#IndieSpotlight of Alison Clifford Author of Roses and Retribution.

Name: 

Alison Clifford

What are the titles of your works?

I have two self-published books at the moment: Roses, and Retribution. They are the first two books of the White Rose series. Another two in the series will be published in 2016.

Where do you come from?

I currently live in Tasmania, Australia, but was born on the other side of the country in Perth. I moved around a lot when I was young, and spent most of my school years in country Victoria.

What genre do you write?

My books are romantic suspense/thrillers - not by choice, that’s just how they turned out!

What are your books about?

Rose and Retribution tell the story of Beth, an Australian forensic botanist living in Washington DC. Beth’s husband, FBI special agent Nick Markov, turns traitor and deserts her, leaving her to face the wrath of the FBI. Her life nose-dives until the only friend she has left in Warren Pearce, Nick’s old boss. But Nick hasn’t finished with Beth yet, and Roses tells of the twists and turns as Nick continues to play a part in the direction of Beth’s life. Retribution continues on from Roses, and Beth has to deal with the secrets of the past as they re-emerge to threaten her new found peace.

What is your writing style?

I prefer to plan my stories before I start, but only loosely. I find that the plot will change all the time as I write, quite often in unexpected ways. When I get close to the end, I do a detailed plan, mainly because it usually involves a fair bit of action and I need to get it straight before I write it. I don’t follow any writing rules - I dislike them intensely. I don’t think my writing can flow if I keep all of the supposed rules in my head. I have tried to keep some of the rules, but it’s too prohibitive, and that takes the fun out of the writing process.

Have you ever written anything and thought; “the world has got to see this!”?

Yes, but that’s only my opinion! Every story will resonate with someone, and I figure there is someone out there who will love mine (other than me, of course).

Do you have an editor and cover designer?

I have a couple of blunt (and sometimes brutal) friends who do my ‘first edits’. Once they’re done, I send my manuscript to a professional editor so that she can find the rest of the errors! I have designed my covers myself, with the help of my husband. I would love to be able to afford a professional, but I think we’ve done a pretty good job.

Who is your favourite author?

If I could only have one book to read for the rest of my life, it would be a Georgette Heyer. Her books are entertaining and her characters well crafted. I also appreciate the effort she put into research and she paints a wonderful picture of England during various historical time periods. Books like Simon the Coldheart, and The Conqueror, are as wonderfully written as her more popular Regency romances.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Self-doubt is by far my biggest challenge, which is why I never read back over my manuscript until the first draft is complete. If I read it any earlier, I would probably abandon it then and there. Once the first draft is done, I know I can pull it into decent shape for publication.

Do you write your characters, or do they write themselves through you?

I have no control. Absolutely none. I’ve argued with my characters and tried to get them to do things they don’t like, but it never works. They rule, and I leave them to it. I must admit they’re usually right…

Is writing your full time job?

No, and I’m not 100% sure I want it to be full time. I work as a payroll officer with a great bunch of people who fully support my writing ambitions, and the job gives me a lot of freedom. I don’t have to write to please anyone but myself, and I love that. The only problem I have with my ‘day’ job is that it takes up all of my free time!

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?

This was a hard one, but I’m going to say Winston Churchill. He was an intelligent man with a dry sense of humour, and he wasn’t afraid to say what he thought. I like that.

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?

My heroine is an Aussie botanist in DC, and my hero a middle aged, balding (but good looking!) FBI senior agent. An unusual combination! They share a breath-taking ride of highs, lows, twists and turns, until they arrive at the end - or is it the end? I haven’t met characters like mine anywhere else, and they drive the story with their own, unique motives and viewpoints. Roses covers a period of over two years, though it’s an average length book. Retribution is over a much shorter time frame, but has its own incredible story that will keep you guessing until the final chapters.

Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?

I suck at marketing, but when Roses came out as a paperback, I took it to work to show my colleagues and left it lying on my desk. I had a steady stream of people come in to check it out - and I made a few sales from that! Leaving it lying around in plain view worked a treat! I’ve also found that posting regular content to my Facebook page has slowly grown interaction with my followers. Most of my posts are quotes of some kind, and not directly related to writing, and I think it’s a gentle way of getting people to regularly read what you post without it all being about my books. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but Aussies are inclined to be turned off by constant barrages of ‘buy this’. You tell an Aussie what to do, and they’ll do the opposite!

