Author Spotlight & Giveaway! Sue Moorcroft

Today we welcome UK author Sue Moorcroft to the RWA Author Spotlight. Sue is also giving away four books! To enter, answer the question at the end of the interview…

1. Congratulations on the release of your books into Australia, Sue. Can you tell us which titles are available here now?

Thank you! Starting Over came out on 1 April, All That Mullarkey on 1 May, with Want to Know a Secret? due on 1 June. These books have already been published in the UK so my publisher, Choc Lit, on moving into Australia, scheduled them for consecutive months. My UK June 1 release, Love & Freedom, is scheduled to be published in Australia on 1 August, I believe.

2. Do you have a favourite book from all those you’ve written?

Isn’t this a difficult question? It’s like being asked to choose a favourite from your children. I often recommend that people begin with Starting Over, because All That Mullarkey kind of follows on, in that it’s largely set in the same village of Middledip in Cambridgeshire, England, and the hero of Starting Over has a walk-on role in All That Mullarkey, and, of course, the people at the shop and the pub etc are the same.

All that said, I have huge enthusiasm for Love & Freedom because it was such a great book to write and came out exactly as I hoped it would. But I think Want to Know a Secret? has the least expected plot. (See what I mean about it being difficult to choose …?)

 3. Can you tell us a little about your journey to publication, how did your career as an author begin?

I can, but how long do you have? I’ll try and be succinct. I wrote two novels, which were absolutely unfit for publication, but I loved writing them. I read that if I had a track record in short stories in national newsstand magazines of, say, twenty, publishers of novels would look more kindly on me. So I took a distance learning course and I took that route and, loosely, it did work – but I had sold eighty-seven short stories by the time I sold my first novel, Uphill All the Way! By then, I had also sold a serial, articles, and become a creative writing tutor. I sold my first short story in 1996, first serial in 2004, first novel in 2005. If you look at certain online stores you’ll see that there are books there that I don’t class as novels – because they began life as serials. But they are now, indisputably, books that you can hold in your hand, albeit large print and short run. This, and the fact that a hardback, Family Matters, later became a paperback with Choc Lit, Want to Know a Secret? makes my publishing history confusing.

I worked in a part-time non-writing role for a sports newspaper, Motor Cycle News, in the nineties, and that taught me a lot about the realities and wrinkles of publishing, especially regarding periodicals, such as: The editor may not always be right but s/he is always the editor.

 4. What is a typical day like for you?

Alarm goes off at 6.20 am, I’m at my desk about 7.30. I spend the next couple of hours on emails, writing blogs, reading blogs etc. I spend the morning reviewing the work of creative writing students (I mainly teach via distance learning) and/or competition entries (I’m the head judge for a UK writing magazine, Writers’ Forum) and write in the afternoon. ‘Writing’ covers research, planning, everything. I finish about 6pm. I work five to seven days a week.

I also have days ‘out of the office’, either on research, like last Friday when I spent a hugely enjoyable afternoon speaking to a guy who used to work for fighter control, which is like air traffic control for fighter jets (how cool is that?) or I’m at writing events or something to do with my committee member status of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association (which post ends this month – I’ll really miss it!) As well as writing my novels, I often have a serial on the go and I write two columns a month for Writers’ Forum and I have a column at http://www.girlracer.co.uk/, covering Formula 1. I am a Formula 1-aholic.

5. Do you outline your stories or write as you go?

The more books I write, the more I plan. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first book I planned properly was the first published. Although, reflecting on that, Starting Over, although published after Uphill All the Way, was written first.

I like to know major elements, such as what is my heroine’s mission or what is she reacting to? What does my hero want? What is keeping them apart? Why should they be together? How can I surprise readers? How can I keep this book going forwards? And, although I have a bee in my (extremely large) bonnet (which is fairly buzzing) about giving books forward impetus and page turning quality, I have to know the history of my major characters. History shapes attitudes and beliefs and I like to begin books at a moment of change or significance so, generally, this is where the history ends and the book takes over.

In Starting Over, Tess has been dumped via email two days before her wedding and, on her way to her new life, crashes her vehicle into the back of Ratty’s breakdown truck. (Miles Arnott Rattenbury, really, he’s from a family of lawyers and stuff but has pretty much rejected that life and is the tattooed owner of a business restoring and maintaining classic cars.) Tess’s history explodes the relationship between her and Ratty, throughout the book. It’s important.

By the time I’m ready to write, I generally have a kind of compost heap of notes and comments. I’ve written histories for my characters that begin in third person. When I unconsciously switched over to first person, I feel I’m getting under the skin of the character – it’s a bit like method acting. That said, I like to look at characters from the point of view of other characters, too. Tess, for example, is viewed as a source of anxiety by her parents: unpredictable and unsettled. But Ratty sees her as a hugely talented illustrator and hot babe. Her ex-fiance, Olly, sees her career as risible – drawing pictures for kiddies – and is always surprised she makes money at it.

