Ask the Author: Ashley York
Answered Questions (8)
Ashley York
Well if I tell you and then you see it in a book, you'll know where I got the idea. My next genre will actually be mystery...or suspense - What is the difference? And should it be contemporary? Or historical?
Ashley York
Thanks, Sharon. More ideas than I can get to! I'm juggling quite a bit right now :) A three-book series with Sean (The Irish Warrior) as Clan Leader, a sequel to The Bruised Thistle, and a surprise Jacobean era series. It was recently suggested to me that I might consider writing a time travel novel as well. Hmm...
Ashley York
I'll tell you when I get it.
Ashley York
I have a vivid, vivid, (did I say vivid?) imagination and I can't turn it off. Writing gives me an outlet. I love it when I read something I wrote and it's my writing, they're my words, I know what's happening, I know how it's going to work out...and I still cry! or laugh, or my adrenalin starts pumping. I'm doing what I was meant to be doing.
Ashley York
If you want to be a writer, you need to write. I know it's hard to write in a vacuum which is what you'll be doing at first. Those around you will tell you it's great even if it's not but that's not what's important. Work on it. Work on the kinks. Work out the plot. Work it out until you're at the end. Then - guess what? - You wrote a book. That's the easy part :) Do not let the idea of what will happen when you're done be your focus. Focus on finishing. Then you can write another one for yourself and a third or...you can work on making it better. Read it, re-read it, and then read it again. Take courses to improve your craft so more people will want to read it. Writing is not something you learn about one time and then do. Writing is an ongoing process of getting better, honing your craft. My advice is do it.
Ashley York
I'm currently working on the second book in The Norman Conquest Series - The Gentle Knight, and plotting the third book. I'm also working on conceptualizing the entire The Order of the Scottish Thistle Series. It's a big job. Bigger than I realized when I started it. There's so much to it. The Bruised Thistle could easily have been a much longer book.
Ashley York
I'm a romantic-books, movies, songs, and I love books that follow a single family which is why The Saxon Bride is the about the great, grandparents of the heroine in The Bruised Thistle. When I get an idea about a certain situation or type of character, I think about what would happen if such and such occurred. Then I make it even worse.
In The Gentle Knight, the heroine comes from Ireland and that required a bit of research. I knew the MacNaughton clan originally came from Ireland (that would be Iseabail, Iain, and Calum from The Bruised Thistle) so this would be the connection.
In The Gentle Knight, the heroine comes from Ireland and that required a bit of research. I knew the MacNaughton clan originally came from Ireland (that would be Iseabail, Iain, and Calum from The Bruised Thistle) so this would be the connection.
Ashley York
The idea for Lachlann's Legacy came from a reader. Niall, Aldred, and Lachlann were secondary characters first introduced in The Gentle Knight. Many of the readers commented on how much they liked them. I had to agree that they deserved their own stories.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more