About Gwenan Haines:
Gwenan Haines writes romantic suspense and paranormal thrillers. Her second novel, Collateral Damage, is forthcoming from Wild Rose Press as part of its Summer Heat series. She lives in New England with her daughter and a red Siberian husky born on Halloween.
What inspires you to write?
Like most writers, I’ve always wanted to write – and I’ve always written. I have a lot of work I haven’t done anything with, in part because I tend to be very self-critical. I also read a lot and am always getting ideas from the books I love. Sometimes it’s something very small like a location or a certain type of character. Other times, it’s something less tangible. I’ve been completely addicted to Kate Morton lately and can’t get Eliza Makepeace out of my head. I’d love to eventually write something along the lines of The Forgotten Garden. For now, I’m at work on a sequel to Collateral Damage, my new novel with Wild Rose Press.
Tell us about your writing process.
When I’m writing suspense, I feel as if I have to plot first. Vertigo has a “double plot” in a sense – the contemporary mystery and the historical one. If I hadn’t plotted pretty thoroughly, it could have ended up as a mess. But once I had the plot I let the characters do most of heavy lifting. There were a few scenes that ended up moving in a different direction than I anticipated and I was pretty happy with how they turned out.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Absolutely. Sometimes they get rebellious and try to take over the story – occasionally, I let them. At other times I need to reign them in so the plot doesn’t become to convoluted.
What advice would you give other writers?
Keep writing!!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I’ve published with Wild Rose and indie published books. Both have something to offer. Over the years I’ve sold thousands of copies of indie e-books and I couldn’t be happier about that. But I also don’t plan on giving up traditional publishing. Wild Rose has been wonderful to work with and I’ve learned a tremendous amount from my Crimson Rose editor Ally Robertson.
I would advise new authors to explore both options and not to get discouraged. I recently read there are about 5000 books a day coming out on Amazon. That’s a daunting figure, one that suggests social media is critical in making sure your novel doesn’t get lost. But don’t spend so much time promoting you sacrifice writing time. Ultimately that’s far more important.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Though the e-book craze seems to have slowed, I don’t think it’s over. More readers are using their phones and other electronic devices to download books, so it seems likely that other venues besides Amazon will become more competitive over the next several years. I’m also glad print books seem to be making a comeback. I love my Kindle but I’ll never lose my passion for holding a book in my hands.
What do you use?: Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: romantic suspense, urban fantasy, mystery
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Gwenan Haines Home Page Link
Link To Gwenan Haines Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Facebook
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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