Today’s guest is S Gonzales who writes Young Adult contemporary books with twisty plots and a generous dose of romance, featuring witty yet vulnerable characters. She joined me today to talk about landing her agent, Twitter contests, and balancing time difference while living in Australia and interacting with her American audience and publishing contacts. Also covered: Why publish with an initial standing in for her first name? Writing about mental illnesses responsibly and rom coms for queer people.
Researching For Historical Novels with Sandra Gulland
Today’s guest is Sandra Gulland is an American-born Canadian novelist. She is the author of The Shadow Queen and Mistress of the Sun, novels set in the court of Louis XIV, The Sun King, and a trilogy of novels based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte: as well as The Game of Hope. A YA historical about Josephine’s daughter.
Sandra joined me today to talk about how publishing has changed over time, the differences in the Canadian publishing world vs. the American, and researching for historical novels. Also covered: assigning personalities to people that actually existed, sexism in researching female historical characters, and how to know when to bend the facts in order to keep your fiction interesting.
Writing Without Worrying About Perfection: Katherine Locke
Today’s guest is Katherine Locke, author of THE GIRL WITH THE RED BALLOON and the upcoming THE SPY WITH THE RED BALLOON.Katherine joined me today to talk about landing her agent, and how her process of drafting ignores the need to be perfect, putting that responsibility on the editing process. Also covered: data for writers – and why we might not want it anyway – and how Katherine approaches historical facts while working with fiction, plus her process of research while writing.