Claudine, you should have been a lawyer. you ask wonderful , thought provoking questions!
1. Do you plot all your novels out beforehand or are you strictly a fly by the seat of your pants kind of woman?
I am a bit of both. I start out with good intentions, having the plot fairly well mapped out in my head, but it never seems to wind up on paper the same way. My first novel, IF YOU ONLY KNEW was first worked out in three spiral notebooks and reads nothing like the finished book. Once I began to understand the characters, the original plot just fell away and a new more exciting plot formed. I had so much fun writing that book.
I have come to the conclusion that I am more fly by the seat of my pants than anything. The only constant with me is the music I am listening to while writing a particular novel. Music is very important for me as it can transport me to “where I need to be” mentally.
2. What do you do when you’re stuck on a plot point? How do you kill those horrible plot bunnies? With a stick? Or a movie, book, a walk etc?
Oh, you mean, what do I do after I stare helplessly at the corner I have painted myself into? I leave it alone and go outside. I’ll either go down to the new barn and see the horses or to the backyard to visit the dogs. This time away gives my mind a chance to refresh and I actually see the answer play out in my head. Then I usually cackle inanely, or is that insanely?
3. I see you’re well versed in Civil War history, have you or are you going to write a book about this time period? If not, would you ever write one about the Civil War Reenactments?
I love watching those, by the way.
Ouch. This is a sticky question. If I could, I think I would tell the story of my great-great-great grandfather, William T. Hollingsworth, who fought with the 22nd Alabama, was shot at Chickamauga, mustered out at the end of the war and went back to Georgia and married the girl he had met at poor school (public school) when he was a boy.
I have often joked with a good friend, who portrays Pat Cleburne and serves as Overall Commander for the Fort Dickerson Living History that writing a book about putting together a reenactment would have to labeled as fiction, as no one in their right mind would believe the stuff that goes on.
4. What is a genre you haven’t tried that you’d like to?
It was paranormal, but I have tackled that genre with glee and hope to have it submitted soon. Entitled Majik Man, it tells the story of Dominic, a male witch, who is in desperate need a of a virgin to get him out of trouble with his witch sponsor. His roommate, Rudy, is a vampire with an unusual drinking problem, as he keeps biting druggies and getting hooked on whatever they have running through their veins. Rudy also needs a virgin to cleanse himself. The only problem is, where do you find a virgin in Los Angeles?
Time travel is a genre that I have dabbled in, but it has to be believable. The reader, to me, has to say, “That could happen.” I know. Claudine goes to a Civil War reenactment and steps into a tent to see how the generals live. Once she steps out, she is thrown to the ground as a shell from artillery on the hill explodes around her. She opens her eyes and finds herself looking up into the face of a man she has never seen before. Once the smoke clears, he declares her a spy and demands to know what she was doing in his tent.
5. What are you working on now?
Claudine goes to a civil War reenactment….actually I am working on several things. I have the third in the Sweetwater Series, entitled IF YOU ONLY BELIEVE. For those who have readIF YOU ONLY KNEW and IF YOU ONLY DARE will be happy to know that the third book will focus on Dorcas and a certain doctor that arrived in book two. Yes, Dorcas, the foul-mouthed prostitute. I love the comedy so far and the tension between her and “Fancy Pants” is getting almost too hot to handle.
Plus, I also have the two medievals, THE BASTARD, which is an amazing story of Stephen, King of England, his knight, Roland D’Mori and Alana, a young girl who has no idea that she is the king’s bastard child.
PLAYING FOR KEEPS, the story of Bertram D’Mori, knight of the realm and Roland’s brother. He has been gifted Alana’s old keep and finds himself in a battle of wits and control with Alana’s sister, Desdemona.
And another historical which I have absolutely fallen in love with, entitled CONCUBINE. Young Cassie Henderson returns from finishing school after learning of the death of her guardian uncle, only to discover that the young man who broke her heart so ruthlessly years ago, was her Uncle’s attorney and now controls every part of her inheritance.
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