Connect with Alison:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisoncliffordwriter

Website: http://alisonclifford.net

Blog: http://alisonclifford.blogspot.com.au/

Twitter: @AlisonClifford

Instagram: AlisonCliffordWriter

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Clifford/e/B015GEGYZO/

Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/roses-alison-clifford/1121200155

Channillo: http://channillo.com/series/white-rose/

Alison's next book: Seeing Red will be released on Alpril 26th. You can find more information on her website.

#IndieSpotlight of Neil O'Donnell Author of Return of The Sagan.

Name: 

Neil O’Donnell

The Title of Your Work or Group:

 Return of the Sagan

 Where are you from? 

Buffalo, NY

In what genre do you write?

 Primarily Fantasy and Scifi

In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it? 

The Generational Space Shuttle, the U.S.S. Sagan returns to Earth after nearly 300 without contact with Earth-bound populations. Discovering no remaining humans on the planet, a search party finds more questions than answers while fleeing from once-extinct creatures last seen during the last ice age.

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens? 

 I do outlines and a summary, but I also write a lot off the cuff.

Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 

I like to think all my books fall into this category or else I wouldn’t share the books. That said, my memoir of a lifetime battling OCD is the book I definitely wrote specifically to share (I just released a book on résumé writing for recent college and high school grads – I wrote this because many students were spending hundreds of dollars to have a résumé written by an “expert” only to be handed a very poor excuse for a résumé (I am a certified Career Coach and résumé writer – I priced the book at $.99/$5.99 (ebook/paperback) to save students money.

 Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 

Amygdala Art is who I went with for the Return of the Sagan cover. Ida’s work is stunning!!!

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy. 

 David Eddings! He breaks rules and new ground. His fantasy work is original and he keeps readers invested in storylines AND characters alike. I character in one of my books becomes trapped on an island for life (a priest), and I gave that character a copy of the Bible as well as a copy of one of David Eddings’ series.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

 Finding time for all the ideas swirling around in my head!

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?

 In most cases they write themselves, generated by my interactions with the world.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters? 

Most definitely. The lead in ‘Return of the Sagan’ is battling OCD like me – he is also an anthropologists and fantasy/scifi fan.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak. 

 Day job as a Counselor (career, personal & academic)

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 

George Washington

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 

Heavy dose of realism in my books.

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?

 Get on Twitter and retweet others’ posts about books. Additionally, write articles/blog posts and Tweet about them with relevant hashtags.

Websites:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Neil_ODonnell

Purchase now on Amazon:

#IndieSpotlight of Catherine Taylor Author of Master and Sins of The Master.

Name: 

Catherine Taylor

The Title of Your Work or Group:

 Master and Sins of the Master

Where are you from?

South Island, New Zealand

In what genre do you write?

Erotic thrillers

In your own words, what are your books about? If you were not the author and trying to explain these awesome books you just read to a friend, what would you say about it?

Sins of the Master is the sequel to Master, and which follows The Line Trilogy.

It was in Master that we came to learn the history of a secondary character who was first introduced into the second book of The Line Trilogy. Dylan Tyler, known as Master, became very popular with my readers and I received numerous requests to learn more about this enigmatic man with his mysterious, brooding and dominant persona.

I created his backstory, set in Ukraine in 1995, and detailing the violent history from which he had emerged. His first appearance, under the name of Jahn Zaleski, is when he goes up against the reigning champion at an illegal cage fight and triumphs brutally, only to shock the spectators when he claims the boss’s daughter, Lena Petrenko, as his prize. Lena is already suffering from a traumatic past and is terrified by this tattooed hulk of a man who has claimed her. When her father’s henchmen fail to rescue her, Lena fears that her body and life are about to become forfeit to her captor, but all isn’t as it seems. Lena soon learns that Jahn is not the beast he portrays, but is capable of a tenderness that life has failed to afford her. Soon it is her heart that is held captive, but the violent world she sought to escape is about to come back to destroy all her dreams.

Sins of the Master takes place nineteen years later in New Zealand. Jahn Zaleski has now become Dylan Tyler, world renowned photographer and recluse. Knowing that love can never be part of his life, he has built an empire of technology with the help of those prepared to serve him mind, body and soul. The memory of the woman he loved still haunts him, but Dylan knows that he can never go back. It is only when others begin to dig in his past that an old enemy is awakened and comes to destroy everyone and everything which he has ever cared for.

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens?

