Hi, Louisa! It's great to have you here - I'm looking forward to learning more about you and your work. Wishing you much sales and success with your latest release, THE OTHER LIFE OF CHARLOTTE EVANS! Let's start with my questions...
1) What is the best and worse thing you have learned from an
editor/agent?
From
an agent who I pitched to face to face at Romance Writers Of America conference
just after I was nominated for a RITA Award; “you have no idea how many of your
type I get pitching to me every day. You’re all the same.”
Cue:
heartbreak. But what she was telling me was that you have to have a point of
difference to stand out and cut through all the chatter, this means having a
High Concept idea that is an easy sell to bookstores/publishers/agents.
Best
thing I have learnt is that the hero/heroine/main protagonist has to be someone
the reader likes or wants to be/have as a best friend. Someone with flaws,
someone relatable.
Although,
how that works with the recent spate of ‘unreliable’ narrator protagonists
(such as in The Girl On The Train, and Gone Girl)I’m not sure. One thing I do
know is that this business is always changing and you have to be flexible.
2) What is your typical day?
Up at
7.30, breakfast then some kind of exercise depending on the day: Zumba / Yoga /
Run / Weights…home and shower and at desk by 11.00am
11-1pm
Answer emails / do business
1pm-
6pm write. I aim for 2000 words per day and can’t leave my chair until they’re
done.
3) What do you read while in the midst of a project? Or don’t you?
I
read everyday, but I try not to read in the genre I’m writing when in the
middle of a project. So, I often read crime novels or mainstream fiction when
I’m writing romance etc…
4) What do you do with a paperback once you’ve read it?
Depends what I thought of
it. If it’s excellent I’ll keep it or take along to my book group. If I wasn’t
enthralled I’ll take along to my local charity shop. I love print book,s but I
do tend to hoard on my kindle too!
5) Are you nervous about friends reading your book?
Always! Although, when I
was first published and was told I had to put a sex scene in the book I was
more concerned about my Aunty Mary reading it than my friends.
6) What things inspire you to write? Location, music, film or even in a
book?
Character mainly…what kind
of person would do…? But locations do inspire me. I like to write about where
I’ve been so I can make things as authentic as possible (and it’s a great
excuse for travel to nice places!). Sometimes, I’m inspired by an idea. The Other Life Of Charlotte Evans
was inspired initially by Angelina Jolie’s breast and ovary removal to prevent
cancer.
All my books have some
humour to balance the darker emotions and are ‘sweet with heat’…they have an
optimistic ending (always! Because there’s enough darkness in the world) and
some degree of romance.
8) What’s next for you?
I
have a contemporary romance coming out in November called ‘Something Beginning With Mistletoe’ which is part of my Something Borrowed series (a group of
women living in Notting Hill and their interesting love lives) and a Mills and
Boon Medical Romance about surrogacy coming out at the beginning of December
called The Nurse’s Special Delivery
Author
Bio:
Award-winning author Louisa George has been
an avid reader her whole life. In between chapters she managed to fit in a BA
degree in Communication Studies, trained as a nurse, married her doctor hero
and had two sons. Now, she spends her days writing chapters of her own in the
medical romance, contemporary romance and women’s fiction genres. To date, she
has 19 books available in ebook/print.
Louisa’s books have variously been nominated
for the coveted RITA® Award and the
NZ Koru Award (which she won in 2014 and 2016 for the Short Sexy Category) and
she won the prestigious HOLT Medallion Award in 2017. Her books have been
translated into twelve languages. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand and, when
not writing or reading, likes to travel, drink mojitos and do Zumba®-
preferably all at the same time.
Author
links:
Website: www.louisageorge.com
Twitter: @Louisa_George
Instagram: louisageorgeauthor
Buylinks: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0725RDFG3
Blurb
Would you sacrifice
your future to understand your past?
Life is rosy for
dance studio owner Charlotte Evans, who is about to marry beloved fiancé, Ben.
But when Ben finds a lump in Charlotte's breast, it sends her on a journey of
self-discovery which she knows she must do alone. Because Charlotte is adopted,
and she suddenly, desperately, needs to know who she is and where she comes
from.
Finding and
reconnecting with her birth family, the life Charlotte could have had unfolds
before her. As her wedding day draws closer, and her past merges ever more into
her present, Charlotte must decide on the future she really wants…
A heartrendingly
beautiful novel about love, family and finding your own path to happiness.
The Other Life of Charlotte Evans Giveaway
1 winner: £25 Amazon Giftcard
UK Only
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