Wednesday 2 May 2012

Author Interview: Evonne Wareham

I'm pleased to be able to say that I am getting a very good response rate to the questionnaire that I emailed to authors.  The latest author who has kindly agreed to take part is Evonne Wareham whose debut book, Never Coming Home, was released in March.  

How long did it take you to get your first book published?
Never Coming Home was a finalist in an American contest in 2009.  There was a lot of interest in the book, but it didn't find a publisher until I pitched it to Choc-Lit at the Romantic Novelists' Association's conference in Greenwich in 2010.  Choc-Lit ha a panel of readers who assess every submission they receive.  The panel liked it and I was offered a contract, but it still took a year to get a publication slot.  I am very grateful to the ladies who made up the panel - and say so at every opportunity.  They've changed my life!  Before that I'd been writing for a long time, experimenting with genres until I found the one I really wanted to write - romantic thrillers - the genre known in the States as romantic suspense.

Do you have a set daily writing routine?
That would be top of my wish list, but I never seem to be able to organize it.  I write where and when I can.  Trains are a good place. 
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Have any of your characters in your books been based on people you know?  If so, did they recognise themselves?
No.  I don't base my characters on people I know.  My characters tend to arrive in my head with their story already formed - then it's a matter of me finding out what that story is.  I find the heroines are easier in that respect, It can be very difficult to get a hero to tell you about himself - especially his emotions!

How hard is it to come up with the plot for books?
I don't really know where my plots come from - I like to read books with complex plots and I seem to write in the same way.  Ideas come from all over the place, and tend to meld together.  I don't site down and think - today I'm going to dream up a plot.  They tend to creep up on me.  I'm happy with that, as long as they keep doing it.  

If you could write another style of genre, what would it be and why?
I've experimented - a lot.  My second choice of genre would definitely be historicals.  I love to read them, and I am an historian in my other life.  I have a part-finished manuscript in the bottom drawer for the first of a swashbuckling Georgian series, with smugglers and secret societies, and also a Victorian paranormal that ran into the sand because I could not get the plot to work.  I'm hoping both will have a life one day.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring author, what would it be?
Keep trying, and keep learning.

Are you able to give us a hint about what your next novel is about?  And when is it likely to be published?
Choc-Lit has already contracted for the next book.  It's called Out of Sight, Out of Mind and it is a romantic thriller but this time with paranormal elements.  Both the hero and heroine can read minds,  He doesn't know he can because he can't remember who he is.  It will be out in March 2013.

Do you have much spare time to read books?  If so, what was the last book you read or what are you currently reading?
I've just read Run Rabbit Run by another Choc-Lit author - Kate Johnson.  Sophie, her heroine, is an unconventional ex-spy who has been accused of murder and is on the run.  It's a chase story - with jokes and very good looking men.  Karen Rose's No One Left to Tell is next in the pile.  She is one of my favourite romantic suspense authors.

If you could have your book made into a film, who would you cast in the leading roles?
I'd love for Never Coming Home to be made into a film.  So, if there are any producers reading this...  Casting is difficult.  I don't base my characters on any particular actor, so no-one fits exactly - but I think Daniel Craig and his wife, Rachel Weisz, would have the right sort of look.

If you were going to be stuck on a desert island and could only take 3 books with you, which ones would you choose?
I don't know that I could choose three books - but I can choose three authors - Nora Roberts, Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart would keep me happy on a desert island, although maybe a DIY manual on survival skills or boat building would be a better choice?. 

Can you describe 'Never Coming Home' in 20 words or less?     
Can a bereaved mother trust a stranger in a hunt for truth that crosses Europe?

This is another book that is currently sitting in my ever increasing tbr pile... Can my fairy godmother please arrange for me to win the lottery so that I can give up work to catch up on my reading!  If you want to find out more about Never Coming Home, why not head to her publishers website where you'll find an extract of the book.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Shaz for inviting me onto the blog. Hope you enjoy Never Coming Home when you finally get to read it. (And can you send the fairy godmother on to me when she's free?)

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