Romance Weekly: #LoveChatWrite

Come on, you know you're dying to find out what goes on inside the twisted minds of your favorite romance writers. What inspires them? What makes them tick? Each Tuesday, the writers of Romance Weekly will take you behind the scenes and tell all. So sit down and buckle up for the ride. Comments are always appreciated. 

If you found me by way of Mikki Cober, welcome!  This week's questions come from the ever fabulous Beth Carter. Ready? Let's dig in! 

What’s your favorite aspect of novel writing? Dialogue? Setting? Conflict? Narration? Explain.

Dialogue, definitely the dialogue. When I sit down to write a scene, it's the dialogue that I hear. It's as if my characters are inside my head having a conversation that only I can hear. I think a lot of that stems from the fact that I started out writing short plays. In a play, there are no character thoughts to contend with, the conversations drive the entire plot. With my first novel, I had to write in complete silence, so I could hear my scenes. With Assassin, P.I., I have a soundtrack that my dialogue is set to. Once I capture the lines I hear, I go back and layer in the setting details and flesh out the narration. 

How do you choose the setting for your plot? Are they always similar settings or does it vary? (i.e., small town, big city, castle, etc.)

I tend to lean toward small towns for my stories. It's what I know. It's all I know. We might not have the traffic, drive-bys, or the oodles of people big cities have, but small towns have secrets to hide, and decades old feuds that just won't die. Gossip could practically be considered a sport. But despite all the potential negatives that come with living in a small town, there's nothing quite like it. When tragedy strikes, the entire town pulls together. After all, everyone is connected in some way. We're practically family. 

When it comes to selecting a setting for my stories, trust me, I've got all the inspiration I need, right here in my small hometown. 

I’m a big six-word memoir fan. (Hemingway even wrote one.) Describe your writing day using just six words.

Only six words?! I'm a pretty chatty gal, so stopping at only six words is nearly impossible. But here's my attempt: 

Must teach students: write, revise, repeat. 

I might not have the pleasure of spending every day with my butt in the chair, writing until my fingers are numb, but I do have the distinct pleasure of sharing my writing knowledge with my students. Ergo, I am writing by default. I'm just not adding to my word count at the moment. 

Thanks for stopping by! Next up on the blog hop? Raine Balkera. Hop on over and show her some love.