Tess Quinn

Today’s Writers on Writing author is Clare Austin. Check out the great info Clare shares with us today!



Thank you for joining me today for my Writer’s on Writing series! I hear you have some great news to share.



Hello Tess,
I am thrilled to be a featured writer. Thanks for having me.
This is a very exciting week for me. My publisher just sent an email saying my novel, Angel’s Share, is now available. Waiting for my box of books is an incredible feeling. This is my second novel to be published and the thrill has not dulled one bit.



I’ll try to stick to the questions here, though my mind tends to wander.



I know the feeling. Congratulations on your latest release! Let’s start with the basics. What is my brainstorming process?



My brain is constantly in a state of turbulent weather and stories have always come to me in the oddest places and times. I once wrote, in my head, an entire plot while having an MRI.



One of the most difficult things I’ve had to learn is to channel the whirlpool of my ideas. When I start a new novel, I see my characters quite clearly and generally have a beginning and fairly solid ending. Those are the easy parts. I know where I would like my characters to end up. Honestly though, sometimes they have different ideas about where they are going. When that happens I go with them. So far, my characters, if I allow them enough freedom, have never left me hanging. There have been times, however, when a character captures my imagination but I find she or he is simply in the wrong story. When that is the case, I can write the other story right away or in the case of the book I’m working on now which is the third in a trilogy and therefore the characters are a bit more confined to fitting into a structure already well set, I have to save that character for later.



Tell us about your typical day.



My typical writing week is not set in stone. It’s more like set in gelatin… firm but wiggly. It has become more amorphous since my first sale as I have had to include marketing and promotion in my day.



I try to drift off to sleep every night thinking of the scene I plan to work on the next day. This seems to mean it is still fresh in my mind when I awaken.



I write in a chair next to my bed, my laptop on a board across my lap. So, I literally roll out of bed in front of my computer. I check emails and then try to go directly to writing. Usually I write until mid morning and then go out to the barn to ride one of my horses or I’ll go for a swim. Doing something physical is a great way to energize my muse (dark chocolate is the other way!)



I write again in the afternoon. I find that taking mental breaks…playing my violin or harp, taking a walk or reading…helps keep me nourished and fresh.
When did I make the decision to write? I really remember that moment very clearly, almost to the day! For years I had been telling myself stories in my head, characters where talking in there and sometimes out loud!



Do you have any advice for authors?



One day a book came across my desk with the title No Plot, No Problem. I believe all potential writers or “writers in their own minds” should check this book out. It gave me a “no excuse” plan to write one of my stories, simple strategies to get started and a realistic word count goal. I set aside October 2005 to write my first book. I went completely over the top; I threw everything in, my characters head hopped their way through four hundred spectacular and confusing pages. I had such eye fatigue my face went numb! Just to prove to myself it wasn’t a fluke, I wrote three more full length novels in the next six months.



I really had little idea what I was doing, but I knew I could learn. The fourth book was written specifically for a market: romance. That book is Butterfly and was my first sale in the spring of 2008.



If I had one suggestion for someone who had never written anything but thinks she wants to be a writer, I would say “just start writing.” Don’t worry that it might be terrible. If you wait until you only write perfectly, you might have to wait a terribly long time. Next, if you are serious about being a published author, pay attention to the market for your genre. Remember your book is a product and if it won’t make the publisher money, they do not care if you are the most brilliant wordsmith since James Joyce. I know I’m talking about your baby here, but you have to be willing to let go, step back and think like a business person because, like it or not, that’s how the publisher is looking at you.



Tell us what you’re working on now.



What I’m working on now? As I mentioned above, Angel’s Share is now available. That means the pressure is on to finish the third book in the Fadό Trilogy. I’m calling this story Selkie’s Song. I’m excited about this story for many reasons, but mostly because I get to take the reader to my favorite place on earth…west Ireland. The first two books, Butterfly and Angel’s Share, take place in Boston, which I absolutely love as a location for my stories. But, when I started getting feedback on my first book, readers were intrigued with the Irish born characters: Flannery, Kerry and Tynan Sloane. I started to imagine what would happen if Tynan, the hero in Selkie’s Song, found himself back on his home turf and confronted by a strong, willful and mysterious heroine. Murran Murphy is going to make Tynan’s quiet life very interesting for the next three hundred or so pages.
I also have a novel set to release in July which is not part of my trilogy. I wrote Hot Flash during a time when I was working out at an all women’s gym. I looked around and there we were, beautiful, smart and oh so much wiser, older women. We needed a story for us. The heroine in Hot Flash is fifty, but she still gets the hot guy and doesn’t have to take the cougar route to do it! It’s a story that encompasses two extended families, three countries and a barn full of horses. I love what award winning author Deb Stover wrote about this story. “Sexy but sensitive, powerful but poignant–HOT FLASH is not your daughter’s romance! This is a story for real women. Savor every word!”



Sounds great! Thank you so much for sharing a bit of your life with us today, Clare! For those of you who want to know more, you can check out her website at www.clareaustin.com for more information about my books and upcoming events. Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned in for next week!

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