Can I Get a Little “Q” with that “A”?

Firstly, I have to apologize for missing my weekly Wednesday post last week. I was on vacation, and while I had every intention of writing, I could not seem to find the time.

For this week, I have decided to answer some of the frequent questions that people ask me when they find out about my writing. Let’s get started, shall we?

Question #1

HOW DO YOU WRITE THAT MANY PAGES? DON’T YOU GET BORED? I COULD NEVER SIT AND WRITE ALL THAT!

- Well, I do get bored sometimes. No matter how much you love something occasionally there are times when you want to light it on fire and spit on the ashes. (Too much?) I love to write and when I am writing I get to travel to the places where my characters go, I get to experience their pain, their successes, the major events in their life that shape them. I can feel their fear and taste their passion. Most of the time, I feel like I have the most exciting job in the world. However, sometimes editing gets tedious, my characters seem to fight back and each page seems like a struggle to fill. Every job, every hobby, everything in life has moments like that. The same way the thought of CrossFit and gardening bores me to tears (no offense to the super-fit veggie growers out there), other people may recoil at the thought of sitting down to write. Well, that my friends is why the world is made up of authors, athletes, business people, mothers, bakers, and soldiers… etc.

Question #2

WHERE DO YOU GET THE IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOKS?

- Well the quick answer would be…drumroll please…EVERYWHERE. Wasn’t that slightly less climactic than you thought it would be? I’m sorry for that, allow me to expand. There is not one magical place where I go to select an idea for a new novel, or a section of an existing novel. Can you imagine if there was though? Just a magical tree where every leaf is a new fabulous idea and all you have to do is pick it and another one would grow in its place? For me, ladies and gents, that magical tree is my magical brain and the leaves are little experiences that I have stored for future use. Tidbits of inspiration that I hide, lest someone else steals my leaves, and use when I need them. Sometimes, I see things and think that it would make a great event in a book. Sometimes, I go to museums and let the history inspire me. Sometimes, I see someone walk down the street and I think “Wow, great hair!” (hello new character!). If I had a tried and true system for getting brilliant ideas, I would tell you (maybe), but I promise I don’t!

Question #3

ARE YOUR CHARACTERS BASED ON REAL PEOPLE?

- This is an easy one to answer. In short, NO. As I said above, I might be inspired by a physical trait and add that to an existing character but do I write myself or my loved ones into my books? No, I don’t. Now, having said all that I do have a friend whom I shall lovingly refer to as Princess Happyface. Princess Happyface for some reason has a unique place in my sequel to Better Than This, which is yet to be written. Her personality is perfect for a character I had already created and now, when I think of that character and her actions all I think of is my friend. Unfortunately for Princess Happyface’s character she will not survive to the end of the book. Another reason why I don’t include my friends/family in my writing is because there is a good chance that they will end up dead… Sorry, the past was a brutal place…

Question #4

WHY HISTORICAL ROMANCE?

- Um, because it is the best genre ever?! Alright fine, I know it is not some people’s cup of tea but those people are just crazy because historical romance is where all the cool kids hang out. All joking aside (for now), I write historical romance because I have a passion for history. I love the pursuit of history and I have for as long as I can remember. Canadian history has always been so underrated and I think it deserves to be given the spotlight. Also, being a creative person, this seemed like the perfect outlet for me.

Well, those are all the questions that I can recall at this time. If anyone has anything that they would like me to answer, or an idea they would like me to dedicate a blog to, please feel free to send them to me! I would love to do this again.

~Em