Today Anne Greene talks about her writing schedule

Thank for for joining me again. Today I want to share a little bit about my approach to writing.
I am a pantser. I have tried plotting out a book in advance, including storyboarding, and that just doesn’t work for me. I start with a general idea, a setting, and a general idea of what characters I’m using. But very soon into the first draft the characters take over and direct the book. It’s a bit like watching a movie and just writing down what is happening. It’s quite exciting to see where the book will go. 

I write in the  Romantic Suspense, Historical Romance, and Historical genres. As a girl, I didn’t like history—until I read my first Historical. Then I was hooked. So, I know many people today don’t enjoy history, and my goal is to open up the glories of the past to them. History was modern life lived with all its heartache, joy, and excitement in a world very different from our own. I bring these different worlds into vivid, living color, and give a painless dose of history along the way. I write Romantic Suspense because I like to see good win over evil with fast action, surprises, and some who did it and why. 

The character I love writing about the most—is the one I’m currently working on. I love all my characters. However, I do think I like being in the male point of view slightly more than the female. I like being macho and looking at life from a different perspective. I like being strong enough to handle a couple of thugs. Of course my detective knows martial arts, but she doesn’t use her fists. I like looking at a woman I’m interested in and being totally confused as to what makes her do the crazy things she does. But, on the other hand, I love having a woman use her wiles and smarts when that’s all she has going for her. But Megan and Brody from Masquerade Marriage are probably closest to my heart. 

Masquerade Marriage is a book of my heart. My paternal ancestors are Scots of Clan Gunn, which was located in the far north of Scotland in the Caithness area where Vikings intermarried with the Scots. 

I visited Scotland with the purpose of setting one or more historicals there, and fell in love with the country. The final battle between the English and the Scottish Highlanders changed the Highlands forever. A way of life ended. The drama in this story appealed to me, and so I wrote Masquerade Marriage. I love this time in history and so enjoyed living it as I wrote the book. I hope the reader finds a new world to love as he reads my book. 

I do a great deal of research for all my books, including the contemporary ones. I always visit the setting and get some good pictures. Then I find books about the history and time. Small details I research on the internet, but the important ones come from non-fiction books. I am extremely careful in my research because if a reader discovers one error, then I lose credibility.

If I’m writing detective, I have a detective look over the manuscript before I send it out.

If I’m writing WW11 stories, I find someone who has been there. I always find a person who has done the job I’m writing about to look over the finished manuscript.

Of course, when I go further back into history I have to rely solely on the non-fiction books. But I enjoy research and often do far more than I ever use in any one book.

If I’m under deadline I can write an 85,000 word novel in six months or less.

My website is at http://www.http/AnneGreeneAuthor.com

Readers can buy my book at http://amazon.com and http://WhiteRosePublishing.com.

Please join Anne Green tomorrow when she talks about hethe process of writing

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Book Review ~ Texas Promise by Celia Yeary

Texas Promise

Celia Yeary
Desert Breeze Publishing Inc.
Contemporary/History/Cowboy
Sensual.

Review:

There are good books, and then there are good books. The ones I’m talking about are the ones that when you reach the last page you feel as though you are losing contact with dear friends. That is how I felt when I finished Celia Yeary’s first book in her Cameron Sisters series, Texas Promise.

In the first two short paragraphs we’ve met and learned about Jo King, the heroine.

She’s a woman who overcome some hard personal knocks and grown strong. She’s caring and warm, and when she loves she gives her all. That’s a lot to learn in a few short words. And the author takes this skill and weaves it into every word she’s written in this story.

Even the secondary character, some we never meet, leap from the pages in their three dimensional form. Her sister True never plays a large part in this story and yet her influence on her older sister is immense. So when Jo’s past walks into her home True is there for her.

We meet the hero, Dalton King, when he is recovering from severe injuries. Ms Yeary reveals his past and the events responsible for his injuries in a series of flash backs, and if I have any nit with this book it is the information revealed, then forgotten, by Dalton while in recovery. By the time Dalton King returns home he’s a changed man, fuelled by betrayal.

What makes this story is the author’s ability to place her reader right beside her characters. You feel their pain, whether physical or emotional, you can smell the dirt tracks, as easily as you can smell sewing machine oil.

The evil slinks though the book like a rattler slithering across the desert sand (Oh my, maybe I got that wrong, not once was a snake mentioned although I did expect them to be, and was vastly relieved when they weren’t.) But what I did get strong and clear and true was the atmosphere of the country Jo and Dalton travelled through. The journey, their emotions and the responses of the people they met along the way were so vividly portrayed.

I liked that her heroine, Jo, had weaknesses that made her absolutely believable when she learned about ‘the Judge’. To say more would give away too much. The way the author dealt with Jo’s resistance was awesome.

Before I read the book fully I’d come across excerpts online so knew I’d fall in love with Ms Yeary’s writing style all over again, and I did.

By the time I turned the final page, Jo and Dalton had wormed their way into my heart and I felt a great sense of personal loss when their story ended.

You don’t need to be a lover of history to enjoy this book. You don’t need to know anything about Texas –I’m in the U.K.- to enjoy this book. But by the time you come to the end of this story, you’ll realise you’ve been gifted both.

This is a book I’d describe as a ‘keeper’. It will certainly stay on my e-shelf to be read again in the not too distant future. I will also be keeping my eye out for the sequel.

If you have not read Celia Yeary’s books I highly recommend you start now.

Reviewed by Sherry Gloag. 20-09-10