Tuesday 18 March 2014

Writers Who Inspire

'Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all..... About our writing of course! Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.'

Before I begin with this week's questions, I'm going to start with a confession. Primarily, I read romance, and I read a fair bit of erotica. I read some Sci-fi, some fantasy, some history ... okay I read a bit of everything. My two favorite authors are not romance writers at all, although romance does feature in a lot of their work. (Funny, there is a bit of an erotic side to both as well.) I'm talking about Robert A. Heinlein and Anne McCaffrey. (I think I have every work they have published and each and every book is dog-eared and very-well read.)

Who is your favorite author other than yourself in your genre and why?

It feels like a cop-out to say I don't have a favorite author in my genre. I read an kind of romance I can get my hands on and typically I run in themes. I am currently on a cowboy theme. Reading book after book about cowboys. Before that it was military heroes. I think this is because what I read depends on my mood. If I had to pick a favorite author, it wouldn't be a romance author at all. It would be Robert A. Heinlein. I love his work because it features so man intelligent children being recognised for their gifts, and because all his stories have a fun element.

What is your favorite book by them and why?

Okay since I don't have a favorite romance author, I'm going to talk about Heinlein. (Yup, totally avoiding the question. *smirk*) I tend to read his work in batches, and almost always start with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. He covers so many life skills and is so anti-government interference, that I can't resist him.
     A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
     -Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love (Written by Heinlein)

What about their style inspires your writing?

Again, I'm sticking with Heinlein. (Don't like it ... sue me.) I am inspired by the idea that he wrote a combination of what moved him, and what would sell. I completely adore his idea that writing is a dirty job best done in private. He says, “Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.” He also talks about writers being nasty beasts who should be avoided and left uninterrupted while they write. I completely and totally agree with that sentiment. I've lost track of how many times I have had to tell my husband and children to "Shut the hell up, I'm trying to write."


In addition to the thoughts above, it should be noted that I also love the work of Steena Holmes, Ayn Rand, Carly Phillips, Brenda Sinclair, Janet Evanovich, CJ Carmichael, Michelle Beattie, and ........  I try to read everything written by all my writing cohorts (especially those in my Calgary Romance Writer's of America Chapter.)   Since joining this blog hop, I have found about three two dozen novels and added them to my to-be-read pile. I can't wait to read some of these writers: Sarah Hegger, Rebekah R. Ganiere, Carrie Elks, Brenda Margriet, Susan Peterson Wisnewski, Kim Handysides and the rest of the fabulous authors in our Love-Write-Chat group. Clearly, I have no favorites.

So, leave me alone, I have hundreds, no thousands of books to read and I'm falling behind.

Now, it is time to hop along and find out what other authors have to say, and how they answer these questions by checking out our little blog hop. Click to find out what Victoria Barbour thinks. http://victoriabarbour.com/blog (I adore Victoria's work.)

You can follow the links at the end of her post and each subsequent post to discover what evil lurks in the hearts of writers. (Okay, I am joking about the evil .... mostly.)

Hugs
Katie
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1 comment:

  1. Kim Handysides18 March 2014 at 20:24

    A kindred spirit! I cut my teeth on Heinlein (love Lazarus) read his entire backlist through my teens in between assigned lit for school. Loved your post!

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Katie

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