Char Chaffin ~ Interview ~ Day 2

Today Char is answering questions, so please join in and leave a comment or if you have a question of your own for Char please ask.

 

What is your favourite colour, and why?
Purple. It’s vibrant, happy, soft, subtle, passionate, elegant, bold, serene, babyish, sweet. Every shade of purple is a delight to my senses.


Do you use colour in your book to emphasise a scene or plot?
Sometimes. It depends on what the scene needs. I don’t necessarily reveal a character’s favorite color unless I feel the reader’s experience will be enhanced by knowing.


How important is the sense of smell and sound in your writing?
I think it’s important. All the senses are necessary to infuse the plot with emotion. If my characters can’t express themselves through what they see, hear or taste, then how can my readers believe in them and consequently, in my story?


Do you find it more comfortable to place your characters in town/city or counrty or both?
I like small towns, so I use them often. I’ve never placed a story in a large city, and probably won’t. I do see a story set in Fairbanks, Alaska, in my future as I lived there for many years. Fairbanks is good-sized but still under forty thousand. My current manuscript is set in a small Native Alaskan village in Southwest Alaska which is proving to be a lot of fun to write.


Are you a plotter, and if so, what is your routine for setting up your plots?
I tend to plot first and write later. Outlines are a must even if I don’t follow them very closely. They definitely help get me started. I can figure out my H/H names, physical attributes, get a feel for main conflicts and even have a clear idea of how I want the final page to read. Sometimes I do a full outlines, pages of it, and other manuscripts only require a paragraph or two. But I do need something to break that initial fingers-to-keyboard ice.


Who drives your story? You, or your characters?
My characters are in control, always. I find if I try forcing them, none of us are happy.:-) So I let them guide me and unless where they take me is just not working out, they will always lead.


What is your heroine's favourite piece of music?
In Promises to Keep, Annie doesn’t really focus on music. Her entire center is Travis. I suppose you could say Travis’s love is the only music she can hear. In my latest manuscript, my heroine, Kendall, has a deep connection to music and favors Eighties tunes and metal bands.


What car would your hero most like to drive?
Travis drives a silver BMW 640 convertible, a graduation gift from his father. It’s sleek and classic and suits Travis right down to its leather interior.


What is the least likely setting you would choose to set you story in and why?
Probably a really big city such as Los Angeles or a foreign location wouldn’t be a choice for me. I seem to be firmly entrenched in small-town, American soil!


How much editing do you do? Do you edit as you go along or edit in different draft editions?
I’m an editing fiend, and I edit as I write which is the main reason I had a hard time participating in NaNoWriMo. NaNo expects their participants to complete fifty thousand words in a month, so hard editing is really impossible. I go over and over each chapter until they’re polished, and after I pass that chapter to my critique partner, I move on to the next. Once the entire manuscript is finished, I read through it at least twice and edit again. Then it goes to my critique partner for a final edit. After she’s finished digging into it, I do a final edit. By the time my publisher gets it, the manuscript is pretty clean. I might be a tad obsessive.:-)


What is the best piece of advice you have ever received, and why?
I have a wonderful group of friends who have been my sounding board and my cheerleaders for years. They’ve all told me, “Never stop writing, and never stop reading.” Writing and reading go hand in hand, and you can’t be a good writer unless you’re willing to read and by reading, expand your world and learn.


Who is/has been the biggest influence in your writing?
My family: husband Don, daughter Sue Ann and son-in-law John. They’ve buoyed me up when I thought I’d never sell a single word, pushed and prodded me toward publication. They’re wonderful promoters, too. And never once did any of them doubt I’d one day publish my novel.


~~


a - sweet or savoury? Sweet
b - tea or coffee? Coffee
c - flats shoes or heels? Flats
d - pants or skirts/dresses? Pants
e - morning or evening person Evening
f - do you write in silence or with music? Complete silence
g - big car or small? Small, preferably a convertible
h - cut flowers or plants in the house? Both, if I can get the cut flowers! But always, plants


Thanks so much for having me here again today!


My Website: http://char.chaffin.com
My Blog: http://charbchaffin.wordpress.com/


Soul Mate Publishing: http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/promises-to-keep/


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Promises-to-Keep-ebook/dp/B00695RH4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326559313&sr=8-1


Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/promises-to-keep-char-chaffin/1107756848?ean=2940013543355&itm=1&usri=char+chaffin

You've read the first chapter and met the author, please come back to tomorrow and read the review for Promises to Keep

It's official :-)

Astraea Press has accepted my Valentine story, His Chosen Bride, the second in the Gasquet Princes series.

Unlike his youngest brother, Prince Liam, Henri Gasquet, heir to his father's throne, is prepared to marry a bride chosen by his parents, until he meets Monica Lattimer...

Liam's story, From Now Until Forever, is avaiable to buy at:
http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=7105194


http://www.amazon.com/From-Now-Until-Forever-ebook/dp/B006GYAV44/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322854797&sr=1-1-spell

http://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Now-Until-Forever-ebook/dp/B006GYAV44/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322854884&sr=8-1-spell

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/sherry-gloag-from-now-until-forever?keyword=sherry+gloag+from+now+until+forever&store=book

nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/sherry-gloag-from-now-until-forever?keyword=sherry+gloag+from+now+until+forever&store=ebook

Tuesday Tales #3 Christmas

Welcome back to this week's Tuesday Tales. And thank you to everyone who visited and left a comment last week.

