Today I’m joining the blog tour for Love In The Wings. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to Ellie White for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

I guess so. When I was little, my mam would give me a writing prompt and tell me to draw a picture and write a story to go with it. I’ve always made up stories and had a wild imagination but I didn’t publish my first book until I was 30.

What was your inspiration for Love in the Wings?

I love all things theatre and wanted to explore a world where I could merge theatre and my love for writing romance books.

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

All side characters are named after family and friends, there’s always a mention in the acknowledgements. 

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

For Love and London, I was a pantster – to be honest, I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote this book so I just sat and wrote.

For Love in the Wings, every scene was planned in detail before I even started to write which is probably why it took less time to finish and needed less editing. Doing it this way, I felt like I already knew the characters which made the story flow so much easier.

How did you research? Did you enjoy it?

As I was already a huge theatre fan, I attended shows regularly but I didn’t really know much about behind the scenes. I met Katie Brace, a performer who stared as Tracy Turnblad in the UK Tour of Hairspray, and when I told her about my project, she offered to help me with my research by answering my never-ending questions. I also had an opportunity to go behind the scenes twice at the Sunderland Empire. The first was an official tour and then I was invited back one-to-one where I could go onto the stage and hang around where my characters would be.

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

My favourite writers are Melissa Morgan, Lyndsey Gallagher, Louise Hudson. 

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why? Anne Boleyn because she’s my favourite wife, Taylor Swift because I think we’d be really good friends and Lin Manuel Miranda, because if you’ve read Love in the Wings you’ll know I’m a little obsessed with his work.

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of Love in the Wings? 

I think I’d love some theatre actors, Harriet Watson and Liam McHugh were the inspirations behind the characters.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I write. I have a full time job and have two young kids so writing is my escape.

What is next for you?

My next book, Playing For Her, is coming out on the 1^st September and is the first book in a football romance series.

Favourites:

Book?

Anything by Melissa Morgan, Lyndsey Gallagher, Louise Hudson, Evie Alexander, Margaret Amatt.

Film?

Grease 2

Band/Singer?

Taylor Swift

TV show?

Probably Brooklyn 99 or Schitts Creek

Colour?

Pink

Place?

Sunderland

Biscuit?

Shortbread

***

Love In The Wings is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: