Today I’m pleased to be taking part in the blog tour for The Ice Maiden. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to Jane Badrock for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

I hadn’t thought seriously about being a writer until a few years ago – although I had dabbled in the odd short story and I’ve been writing funny poems since before I can remember.

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

Throughout my accountancy career, even from my very first job as a teenager, I discovered the need to write – primarily to explain financial concepts to non-financial but also in staff management and complaints processes. Certainly I think this helped hone my writing skills. 

What was your inspiration for The Ice Maiden?

The Ice Maiden was inspired by a vivid dream I had.

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

My characters tend to construct themselves. I expect that my leading ladies all have some semblance or opposite of me in them, but none of them are me. If I am using traits of people I actually know, it’s at a very subconscious level.

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m a complete panster when writing. My ideas flow best when I’m actually at the keyboard.

How did you research The Ice Maiden? Did you enjoy it?

The research I did for The Ice Maiden was predominantly around the logistics of where Maddie was and how she got around. I’m terrible at geography and wanted to make sure her journeys were feasible. Over the years I’ve had a great interest in the ‘unexplained’.

I underwent some training in hypnosis a few years ago and have been hypnotised myself. 

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them?

I rarely read these days. In the past I read very widely. The names that come to my head first are Alexandre Dumas, Charles Kingsley, Anthony Burgess, Reginald Hill, Beryl Bainbridge and Elizabeth George. It’s entirely likely that I have been influenced by everyone I have ever read -but I couldn’t tell you who and what.

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why?

I don’t do dinner parties but I have found Tony Benn, Germaine Greer and Benjamin Zephaniah all fascinating to listen to.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

I would be horrified at being stuck in a lift with anyone who had bad wind!

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of The Ice Maiden?

I’ve no idea who would play any of the characters in The Ice Maiden, I’m sadly very out of date in terms of TV and cinema these days.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

What is spare time? I garden and paint – pictures and walls!

What is next for you?
I’m already working on the sequel to Comatose ; Three Little Girls

Favourites:

Book?    Hereward the Wake/ Earthly Powers

Film?      Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Band/Singer?    Alice Cooper

TV show?    Coronation Street

Colour?     Depends

Place?       Where I live now.

Biscuit?     Dark chocolate covered gingernuts!

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The Ice Maiden is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: