A Bride for Lord Redfield
I’m delighted to welcome Susan Griffin, a New Writers’ Scheme member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, to my blog.
Hello Susan – Thank you for joining me on Arabella’s Blog and Chit-Chat, today. As we whizz through a few Questions & Answers, hopefully, readers and followers can gain insight into some of the things that matter to you as a writer. It's a chance for all of us to get to know you a little as you make your way towards the publication of your novel. So, let's get started... 😊
Arabella: How did you hear about or discover: The Romantic Novelists’ Association - New Writers’ Scheme?
Susan:
I heard about the RNA through Facebook, after connecting with other writers.
From there I learnt about the New Writers Scheme, and immediately wanted to
join, hoping it would help me improve my writing and have a better chance of
finding a publisher.
Arabella: What is your romance genre and why have you chosen this particular type of novel to write?
Susan: My first book is an Edwardian Drama set
against the backdrop of the Suffragette movement, and this has been self-published
on Amazon. Since then I’ve written two more novels both of them time-slip. I’m
drawn to this kind of book, because I love exploring how the past can impact on
the present, and how the present day characters have to unravel the mystery of
the past. This doesn’t mean to say that I will always write dual-timeline
books; in fact I’m planning to write a contemporary novel next year.
Arabella: When and where do you write? Early mornings when the world is still sleeping? Late afternoons when you’ve time to relax? Or other opportune moments…?
Susan: I don’t have a regular time to write, as I
fit it in around other things. But I do have a writing room, in fact I have
two, one is our small study, and the other is a summerhouse. I alternate
between the two places. I try not to write in the evenings though, otherwise I
can’t sleep and am conjuring up plots in the middle of the night.
Arabella: Do you have anyone supporting your writing endeavours? Friends, family, writing groups, etc?
Susan: I belong to a writing group based around the
Brighton area. We all met on Facebook mainly through the RNA, and we are all
supportive of one another. We meet up around once a month, and are always there
for each other on the writing journey.
Arabella: Which season of the year do you most enjoy and why?
Susan: I love the summer best as I love the outdoor life, and this also means I can sit in my summerhouse and write. Writing in the summerhouse makes me feel as if I’m still enjoying the sunshine and writing, so it’s a winning combination.
Arabella: Do you set yourself a daily/weekly word target?
Susan: I don’t set myself a daily target but try to
get a decent word count down. As well as being in the NWS I am now an Indie
author, and will be launching one of my books in December. The Amethyst
Necklace will be out on the 7th December and I’m currently writing
the sequel to it, called Scarlett’s Story; which will be released early next
year.
Arabella: So…you are a member
of the RNA’s – NWS which means you are in the throes of writing the next
bestseller.
No spoilers and without revealing too much about your plot… (otherwise someone might pinch your great story ideas before they’ve been published… 😊 ) Tell us briefly about the romance you hope to submit to the RNA’s - New Writers’ Scheme for a friendly critique, before approaching an agent or publisher with your completed manuscript.
Susan: A Short Blurb of the Romance I’ll be Submitting to the NWS in 2021…
Scarlett’s story is the sequel to The Amethyst Necklace and tells the story of Scarlett Cunningham, who as a child was affected by a Spanish flu epidemic, which swept the world in 1918 and hit East Sussex in the summer of that year. After finding herself an orphan at the age of nine, she grows up determined to escape her roots and live a better kind of life, while hiding her strange gift of second sight from the seeing eyes of the world.
When she meets wealthy shipping tycoon
Eric Johnson, Scarlett is offered a way out of her bleak existence. She doesn’t
love Eric but he is a kind man so she accepts his offer. The outbreak of WW2
brings a chance meeting with Eric’s son Frankie. And Scarlett immediately
recognises the mysterious fair-haired stranger she’s been dreaming about since
the age of sixteen.
My second dual-timeline
book, The Man in the Painting, which features the famous
fossil hunter, Mary Anning, is currently with publishers and
agents.
Thank you so much for sharing something about yourself and your
writing journey with us, Susan. Best wishes for any NWS works in progress, and
I hope your manuscripts find a home with the romance publisher of your dreams.
Arabella
About Susan Griffin
I love writing romance with a mystery at its heart, and weaving secrets of the past with the present. Being passionate about history means I use this passion to research my dual-timeline novels, and bring alive the past. I am also interested in how pioneering women have managed to overcome adversity, and how their role in life along the ages has changed. I feel as if story telling is what I was born to do and this is the driving force behind my writing.
