Ask the Author: Cheryl Bolen
Answered Questions (64)
Cheryl Bolen
Debbie, my favorite place for inspiration is Cornwall, but I've been there three times. My bucket list items are Portugal and Switzerland. I'm blessed to have been in 12 European countries. I love Europe and will add two more European countries this year when I visit Prague and Budapest.
Cheryl Bolen
Good question, Sarah. It's a question I always ask other authors. I sit in front of my computer from six to ten hours a day, but actually writing is usually only about two hours. It takes me many months to write a book. There are so many other aspects to being an author. And there's always the distraction of the internet.
Cheryl Bolen
Good question, Tina! I wish I had an answer for that. Frankly, it's very difficult to craft characters with memorable personalities. So many heroines are just cardboard characters, including many of mine. My most unique heroines are Daphne in the Regency Mysteries, particularly in the first, With His Lady's Assistance, and Margaret in Countess by Coincidence. I do believe the best inspiration is to take composites from memorable characters one has met in real life. Which makes me wish I knew more quirky people!
Cheryl Bolen
Sadly, Debbie, I do not. I studied Spanish in college but am far from being fluent (and that was a long time ago!). And none of my books are in Spanish. I regret that I am not a linguist.
Cheryl Bolen
Every book is different, Jan. Sometimes I can envision an entire plot in a day. Sometimes I only know the beginning and end when I start a book and plot points come to me as a write--during the five-month process of writing a book.
Cheryl Bolen
Excellent question, Jan. In my earlier works (I've done 33 historicals) it wasn't hard at all because my genre, Regency, tends to reuse the same tropes, like impoverished hero or heroine must marry a fortune to save estate, siblings, etc. But after so many books, it's hard to find something I haven't done before, and I strive more than ever now for originality. Finding a fresh new idea is the hardest thing for me. Sometimes it can take months.
Cheryl Bolen
My answer may surprise you, Lynnette. After writing 33 historical romances and probably a hundred articles on English historical topics, I rarely have to research anymore. That is because I've spent more than twenty years educating myself about a narrow period in English history and have an extensive library of research books. Added to this, I've been to England on about a dozen trips, some of these for several weeks at a time.
Cheryl Bolen
I would either have been an architect or an interior designer. See, Toni, I really do love houses!
Cheryl Bolen
I honestly don't remember the first idea, Lori. I just know I loved reading books that combined a female heroine in jeopardy, a brooding but honorable hero, mystery and romance and decided I wanted to write those kinds of books. So that's where it started. I have now written more Regency historical romances than anything, but still love those first gothic-style romances. Also, I wrote seven books before I hit on one commercial enough for an editor to buy!
Cheryl Bolen
I have actually published five contemporary mysteries and four historical ones (in my Regent Mysteries series), but I can in no way hold myself up to the grand Dame Agatha.
Cheryl Bolen
I have not had the pleasure though I have read many articles about his houses.
Cheryl Bolen
Yes, Uppark is on my list. I've been to Petworth. I often visit houses based on what I know of previous owners. The story I remember about Uppark is that Emma Hart (later Lady Hamilton) was once the mistress to Uppark's bachelor owner, and some say she danced naked on the dining table. I don't think that's a true story, but it's certainly memorable!
Cheryl Bolen
Kathleen, I'm sorry to have missed these when I was there. Traveling was so much more hit-and-miss before the internet, when I visited Natchez.
Cheryl Bolen
There are so many hundreds of stately homes in the British Isles, I've only scratched the surface. I've always wanted to see Holkham Hall, one of the ten Treasure Houses of England, but the Norfolk location is not accessible by train, the primary mode of transport for the Bolens while in England!
Cheryl Bolen
The unexciting answer is that I'm most comfortable writing in my home's writing office. I do best on a desktop computer with all my stuff on it. I'm surrounded by my research books and references, have a very comfortable Aeron chair, and my office is a converted sunroom, so there's lots of light and a view of little wood by my house.
Cheryl Bolen
Penny, I am not as knowledgeable about castles as I am about the stately homes, it's my belief that the stones are quarried locally, if possible.
Cheryl Bolen
Amy, go Horns! My first popular fiction author who blew me away was Mary Stewart, who I started reading in the 1970s. Her early works--my favorites--featured young British women in jeopardy and were set in stunning locations like Greece or the Pyrenees. What made her stand out from her contemporaries such as Victoria Holt, Dorothy Eden and Phyllis Whitney, imo, was her stunning prose.
Cheryl Bolen
The Newport mansions are definitely on my bucket list, Cora. As to my plotting, I do a little of both. I wish I had the ability to plan out in detail an entire book before I started. It would make it so much easier. I keep getting stuck on what needs to happen next. I use a bare-bones outline of one page and fill in the action, character growth, and emotions as I write.
Cheryl Bolen
Chrystine, I am very happy to say I don't get depressed. I do like reading authors with a light touch. One author I keep going back to because I enjoy her books is Mary Stewart. Her books were huge in the 60s and 70s. Many of them were light romantic suspense set in lovely locales featuring a British heroine who was often in jeopardy. Her prose is pure joy to read.
Cheryl Bolen
A very astute observation, Vaneeta. You are so right! I know many of my earlier works (I've been published for 20 years) probably used the same overdone tropes, and after writing three dozen Regencies, it's difficult to find something unique. That's why my books aren't coming out as fast these days. I don't want to repeat, and I don't want to write the same book everyone else is writing. I do believe I took great pains that my last three full-length novels were unique. They were Countess by Coincidence, Oh What a (Wedding) NIght, and Miss Hastings' Excellent London Adventure. (This month I learned that last year's Oh What a (Wedding) Night was second place for Best Historical of 2016 in the International Digital Awards, so I believe readers did enjoy it.) Right now, I'm shooting down every single plot that pops into my head because it's been done before. Very sad.
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