Ask the Author: K.V. Martins
Answered Questions (6)
K.V. Martins
I get to tell the tales I want to read.
K.V. Martins
Learn your craft but don't become obsessed. It's okay to 'tell' sometimes rather than 'show'. Focus on telling an entertaining tale. Read the writers who know how to spin a good story - Wilbur Smith, James A. Michener, Daphne du Maurier, Lawrence Durrell, Dan Brown, Colleen McCullough.
K.V. Martins
I write a lot of poetry (check out my poetry collection, Cats, Dogs and Feathered Gods!). Often a poem will spark an idea for a book or a scene. Because my passion is history, there is never a scarcity of anything to write. History is crowded with colourful characters and events but it's the untold stories I'm interested in.
K.V. Martins
I get up and do something else - usually a 20 minute walk or playing with my three dogs! I scroll through Instagram or Pinterest as I often find images spark an idea.
K.V. Martins
I am currently working on book #2 in the Jack & Bea mystery series - On Jacaranda Street. Ashgrove Park is book #1 in the series. The second book is based in Sydney, Australia (my home town) in the early 1920s.
K.V. Martins
Ashgrove Park I'd describe as a mash-up of historical, ghost and gothic fiction with a touch of romance. The idea came about six years ago when I was researching the popularity of spirit photography in the aftermath of WWI. I was interested in grief and it can lead people into believing certain things (in this case, that the spirit of a deceased loved one could be captured on film). This combined with my interest in shell shock and life in the trenches to create the main character of Lieutenant Jack Collingwood who suffers from shell shock and recuperates at the stately manor house of Lord Ashgrove. He sees the spirit of his dead brother, Thomas. Or does he? Is it shell shock that has affected his mind? And what does else does he see at Ashgrove Park?
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