Sunday, 16 June 2013
Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to be
part of the Fiction Addiction Book Tour for It Happened One Night by the lovely Phillip Ashley.
Phillip very kindly agreed to sit in the Hot Seat Interview Chair and
answer some questions. But before the interview lets find out a bit about the
author herself.
About the author:
British author, Phillipa Ashley, loves writing lively, sexy, funny
romantic fiction. After studying English Language and Literature at Oxford
University, she worked as a copywriter and journalist.Her novels have been
published by Headline Little Black Dress, Piatkus Entice and Samhain
Publishing.
She started writing fiction in 2005, after being inspired by the BBC TV
drama, North & South. Her first novel, Decent Exposure
-titled Dating Mr December for the US – topped the Play.com Romance
chart and won the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Award 2007. In
2009, it was filmed as a Lifetime TV movie called 12 Men of Christmas
starring Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Hopkins. Having her novel made into a movie
inspiredIt Happened One Night which is published in June 2013.
Her most recent book for Piatkus
Entice is Miranda’s Mount which won Best e book at the Festival of
Romance Reader Awards 2012.
Her books have been translated into
many languages including Thai, Turkish, Bulgarian and Russian. In the US, four
of her books have been published by Sourcebooks and reached the Amazon.com
Romance Top 20. She was a judge for the RNA Love Story of the Year 2011 and has
interviewed many interesting people during her career as a journalist including
the writers, Ian Rankin and Sir John Mortimer and actors Richard Armitage,
Robert Powell and Nigel Havers.
Phillipa lives in Staffordshire with
her husband and daughter and loves Champagne, Jane Austen, hiking, surfing and
body boarding. She also loves visiting her apartment in the Lake District as
often as possible, the setting for It Happened One Night.
She is represented by the Wade &
Doherty Literary Agency and Sayle Screen.
So, without further ado, lets hear
from the lady herself!
JB: Did you, at any point of writing
It Happened One Night, make any major changes to the plot or did you remain
fairly focused on keeping to the original plot?
Phillipa: Like many authors, I didn’t have a ‘detailed’ plot outline at
the start of the novel because it’s during the writing process, that you
discover your characters and they lead the plot. I tend to do an ‘exploratory
draft’ and then rewrite several times so yes, there have been major changes to
the plot!
JB: How long, from initial planning
to final edits did it take you to write the book?
Phillipa: Normally, it takes me around a year to complete a 90,000 word
mainstream book from start to finish but with It Happened One Night. I’d
dabbled with the story over a few years, while writing other projects too. I
finally settled down to focus on it in 2012.
JB: Where did the idea for It
Happened One Night come from?
Phillipa: Three main elements came together:
I’d had the idea for the main premise – love lost and then possibly
rediscovered – at the same time as the characters, Sophie and Adam, who are two
young people who inhabit different worlds within the same tiny village. I’d
always loved costume drama and thought the romantic Lakeland setting would be
the perfect backdrop for their story.
JB: Your apartment in the Lake
District is the setting for It Happened One Night. Are there any other
places that have influenced your writing?
Phillipa: Our holiday flat in
Ambleside was actually the setting for my first novel Decent Exposure.
It’s a different house ‘that got away’ which features in It Happened One
Night.Years ago, we’d tried to buy an old copperminer’s cottage high above
Coniston Water and that’s the one I based Sophie’s home on. I love dramatic
scenic settings such as Corsica, Provence and Cornwall – my last book was set
on a fictional St Michael’s Mount style island.
JB: Who is the most interesting
person you have ever met and have they influenced the creation of any of your
characters in this book or any of your others? Or, is that a secret?
Phillipa: That’s a great question
... I don’t think one person has ever morphed into a character but I do draw
inspiration for traits and attitudes from all sorts of people. My first ever
piece of fiction was a fanfic based on John Thornton from North & South but
since then, I’ve created my own characters.
JB: Do you write every day and if so
how much time do you devote to writing?
Phillip: I write around 6 days a
week, usually for around 2-5 hours a day but I also have a copywriting business
on top of that.
JB: Do you have any plans in the
pipeline for another book?
Phillipa: Always. See below!
JB: Are there any other subjects
you’d like to write about or venture into a whole new genre?
Phillipa: I’ve lots of ideas for
books buzzing round my head and have started a new contemporary romance. As for
new genres, I have recently completed two erotic romances – the first one will
be published in September 2013.
JB: You won the Romantic Novelists
Association New Writers Award 2007. How does it feel to win an award for your
writing?
Phillipa: It’s a lovely feeling
because I never really expected to win, as there were 11 contenders that year,
all with great romantic reads. My last book Miranda’s Mount also won the
Festival of Romance Best e book in 2012 – and I didn’t expect that either!
Winning awards is always a welcome boost of self confidence– for a little while
at least!
JB: How does it feel to see one of
your books made into a TV movie and were you happy with the end result?
Phillpa: The morning I heard that Decent Exposurewas going to be
made into a movie was possibly the second most exciting of my career- I found
out via a Google alert and almost fell off my chair. The most exciting moment
was visiting the set in the Rockies with my family. The movie is quite
different from my book, but I still loved watching the screenwriter’s fun take
on my work though I admit it was pretty surreal, to see my characters and
dialogue come to life on the big screen.
JB: Do you have any advice to any
budding authors out there? Any words of wisdom?
Phillipa: In these tough times, it’s even more difficult to get a
mainstream publishing deal with a Big 6 publisher. On the plus side there are
some very exciting smaller and indie publishers out there so I’d advise
aspiring authors to write what *they* love writing and then look around for a
publisher. You need to be persistent and never give up and that means you must
love what you write in order to maintain that spark and keep on going through
the inevitable ups and downs of your career.
Thank you so much Phillipa. A very enjoyable interview! Phillipa is also hosting a competition over at her blog so head on over there now by clicking on the link COMPETITION.
Phillipa’s Links:
It Happend One Night was released on
06.06.2013 and is published as an e-book by Piatkus Entice.
EXCERPT:
Ten years later, no one is more
shocked than Sophie to find him back in the village. Now an up-and-coming film
director, he's returned to make a drama about a notorious local poet and
brought his glamorous cast, crew - and girlfriend - with him. As the on-screen
drama plays out, can Sophie and Adam lay the past to rest or will history
repeat itself?
Fab interview ladies.
Thanks for being a part of the tour JB.
Shaz
x
Thanks for having me. I've had some more very exciting news since I gave my answers but can;t say yet. :)