Anna won five out of five categories at the recent ARRA convention in Brisbane, including favourite author. She’s certainly one of my favourites and her Gideon still ranks as my favourite hero. I’m delighted to welcome Anna to my blog.
1. Are you inspired most by places, people or experiences and how do these work their way into your writing?
Hi Susanne! With THESE HAUNTED HEARTS, my latest e-novella, there were a couple of major inspirations. THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR is one of my favourite movies - I wanted the chance to explore similar territory within the context of a historical romance. The story is set in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, a county I’ve been lucky enough to visit several times.
Yes and yes. I loved that show when I was younger! And bh and I visited Norfolk where he was born on one of our trips. It is a lovely area.
2. Please share one of your favourite moments of inspiration with us.
For THESE HAUNTED HEARTS, the story started to take shape in my mind when in 2007, I visited Calke Abbey, a magnificent National Trust property in Derbyshire. When the Trust explored the cellars, they came across a set of magnificent cedar chests which ended up containing a perfectly preserved early 18th century Chinese bed with the most magnificent silk embroideries. All the evidence pointed to the fact that the bed, a wedding gift from the royal family, had never been assembled. Now the bed sits in a specially climate and light controlled glass case inside Calke Abbey. I didn’t need to go far to come up with the idea of a tragic Chinese princess cursing any newlyweds who slept in her bridal bed.
3. How did you come up with the idea of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS?
The people at Mammoth anthologies approached me to write a story for their book of ghost romance (released June 2012). I’ve always loved ghost stories, especially those with a romantic turn to them like A PORTRAIT OF JENNIE or PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN and I’d never before written a story with a touch of the paranormal about it. So I leaped at the chance to stretch my wings in a slightly different sky. The result was a Regency ghost romance called “The Chinese Bed.” Of necessity, the Mammoth people limit each story to 13,000 words and I always thought that the characters in “The Chinese Bed” would benefit from a little bit more room to breathe. The story of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS is the same as the story in “The Chinese Bed” but with added oomph, so I think of it as a director’s cut!
4. How do you come up with your characters’ names?
Names are very important and sometimes it takes me forever to come up with that right name for a character. If I don’t have the right name, the story usually won’t proceed. I try to stick with names that are popular in the period or at least extant!
5. Who would you cast for a movie/TV series as your main characters if given the chance?
I love playing casting director! Josiah is a man of the 18th century which means he needs to maintain his masculinity while dressed in a wig and peacock silks and high heels. Perhaps a young Rupert Everett who always looked like a hero in a Barbara Cartland to me. Isabella would have a touch of the Ava Gardner about her. Miles is one of those gorgeous aristocratic English blonds. Perhaps Rupert Penry-Jones with his sculpted bone structure (I seem to have a Rupert fixation on heroes for this one). Calista is a plain woman with a radiant smile so a little harder to cast. Perhaps a gawkier, less glam version of Keira Knightley.
6. If you could pick a soundtrack to match your main character’s life, what would it be?
Josiah and Isabella would have rocked to a minuet!
7. What is your favorite holiday?
I love to travel so discovering new places really inspires me. Having said that, right now, I’m dreaming of two weeks by the sea with nothing to do but eat, drink and read wonderful books.
8. How many times were you turned down before you finally got published?
I had a very long journey to publication. I wrote my first full-length novel (a medieval romance) after I left high school and sent it off to meet rejection from the one publisher I tried. After that I kept writing but didn’t submit anything until I tried to write for Harlequin Mills and Boon in my late 20s. Eight rejected manuscripts later, I retired to lick my wounds and rethink my publication strategy. After that I didn’t submit for another thirteen years, although again I kept writing. The next book I submitted was CLAIMING THE COURTESAN in 2006 which sold at auction to Avon in America.
Whew! That’s determination! Thank goodness you kept subbing. I like to imagine a bidding war over the Courtesan.
9. What reason(s) did the publishers give for their rejection of your manuscript?
I used to get the dreaded “lacks emotional punch” rejection from Harlequin. Looking back, I know what they mean, although I didn’t at the time. By the time I sold Courtesan, I’d learned how to write emotion.
10. Who is your literary hero?
Charlotte Bronte. She always strikes me as such a strong woman.
