1. Have you always wanted to be a writer? How did you get started writing romance?
I've always loved reading and writing, even if they were difficult for me at times. I'm not sure I've always wanted to be a writer. It wasn't one of my earliest ambitions. Creative writing grew on me after high school when I had a lot of time on my hands and was around people who were very supportive of venturing into the waters. Writing in general grew on me the more papers I had to write in college.
I got started writing romance when I realized most of my stories involve people starting a relationship or struggling with one. I'm not quite sure I even write "romance" in the standard sense. I try not to think of genre much when thinking about story ideas or writing.
2. Tell us about your writing process. Do you outline, or are you more of a seat of your pants type of a writer?
I am a little of both. I outline characters. I outline theme. I outline motivations. And I outline major plot events. From there I let the characters lead me to each major plot point or theme. Typically I'll outline scenes in a chapter or points of a chapter about three or four chapters in advance. Things are always shifting, so while I think the plot event I envisioned before I started writing is going to happen, it gets pushed back because the story wasn't ready for it.
It's a little "seat of my pant" but planned, if that makes sense.
3. Are there any romance novel cliché that make you cringe when you read them?
Insta-love is something I roll my eyes at, but writing a long courtship is a bit difficult as well because you have capture the readers' interest quickly, so I can see how Insta-love comes into being. I think it's a fine line of "Love at First Sight" and "Slow-build."
4. What is the hardest scene you’ve had to write, and what made it so difficult?
The hardest scene I've written was for a historical novel (under another pen name) in which two people are put in the absolute worst scenario ever, and one has to make the decision to either watch the other suffer until he is killed brutally or be the facilitator of a mercy killing.
Tore my heart out to write it, but there was no way around it, and it made for a beautiful scene.
5. Which of your heroines would you say is most like you, and why?
None of the females in Hollywood Lies are like me, but of my other work, the one closest to me is a girl named Saige from Are You Mine? She's a bit edgy, a bit of a loner, a bit socially awkward, but she's a good person who opens slowly to the goodness of the world. I'd love to say I'm like Olivia from My Only, but she's more of an extrovert than I am, more bubbly, probably friendlier as well. There's a bit of me represented in Emily from Ghosts of Our Pasts. She likes living unattached, but finds herself attached.
6. What are you working on now?
Right now I'm editing Are You Mine? I have about three projects I'm working on writing. I also have a little continuation of Hollywood Lies planned, but it's going to be a toss up as to which one gets my full attention. I think it's going to be the manuscript I've started that is about finding yourself after years of compromise. It's not about starting over, exactly, just picking up those lost pieces of yourself and seeing if there's even a place within you for them now. I should be able to free myself up to actively write by the end of June.
Based in the American Midwest, N.K. Smith is a Technical Writer for a Fortune 100 company. The author of the Old Wounds Series, she is a mother of two who finds the time to write very early in the morning when the rest of the world is still fast asleep.
An avid lover of history, art, music, books, and people, she is interested in telling stories that speak to the human condition.
In a world where make believe is a multibillion dollar industry, it’s hard to know where the fantasy ends and real life begins. When Collette Stroud, an influential Hollywood actor and director, takes a chance on two young actors for her romantic teen movie, three lives converge in a complicated web of publicity, passion, lust, and lies.
The web is cast when Stroud, a woman with a few skeletons in her closet, hires two young artists in her low-budget film. She handpicks Liliana Addison and Devon Maddox to be Hollywood’s next big stars. Former child star Liliana has had limited success with her previous roles but hopes to take the world by storm under Collette’s tutelage. While Devon is an out of work actor, he never stops dreaming about making it big. The director’s interest in him assures Devon his dreams are about to become reality.
Sparks between Collette and Devon set their lives ablaze, but the studio has other plans. Executives concoct a fictitious romance in order to drive box office sales and launch careers between Devon and Liliana. When the studio offers to make the young actors into bona fide stars, will the price be too high to pay, or will the deal be too sweet to pass up?
Can the trio handle the pressure of a hidden romance coupled with a phony public relationship? Will love be enough to conquer the promise of fame, fortune, and a lasting legacy, or will it be an easy sacrifice?
All three will tread the thin line of Hollywood Lies and genuine passion on the most important red carpet walk of their lives.
http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/90
