Interview with Charlie Cochrane:
Hi Charlie. Thank you for doing this interview. I would like to welcome you to the Romance at Heart Interview and Author Grilling session. *bg* We are interested to find out as much about you as we possibly can, so lets get started...
- Please tell us about your latest book.
Lessons in Love is set in Edwardian times in St. Bride’s college, Cambridge, which is – alas – not real. Jonty Stewart, handsome and outgoing, studied at the college and is returning to take up a teaching post. His arrival certainly causes a stir, not least with Orlando Coppersmith, a brilliant, introverted mathematician with very little experience of life outside the college walls. They strike up an alliance which moves from friendship to romance, but a series of murders in the college, which they’re asked to help solve, threatens to ruin their happiness.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
More books about Coppersmith and Stewart! The Cambridge Fellows Mystery series is being released over the next couple of years, allowing the lads to solve murders, have adventures and weather the sort of storms which seem to cross the path of true love.
- How may readers contact you?
By e-mail or with a comment at my livejournal. I try my hardest to reply to everyone, in as honest a way as possible. People who read your books sometimes see things in your characters which you’ve never picked up – this really makes you think. And I’m always happy to hear if I’ve made a historical boo-boo in any of my tales. Too easy to make assumptions about the past and then find you were wrong…
- How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?
Loads of them. I studied at Cambridge myself, (although not in 1906!) and used a lot of that experience to flavour these books (and ‘Aftermath’, part of the Trilogy ‘Speak Its Name’). I have a magpie mind, so have accumulated all sorts of things over the years – locations, things people have said or done – and can build them into the stories.
- Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you just go with the flow?
Not at present, although I’m working on it. I tend to write during the day when I have the house to myself, and when other commitments allow. I’m trying to construct a sort of timetable to balance promo and writing/editing, etc. The net can be a very distracting place…
- Do you feel humour is important in women's fiction and why?
For me it’s essential. Even Shakespeare wrote comedy scenes into his dourest plays and while I’d never compare myself to him, I think it’s useful to have a bit of levity. The writers I admire, such as Dorothy L Sayers and Simon Brett, get a good balance of thrills and comedy; that’s what I try to do. Of course, when you have nice young men to banter with each other, putting in the humour becomes easier.
- Would you like to write a different genre than you do now, or sub-genre?
I think I’m happiest writing what I do (m/m historical romance/mystery) although I have a couple of works in progress which are set in the modern day. What I end up doing with them, I’m not sure…
- What does your husband/wife think of your writing?
He would love me to be so successful that he could give up work and act as my agent, (which would probably involve many rounds of golf.) I keep telling him it’s unlikely. He’s amazingly supportive and indulgent, although he never reads books himself, bless him.
- Fill in the blank favorites -
Dessert - Treacle sponge with custard.
City - Cambridge or Paris.
Season - Autumn, for the colours and the prospect of Christmas.
Type of hero - I like an interesting hero, one with brains as well as looks - Inspector Alleyn, for example.
Type of heroine - And I like an interesting heroine, one with real character and drive – and if it’s not irreverent to say so, I’d put Her Majesty the Queen in ‘An Uncommon Reader’ into just that category.
- Who are some of your other favorite authors to read?
People I read again and again include Patrick O’Brian and Michael Innes. Recently I’ve been working through all E M Forster’s stories, and the trilogy of WWI novels by Pat Barker.
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Thank you very much for taking the time with us and answering our questions. I really appreciate this interruption to your busy schedule. Good Luck, and we will be looking forward to the next delightful creation from your talented imagination!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
Charlie's Website Email Blog LiveJournal Speak Its Name Yahoo Group
RaH Links: Interview Review Buy Lessons in Love
Buy Books By Charlie Cochrane
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