11. What is your favorite book of all time that you can reread a hundred times, and it still feels like the first time?
A book I re-read a lot because it’s my go-to comfort read is A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS by Eva Ibbotson. The world is always a brighter place after I’ve read that lovely story. In terms of classics, I’d probably say PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen.
12. What do you need to set the mood for you to write?
I listen to classical music when I write – anything with words distracts me but I find the right music really gets me into the mood for my story.
13. If there is one genre that you have not written in yet, but would love to try writing a book in that specific genre, what would it be?
I’m toying, very vaguely, with the idea for a mystery series with an overarching romantic plot. I love to read those. At the moment, though, I’m perfectly content exploring the historical romance genre.
14. If you could bring one of your characters to life, who would it be? And why?
My next full-length release is A RAKE’S MIDNIGHT KISS (out 27th August, from Grand Central Publishing). The hero of that one has a touch of the Scarlet Pimpernel about him and I love how he uses wit to hide his wounded soul. So the answer to your question is Sir Richard Harmsworth from Rake.
Ah, bliss! Another rake to take to bed! (Naughty, I know!)
15. What are you working on now?
I’m busily writing the first draft of the third book in the Sons of Sin series featuring Camden Rothermere, the Duke of Sedgemoor. That should be out some time in 2014.
16. Would you like to share an excerpt from your writing or a photo or music link that inspires you?
This is the lead-up to the love scene in THESE HAUNTED HEARTS:
Calista watched Miles at the window. The moonlight limned him, turned him into a being from another world. The magnificent sight made the breath catch in her throat. He wore a loose white shirt and breeches. She’d never been so aware of his height or the lean strength of his body.
He turned and at last she saw the smile that tilted his mouth. His eyes focused on her and the smile faded, replaced by an expression that looked like awe. He tautened into stillness as he surveyed her from her loosened hair to her bare toes peeping beneath the white hem of her simple night rail.
The moonlight was so bright, she saw his Adam’s apple bob when he swallowed. She could almost imagine that he found her as breathtaking as she found him. His expression smoothed the sharpness from her uncertainty. The clamorous babble of thoughts in her head quietened to a low hum of need.
“You’re undressed,” he said huskily.
It seemed foolish to blush when they both knew she was in this room to offer herself to him, but heat flushed her cheeks. “I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
His joyous smile made her toes curl against the Turkish rug at her feet. “Or not as the case may be.”
“Or not.”
She waited in an agony of pleasurable suspense for him to seize her, ravish her into delight so that she had no chance to remember the dictates of propriety. But he approached slowly, as though afraid if he moved too abruptly, she might vanish. By the time he stopped in front of her, she trembled with apprehension and desire. Her body felt too small a vessel to contain the storm of emotions raging inside her.
He reached out to smooth her hair away from her face. His touch always turned her knees to custard. Now, when the bed and all it portended filled the shadows behind him, the glance of his hand set her burning. If such a seemingly innocent touch had this effect, she’d most likely combust into ashes before they were done tonight.
Calista bit her lip and stood in shaking stillness as he trailed his hand across her neck and shoulders. His touch felt like a discovery rather than a seduction. Although of course she was seduced.
Whew! And I’m fanning myself after that introduction to the love scene.
17. Please share your favourite cocktail recipe or celebration photo.
I love champagne. There’s something magical about those bubbles!
Thanks for hosting me today, Susanne!
I’d love to give away a download of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE to someone who comments here. I’d love to know what book your readers would choose as their favourite comfort read!
You can also visit Anna on her website www.annacampbell.infoThanks for hosting me today, Susanne!
I’d love to give away a download of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE to someone who comments here. I’d love to know what book your readers would choose as their favourite comfort read!
You can also visit Anna on her website www.annacampbell.info
I’d love to give away a download of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE to someone who comments here. I’d love to know what book your readers would choose as their favourite comfort read!
You can also visit Anna on her website www.annacampbell.infoThanks for hosting me today, Susanne!
I’d love to give away a download of THESE HAUNTED HEARTS: A REGENCY GHOST ROMANCE to someone who comments here. I’d love to know what book your readers would choose as their favourite comfort read!
You can also visit Anna on her website www.annacampbell.info
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