Hi Ella! It's so nice to welcome you back to my blog - I am looking forward to catching up and discovering more about you and hearing all about you new release THEIR SURPRISE SAFARI REUNION. Shall we kick things off with my questions??
1.) What genre do you typically read? Why?
Like most writers I’m an avid reader, but I don’t favour any specific genre. I have authors I love, but I’m not someone who discovers an author then reads everything that they’ve ever written. That’s not to say I don’t get there eventually, but if I find a writerly voice I like, I deliberately ration myself because I don’t want to become inured to the very qualities that drew me in in the first place. Having said that, I sometimes allow myself to get sucked into a series. Years ago, I remember devouring Helen Forrester’s Penny to Cross the Mersey saga, and more recently, I fell into Shona Maclean’s Alexander Seaton series and couldn’t extricate myself until I’d read them all. I don’t often read horror, although I’ve read Clive Barker and Stephen King in the past, and I’ve read a bit of fantasy and sci fi. As a teen, I was pretty much addicted to John Wyndham’s novels and about four years ago I finally got around to reading Ray Bradbury’s brilliant, Fahrenheit 451.
Whatever I’m reading though, I like there to be a strong emotional element. I also like to be entertained. I don’t necessarily mean amused, but I do want to be sucked in, toyed with, left for dead! I guess that’s the same for everyone.
Hands up, the genre I read the least is contemporary romance, not because I don’t love it, but because I write it and I’m basically terrified of being influenced by other writers in the field. I do dip in now and again, and when I do, I always enjoy the ride, but it’s a case of easy does it.
2.)
Share a favourite childhood memory.
For me, the love of reading (and writing) has always been there. As a girl I was mad about horses, so Black Beauty was obviously a firm favourite. I remember taking it out of the primary school library six successive times, crying my eyes out with every re-read. Later, I discovered Ruby Ferguson’s “Jill” stories and collected them all. I was so envious of Jill having two ponies when I had none! I secured my own horsey fix through riding lessons, and by staying on at the riding school afterwards, working for the rest of the day, mucking out and grooming, simply so I could be around the horses.
I never did get a pony of my own, never mind two, but the memories of that time always make me smile.
3.)
Do you have any shameless addictions? ie. Tea, Books,
Shoes, Clothes?
These days I have plenty of other shameless addictions like … books! I read on Kindle, and I read paperbacks. If I’ve loved a book on Kindle, then I’ll often scour the charity shops for a paperback copy so the hubster can read it too. And then it goes on the shelf because I love having physical copies of my favourite reads. I’m not keen on hardbacks. Aesthetically they’re the bomb, but so unwieldy. It’s why I like Kindle. You can read a tome without bowing under the weight or wrestling with the spine. Barkskins by Annie Proulx was a doddle on Kindle, and I’ve got the Hilary Mantel’s lined up to read too, without the wrist strain. Beyond books, I’m a bit of a fiend for boots. I do love a cute boot. I have fond memories of a pair of butter soft yellow leather pixie boots I owned in the eighties and currently I’m struggling to part with a pair of (now) battered and leaky black ankle boots I bought in Barcelona in 2015. If money was no object, I’d probably be the Imelda Marcos of boots.
4.)
What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing
a new book?
I think for me, the biggest challenge with starting a new book is finding the emotional engine, getting myself into that place where I’m feeling the character conflicts so deeply inside that it simply pours out when I’m writing.
Even if I think I’m feeling it at the start, it often turns out that I’m not, fully. I’ll have my trope(s) for the story, the setting, and I’ll have a good idea of who my characters are and what’s driving them, but once I’ve started, then a transition begins, a process of enrichment if you like, whereby the characters become living, breathing people to me. At that point they’re likely to sabotage my story plan, throw me a few curved balls, but the payoff is that I’m in the zone with them, feeling every tingle and heart lurch, which is the way it should be. If I’m not feeling it, I can’t write it.
5.)
Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages a day?
For the above reasons, I don’t set myself a specific word goal each day. I find pressure counterproductive. Obviously, I have my delivery deadline in mind, and schedule my writing time accordingly (I’m a pro-photographer so I have that work to do as well) but I leave myself plenty of time for each book, and if I have a day when I’ve only managed 500 new words (I edit as I go, so I often get tangled in revising, polishing the previous day’s work instead of breaking new ground), then I simply accept that that’s the way it is. I have tried the rough draft method – NaNoWriMo – and hated the process of editing it all afterwards. My way is slow, for sure, but by the time I’ve finished, I really have finished, at least I have until my editor comes back with revisions!
6.) What are your thoughts on writing a book series?
I hadn’t given much thought to writing a series until my editor raised
it with me a few months ago. Duets and trilogies are popular with Mills and
Boon readers, so it might be that I write a duet next time. It would be a
challenge, but exciting too. Ideas are already percolating so watch this space!
BLURB & BUY LINK:
Will the truth finally give them for ever?
When travel blogger Maddie is invited on safari, she doesn’t hesitate. It’s the perfect way to escape her painful past. Until, to her amazement, Maddie finds Kaden—the guy she never got to say goodbye to and the mystery owner of Masoka game reserve—waiting for her. Maddie’s spent her whole life running… This time, will she stay with Kaden?
BIO:
Much to her own surprise, Ella Hayes won the Prima Magazine/Mills and Boon Love to Write competition in 2017. Her debut romance, Her Brooding Scottish Heir, was published in December 2018. Her sixth title, Their Surprise Safari Reunion came out in August this year, and book seven, Barcelona Fling with a Secret Prince will be published early in February 2023. A former television camerawoman and now professional photographer, Ella lives in Scotland with her husband and two grown-up sons. Ella Hayes is a pen name.
@EllaHayesAuthor on IG, FB and Twitter
Thanks so much for having me, Rachel. I loved answering your questions!
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