Friday Interview - Meredith Russell

What made you decide to start writing? What was your personal "kick-off"?

Writing stories has always been something I've enjoyed to do. Certainly, whilst at school, my friends and I would make up stories about wizards and crazy stuff, taking it in turns to write the next chapter and sending our characters on exciting adventures. I would like to think I have a great imagination and have always read a lot of books as I grew up and watched plenty of TV shows and movies. I love to be entertained. Writing professionally has always been something I've aspired to and I was introduced to the m/m world through reading, and then writing, in fandom. There were worlds I wanted to create and stories I wanted to tell and so I went for it. From there, it was believing in myself and taking the next step to get published, but also the belief and support of my friends and family.

How do you keep your stories "organized"? I mean, remembering side characters, visuals, background stories, connections...

When writing, I only really focus on one story at a time, though at the moment it is more like one project of my own and then a joint project/series. I prefer it that way as I do like to immerse myself in my characters and their world and that's really all I do to remember details. I don't really have notes as I go along, and sometimes I may have to reread a few pages to remind myself where I was at, but I tend to think I have a good memory for the details in my stories. If, however, a story becomes a series, I do tend to make a list of brief details – where I left them at the end of the last story, physical details etc.


What do YOU like to read? Do you read completely different genres, or do you read m/m? How do you find satisfying reading stuff, when you have whole worlds in your head? And can you even do that without thinking at some point that you could do better?

My two favourite genres are crime/thrillers and fantasy YA books. A couple of favourites are Patricia Cornwell and Frances Fyfield. I love the twists and turns of solving a crime and have always loved shows like CSI and Criminal Minds and the like. I like trying to figure it out and enjoy the challenge of looking for clues along the way. YA books, I particularly like the Fallen and Hush Hush series about fallen angels, and currently have the Hunger Games series and Shiver werewolf series to work my way through.

I don't actually read as much as I used to and that is mainly due to writing taking priority. As much as I love to read, I do like to have control over where a story goes these days. I still love the suspense of seeing where a story goes and have been lucky in that I have never read anything where I thought, 'well, shit, I don't like that', but to be able to create and share that is an entirely different feeling – it's pretty damn exciting.

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Coming mid-March from Love Lane Books....

Under the Sun with RJ Scott


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Blurb 

Edward McAllister, wedding planner extraordinaire, arrives at Sapphire Cay for a wedding. He has four days to go until the big day and his plans are smashed when he finds the stage he'd been setting is destroyed.

It doesn't matter that the guy pulling down the old gazebo and digging trenches is hot - he is messing with Edward's OCD and Edward isn't afraid to let the man know exactly how he feels.

Jamie Durand is an ex marine and son of the former owners of Sapphire Cay. He is on the island to get his head around his new life after leaving the forces due to injury.

When Edward arrives in his space he is bemused at the instant dislike the uptight man shows toward him.

Not an auspicious start. But just you wait when Edward relaxes and Jamie opens up. Then you will see fireworks.

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See the book trailer for the series here

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1 comment

  1. Love the trailer and I am so looking forward to this book. I have to go back and re-read the first one this weekend.
    Yvette
    yratpatrol@aol.com

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