Stephanie Cage - Writer

This week I'm taking a break from blogging my novel to chat with friend and crime writer Angela Wren.  Angela, you’re a member of both the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Crime Writers’ Association, and your books have elements of both crime and romance to them. What drew you to these two very different genres, and how do you balance them in your stories? Accident times 2 drew me to these genres! Once I’d made up my mind that I could write a full novel it just so happened that my idea for that story was built around a romance. Being a member of the RNA gave me access to the New Writers’ Scheme and Le Cerisier – the name of that particular work – was submitted twice. My second story also involved a romance but intrigue too. That was submitted to the NWS twice and came back the second time with some comments about balancing the story across the two different genres. I started my third novel, Messandrierre, which I had always known was a dark tale, but I could no...

It's a great pleasure to welcome to my blog today my multi-talented friend: author, actor and director Angela Wren.  Hi Angela! When and how did you first become interested in writing? I think it was story telling that first captured my attention as a very young child.  Apparently, from being only a few months old, I was mesmerised by voices, and I suppose I still am, as I have an uncanny ability to recognise voices in an instant.  When I was a little older I would listen to my Dad and my uncles telling me stories, for hours if I could, and all three of them were excellent narrators.  So bedtime stories were a must at home and later, when I was deemed too old to have them, I made up stories for myself.  Writing them down became the next logical step and I’ve been doing that since I was about 8 or 9. Where did the idea for Messandrierre come from?  The very first idea came whilst I was travelling in the Cévennes in September 2007.  Over...

Congratulations to writer friend Angela Wren, whose debut novel, Messandrierre , is published today by Crooked Cat Press.  It's a mystery, set in the fictional village of Messandrierre, in France, a country Angela knows well and has also written about on her blog James et Moi .  Angela's writing is always fabulously atmospheric and she's a meticulous plotter too, so I'm looking forward to all the twists and turns in this first Jacques Foret mystery.  You can find out more about Angela and her stories on her website  http://www.angelawren.co.uk/