Having never attended any formal writing classes, I tend to break all the rules. My stories begin with developing strong characters, knowing everything about them and trusting them to take me on their journey. When I sit down to begin a story, I have no idea where it’s going or how it’s going to end. 

Have you ever written anything and thought; "The world has got to see this!”?

I admit that I feel this way about all my creations. It’s not a vanity issue, but more of a confidence that I’m writing the stories that I want to read, so of course I feel the world should feel the same.

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?

 I have a team of trusted proof readers that have been invaluable to me through writing my books. My husband is my foremost editor, having an uncanny ability to spot the smallest of mistakes.

When it comes to my covers, I’m blessed to have a close friend, Leah, who is a brilliant photographer and artist, and who works with me on the covers, creating the visions I have had for them. Only the cover to Master was purchased pre-made, due to time restraints.

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.

I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old and have never stopped, and this has come from having a love of reading. Many authors have influenced me, but the passion for storytelling has also come through filmmakers. My favourite author is George R. R. Martin and I could spend an entire day with him just learning about his writing process.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Finding a quiet place to write with no disturbances.

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?

My characters are drawn from a long life surrounded by weird and wonderful people. I love people and I’ve led an interesting life, and have never been short of characters, situations or emotions to draw from.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters?

I write my experiences into my characters, but yes, I draw on some of my only personality traits. As a teenager I was a wild child and lived dangerously. My favourite character is Mairead from The Line Trilogy and it amuses me that she’s not always popular with the readers because of her antics, brash temperament and self-destructive qualities. Much of her personality was drawn from my life experiences, but like me, Mairead has matured as time goes by and with the help of a good, strong man.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.

I have been fortunate to earn enough money from my books to keep me at home writing and tutoring others in self-publishing.

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?

I would love to have met one of my favourite masters in the art of storytelling. Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese director of film, upon which many Hollywood films are based. He was legendary in filmmaking and his quotes are pure wisdom. “To be an artist means to search, to find and look at these realities. To be an artist means to never look away.”

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?

With my books, the focus is on a thrilling story rather than the usual erotic elements found within the erotica genre. In my stories, you won’t find a lot of angst, inner thoughts and drawn out emotions, which I know are popular with romance readers. I don’t write in the first person or the present tense. My stories are often multi-POV. I love writing sex scenes and like to be generous in my descriptions. My bdsm elements are derived from a life-long knowledge. Even though my books are connected, I don’t write cliffhangers and always leave the readers with a conclusion. Many readers have praised me for ability to keep them guessing with many twists and turns within the plots.

For those, like myself, who love a big read, all my books are a minimum of 100,000 words, with the last one, Sins of the Master, clocking in with a hefty 259,000 words (745 pages).

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?

What I have discovered as an Indie author is the vast network ready to support us, such as other Indie authors as yourself, Nicole. Reviews are of course one of the best marketing tools but I don’t chase after them. It’s always a pleasant surprise to see that someone has taken the time to review. One of my best marketing tools was discovered accidentally when I released my first book The Finest Line for free and it went to #1 in free Kindle Erotica in US, UK and France. Now I keep that book free and it still points the way to my other works.

Now give me your links so we can get people to your book sites!

Twitter: @NZEroticAuthor

Blog: http://nzeroticauthor.blogspot.co.nz/

Website: www.catherinetaylor.co.nz

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B009Q638XA/ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1?ie=UTF8&text=Catherine+Taylor&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Catherine+Taylor&sort=relevancerank

I made a humble attempt at a book trailer for Master.

Book Trailer for Master: 

Links to purchase:

#IndieSpotlight of Andrew Nelson Mystery/ Suspense Author.

Name:

 Andrew Nelson

The Title of Your Work or Group: 

Author of Perfect Pawn, Queen’s Gambit, Small Tow Secrets and Bishop’s Gate

Where are you from?

Born and raised in NYC and currently happily retired in Illinois. 

In what genre do you write? 

Mystery / Suspense

In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it?

 Perfect Pawn would be what you would get if Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, Diana Gabaldon, and Lee Childs got together and collaborated on a book. The book has a bit of everything: action, intrigue, mystery, romance and will appeal to a wide variety of readers. 

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens. 

I tend to do a very rough outline initially, just getting myself from point A to point Z, but after that, anything goes. I always say that the outline is the black lines on a coloring book. The colors you choose to make it pretty are entirely up to you, or the voices in your head.

