L'Amour Actually - Author Interview and Amazon Deal!

Hello everyone. So this is a short introduction from me today but I wanted to tell you about the book L'Amour Actually which at some point I will review on my blog but today I wanted to share a author interview and an Amazon deal with you. Now the Amazon deal I have let you know very last minute but L'Amour Actually has been selected to be an Amazon Deal of the Month on Kindle, which means that all you Kindle readers (including myself) can get this book for a discounted price. This deal ends on 6th February, so if you have time to read a book, this is definitely the time to get stocked up. I wanted to share this deal with and even if it isn't on sale when you buy this, if you do buy this after the deal has ended then it would be great. The current deal is that you can buy it for £7.19 in book form and £0.99p for your kindle. If you want to have a look at the deal or even buy this book then the link is here.

Here is the book cover which I think is so adorable and this book is written by Melanie Jones. 

So now you can sit back with a cup of tea or a hot chocolate and enjoy the author interview from Melanie Jones.

1.        How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

They always say you should write about what you know and with L’Amour Actually I have certainly done that. My first attempt at writing was a story about a dancer from Yorkshire who found herself trapped in Nazi Germany at the outbreak of the second World War. The only trouble was by Chapter 4 I realised I had no idea what I was talking about and without a serious amount of research it would never get any further. Which is exactly what happened.

L’Amour Actually is loosely based on my life in rural France but with elements of fiction. The ‘Melanie’ in my  book is based on the young me who went out to live in the Middle East at the age of 24. I actually moved to France with a young family but there are so many books about that that I bored myself when I started to think about writing about it.

I find writing very therapeutic and in the time since L’Amour was written I have gone through some very traumatic life events.  I have incorporated some of this into the story and found it very cathartic. I suppose the short answer then is that yes, my personal experiences have very much influenced my writing.

2. What genre of books do you like to read? do you limit yourself to only the genre that you write yourself?

I read most genres although I struggle with fantasy. I have enormous admiration for fantasy writers who must have some of the most incredible imaginations on the planet though.  At the moment I am reading a Carole Matthews book for my book club which is pure chick lit. However my next book is ‘Gone Girl’ which I am looking forward to enormously and then after that ‘The Sound of No Hands Clapping’ by Toby Young which is a memoir.

3. Were you always good at writing?

I have always written and always loved writing. It was always the subject I did best at when I was at school. I can still remember my creative writing lessons and turning in fifteen pages while my classmates usually managed a couple of pages. Brevity was never my strong point. My first ‘success’ if you an call it that, was a very dark poem I wrote at the age of eight about a potato being made into a chip. It was read out in my school assembly and that was my first taste of literary fame, such as it was!  I think if I wrote it now, Social Services would be knocking on the door.

4. How do you get started with writing a story (as in, how do you start developing the story, how do you get inspired for it)

I get my inspiration from all over the place. I am lucky that, apart from writing, I have a very interesting job which provides me with loads of ideas.  Sometimes it might just come from a snippet of conversation, or something I read in the newspaper. Some of it comes from my life too.

I am what is called a ‘seat of the pants’ writer. I know where my book starts and finishes, but what happens in the middle is as much a surprise to me.  When I wrote L’Amour my publisher asked for around 90,000 words. I turned in 120,000 thinking that they would be delighted with all those extra words. They had other ideas and I had to cut about 25,000 words. I tried removing every extraneous and and but but that didn't get anywhere near it. In the end, I was listening to someone chatting in our village pub and it gave me an idea. I cut out all of the middle section and rewrote the ending. It worked out so much better.

5. What advice would you give to people who "run out of creativity" when writing?

That is probably one of the main reasons people give up writing.  There is nothing worse than staring at a page and having absolutely no idea what to put on it.  If it is just a bit of a blank about how you get from one part of the story to another, I used a great tip which I got from another writer. In big, bold capitals type ‘AND THE SOMETHING FABULOUS HAPPENS’. Then move on to another part of your story, If even that fails I would say put your manuscript away and leave it, even if it means leaving it for months on end, then take it out and have another look at it. Make notes of any little snippets of conversation or story that pop into your head and keep them safe then when you revisit your book, who knows, it might all fall into place.

6. What inspired you with your book?

I think my adventures in France inspired me to start it, my many lovely writer friends who I met on various writing websites inspired me to carry on when it was only half finished and my book deal ‘inspired’ me to finish it!

I have been so lucky to have made many lovely friends through my writing. That was the completely unexpected side to it. All of them, in their own way, have been an inspiration to me.

I would like to thank Melanie for answering these questions for the purpose of this interview and would like to thank her for letting me share this deal with you all! 

Have an amazing day!