It’s my pleasure to welcome award-winning
romance author
Sue Moorcroft here today to talk about her writing and her latest release,
LOVE & FREEDOM.
Here’s a brief description of
LOVE & FREEDOM: New start, new
love.
That's what Honor Sontag needs after
her life falls apart, leaving her reputation in tatters and her head all over
the place. So she flees her native America and heads for Brighton, England.
Honor is hoping for a much-deserved
break and the chance to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby. What she
gets is an entanglement with a mysterious male whose family seems to have a
finger in every pot in town.
Martyn Mayfair has sworn off women
with strings attached, but is irresistibly drawn to Honor, the American who
keeps popping up in his life. All he wants is an uncomplicated relationship
built on honesty, but Honor's past threatens to undermine everything. Then
secrets about her mother start to spill out ...
Honor has to make an agonizing
choice. Will she live up to her dutiful name and please others? Or will she
choose freedom?
Sue has graciously answered some
questions for me.
Mason - Have you
always wanted to write or was there an event that led you to
writing?
SUE - If there ever
was a time I didn’t want to write, I don’t remember it. When I was asked to
write stories at school I thought it was a bit of a cheat that I received good
marks. After all, all I was doing was making things up! Easy.
I had a
horrible teacher when I was ten, the kind who makes you scared to go to school.
But he told me that I could write and that one day there would be books on the
shelf with ‘Sue Moorcroft’ on the spine. It was quite a long time before I made
that come true. For many years, I wrote for myself and made up stories in my
head or for my children … then one day I found I wanted to write a novel and had
a story inside me that was trying to get out. I had a few hours each week when
the children were at school or preschool and looked forward to that time as an
oasis of indulgence – writing my story.
I wrote two novels
in that period. Publishers returned them to me so promptly that I decided I
needed to do a course. Around the same time, I read that it was possible to get
interest in a novel if you had about twenty short stories published in national
newsstand magazines, so I took that route, selling three stories while on the
course.
I had eighty-seven
short stories, a serial and some articles to my credit before I got the call, ‘I
have an offer for you’. But, loosely, the strategy worked.
Mason - What advice
have you received that you pass on to aspiring writers?
SUE - Don’t
make enemies. I have a tendency to react/speak impulsively, but remembering this
advice from fellow Choc Lit author, Margaret James, has probably kept me out
of awkward situations.
Also, from a
poster, ‘The editor may not always be right, but s/he’s always the editor.’ Very
useful, that one!
Mason - How do you
go about doing research for your writing? Is it a process you enjoy or just find
it necessary?
SUE - It depends on
the research but, generally, I love it. For LOVE & FREEDOM, I had to research the area around
Brighton on the south coast of England, and west Connecticut. Also, cakes. (It’s
a hard life …)
Researching
Connecticut was great because my brother lives there and he and his lovely wife
drove me around the state while I took photos and asked brainless
questions.
Happily, I don’t at
all mind hitting on people … erm, I mean, asking people politely if they’ll help
me. I’m always open about my project and what I need. Usually, I get it, sooner
or later. I’m keen that my research should be correct, so that people won’t read
my books and tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking
about.
Also, I harness the
power of Twitter and Facebook and ask followers and friends to help me out. For
LOVE & FREEDOM, that got me help from an attorney on
identity theft and from all kinds of people on hacking. It was scary how many
people knew how to cause havoc on the Internet, actually.
Mason - Of all the
authors (past and present) you enjoy reading, has any one (or more) been an
influence in your writing?
SUE - Influence …
does that suggest that I wish to emulate them? My aim is to write like Sue
Moorcroft rather than like someone else, however fabulous they might be.
I’ve had a lifelong
affair with the works of Nevil Shute and Georgette Heyer and still reread their
stuff frequently. I have a huge admiration for writers such as Suzanne Brockmann
and Linda Howard who write really hot romantic relationships on brave bold
canvases. But I don’t feel my talents lie in the same area.
Mason - What is
next on the agenda for you?
SUE - DREAM A LITTLE DREAM. I’ve just received the cover (it’s
scrumptious) but I haven’t yet completed my edits. It’s a book about realizing
dreams. Just to make it interesting, I made Liza’s dream conflict directly with
Dominic’s dream. And, as Dominic has a rare sleep disorder, he has his own take
on dreams ...
I REALLY enjoyed
the research for this book. I think I officially joined the Research Junkie
Club. Apart from meeting a really nice guy who gave me endless help with the
sleep disorder, narcolepsy, I had to have a whole load of reflexology
treatments, a fish pedicure, learn to drive (sail?) a 28 foot river cruiser and
spend an afternoon in an air traffic control tower.
(I’m thinking that,
in my next book, my heroine will get a facelift and a toy boy. The research
would be amazing.)
Sue, thanks so much for sharing these
answers with us. I so enjoy your take on doing research.
Now for a bit of background on Sue. She
writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes for
Choc Lit.
Her latest book, LOVE & FREEDOM, won the Best Romantic Read
Award 2011 at the Festival of Romance.
Combining writing success with her
experience as a creative writing tutor, she’s written a ‘how to’ book,
Love Writing – How to Make Money From Writing Romantic and Erotic
Fiction (Accent Press). Sue also writes a regular Formula 1 column for
www.girlracer.co.uk, short stories, serials, articles and courses and is the
head judge for Writers’
Forum. She's a Katie
Fforde Bursary Award winner.
For more on Sue and her writing, check
out her website www.suemoorcroft.com and her blog at http://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/ for news and writing tips. You can also befriend Sue on
Facebook or Follow Sue on Twitter.
Do you think research is a big factor in
writing? Thanks so much for stopping by. Remember, LOVE & FREEDOM and Sue’s other novels can be
purchased at book stores and online retailers.