Welcome Once more to Romance Weekly! The wonderful questions were provided by Author Shannon Kennedy. Here’s how it works!
Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn’t you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all….. About our writing of course! Every week we’ll answer questions and after you’ve enjoyed the blog on this site we’ll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.
How do you find the appropriate setting for the story or does it find you?
I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. The setting just seems to kind of come with the story idea. I get an idea and then I think, where does this happen and where ever it is just kind of hits me. I might play with it a bit to see if there is somewhere better, but for the most part it just kind of hits me with the story idea. I’ve never really changed a setting after I have it. Like my characters and my title they all just kind of flow together.
What is your support system for your writing, family, friends, other writers?
My number one support is my husband and kids. They love that I write and are super patient with me while I do it. My husband supports me monetarily by paying for the things I need. And he supports me by allowing me to spend time writing instead of cleaning the house and cooking from time to time. I also have a great group of writer friends and critique partners who are amazingly supportive! I belong to LARA the Los Angeles RWA Chapter and I’ve met a TON of great writers there. Also in my FFP Chapter and OCC Chapter.
What is the worst writing advice you ever received and how did you deal with it?
Just get the book done and get it out there. OYE-VEY! I wish I had NEVER listened to that one! I wish I had done more reading, studying, workshops, more critique partners, more everything! So many people think they can just write a book and format it and put it up on Amazon and it will sell, but there is so much more to it than that if you really want to be a writer. Even a self published writer. I wish I wouldn’t have pushed to get my books out there before I was ready. In doing that I lost out on what might have been good contract opportunities. It’s okay, you live and learn, but I really wish I hadn’t listened to all the people telling me to hurry and my work out there. There is just so much more to it than just writing a good book and having a few people read it and tell you it’s great.