Have you ever written anything and thought; "The world has got to see this!"? 

I’d like to say that I felt that way about my first book, but it was actually my wife, who I had written the book for, who was crazy about it. I just thought she was being kind, but when I began to get all the feedback from readers, I thought I might have a career in this. It would make an epic movie. 

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?

 I do all my own cover design work.

Who is your favorite author. Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy. 

I’d have to say there were two: Frank Herbert (Dune) and Tom Clancy (Without Remorse). I love books that draw you into their world. The character development with those two authors is superb. It is something that I try to mimic in my writing. I don’t want you to read my books, I want you to get immersed in them; to the exclusion of everything else around you. I have had mothers write to me and complain that my books were messing with their home lives because they were up till the wee hours of the morning, then they had to try and get their kids ready for school so they could go back to reading.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? 

Not really. For me it has always been like watching a movie in my head, then I just write what I see and the dialogue in my head. 

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you? 

I’d like to take credit, but they write themselves. I just allow them to be as good or as bad as they want to be. 

Do you ever write yourself into the characters?

 Partially. They say that you should write about what you know, so part of me is incorporated into them. 

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak. 

I actually didn’t begin writing until after I retired from the NYPD, so it has become my full time job now. 

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 

That is such a difficult question, but I would have to say Jesus Christ. I don’t know how you could pass up the chance to speak with him. Actually, on second thought, I guess it would be a matter of just listening to him speak. 

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?

 Not to take away from anyone else, but I think that, having spent twenty-two years in law enforcement, I bring a certain level of gravitas to my writing. When an author like James Patterson, for arguments sake, writes a police story, he has to research. I’ve lived it, so when I tell you what happens, it’s as authentic as you can get. There is one scene in Perfect Pawn that recounts a presidential visit to NYC. I walk you through it, from arrival to departure, giving you a behind the scenes look because it was what I did for five years. You can’t get that level of detail from ‘research’. 

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from? 

In this day and age, I’d have to say social media is the primary driver. Connecting with people on Facebook, Twitter, etc,.. is the way to generate interest in your works. Then it is a matter of other fans recommending your work and hoping that one day it will get into the ‘right’ hands of someone influential. Every author needs that one big push, someone with clout who says ‘Hey, you need to read this book’. 

Social media links 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andrew_G_Nelson

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrew-Nelson/168310343376572

Website: http://andrewgnelson.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7377210.Andrew_G_Nelson

Purchasing links 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-G.-Nelson/e/B00G7T0LTI/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/andrew-g.-nelson

#IndieSpotlight of J Edward Neill @JEdwardNeill Author of The Tyrants of Death Series.

Name:

 J Edward Neill

 The Title of Your Work or Group:

I've published tons, but my primary books are tied to two series': Tyrants of the Dead and Coffee Table Philosophy. I also blog extensively for Tessera Guild.

Where are you from? Does not have to be the name of the place exactly. You can say Hick-ville Florida, for example if you are more comfortable with that.

 Chicago, IL. Lakeside. Frosty.

 In what genre do you write? 

 Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Literary Fiction, and non-fiction philosophy.

In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it? 

 The Tyrants of the Dead series is about a girl who thinks she's just running away from home, but who wanders into an apocalyptic war in which she'll play an (accidentally) huge role. Meanwhile, the enemy of mankind (The demonic Ur) plot to use her as the key to their resurrection. 

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens.

 For all my fiction works, I outline heavily. And then, after a few glasses of whiskey, I abandon all pretense of organized thought and I just write until sleep overtakes me.

 Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 

Maybe. When I finished my Coffee Table Philosophy series, I thought, "Every human being needs one of these in their house." If only to challenge their minds.

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?

 I've hired the lovely Amanda Makepeace and Eileen Herron to handle my art. I outsource my editing to friends and professionals.

Who is your favorite author. Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.

 JRR Tolkien & Dan Simmons. Dark. Adult. Poetic. The three themes I look for in every book.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

 Nah. I love to do it. Writer's block doesn't plague me. Editing, on the other hand...

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?

 I write them. I'm not half as interesting as anyone I've ever put to page. Even the bit-characters are cooler than I am.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters?

 Just the one bad guy in Down the Dark Path (Book 1 in the Tyrants series). Archmyr Degiliac. He's a cocky SOB. He's me if I were allowed to be a villain.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.

