1. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?
Well I'm self employed, I run a business with my husband which builds new houses in France. I'm forty two with three children. I trained as a artist, printmaker and bookbinder (yes like Océane) and I've been writing for three years. I'm also obssessed with music.
2. What inspired you to write?
I've wanted to write since I was a teenager but could never finish anything. Living here in France, the countryside is very inspirational, we are surrounded by woodland and in the winter it's very easy to believe in things that go bump in the night. Also at the time I was listening to the Lungs album by Forence and the machine and that had a big impact on The Key to Erebus.
3.Do you have a specific writing style?
I think I do but I'm not sure how to describe it! I wrote a lot of poetry before I began to write books and I have a love of words and I think that comes through but also I have a strong sense of humour which I think is obvious too.
4. How did you come up with the titles of your stories?
The Key to Erebus is tied up with the main plot of the story so I'm not going to give that away but Erebus is a place in the underworld. The Dark Prince is tied to the Erebus series and is so named because Laen is Prince of the Dark Fae. There is also a sense of forboding, the reason for which becomes clear by the end of The Dark Deceit, which is why the Dark series is so named.
5. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I'm not one for moralising but I think all of the women I portray are strong characters, they don't always make the right choices, sometimes they do stupid things but in the end they come through by being strong and honest. I do believe in karma and I suspect that comes through... What goes around comes around :)
6. How much of the book is realistic?
The places depicted in France are all real places and the descriptions of life here are acurate. As for the fae lands and my Dark boys, they live in my head.
7. Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
I think most writers draw on their own experiences and those of the people around them to some degree.
8. What is your main goal with writing books?
To entertain my readers. I love to write, I couldn't stop writing, even if nobody read it, it's a compulsion but at the end of the day I want to take the reader away from their own lives and have them live in mine for the duration of the story and maybe even have them still think of it after it's done.
9. What job did you want to be as a kid?
An artist and then when I was a teenager a writer
10. Who designed the covers?
A very clever and talented young lady who writes on Wattpad but she doesn't do requests so I won't put her name here. I chose the images though.
11.Do you ever experience writer’s block?
Not so far. I do find some scenes/chapters difficult but I find I have to keep working through it until I'm happy.
12. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
Both. The Key to Erebus had to be plotted out quite carefully as well as the sequel The Heart of Arima as they are very complex. The Dark series, I just write but that may change as the storyline for that is becoming rather involved too!
13. How'd you find wattpad?
I'm a huge fan of Wattpad, I have found friends and readers, literally all over the world. People in Africa, Russia, all over the USA, how amazing is that?
14. What do you do when you are not writing?
Think about writing :) Oh and work full time and raise three kids!
15. Do you see writing as a career or a hobby?
A career, my goal for this year is to give up the day job.
16. Will you have a new story coming out soon? If so can you tell us about it?
Yes the sequel for The Key to Erebus, it's called The Heart of Arima and I hope to publish it in the next month or so. Then I will be back working hard of part four of The Dark series, The Darkest Night.
17. What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Editing it.
18. Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
Oh goodness, too much to put here but then I'm learning all the time. Not just about the basic skills of punctuation and grammar but about what the reader wants and the kind of thing I want to write. Also about just how big an impact your work can have on people, they get so very involved with the characters, almost like they own them too, which they kind of do. It's amazing and inspiring.
19.Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU!!! KEEP READING :)
20. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Yes, just keep doing it. If you love it don't ever stop, whether or not you get published isn't the point, it's about doing something that pleases you and makes you happy. Putting those first words in paper is scary but then, anything worthwhile is... Go for it!