Stephanie Cage - Writer

In my last post about characters , I mentioned 'Desperate Measures', my work in progress which is a sequel to my first novella, ' Desperate Bid '.  In it, the heroine finds herself alone in the hero's office, indulging in an irresistible moment of nosiness. This is that moment...   Miles' desk was tidy, so tidy that Michelle could have wondered if he ever worked, to sully it, if she had not already known the answer. He worked harder than anyone she had ever known. His desk was indeed, as a tidy desk is said to be, the sign of an ordered mind.   There was just one letter, lying dead centre. It was handwritten, in a looping old-fashioned hand, and although Michelle did not intend to read it, she found she'd become absorbed by the first sentence. "There is no easy way to say this."   There never was. Nowadays, you didn't write, not in pen, if there was an easier way to say it.   "Your father has been diagnosed with cancer. They sa...

Could you use a few tricks for getting to know your characters in a deeper way?  If so, join me over at the Book-in-a-Week blog, where this month I'm talking about questions you can ask your characters, from the pretty obvious to the slightly bizarre.  As well as my five favourite questions, I also share a nifty trick for making use of the media.  Read more here:  http://www.book-in-a-week.com/2013/05/5-questions-to-ask-your-characters/ By the way, these tricks aren't just theory: one of them provided a whole new plot strand to my work in progress, 'Desperate Measures' (full marks to anyone who guessed it's a sequel to my first published novella, 'Desperate Bid').   I asked the question, 'What's in the hero's desk drawer?' but instead of answering it directly, I played it out as a scene in which the heroine is sneaking a look at his desk while he's out of the office... and gets caught.  She's initially puzzled by one of the items ...

I'm so proud to see my dance book on the front page of Still Moments Magazine's blog today. You can visit them at http://stillmomentsezine.blogspot.ca/ and if you haven't already, do drop them an email at stillmomentsmagazine(at)gmail(dot)com to sign up for their beautiful free pdf magazine - it's full of quality interviews, book reviews and articles for romance writers and readers. Seriously, how can you resist? 

Today I am delighted to be interviewing Katherine Grey, whose historical romances An Unexpected Gift and The Muse are published by The Wild Rose Press.  Welcome, Katherine.  Have you always written historical romances, or have you experimented with other genres? I wrote a mystery about a year or so ago but apparently didn’t do a very good job with the red herrings as my friend told me she figured out who the murderer was by the third chapter.   It’s currently sitting on the shelf in my closet. I’m not sure if I’ll revise it and try to sell it or use it as a learning experience. Can you tell us a bit about your most recent release and what inspired it? My most recent release is An Unexpected Gift . It’s about two damaged people finding each other while searching for their loved ones. The hero was a secondary character in my novella, The Muse . I couldn’t get him out of my head so I knew I had to write his story. You wrote ‘The Muse’ for the ‘Love Lett...

Yesterday I was at Doncaster Central Library with the Doncaster Writers' Group as part of the ' Turn the Page ' festival, about which I'm sure you'll hear more as it continues for another week.  We were asked to introduce ourselves and the genres we wrote, which prompted me to put together this quick list of my favourite romance authors and books for anyone who wanted to know more.  It's hugely personal and idiosyncratic, but if you read romance, do have a look and see if you've missed any treasures, and I'd love to hear if you agree or disagree with my choices.  You can use the comment space below, or comment privately through the 'contact me' page of my website.  Louise Bagshawe – I love ‘The Movie’ and ‘Tall Poppies’ – contemporary chick-lit from another Oxford-educated author.   I’m also a fan of some of her later books, ‘Passion’ and ‘Desire’, which are more romantic suspense.   I've mentioned 'The Movie' in a previous po...

Today I'm interviewing Leanne Davis, whose first novel, 'Poison' is just out with The Wild Rose Press and is free for download for a limited time only - if this interview whets your appetite, you can find a link at the end.    Welcome, Leanne!  ‘Poison’ is a romantic suspense novel – what attracted you to the idea of writing romance with a villain? I was on vacation in Long Beach, Washington, (the fictional town of Seaclusion, where Poison takes place is based on it) and happened along the North Head Lighthouse which stands over the Columbia River during a bad storm. It seemed like something evil should happen there…and I began thinking about what it could be. I had long before written about my character’s John and Cassie as a high school romance. I decided to re-visit them   ten years later, and how   they could end up reuniting after a bitter betrayal. In order to give them some drama, I had Cassie have a violent ex-husband who is hunting her and h...

A while ago I introduced you to the snowy setting of my Christmas story, with the working title of 'The Santa Next Door'.   If you missed it, you can read it here . Now, I'm delighted to announce that Santa Claus really will be coming... to an electronic device near you.   I've just signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press for this short Santa story to be published as an e-book, hopefully in time for Christmas 2013.   So this seems like a good time to let my lovely heroine, Sue, and hero, Bryn, introduce themselves, to each other and to you...     “You said don't go in strange people's houses.”   Sue winced.   Apparently Trudi had inherited Sue's love of rules.   But why did she always have to trot them out at the most embarrassing moment?   Before Sue could find an answer, and definitely before her blush had faded, he had already supplied an answer: “Your Mum is quite right, usually.   But you see, I'm not a stranger...

I think I've done a pretty good job of keeping my pet peeves out of my blog.  I rarely, if ever, castigate authors for the occasional grammatical slip, especially as I know that when typing in a hurry, I can write some pretty bizarre things.  Nonetheless, anyone who knows me well will testify that I can often be found seething at some of the incorrect words and phrases I find in published books and periodicals.  That's why I'm always pleased to find someone flying the flag for correct grammar, and I especially love this short piece by Live, Write, Thrive author C S Lakin on the difference between 'lie' and 'lay': http://www.livewritethrive.com/2013/05/03/to-lay-or-to-lie-that-is-the-question/ Now if we could just follow it up with one on the difference between 'sitting' and 'sat', I could rest easy at nights.  Talking of which, it might be my turn to have a lie down...

Today I'm delighted to be welcoming prolific romance author Rachel Brimble to my blog.  Based near the beautiful city of Bath, where I studied for my MA, Rachel has written a number of books for The Wild Rose Press and is now also published by romance giants Harlequin.  I'm in awe of Rachel's diligence and versatility, and excited to be finding out more about how she does it! Rachel, you write both historicals and contemporaries – do you find the process of writing varies depending on what kind of story you’re writing? Interestingly, not for me – I write character sketches for my hero, heroine and villain, followed by a two to three page synopsis. Throughout this process this tends to reveal the goal, motivation and conflict of the three main characters, which gives me the basis of the story. I write the first draft from start to finish, without looking back and then the hard work comes in drafts two and three. The only difference with my historicals is the ...