's heightened sensitivity to charged events that took place before she inhabited Boscabel.

Will your upcoming books include more of these elements?

kate tremayne said...

Sandra,
Have faith in yourself. Write stories with themes that you are passionate about and that will come over in your writing. Within your chosen genre try and deal with a subject in your own unique way so that your novel will stand out from the others. Analyse the novels of your favourite authors in that genre and see how they bring in conflict and plot. I wish you every success with your writing. Enjoy the journey it opens a world of experiences for you.

Anonymous. Great words from Jon Bon Jovi for Sandra and very true.

kate tremayne said...

Marilyn
Although the stone circle at Avebury where Adam and Senara married is in Wiltshire, there are many several small stone circles in Cornwall some very unusual.

Senara's sensitivity is part of who she is and although in The Loveday Secrets she renounced her old religion, she could never shake off her intuition and perception.