 

6. Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for aspiring writers?

a) Persist. I truly believe that the name for a writer who doesn’t give up is ‘published’ (and am living proof).

b) Educate yourself. Don’t fall for all that stuff about writers being born and not made. OK, you may have been born with a talent for storytelling, in the same way that you might have been born with natural rhythm or an eye for colour. But dancers and artists undergo extensive training, so why should a writer expect to become a writer, without training? This may not take the form of a course and certainly doesn’t necessitate a degree (I don’t have one), but consider reading writing magazines; going to talks by authors, agents and publishers; joining online forums; joining associations such as the RWA or RNA; joining your local writing group; reading books on writing. And going to conferences if you possibly can. The insight and inside knowledge floating around in the air at conferences opens many a door.

c) Network. This may just take the form of following a writer/editor/agent on Twitter or going up to talk to that person at the end of a talk. But do it. It will pay off.

7. When starting a new book, what comes first for you:  the plot, characters, or the title?

Usually, characters. Almost always. The title can be waaaaaay down the line but I did know it early in All That Mullarkey and also my wip, Dream a Little Dream. For me, plot springs from characterisation – I don’t shape my characters around my plot. In the thematically titled Starting Over, it’s one of Tess’s major personality traits that when things go badly for her, she just takes herself somewhere else and starts over. It’s when she finds something worth sticking around for that the book pivots.

 

8. Have you been to Australia? If not, where would you like to visit?

No, but I have wanted to from childhood, and it’s still on my ‘to do’ list. When I was a British army child in Malta we used to get a few Australian kids’ programmes so I thought that if I went to Australia I’d be able to have my own kangaroo. As a teenager I conceived the ambition to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. As an adult, I had a friend who lived in Port Douglas for a while and I really liked the sound of that. I’d also like to go to Melbourne for the Formula 1. And visit the outback, because I adored the books of Nevil Shute.

The only one of these things I have discounted is owning the kangaroo.

9. What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t make enemies.

10. Do you have a favourite author or book that inspires you?

My all-time favourite book is A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. I love romantic novels of all kinds and read voraciously but it’s always an absolute pleasure for me when I realise I haven’t read Alice for five or six years and so will enjoy it anew.

11. Do you spend a lot of time promoting yourself and your books? What have you found to be the most effective ways of ‘getting your books out there’?

OMG. Yes, I do spend a lot of time.

A lot.

I am active on Twitter and Facebook and find the former particularly useful – not just for promotion, by the way, but for research, too. I have my own blog; I guest on the blogs of other people and do online interviews such as this one; together with my publisher, I participate in various events both online and in reality; I run workshops at conferences or libraries or festivals; ditto speaking; I do book signings.

The Choc Lit publicist, Luke Roberts, arranges radio interviews, signings, etc. One of the (many) things I love about Choc Lit is that they are market savvy and forward thinking.

An interesting thing we’ve just begun is to use digital technologies to provide promo economically. To this end I wrote a prequel chapter to Love & Freedom and we’ve called it Flight to Freedom. It’s not only going to be available as a free download but it has also been recorded and will be a free audio download. (The plan is that you will listen to Flight to Freedom and run out to buy Love & Freedom to discover what happens to Honor …)

I’m also lucky enough to be a regular guest on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s ‘In the Chat Room’ afternoon show, which is always fun and they let me plug my books.

I have to say that I enjoy most aspects of promo, apart from the time it takes up. I love the digital world and that I can be talking to someone in Australia or America on email, Twitter or Facebook, as easily as I could be chatting to someone in the next house. I’m happy to stand up in front of an audience, too.

12. What’s next for you, are you working on a new manuscript right now?

Yes, Dream a Little Dream is the story of Liza, who is the sister of All That Mullarkey’s Cleo. She was just too naughty and fun to leave forever as a secondary character, but she has had a bad life experience since All That Mullarkey days and has sworn off men and alcohol. Her sister, Cleo, says to her, ‘Liza, don’t you think you’ve left it a bit late to develop virginity?’

13. How can readers connect with you online or find out more about your books?

Glad you asked! My website is at http://www.suemoorcroft.com/ and my blog at http://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/. I welcome friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter.

All of my Choc Lit novels and Love Writing (my ‘how-to’ on writing romantic or erotic fiction for money) are available as ebooks. I’m in the throes of making Uphill and my serials available as ebooks, but it’s taking a while.

 

~ Sue Moorcroft writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes for Choc Lit. Combining that success with her experience as a creative writing tutor, she’s written a ‘how to’ book, Love Writing – How to Make Money From Writing Romantic and Erotic Fiction (Accent Press). Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles and courses and is the head judge for Writers’ Forum. She’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner.

~ Click the following links for Sue’s books:

Starting Over

All that Mullarkey 

Want to Know a Secret 

Love & Freedom 

All Sue’s books are on Amazon  

 **Sue has four books to give away to four lucky winners! To win a copy of either Starting Over or All That Mullarkey, comment below before 18^th May, and answer the following question: ‘What do you like about books set in the UK?’

Posted by Juliet Madison on May 11, 2011

https://romanceaustralia.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/author-spotlight-giveaway-sue-moorcroft/