Happy Valentine's Day!
Welcome to this week's Coffee Chat. Our guest is Darcie Wilde, author of the Rosalind Thorne Regency mysteries.
So nice to have you visit, Darcie. How do you take your coffee?
DW: With a splash of cream.
Ally: Coming right up. While I pour, please introduce yourself to readers.
Bio:
Darcie Wilde she is a bestselling author of Regency era mysteries and romances.
She’s been writing since middle school, currently she lives in Michigan with her husband, son and a very old, very cranky cat named Buffy. When not writing she hikes, bakes, embroiders and reads. A lot.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: "I am fascinated by birds. Crows, ravens, parrots and penguins mostly."
Author Contacts:
Website: www.darciewildeauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darciewilderomance/?fref=ts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Darcie_Wilde
Darcie Wilde she is a bestselling author of Regency era mysteries and romances.
She’s been writing since middle school, currently she lives in Michigan with her husband, son and a very old, very cranky cat named Buffy. When not writing she hikes, bakes, embroiders and reads. A lot.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: "I am fascinated by birds. Crows, ravens, parrots and penguins mostly."
Author Contacts:
Website: www.darciewildeauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darciewilderomance/?fref=ts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Darcie_Wilde
INTERVIEW:
Ally: What type of books do you write?
DW: What I'm featuring here are the Rosalind Thorne mysteries (PG-13). My romances are mainstream romance and are explicit but do not shade over into erotica.
Ally: I'm always interested in hearing another author's writing process. Can you tell us about yours?
DW: I more or less keep office hours. I work at a co-working space and I’m generally there every weekday from 8 to 4. Other than that, every day is different. I tend to get a basic idea, do some preliminary research, then to try to get a rough draft down as quickly as I can. This will be a very sketchy document, a few lines here and there as the scenes come to me. Then it’s all about going back filling in, more research, reorganizing, tearing apart, rebuilding until it’s done, or the deadline hits. Usually it’s when the deadline hits, because it never really feels quite done.
Ally: Who is your main character and why are readers going to love her?
DW: Rosalind Thorne lives in the strange world of the professional house guest. She’s a gently bred woman whose father abandoned her family. She gets along because family friends, and their friends invite her to visit, and to supper, and to house parties, and she in turn makes herself “useful” to her hostesses by doing things like helping organize their social calendars, handle their visiting cards, and so on. In Rosalind’s case, of course, she also helps with their harder problems. Like blackmail, theft, and murder.
Ally: What was your journey to publication, including bumps and missteps?
DW: I got bit by the bug early. I’ve wanted to be a reader since I was thirteen. I got my first professional rejection while I was still in high school, in the pre-internet days when you had to do everything through the mail and “traditional” publishing was the only game in town. My road to publication involved writing whatever I could, sending it out, starting on the next project, getting rejected, kind of a lot, and starting over, kind of a lot. I sold my first short story to a micro-zine in 1986, and my first novel in 1994.
Ally: Describe your editing process, from first draft through appearance online or in bookstores.
DW: I don’t write in distinct drafts. I am constantly going back and re-writing and layering details in, especially with mysteries and suspense. When I’ve got a solid draft, because I’m traditionally published, I send it in to the editor who’s been assigned to the book. They’ll give me feedback, which I’ll incorporate, or sometimes we’ll have a set of phone calls and/or emails with questions and back-and-forth. This can go on for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to, for one project, a couple of years, depending on the depth of the changes.
Ally: Who or what inspired you to write fiction?
DW: I was always a reader. But, what turned me into a writer was the book “The Tombs of Autuan,” which is a fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Something about that book flipped a switch in my head, and after that the only thing I seriously wanted to do was write.
Ally: Do you have any non-writing hobbies?
DW: Right now I’m taking up embroidery again and really loving it. It satisfies the same part of my brain that likes to work jigsaw puzzles. And it’s non-word oriented, so the writing and critical brain gets a rest when I’m stabbing things. I also love to cook and bake.
Ally: If you met JK Rowling, what would you talk about?
DW: Actually, if I met Ms. Rowling I’d want to know why she didn’t do more with Hermione and the house elves.
Ally: Which of your books is your personal favorite?
DW: Shh! They’re listening.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you're featuring?
DW: It came from one of the most famous of the “silver fork” novels. These were popular novels written mostly between 1826 and 1846, although the first one come out in 1817. One of the most famous was a book called “Almack’s” about the famous, and exclusive, assembly rooms and the women who ran them. In it, one of the characters talks about somebody who is “a useful woman,” who comes to stay and help a lady, and in return is given gifts, and invitations to dinner and the use of a carriage. I’d never heard of this before, and it immediately hit me that this would be a terrific basis for a book. So, I got the title, and the character in one paragraph from the 1820s.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DW: I’m currently working on the third Rosalind Thorne novel, AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW, which lands poor Rosalind square in the middle of the Lord Byron-Lady Caroline Lamb scandal. I’ll be announcing the release date on my website and Facebook page as soon as I’ve got it.
Ally: On a more personal level, what's your quick answers to these questions?
Ally: What type of books do you write?
DW: What I'm featuring here are the Rosalind Thorne mysteries (PG-13). My romances are mainstream romance and are explicit but do not shade over into erotica.
