Chatting to author Rachel Brimble

-

 A few weeks ago, I was a guest on Rachel Brimble's 'Guest Author Saturday' blog and I'm delighted to return the favour and chat to Rachel here!

Thank you for joining me on my blog today, Rachel, it’s great to have you here. Could you begin by telling me something about yourself and the sort of books you write?

Of course, and thanks so much for having me here! I live near the wonderful, historical city of Bath and tend to set my books there, too. I have written contemporary romance and romantic suspense in the past but have been concentrating on historical romance/fiction for the last four or five years.
I have been married for 24 years to the wonderful Mr B and we have two grown up children as well as a chocolate Labrador called Tyler. When I’m not working, I love walking, reading, knitting, and watching far too much TV!

What inspired you to start writing?

It was when I was around the age of eight or nine when I finished reading Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven series that the writing bug was well and truly planted! I sat down and immediately started writing my own short stories, then I’d hole-punch them and tie the pages together with ribbon. I really wish I’d kept them!
Of course, my writing fell by the wayside as I got older, but the desire was always there and when my youngest daughter started school full-time, I had a ‘now or never’ moment. The rest is history…

You’ve written both contemporary and historical romance – which do you prefer and why?

As I said above, I am entirely concentrating on historical now. I think that happened because of how much I enjoyed the research whenever I wrote historical romance. The research is a big part of the process and one that I really enjoy. Whenever readers write that they find my books descriptive and authentic to the period, it is such a compliment. I really do my very best to evoke a sense of time and place.

What kind of research do you do for your historical novels?

Most of my research is centred around the social history of the time as well as buildings and streets. I love grounding the reader in the hero and heroine’s community – have them go to the tea shop with them, the clothes shop, the music hall. I find the social etiquette and traditions of the day also add fuel to the story and my imagination – I love discovering something that is either obsolete in our lives today or else something that is just the same but viewed differently in a modern age.

Have you a favourite among all the books you’ve written?  And why this one in particular?

Ooh, that is tough question – my favourite book is usually the one I am working on but, I must admit,  A Shop Girl At Sea is a particular favourite because I had wanted to write a book set on the Titanic for about ten years, but couldn’t find the right lead character. Then I found Amelia Wakefield and the writing began…

Describe your typical writing day.

I tend to be at my desk by 8.30am and I spent about an hour and half dealing with emails, social media as well as completing an interview or blog. Then I take a break with a dog walk before diving in on the day’s writing or editing depending on which has the closest deadline. As I am usually working on two books at different stages, deadlines are the decider!
Then I make myself take at least half an hour for lunch before writing or editing some more, before I finish the day with an hour of university work. I am currently studying History with the Open University. 

Can you tell me about your First Chapter Critique Service?

I love to! I started my First Chapter Critique Service in 2019 because I wanted to help aspiring romance writers as so many published authors helped me when I was starting out. The writer sends me their first chapter (or first 3,500 words) and then I critique it page for page as well as compiling a 3-4 page report advising on things like point of view, dialogue and characterisation.
With the critique done, the writer is always welcome to email me thereafter with any questions – I am thrilled with the service’s success and how many writers I’ve helped secure their first publishing contract.

Here’s the link if any of your visitors are interested – I’d love to work with them! https://rachelbrimble.com/first-chapter-critique-service/

Here are the details of Rachel's last book A Very Modern Marriage…

He needs a wife...
Manchester industrialist William Rose was a poor lad from the slums who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, but in order to achieve his greatest ambitions he must become the epitome of Victorian respectability: a family man.

She has a plan...
But the only woman who's caught his eye is sophisticated beauty Octavia Marshall, one of the notorious ladies of Carson Street. Though she was once born to great wealth and privilege, she's hardly respectable, but she's determined to invest her hard-earned fortune in Mr Rose's mills and forge a new life as an entirely proper businesswoman.

They strike a deal that promises them both what they desire the most, but William's a fool if he thinks Octavia will be a conventional married woman, and she's very much mistaken if she thinks the lives they once led won't follow them wherever they go.

In the third installment of Rachel Brimble's exciting Victorian saga series, The Ladies of Carson Street will open the doors on a thoroughly modern marriage – and William is about to get a lot more than he bargained for... 

Available now on Amazon




Author Bio

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of over 25 published novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). In January 2022, she signed a contract with the Wild Rose Press for the first book in a brand new series set in past British Royal courts.

 


 

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world. 

Website and social media links

To sign up for Rachel's newsletter (a guaranteed giveaway every month!) CLICK HERE

Rachel's Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

 

Comments

  1. Anonymous9 July 2022 at 09:49

    Thanks so much for having me here today! I am looking forward to chatting with your visitors:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lissa Morgan9 July 2022 at 13:46

    You're very welcome, Rachel, thank you for being my guest!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas!

-
Image
It's an unusual December for me this year, as I'm taking a little break from writing until January. My latest novel - The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden (sneak preview of the cover at the end of this post!) - was accepted by my editor at Harlequin Mills and Boon at the beginning of November, and since then I've been sitting back and mulling over the next project.  It's been a few years since I took such a long break from writing, and for someone who writes every day, it's been very strange. However, it has had exciting results. Before I started writing, I was always a voracious reader of historical fiction, and particularly the medieval period. Among my favourite books are those by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, set against the  Wars of the Roses - We Speak No Treason, The King's Grey Mare and The Courts of Illusion , the latter, to my mind, her best work.  I've had a desire to write about the Wars of the Roses for a while now, and after re-reading these wonderfu
Read more

Dipyn o Gymraeg ~ A bit of Welsh

-
Image
Readers and reviewers often comment that, while they enjoy the Welshness of my books, they sometimes struggle to get their tongues around some of the characters' names and other words I use to add flavour to my stories.  Some have said they wish they could speak Welsh in order to 'hear' the words on the page, and others have suggested a glossary might be useful.  Due to word count restrictions, it's not really possible to include a glossary in the books themselves, but here is a quick guide to some of the names and frequently-used Welsh words in my books, and also a useful link to a fuller pronunciation guide to be found online, courtesy of Aberystwyth University. Basically, all letters in Welsh are sounded purely, none are silent, and consonants are the same as in English but are usually hard, not soft. Vowels are often very different to the English and we have two extra ones - w and y - and also diphthongs, which are two vowels run together that have their own unique
Read more

A variety of book covers

-
Image
One of the nicest and most exciting things about being a writer who is published with a traditional publisher - in my case Harlequin Mills & Boon - is the thrill of seeing what sort of cover the design team create for each book.   I have loved all my covers to date, from my debut The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride in May 2022, to my latest book, The Warrior's Reluctant Wife , out this month - today, 16th August, in Australia, 22nd in USA and 31st in the UK.  There are very subtle differences between the covers for each of these regions, and I've made a little montage below to show what they are.  Which do you like best?     I think I just lean towards the UK cover but I'm delighted with them all.  These are home market covers, ie published in the English language, but as my books reach markets further afield and go into translation, sometimes a totally different cover appears, like the one below for the Italian edition of The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride .    
Read more