My website can be found at: www.susangriffinauthor.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/susangriffinauthor/
I’m delighted to welcome Kate Baker, a New Writers’ Scheme member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, to my blog.
For those unfamiliar with the RNA - New Writers’ Scheme, the scheme offers unpublished writers the chance to network with fellow writers, agents and publishers…and includes many more membership benefits.
Hello
Kate – Thank you for joining me on Arabella’s Blog and Chit-Chat, today. As we
whizz through a few Questions & Answers, hopefully, readers and followers
can gain an insight into some of the things that matter to you as a writer.
It's a chance for all of us to get to know you a little as you make your way
towards the publication of your novel. So, let's get started... 😊
Arabella: How did you hear about or discover: The Romantic Novelists’ Association - New Writers’ Scheme?
Kate: I learned of the RNA through a reading-buddy in a Facebook
group called The Fiction Cafe Book Club. She very quickly became a
writing-buddy - the lovely Julie Morris.
Arabella: What is your romance genre and why have you chosen this particular type of novel to write?
Kate:
I
struggle to pinpoint my exact genre, having written one contemporary romance
suspense manuscript, and now a historical romance. A third idea is an
intergenerational friendship-based contemporary story. If I realise my dream to
find an agent, perhaps they’ll help me to hone one genre!
Arabella: When and where do you write? Early mornings
when the world is still sleeping? Late afternoons when you’ve time to relax? Or
other opportune moments…?
Kate: This summer I
turned a box room upstairs into my writing room, to keep it separate from the
farm accounts desk which is in the busy thoroughfare that is our hallway.
Upstairs, I can close the door and stare out into the fields, put some music on
and type undisturbed. I just hope my self-assembled desk and chair don’t give
way!
Arabella: Do you have anyone supporting your writing endeavours? Friends, family, writing groups, etc?
Kate: My musings
blog has been fairly stagnant for six months while I allocate my rare writing
time to my novel and, more recently, weekly zoom workshops with Anstey Harris.
I watched her win her award at the RONAs in March, and immediately bought her
winning title, 'The Truths & Triumphs of Grace Atherton’. I fell in love
with her writing, and then discovered she is a tutor. I left school at 16, and
had many gaping holes where knowledge should be!
Arabella: You’ve arranged
to meet up with friends and family for an afternoon of fun. Where do you go and
what do you do?
Kate:
I miss
meeting friends in Covent Garden, securing an upstairs table at the Punch &
Judy and sipping a spritzer overlooking the cobbles where street entertainers
brighten any day.
Arabella: So…you are a member of the RNA’s – NWS which means you are in the throes of writing the next bestseller.
No spoilers and without
revealing too much about your plot… (otherwise, someone might pinch your great story
ideas before they’ve been published… J ) Tell us briefly about the
romance you’ve submitted to the RNA’s - New Writers’ Scheme for a friendly
critique, before approaching an agent or publisher with your completed
manuscript.
Kate:
My
suffragette novel went through the NWS system this summer and I had some
wonderful advice from my Reader in the Report. So many details I’d not given
enough thought to and to have the opportunity to improve those, and to develop
the plot is essential. It would be so easy to waste a one-to-one opportunity
and submit a first draft, thinking it was good enough. I’ve since gone back to
the drawing board and had some further help from a mentor and am about to
embark on a serious edit during the remaining weeks of 2020!
Thank you so much for sharing something about yourself with us, Kate.
Meanwhile, best wishes for any NWS works in progress, and I hope
your manuscripts find a home with the romance agent or publisher of your
dreams.
Arabella
About Kate Frances
I live on a Suffolk farm with my husband of
twenty-six years. Our two grown-up children still spend time with us by
choice, so we’ve done okay in the parenting department! I’ve run my own
horse-rug cleaning and repairing business in a workshop here for
fourteen years and last year was allocated the role of farm secretary by
my seventy-something father in law, so that’s been a baptism of fire!
I’ve read more novels since I’ve started writing and there’s nothing I prefer than sinking into my old and thinning beanbag with an emotional yarn.
Social
Media Links:
Facebook: Kate
Baker
Instagram: katefranceswrites
Twitter:
@BleuViola
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