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- by Anne Brooke
New York or LA? Why? I’ve never been to LA but my husband and I visited New York a few years ago and absolutely loved it. The places and people were wonderful and I thought it was one of the friendliest cities I’d ever been in. I even managed to fit in some shopping, which is very rare for me! I’m sure I’m due a return journey sometime soon …
How did you start your writing career? I’d been writing poetry for a long time but then went through a very difficult few months in Y2K when I couldn’t write any poetry at all. I complained about this to my mother so much that she finally lost patience and told me to go and write prose instead if I couldn’t write any poems. Harsh but effective! I gave it a go and have been writing fiction ever since. Thankfully, the poetry came back too, in the end.
Tell us about your current release. My new release with Untreed Reads is a short story called A Woman Like The Sea. It’s the first in their Candlelight line, which focuses on romance, and I’m very proud to be part of it. It’s due out in the third week in February. Coincidentally enough, I was lucky enough to be the first author that Untreed Reads ever published, with my literary short story, How To Eat Fruit, and I’m very happy to achieve another “first” with them. A Woman Like The Sea is literary in tone, as well as romantic, and it tells the story of a woman’s affair with another man’s wife and the effect it has on her artistic career.
When in the day/night do you write? How long per day? I tend to write whenever I get a moment, so there isn’t any particular time of day I aim for. I work three days a week from Monday to Wednesday, and tend to focus on short stories on those evenings. On Thursdays, Fridays and during the weekend, I concentrate on the current novel in progress and like to get about 3000 words done during that four-day period. I also (see above!) write poetry and try to do three or four poems a week, plus a haiku on Sundays – I post all my poetry as I write it on my Facebook page (see below).
What is the hardest part of writing your books? I’m very bad at the mid-novel slump when I’ve had the excitement of the start, and the ending is still quite a way away – to get over it, I just slog away until something seems right, though that does involve a lot of cutting at the end. Funnily enough, unlike other writers, I tend to find the first draft hardest – I prefer the editing zone as it’s great to have something definite to work with.
Who are your books published with? I have a wide variety of publishers in various countries. A number of my short stories are published with Untreed Reads (including A Woman Like The Sea, of course!), and I also publish short stories with Bluewood Publishing, a New Zealand publisher, Eternal Press and Torquere Press. In terms of novels, I have gay fiction books published with Amber Allure (who also publish my gay short stories), Cheyenne Publishing, Dreamspinner Press and PD Publishing. Bluewood Publishing are also bringing out the first in my fantasy trilogy, The Gifting, this year, and I hope they might consider the second in the series too. Some of my ebooks (where not produced with the publishers just mentioned) are published by Bristlecone Pine Press. In terms of poetry, I have a haiku collection, entitled Sunday Haiku, out with Seventh Window Publications. Details of all these books can be found at my website (see below).
Plotter or Pantser? Why? Definitely Pantser! I can’t plot for the life of me so I simply start out and see where the characters and story take things. It’s really strange doing it that way as in every other part of my life I’m definitely a Plotter and plan things to the point of obsession. It’s only when I write that I don’t plan – so the act of writing becomes quite liberating in many ways but also very, very frightening. The desperate need to find out what on earth happens next keeps me going, and I hope readers enjoy the ride!
Anne Brooke’s Website: http://www.annebrooke.com
Anne Brooke’s Blog: http://annebrooke.blogspot.com
Anne Brooke’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/annebrooke
Good interview and your publishing credits are most impressive. I do so identify with that mid-novel slump!
Good luck with the new release.
AV
Many thanks, Ansley! Lovely to catch up with you again, and hope all going well with you
Down with the slump is what we say!
And a big thank you to Valerie for such great interview questions!
Anne
xxx