Ally: I'm always interested in hearing another author's writing process. Can you tell us about yours?
DW: I more or less keep office hours. I work at a co-working space and I’m generally there every weekday from 8 to 4. Other than that, every day is different. I tend to get a basic idea, do some preliminary research, then to try to get a rough draft down as quickly as I can. This will be a very sketchy document, a few lines here and there as the scenes come to me. Then it’s all about going back filling in, more research, reorganizing, tearing apart, rebuilding until it’s done, or the deadline hits. Usually it’s when the deadline hits, because it never really feels quite done.
Ally: Who is your main character and why are readers going to love her?
DW: Rosalind Thorne lives in the strange world of the professional house guest. She’s a gently bred woman whose father abandoned her family. She gets along because family friends, and their friends invite her to visit, and to supper, and to house parties, and she in turn makes herself “useful” to her hostesses by doing things like helping organize their social calendars, handle their visiting cards, and so on. In Rosalind’s case, of course, she also helps with their harder problems. Like blackmail, theft, and murder.
Ally: What was your journey to publication, including bumps and missteps?
DW: I got bit by the bug early. I’ve wanted to be a reader since I was thirteen. I got my first professional rejection while I was still in high school, in the pre-internet days when you had to do everything through the mail and “traditional” publishing was the only game in town. My road to publication involved writing whatever I could, sending it out, starting on the next project, getting rejected, kind of a lot, and starting over, kind of a lot. I sold my first short story to a micro-zine in 1986, and my first novel in 1994.
Ally: Describe your editing process, from first draft through appearance online or in bookstores.
DW: I don’t write in distinct drafts. I am constantly going back and re-writing and layering details in, especially with mysteries and suspense. When I’ve got a solid draft, because I’m traditionally published, I send it in to the editor who’s been assigned to the book. They’ll give me feedback, which I’ll incorporate, or sometimes we’ll have a set of phone calls and/or emails with questions and back-and-forth. This can go on for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to, for one project, a couple of years, depending on the depth of the changes.
Ally: Who or what inspired you to write fiction?
DW: I was always a reader. But, what turned me into a writer was the book “The Tombs of Autuan,” which is a fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Something about that book flipped a switch in my head, and after that the only thing I seriously wanted to do was write.
Ally: Do you have any non-writing hobbies?
DW: Right now I’m taking up embroidery again and really loving it. It satisfies the same part of my brain that likes to work jigsaw puzzles. And it’s non-word oriented, so the writing and critical brain gets a rest when I’m stabbing things. I also love to cook and bake.
Ally: If you met JK Rowling, what would you talk about?
DW: Actually, if I met Ms. Rowling I’d want to know why she didn’t do more with Hermione and the house elves.
Ally: Which of your books is your personal favorite?
DW: Shh! They’re listening.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you're featuring?
DW: It came from one of the most famous of the “silver fork” novels. These were popular novels written mostly between 1826 and 1846, although the first one come out in 1817. One of the most famous was a book called “Almack’s” about the famous, and exclusive, assembly rooms and the women who ran them. In it, one of the characters talks about somebody who is “a useful woman,” who comes to stay and help a lady, and in return is given gifts, and invitations to dinner and the use of a carriage. I’d never heard of this before, and it immediately hit me that this would be a terrific basis for a book. So, I got the title, and the character in one paragraph from the 1820s.
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
DW: I’m currently working on the third Rosalind Thorne novel, AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW, which lands poor Rosalind square in the middle of the Lord Byron-Lady Caroline Lamb scandal. I’ll be announcing the release date on my website and Facebook page as soon as I’ve got it.
Ally: On a more personal level, what's your quick answers to these questions?
- a. favorite book: Watership Down by Richard Adams
- b. book you're currently reading: Ida A Sword Among Lions by Paula J. Giddings
- c. favorite accessory: Definitely the bling
- d. hiking or sunbathing: Hiking
- e. favorite song: Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day Jethro Tull either that or Life on Mars by David Bowie
Inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, this mystery series set in 19th-century London introduces the charming and resourceful Rosalind Thorne, a woman privy to the secrets of high society—including who among the ton is capable of murder...
The daughter of a baronet and minor heiress, Rosalind Thorne was nearly ruined after her father abandoned the family. To survive in the only world she knew, she began to manage the affairs of some of London society’s most influential women, who have come to rely on her wit and discretion.
So, when artistocratic wastrel Jasper Aimesworth is found dead in London’s most exclusive ballroom, Almack’s, Rosalind must use her skills and connections to uncover the killer from a list of suspects that includes Almack’s powerful patronesses and her former suitor Devon Winterbourne, now Lord Casselmaine.
Torn between her old love and a growing attraction to a compelling Bow Street runner, Rosalind must not only unravel the mysteries surrounding Jasper’s death, but the mysteries of her own heart as well...
Buy Links: http://www.darciewildeauthor.com/novel/a-useful-woman/
Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, Book 2
Her latest endeavor is a tragedy waiting to happen. Desperate Margaretta Seymore is with child—and her husband is receiving poisoned pen letters that imply that her condition is the result of an affair with the notorious actor Fletcher Cavendish.
More Info and Buy Links: www.darciewildeauthor.com/novel/purely-private-matter/
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