Ask the Author: Kathleen Buckley
Answered Questions (10)
Kathleen Buckley
What a good idea! All my books are "Kisses" only. I've sent my list to the email you included.
Kathleen Buckley
The hideous gurgling in the dark beside Penelope made her blood run cold. She started up, reaching for the bedside lamp: Snookums was depositing a hairball again.
Kathleen Buckley
A friend gave me a copy of In the Family Way by Judith Schneid Lewis, about pregnancy and childbirth among the English upper classes from the mid-18th to mid 19th centuries. I'll also be reading The Queen Anne Pistol 1660 to 1780. Both are for research purposes. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon, is also on my list, but for pleasure. Other things as I come across them. And I may not have a great deal of time to read, as I just completed the first draft of my next romance novel, which means a lot of revision and fact-checking before it's in final form.
Kathleen Buckley
Perhaps not so much a plot as a precipitating incident. Years ago after an alumni party held at a private home, the host (who was my employer) discovered that someone had left a mink stole. No one called to say they'd forgotten it, so he mailed out letters to the attendees asking if they'd forgotten a wrap. Again, no one responded. That seemed peculiar to me, and I thought it might be a good beginning for a mystery story.
Kathleen Buckley
Several years ago I had an idea for a young adult novel about two teenage girls, the illegitimate and the legitimate daughters of a very successful businessman. The first girl's father never knew about her. Eventually the girls' paths cross--and they are as alike as twins. Sort of a variation on THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. Unfortunately, I could not get it to work and abandoned the idea, until I decided that I wanted to try writing a Georgette Heyer-style historical romance. Then it all gelled, though in a much different form than my earlier idea.
Kathleen Buckley
It used to be that I would simply force myself to keep writing. If I had to discard the section later, that's what I did. However, over the years I discovered that if I had an attack of writer's block, it was always because I was trying to force the characters to do something contrary to ...well, their character. Or else I was trying to write a situation that I could not quite believe in--something that was unlikely in some way, or didn't grow naturally out of the action. When that happens, I stop and think about what the characters would actually do or say, rather than what I think they should do. It seems to work for me.
Kathleen Buckley
For me, it's telling a story successfully, the kind of story I like to read.
Kathleen Buckley
Read good fiction and the kind you want to write. Write every day. Don't rely on literary criticism by your mother or best friend (unless they're published writers). When you ask for a critique, don't automatically reject the suggestions; don't automatically accept them either. Some will be valid and some won't be. You'll have to learn to distinguish which is which. And that is the hardest part of learning to write well.
Kathleen Buckley
Two books: one set in 1745 involving a cargo of smuggled muskets intended for the Jacobites, and one for which I've just set down the opening scenes, set in 1740, which will be a sort of sequel to my novel, An Unsuitable Duchess, which is scheduled for release on May 19, 2017.
Kathleen Buckley
I just plain enjoy writing. As long as I've got an idea for a story or novel, I'm happy to sit down and write.
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