Exclusive Interview with Opehelia London @ ConfessionsFR

Today we are welcoming Ophelia London, another of the new authors from Entangled Publishing.

Ophelia, welcome to Confessions.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. How did the marketing department’s ‘Head Babysitter’ turn into a writer? Why this genre of writing?

I think I needed an outlet more than anything. Babysitting is really hard work! Ha-ha. Seriously though… I’ve been writing forever. I really enjoy my day job, but writing is my passion. Until my company develops a job of: “In-House Romance Novelist,” I’ll be babysitting.:)  Why this genre? Because romance is the best! I can’t think of anything I’d rather read. I love suspense—romantic suspense, particularly when following along with a relationship. Once the “will they/won’t they” is out of the way, that’s when the fun begins. And honestly, I’m not all that creative. I don’t write about aliens or vampires (although I wish I could!). I write what I know. And what I know at this particular time in my life is relationships. (I’m smiling now, can you tell?)

2. Many authors choose to write about what they know, however, you weren’t a teacher, so how did you go about creating that world you knew nothing about aside from, perhaps, being on the other side of that desk as a student in your formative years? You’re right, I’m not a teacher, but I was a student in choir for a few years. I can perfectly remember when I decided to write about a high school choir teacher. I was listening to the radio and Bette Midler’s “The Rose” came on. I had an immediate flashback of my first day in choir. I had never heard that song before and, I swear to you, about five different pairs of girls sang that as their audition piece. It was such a vivid memory of a happy time in my life that I knew I wanted to live in that world for a few months as I wrote my new story. To this day, I can’t hear that song without thinking about my choir class.

3. I see you have plenty of projects in the works right now. How are you writing these books? Are they being tackled one at a time and you write to completion or do you move from book to book re-energizing as you go along? Those projects are all completed. Well, I say completed, meaning, they are all written from beginning to end. Some are more polished and submission-ready than others. I tend to concentrate on one project until I write the last chapter, then I move on. Those three completed novels listed on my blog are the workings of about six years. I haven’t tinkered with any of them for a while, but I’m dying to get back to them. I’ve been busy with my current projects (the Perfect Kisses series), which I totally love.

4. I saw your list, 40 Things to Do Before I Turn 40, and I found it pretty interesting. What made you start this midlife kind of bucket list? Have you had the entire list figured when you posted it or were you adding things to do after you posted it on your blog? Between us girls, which did you liked more? Well, I was kind of dreading the Big 4-0. Perfectly natural, right? So I decided to do something fun and exciting to prepare/celebrate my upcoming birthday, so I wouldn’t be so terrified. I started working on a list before I officially posted it. Originally, I had about 50 items, so I would have the luxury of whittling down. Once I had the official list, I posted it on my blog. I wanted to share my adventures with my family and friends, and I also wanted accountability. It was really fun having so many people rooting for me and asking me how my list was coming. The only item I took off was “Date a 25-year old one last time.” I mean, really! I was turning 40! No one likes a cougar. So, I switched that out for “Recycle.” Much more logical. As far as the item I enjoyed the most, I’d have to say “Take a step toward my passion.” Obviously, that was writing. Specifically, it was participating in NaNoWriMo. Writing a brand new novel in 30 days was wonderful and exhilarating. Being totally immersed like that, I learned so many things about myself and my writing habits. Additionally, it prepared me for writing my Perfect Kisses series…which have been written very quickly. I’m used to taking months and months, sometimes a year. Yeah, no time for that in romance series writing

5. Can you tell us if the next book of the Perfect Kisses’ series will be about Mac, Tess’ best friend? Yes! I’m writing it right now. It’s been such fun. I really loved writing Mac’s little witty one-liners in Playing at Love, and now she gets a book all her own. I just wrote a really cute scene today. I can’t wait to share it with the world!

6. I saw the pics of your characters. Which came first? Did you find the pics and base your descriptions from them or did you look for photos that worked for the descriptions you already had? Almost always I have the basic idea of what a character looks like before I start writing. Sometimes it comes out on the page as I go. With Tess, I knew I wanted her to be stunning but also the girl-next-door. A few weeks into writing P@L, I happened to see a photo of Emily Blunt. I knew I’d found my celebrity Tess. Every once in a while, I’ll see a hot celeb and think, oooh, I want to write about him…

7. What are your plans for the future? Are you planning to write full-time? That’s the dream! I would love to write for a living, but right now, “babysitting” is paying the bills. But the dream lives on!

Thanks for coming, Ophelia; it was a pleasure having you here. My pleasure! Thank you for having me.

 Author Information

You can contact Ophelia London on her:

Site:

http://ophelia-london.blogspot.ca/

Goodreads page:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6423090.Ophelia_London

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ophelia-London/235557139857428

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Playing-at-Love-ebook/dp/B009GBDL0U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349292538&sr=8-1&keywords=ophelia+london