Hello,
I'm super excited today because I have the lovely, funny, and bestseller author of eight romantic comedy novels, Lynda Renham, on my blog. This isn't the first time she's popped over for a chat and it won't be the last. If you haven't read any of Lynda's books I suggest you drop everything and buy one today. In fact, today would be brilliant because all of her Kindle novels are on sale for just 99p! I know, insane. Her latest book, Fifty Shades of Roxy Brown, is already out on the Kindle and the paperback is due out very soon. Like all of her other books, it's shooting up the charts and has lots of great reviews. With so much going on, I thought I'd ask Lynda a few questions and thankfully she gave me some great answers (I believe that's why it's called a Q&A) and here they are:
Hi Lynda, I hear
you have a new book out called, 'Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown', can you tell us
a bit about it?
Hi, Jon, thanks so much
for featuring me on your blog. I’m thrilled to be here. Yes, I’d love to tell
you a little bit about ‘Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown.’
‘Roxie Brown
loves erotica and her friend, Sylvie, loves crime … novels of course. On a
girls' night out they meet The Great Zehilda, the tea leaf reader, and suddenly
Roxie’s Fifty Shades fantasies about her millionaire boss, Ark Morgan, look
about to become a reality. But then she looks through the telescope and her
life is turned upside down. Roxie and Sylvie, with help from Sylvie’s flatmate,
Felix, set out to crack the case. Can Ark Morgan save her or is he the man she
should be running from? Then enter Sam Lockwood and her heart is shot with
another arrow. Is the love of her life the man of her dreams or is the man she
loves, her worst nightmare.
You have "Fifty
Shades" in the title and obviously this comes with some pretty heavy
baggage. Did you read the "Fifty Shades" books and what sort of
influence did this have on your book?
Oh dear, I rather hoped
you wouldn’t ask me this! I read the first ‘Fifty Shades’ novel. I’m afraid there was far
too much lip biting and breath hitching for me. I felt quite exhausted by the
time I finished. All that spanking and thrashing. I needed a lie down before I
could even begin to think of my own next novel. ‘Fifty Shades of Roxie Brown’
couldn’t be more different to tell you the truth, although Roxie’s fantasies
about her gorgeous box Ark Morgan run along the same lines as she is convinced
he is her real life Christian. Less thrashing around though, which is just as
well as I didn’t want to end up take beta blockers while writing it.
All of my books have
evolved in different ways and have their own stories (which could probably be
its own novel), so please tell us how and why this novel evolved the way it
did?
Yes, I know exactly what
you mean. I also start off planning to write one thing and end up writing
something else altogether. However, this time, I had a plan and the whole thing
flowed exactly as I wanted. At least it did to a point and then this guy Felix
turned up out of nowhere. I think he is the funniest character in the book now,
so I am very pleased he did.
Lynda, you've
written eight romantic comedy novels - and obviously from a female perspective -
what's your view of men writing romantic comedy novels? Especially as it seems
to me that in film there's a lot more men writing romantic comedies films than
women, but in novels it seems to be the other way around.
I think the brilliant
Richard Curtis is proof of the pudding isn’t he? I loved ‘Notting Hill’
especially and I think it is such fun watching or reading a rom com from a male
perspective. There are some terrific male authors writing romantic comedy, of
which, of course, you are one. I think it is a great new trend and I think men
are very good at it and they of course put a whole other slant on the story
which is refreshing. Long may it continue.
Staying on the
romantic comedy theme, what are your top 5 romantic comedy novels? And films?
I honestly don’t read
Romantic comedy novels as I don’t want to be influenced by another author’s
writing. But I do love romantic comedy films. My top 5 are 1) Bridget Jones
Diary 2) Four Weddings and a Funeral 3) Brides War 4) Notting Hill 5)Pretty Woman
All great films, although I'd have to add 'Love Actually' to the list. When I'm between
books, I have a crazy system of picking a new book that basically involves me
writing about 5000 words of about five or six new novels until one just feels
right. It's time consuming and definitely not the best way, but it seems I
can't do anything else. How do you pick a new novel?
Ooh that sounds like
hard work. I admire you for that. I’m basically very lazy. So, I just wait
until something pops into my head and that can happen anywhere. Often when I’m
dropping off to sleep and then I have to grab my phone to make notes. I have
tons of scribbled notes on my phone that make absolutely no sense as often I
don’t have my glasses on and can’t see what I’m typing. Fortunately for me I can
decipher and the ideas come back to me when I see the jumbled note. I then make
more notes, bounce ideas back and forth with my husband and slowly a novel is
born. A very slap dash way of writing, I know. I also don’t work at a desk but
have a couch in my writing room and I sit the lap top on my lap and type away.
I’m not in the least structured.
This is my attempt at
a university style exam question. Writing is re-writing. Discuss?
Indeed it is. In fact
there is more re-writing than anything else. It’s interesting how you can write
a whole chunk of stuff and then see the diamonds in the surrounding dust. A
novel that isn’t re-written at some point surely isn’t at its absolute best, do
you agree?
Definitely. All of my novels are re-written, edited, added to and cut so many times from the first draft until the finished book they're almost unrecognizable. OK, last question
for fifty points, what's next for Lynda Renham?
Ooh, that
really is a leading question as lots of things have been hanging in the balance
for me. I’ve been discussing much with my agent. Considering a different genre,
a Christmas novella, all things I’ve never done in the past. So looming at the
moment is possibly a Christmas novella but as usual I have left it quite late
so we will have to see. Keep your eyes peeled.
Thank you so much, Lynda! If you want to pre-order a paperback copy of her latest novel, Fifty Shades of Roxy Brown, click on the cover below!
You can find out more about Lynda on her website here.
You can pop over to her Facebook page here.
You can find all of Lynda's books on Amazon here.
Until next time.
Hugs,
Jon X
