LaToya: Hi Inge, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Inge: Thank you for having me again LaToya. It’s great to be here again. For those who don’t know I’m a South African romance author, and I live in the biggest small town in SA. According to Wikipedia *smile*
LaToya: What genre are your books and why?
Inge: I have two contemporary romances published with Decadent Publishing, Falling for Mr. Unexpected and Dance of Love. But I also love to write paranormal romances, and have recently contracted a novella, The Wolf’s Choice for Decadent’s popular Black Hills Wolves series. I like a good love story and have always gravitated more towards the romance genre in my reading. So when I put pen to paper I wanted to explore this human condition in all its facets.
LaToya: In 10 words or less can you create a quote that describes you and your writing?
Inge: Sweet flirty romances with an emotional impact.
LaToya: Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?
Inge: I’ve taught myself to write at any time of day where I can create space in my daily schedule. But I am a night owl by nature, so I can start writing in the evening until late at night and not even be aware of how late it is.
LaToya: Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?
Inge: I have a 1K fixed word count for when I sit down to write, if I meet that I’m okay.
LaToya: Where do your ideas come from?
Inge: My latest story, The Wolf’s Choice, was such a surprise to me. Because it came from such a pure place where it was just about telling the story of these two people who fell in love with each other at an inconvenient time. The opening scene of the first chapter literally played out for months in my mind before I wrote it down. The characters were fully fleshed out already. And I’ve never had that type of experience before when writing. Usually I get inspired by what happens around me, the movies I watch, books I read, friends, family, etc. This time it was just pure story and now I kind of ‘fight’ emotionally and mentally to reach that pure place of storytelling.
LaToya: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
Inge: Usually I write an outline, the pitch and sales hook for the story. That grounds me for the first four to five chapters of the story. After that when I have a good grip on who the characters are and their motivations, I work on a synopsis. Though I have to add, I never stick completely to the synopsis, I give myself that room to be creative.
Inge: If you want to write for a publisher or get a literary agent, than creating outlines and knowing how to write a synopsis will benefit you. The synopsis, pitch or query letter, with your first three chapters, sells your book. So plotting out your book/ideas is part of being an author. It’s good to get this skill down early in your career.
LaToya: What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?
Inge: I’ve never tackled a love scene before. To prepare myself for it, I did a lot of research and read article upon article. I made sure I absorbed enough information and then focused my characters and who they were. In the end everything flowed and I wrote the scene out and in the context of who they were. For me a love scene has to make sense in a story. In The Wolf’s Choice, it was directly linked to one of the main character’s acceptance new their identity. I do believe when you as the author connect with that scene you don’t feel confident to write, it Inge: Inge: overcomes that barrier you feel as ‘hard’ and you evolve as an author and learn new things about the craft.
LaToya: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Inge: The breakthrough in my writing came when I joined Romance writers’ Organization of South Africa (ROSA). In our Yahoo group, I gained a lot of great advice on my first manuscript and met the editor who contracted my first romance book I wrote because I shared the first chapter of my work with the writing group. So my first bit of advice is, join a writing organization or association in your town, city or country.
The second is scout the internet, especially social media platforms. Next year I’m hosting the ROSA Online Book Fair on Facebook in June 2017. These types of events are great opportunities to interact with authors that you admire in the category that you liked to write in. Usually events like this provide Q&A’s, etc. And the best thing, it happens online which means you can attend from the convenience of your home, ‘meet’ authors and learn about the publishing industry.
And lastly, study. Yes, becoming a good writer doesn’t happen by magic. Study your craft, the same way you would study for a degree. That’s what makes your writing better and also helps you to grow as an author.
Connect with Inge::
Facebook: Books by Inge Saunders Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/1defI54
Twitter: @saunders_inge
Pinterest: Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/ingesaunders/
Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/jxjr3wv
Instagram: @ingesaunders
Purchase Links
Falling for Mr. Unexpected: Decadent Publishing:
*Available in eBook and Paperback.
Dance of Love:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1AaLcDS
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1Kdh9in
Play Google: http://bit.ly/1d81rHY
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