Are your characters real people? My characters are real to me, but they are actually shaped from bits and pieces of faces, voices, and mannerisms that I may take from multiple people around me. I'm not even sure where Marie's cherry cigar came from--but I keep plenty of ashtrays in my office!
How do you do research? My research seems so easy compared to my fellow authors who write, say, Historical. Contemporary writers must get out and mingle with interesting people, and experience things that differ from our ordinary lives. I've "had" to try skydiving, swimming with stingrays, sampling Sake, singing with a Newfoundland country band (the blackmail tape exists) and dancing the limbo on top a jet-propelled catamaran. And since I write cruise ship mysteries, I am forced to dress up in sequins and sip champagne and sail to exotic foreign ports . . . very tough, but I am dedicated.
How much time do you spend writing? Don't ask my husband this question--I once wrote for about sixteen hours straight for an editor's deadline. The wrist splint and puffy ankles were less painful than the ultimate rejection of that work. Now I try to stick to a regular work week, writing about six hours a day. My husband will dispute that.
What about the sizzle in your stories? Now ask him this one. He loves to take credit!
Is it hard to "write funny"? For me, its harder NOT to. But humor is so individual and it's impossible to please everyone, that's for sure. My long career as an ER nurse only proved to me that humor is very necessary as a "release valve" when life gets too gritty and real. The continuing, long history of romantic comedy films is evidence of that. I love them.
Is is hard to find an agent, get published? It is VERY hard and I am still pinching myself. But if writing is something you HAVE to do, not just want to do, then you persist. You learn all you can, you talk to lots of other writers about their own journeys, you share your work with valued critique partners, enter contests for feedback, and go to conferences. Then you send your polished work out, take the rejections on the chin, and keep believing in yourself and heading for that goal. Its do-able.
e-mail further questions to Candy by clicking "HERE" . . . .
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