The promt today is 'Christmas' 

“Tell me about your favourite Christmas.” Melanie sat back and watched the two brothers stare at each other as if they’d been pole-axed.
“Surely you celebrated Christmas at the palace?” Concern for the royal siblings pushed her back in her chair.
“Well,” Liam hesitated, stared at her, cleared his throat and sat on the arm of her chair, which left his elder brother and the heir to the throne of a tiny European country bordering Switzerland casting a puzzled glance at both of them.
“We grew up with the knowledge that Christmas belonged to our people.” Henri started slowly, and when Liam nodded, settled on the other arm of Melanie’s chair. “It wasn’t like here in Britain where your Royals do a Christmas speech to the nation while holidaying in the wilds of Norfolk. We were physically on display.”
“What! All of you?” In sitting up Melanie nearly sent both brothers flying. “Surely you had some family time together away from the media spotlight?”
The following silence pounded in her head as she imagined the royal siblings on a palace balcony. One of those she’d laughed about the first time her husband introduced her to the palace. She couldn’t say her own Christmas’s had been full of joy, but those of the Gasquets’ carried a different kind of emotional deprivation. She knew from years of association with the King and his queen, they were good, loving parents, so why had they allowed their country to take precedence over their children’s needs on that one special day of the year?
“I thought mine were bad,” she muttered and started when Henri broke through her thoughts.
"What do you mean?” he asked.
“Fists for kisses.” Liam stated flatly, and with a reminiscent grin changed the subject.
“Do you remember that year when, after we came in from the first balcony appearance, we ran off and hid?”
Henri’s laugh eased the tension and redirected his thoughts to the ensuing mayhem. The whole palace had been turned upside down and the search involved everyone.
“We didn’t know anything about security because of threats from the insurgents, or the likes then. To us it was just a bid for freedom from the monotony of routine on a day when we knew from the television other people had a really joyful time.
“The parents even called in the air force to join the search.”
Melanie laughed aloud when Henri slanted a rueful grin in her direction.
“And all this time, you were where?”
“Where do you think four boys, up to no good, would go in a palace?”
“You didn’t!”
“We did!” Liam joined in his brother’s recollections.
“Weren’t you frightened? Wasn’t it dark and damp in the dungeons?” When the shook their heads she added, “I thought all dungeons were dark and damp.”
“No. Not at all.” Henri contradicted. “We often played down there and had managed to store a collection of candles, torches, packets of biscuits. And…” he paused before continuing in a conspirital tone. “We found some old chairs that had been junked at some time and a rickety old table from one of the other rooms down there.”
“We decided it was one of the warden’s rooms.” Liam added with glee. “When we went upstairs the whole place was in uproar. We were grounded for a week and the dungeons were locked up after that.”
The front door bell interrupted any further reminiscences. “That will be Monica.” Liam rose and departed to admit their visitor.
“Monica?” Henri’s eyes turned wary. “You’re not match-making are you?”
Used as she’d become to her brother-in-law’s directness, Melanie still found it disconcerting at times.
“Monica is my partner in the riding business,” she said primly, before adding firmly, “and I would never try to set her up with an unwanted partner.” Two could play the direct game, she thought. “She’s alone this Christmas and arranged to join us long before we knew you were visiting us too.”
Henri looked up when his brother re-entered the room and fought the shock that sucker-punched him in the chest when he studied the newcomer.
He’d heard the phrase, ‘hair like spun gold,’ and suddenly understood why some unknown man he’d formerly rubbished as witless had waxed lyrical. Her hair fell in soft waves to her shoulders before turning in. Her eyes reminded him of the emeralds in the royal vault back home. Large, round, and instead of reflecting colour hers held a myriad of emotions.
Skin like alabaster…
No! He shook his thoughts clear, her skin was rosy from the cold breeze outside, her lips held the ghost of a smile tinged with accusation and it was directed, he saw, at his sister-in-law.
She rose, shot across the room and threw her arms around her friend.
“It’s not what you think.” Melanie assured her, in gentle tones. “Remember we told you about trying to persuade Henri to join us this year?”
The girl nodded.
Well hardly a girl, Henri admitted as he slid his tongue  round inside his suddenly parched mouth.
“Well,” Melanie continued, “It was your suggestion we appeal to the king to get Henri to join us for Christmas—"
What? His eyes narrowed, this slip of a chit had schemed with Liam and Melanie to turn his life upside down? Anger and indignation warred with the throbbing south of his belt. Any thought of immersing himself in a holiday flirtation shot out the window.
Straightening his shoulders, his lips thinning, he bowed, and said in his most royal tone. “So I owe the total disruption of my life to you, do I? It’s always good to know who your enemies are.”
He ignored the shocked gasps from his family and kept his gaze fixed on the woman. What had Melanie called her? Something similar to hers, he remembered, and then it came to him.
Monica!
Well, he thought grimly, he’d go to great lengths to assure this woman she was quite safe from him.

A reminder, you can find more awesome stories at Tuesday Tales

New 'British Romance Fiction'

Lindsay Townsend has started a group  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BritishRomanceFiction/message/19
for writers who enjoy everything British in their books.