 Both! I have a day job, but I write/market/publish/edit for far longer than 40 hours per week, so...

 If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 

Shakespeare. No doubt. I want to discuss tragedy with him over three bottles of wine.

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre?

 I write non-Harry Potter, anti-Twilight, non-elves/dwarves/dragons, not-at-all-like-Game of Thrones fantasy. The dark themes I embrace aren't for kids, and that's not because of anything sexual in my books. I try to embrace an Old World, poetic style. There's no sexy in the Tyrants of the Dead series. Just hard, humanistic, tragic themes. There's not much of my style out there. I try to be a splash of Shakespeare in a world that has largely forgotten the subtleties of truly vivid prose.

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from? 

There's no secret. There's just hard work. Promote like a mofo, maintain your voice even while marketing, and spread the word every single day. I guess if I had two pieces of advice that I see Indies largely ignore, they'd be: A. Most of your social media posts should NOT be about selling your books. And B. Crappy grammar is author suicide.

Links to find and follow J Edward Neill's

work:

Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/J-Edward-Neill/113610302118735

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/JEdwardNeill

Blog:

TesseraGuild.com

Website:

DowntheDarkPath.com

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/J-Edward-Neill/e/B00DVLR4WC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1438194621&sr=8-1

Amazon Author Page

#Indie Spotlight of Alex Brightsmith @AlexBrightsmith Author of Viennese Waltz

 Name:

Alex Brightsmith

The Title of Your Work:

Viennese Waltz

Where are you from?:

 A little town called Sandy, in Bedfordshire. Anywhere in the world I can lay odds that if anyone has heard of the town they’re a keen birder, because the RSPB have their head office there. No one else has ever heard of it – even in England, a lot of people struggle to place Bedfordshire, let alone Sandy, but we do perform the vital services of preventing the Midlands from falling into the Fens and buffering the Home Counties from the North.

In what genre do you write?

 My published novels are contemporary thrillers, but I’ve also contributed fantasy stories to anthologies, and I’m working on a fantasy series. When it comes to flash fiction I skip around in whatever genre seems to fit the prompt.

In your own words, what is your book about?

 If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it? 

Viennese Waltz is a character driven thriller that begins as hypnotically written intrigue and evolves into an intense tale of subtle bluff and desperate thrust and parry action.

Kathryn Blake (or Kate, which she prefers as the short, honest blade of a name suits her so well) finds herself in Vienna for what should be a minor part in a simple operation, with an opportunity for her to attend to some business of her own on the side. When the job starts to go wrong her government employers are forced to use all of her talents, and she finds herself playing a lone hand in a game she doesn’t quite understand, with an opponent she’s tempted to trust and old friends she knows can be dangerous.

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens. 

I don’t think I have one particular settled style of working, but I’m a great believer in harnessing the mood I’m in. If I’m on fire to write something I’ll write it, and worry about where it fits later – whether it belongs later in the piece I’m ‘supposed’ to be working on, goes off a tangent, or simply comes out of the blue. Either I’ll work it in, or get a ‘meet the cast’ blog out of it, or it can sit in the maybe file. If I’m feeling more diligent than inspired maybe I’ll outline a section that’s giving me trouble, writing very mechanical stage directions that I can flesh out on a day when the words come more easily. Even if I’m having a day where everything I write sounds awful, that’s fine, that just makes it an editing day.

Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 

If I have, I was probably wrong. The piece I’ve had the most extraordinary response to started as a silly challenge to myself, and almost didn’t see the light of day because it didn’t come out at all how I was planning.

 Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 

For my thrillers I’ve self-edited and also worked on my own cover art, but that’s likely to change. Both of those works spent so long in the back of the drawer that I had the distance to edit them myself, but at the same time I was so close to them that I knew I would find it very difficult to work with anyone else on them. I’m learning to be less bull-headed now.

 Who is your favorite author. 

I find it hard to say what’s really influenced me, because my memory tends to turn everything into mulch in the back of my brain. Besides, if I was really honest about the one single book that had inspired me to write down the stories that I’ve always told myself, and if I could remember what it was, it would probably be something awful, something that made me think ‘well, if that can get published ... ’

However, one author who must have influenced me, and one I would love to see reflected in my writing, is Leslie Charteris. My brother had a handful of Saint books that I read over and over again in my teens. I just adored them, for their pace and excitement and sheer exuberant fun, but also for their language and their expectation that the reader would keep up (hagiography and occiput spring to mind as words I learnt from him). It’s a joy to read something that, though it allows me to take my mind off the hook and enjoy the ride, revels in the full joy and complexity of the language.

