About Tanya Newman:
I’ve loved reading and stories for as long as I can remember. At the age of ten, I wrote a book of my own. When finished, the story was thirty pages, complete with a cover I drew myself. It led to countless other stories, mostly about horses and riding. Over time, romantic relationships became a theme in my work, and later, a little crime fiction began finding its way in there. Readers have described my work as romantic, mysterious, poignant, and heartbreaking yet heartwarming. I’m grateful to have discovered my passion so young, and to be able to do it and give the world what I’ve created.
As the years passed, I completed BA and MA degrees in English, taking every creative writing class I could. In between years of teaching writing and raising my family, I have published short stories with Gadfly Online, TWJ, The Fictional Cafe, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice. I have three novels as well: The Good Thief (2016), Winter Rain (2017), and Brilliant Disguise (2024).
I live in upstate South Carolina with my husband, son, daughter, 2 cats, and Labrador/Coonhound mix, and where I set many of my stories. When not writing or serving as professional maid, laundress, chauffeur, or homework tutor (hubby handles bulk of the cooking!), I love a good cup of coffee, action/adventure movies with a good love story added in, reruns of The Golden Girls, the music of U2, long jogs, and traveling with family–our latest big adventure landed us in Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
What inspires you to write?
Deadlines were great inspiration when I was in school! Now, ideas usually come to me through music, scenes in movies, conversations, images, dreams, or people telling me they like my work. If I find myself thinking about one of these things often, I will go with it and start writing. Usually, I start with the scene I am imagining and let the characters take over from there. Sometimes, the scene I'm imagining takes place near the middle or even the end of my work. Very occasionally I don't end up using it, but even if I don't, the time spent writing is never wasted time. I love to go back and visit these scenes. These initial ideas where my next story is full of possibilities is my favorite part of the writing process.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Jhumpa Lahiri, Joyce Carol Oates, J.R. Ward, Marilyn Knight, Keith Lee Morris
Tell us about your writing process.
Usually the first step in my writing process is to do nothing. Sounds strange, I know. But, like I mentioned in the previous question, an idea will resonate through music, film, images, or dreams. I take the time to think about and then write what and who I see in my mind. In some ways, the characters tell me their stories as we go along. I don't like forcing ideas, especially in the beginning (one reason it takes me a while to complete my works). I don't have a set time or place that I write. As a working mom, I take my time to write where I can. If I know I'm going to have some time to write, I will turn on my playlist (I save the songs that inspire me) and make sure to have plenty of coffee and some (healthy) snacks on hand because they're fabulous for keeping the body occupied when the brain needs to think about ideas. Sometimes I'll light a candle to have nearby because if I happen to get blocked, staring at it and its movement helps move into ideas. I don't have a set word count. I usually write until the scene is done in my mind or life interrupts me.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Yes, definitely. I listen and observe more than I speak, as I do in real life. I describe what I see in place, lighting, time, etc. but I let my characters handle the scenes they're in while I take in their looks and mannerisms down to the way they speak, think, hold themselves, carry their bag, look at someone, react to occurrences and others. I consider myself part of the audience in this respect. They're people in my mind and they tell me what has happened to them. I communicate it as best I can on paper.
Oftentimes, before bed or in dreams, my characters revisit me and show me more of who they are or what's happened, and I'm able to get lost in their story once again.
In this sense, I guess I'm writing most of the time!
What advice would you give other writers?
Read a lot (especially poetry and the genre you want to write) and write a lot. Do a lot of research on publishers and agents and keep a list of the ones you want to query. Rejections may hurt, but keep going.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
One of my Creative Writing professors in college first encouraged me to consider publishing my work. I tried in between going to grad school, getting married, working, and having kids. I first started publishing short stories while working on novels. I continued to send them to my old professors, working on polishing my writing for years before deciding on one I thought was good enough to send out to publishers and agents. It was accepted by a publishing house in 2014 and I've steadily continued publishing from there. My latest work, Brilliant Disguise, was published by Solstice Publishing in October.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It remains difficult to get one's work in there with an agent or publishing house. Perseverance is an author's best friend.
Self-publishing has become, and will remain, huge, I think. There are a lot of excellent works out there that are self-published (like The Martian), but if one goes that route, be sure to write, rewrite, edit and have a trusted reader look the work over.
I've never tried AI, but I understand it provides some fun writing exercises. I just hope it does not take away abilities or imagination.
What genres do you write?: Suspense, Love, Crime
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
Tanya Newman Home Page Link
Link To Tanya Newman Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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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.
