Finding New Stories…



Where do you get your ideas?? This must be the singularly most asked question of authors. For me, this answer has most likely varied with each interview I have given. Why? Because book ideas are all around us if we take the time to look…and look hard!

I have no perfect solution to generating ideas, but my sources do come from newspaper stories, conversations, past experiences and TV shows – another great and seemingly endless source is places. I live in South West England, with the famous city of Bath not far in one direction and the beautiful Cotswolds  or Stonehenge in the other.

As much as possible, I visit Bath as well as the tiny villages and hamlets in the Cotswolds. There is history to be found in these places and when I research, I will often come across a real working class person who achieved extraordinary things.

My Victorian novels are usually a mix of the upper-middle class mixing with the lower classes, but it is always the working class characters that capture my imagination and, more often than not, the easiest to write. I literally hear their voices in my head and feel their passion for more in my heart.

I have had reviewers and readers say that what some of my heroines and female secondary characters do and say things that are unrealistic to the era. This always jolts me a little because a real person inspired each and every character I have written in my books. Women broke convention, men invented life-changing devices and industrial machines, children abandoned to the streets grew up to achieve remarkable success.

Anything is possible and nothing is more inspiring to me than men and women who went above and beyond, not only with what their families expected of them, but society too. If these people hadn’t stretched themselves, hadn’t stood up to propriety and reached for their dreams, the world would never have changed.

Succeeding against the odds is amazing in real life…in fiction, it can be astounding!

My latest Victorian release is HER ONE TRUE LOVE (eKensington/Lyrical Press) and available to buy now. Here is the blurb & buy links:

She Can't Forget Him…

Jane Charlotte Danes has loved the squire of her idyllic country town for as long as she can remember. He is good, kind, and alluring beyond words… and he chose to marry another. Tired of dwelling on her futile longings, Jane plans a move to Bath, where she dreams of a new beginning. But the man who has so imprisoned her heart is only a few steps behind…

He Can't Let Her Go…

Until now, Matthew Cleaves has endeavored to meet the responsibilities of his position with dignity and good spirits--including his dutiful marriage. But when his wife leaves him for another man, Matthew is at last free to pursue his one true love. Only one vital question remains: will the captivating, stubborn, beautiful Jane allow him the challenge, and the pleasure, of winning her back?.. 






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