Charteris never gets stale. He’s endlessly inventive and his style ranges easily from hard-boiled New York excitement to pastoral adventures reminiscent of G K Chesterton. Above all, the Saint books play to the strengths of the written word. It often seems that the highest compliment a reader can pay is to be impatient to see their favourite work filmed, but screen adaptations of the Saint never work for me. Roger Moore’s Saint is wonderful, of course, as television, but for me he’ll never be the Saint of the books. Charteris’s Saint is a swashbuckling matinee idol, but he works because he’s contrasted to the real world, and that’s something that can be done with subtlety on the page when it might seem heavy-handed or comical on screen.

 Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I think what I find hardest is how much to reveal – thank heavens for beta readers! When I’ve lived with a story all that time, thought it and rethought it, written it and rewritten it, everyone’s motivations are so clear to me that it’s easy to forget that they’re strangers to the reader. Finding the balance between patronising the reader by spelling things out too clearly and being mystifyingly oblique is always a struggle.

 Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you? 

I fool myself that I’m in charge, but a lot of the development goes on unconsciously in the back of my mind, and in little vignettes that I amuse myself with in check out queues and at bus stops. That means that by the time I’m actually writing the main characters are as well known to me as an old friend, and knowing what they will and won’t do does make it feel sometimes as if they’re dictating the plot. That can be frustrating, but it can lead to the best feeling of all – when a story has stewed down so well that I almost feel as if I’m sitting on the next bar stool scribbling down the story as the narrator tells it to me in their own words.

 Do you ever write yourself into the characters?

I try not to, usually. It’s amusing and frustrating in equal measure to find, during editing, the quirks that all my characters share because they’re natural to me, like a tendency to know more than you’d expect about botany and folklore and to have a discreet chirr or buzz for their ringtone. Having said that, sometimes I can’t resist giving a character something that’s mine. Kathryn Blake is a natural night owl because I wanted to share the joy of two a.m, which is something all you natural early birds will never know. I haven’t found an excuse to really go for that yet, but I’ll really enjoy writing about it when I do.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.

 I’m a long way short of paying the mortgage without showing up in somebody else’s office on a regular basis. Usually that annoys me, but sometimes I wonder how much writing I’d do if it wasn’t a guilty pleasure that I had to cram in around all that important stuff.

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?

 I’m at a bit of a loss on this, partly because I’d be so shy I’d certainly waste the opportunity, and partly because I’m so dizzy and eclectic that I could never settle on one person. Even if I did, I’d probably get distracted by a view or a market stall or something on the way to the meeting, and be too fascinated by that to keep my appointment.

I’m jealous of my husband in the respect, because I know that he’d choose Isambard Kingdom Brunel without a second’s hesitation. His earliest memory is of standing in the hull of the ss Great Britain (Brunel’s only surviving ship) not long after she was towed back to Bristol. She was open to the public, but she wasn’t a big tourist draw back then, and it was just his family there and a volunteer doing some work with an angle grinder. It spawned a lifelong fascination for him, and I know that if he had a chance to corner Brunel he’d have a list of questions as long as his arm. I can be interested in anything for ten minutes, utterly absorbed by it, but I don’t have that depth of knowledge.

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 

I’ve been described as writing books that are like fine malt whisky, subtle and complex. I know it was meant unreservedly as a compliment but it’s a double edged sword. I don’t write alcopops with mass market appeal (though I have the greatest respect for anyone who can pull off that trick) – but if I’m the right writer for you I’ll mesmerise and beguile you, and once I’ve drawn you in I’ll reward you with action that doesn’t let you go.

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?

 If only! I’m afraid not. But I’m open to suggestions.

Links to find and follow Alex's work:

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/alexbrightsmith

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/alexbrightsmith

Blog:

https://alexbrightsmith.wordpress.com/

Smashwords:

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/273944

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Viennese-Waltz-Alex-Brightsmith-ebook/dp/B008WO6WWG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Lulu: 

http://www.lulu.com/shop/alex-brightsmith/viennese-waltz/paperback/product-21081223.html

B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/viennese-waltz-alex-brightsmith/1114303812?ean=2940044245976

Kobo:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/viennese-waltz

Goodreads profile:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6525253.Alex_Brightsmith