Monday, September 2, 2013

Meet Me Monday with Victoria Tomlinson

Meet my next guest, Victoria Tomlinson!!


1.       How has your journey in publishing been? Anything you would or wouldn’t do again?

Answer: I am yet to get published, but i have done my fair share in research on the subject from professional publishing houses to the self publish route, and there is a lot to take in from both sides. I recently got in touch with Author House publishing  and she sent me a few e-mails of the services they provide and the fee which is quite good and she spoke of an instalment plan also which helps with beginners like me trying to get published, also if they have busy lives like a family to contend with alo like i have, thats probably the main reason im not published yet, because my 1 year old keeps trying to take my laptop when im writing you never know she might be the next best seller by the time shes 5 hahaha!

2.       What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
Answer: My book is about the struggles of a young
girl who was a survivor from the Titanic, and
is ripped from her mothers grip at the
sinking. Carpathia leaves her in New York with
the other rescued survivors. she finds her
Uncle has not shown up as promised to
collect her and her mother only she discovers
her mother is on the list of possibly missing
presumed dead.
she is soon befriended by a young street boy
around her age called Bastien, and he takes
her under his wing and shows her how to
survive on the streets. they form a very close
bond with each other. every day she returns
to see if her mothers name is on the list of
dead or found . and after about two months
sh gives up and has come to the realization
that her mothers not coming back.
she is noticed by a gentleman who has also
lost his son to the sinking and has seen her
everyday at the dock yard and decides to take
her in and when he informs the authorities
that she is an abandoned child they want to
place her in an orphanage, but he refuses to
let her be sent there an requests he be her
foster guardian until kin can be found.
when no one comes to claim her he takes it
upon himself to see the good in the deed he
has done and decides to adopt her. his wife
on the otherhand dislikes the girl from the
start and basically cant wait to be rid of her
and she gets her chance when the girl is of
age and she arranges a marriage with a rich
lawyor .
on one of her now husbands hobbies she
joins him an arranged bare knuckle boxing
match where she discovers the boxer is none
other than her old friend Bastien who helped
her when she first came to New York. they
form a friendship again but her husband has
a short temper and uses her as his punchbag
often and to bastiens dismay he begs her to
leave him and run away with him and be the
talk of the town and shunned. but she is torn
as to what to do . should she run away with a
poor man whos only talent in life is to fight
or does she stay in an abusive marriage and
do her silent duties as a loyal wife should do.

3.       What/Who inspired you to start writing?
Answer: who inspired me? Thats a hard one as i have so many muses. I loved reading as a child and listening to the old stories my great grandmother and her sister my great aunt lil would tell me of their life growing up and it just all facinated me. Like from tales of how they missed getting hit by german bombs during the blitz of world war 2. it wasnt just a story to them it was reality and it was something they instilled in me, that stories always come from somewhere, either from personal experience or from an imagining of a reality you wish to make real. If that makes any sence haha.

4.       How long have you been writing?
Answer: ive been writing ever since i could hold a pencil in my hand and learned what letters were. Ive always written short stories or really long essays for school

5.       What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
Answer: DONT GIVE UP! Even if you think your repeating yourself or you think it may be boring and be willing to accept criticism because it helps you to understand what the reader wants get a few friends to even read a chapter or two and tell them to write down their thoughts on how they like it, how they think it could be better or what even is better without som parts. You forget THEY are your readers , THEY are the ones who are buying the book . But most of all ENJOY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

6.       Are you a pantser or a plotter?
Answer: for my book Ocean Of Memories, i actually dreamed the whole thing in one night so i knew the plot and where it was going to go . Except for the beginning, it was like watching it all in the cinema and just as the movie starts someone infront stands up and you miss an entire scene of the beginning , so it took me three years just to think of how to start my story off, once i got that fundimental foundation everything began to build and fit perfectly into place from there.

But on some occasions i will plot and i will brainstorm before i write and other times i just let my imagination take hold and let it spill over the pages.

7.       Who is your favorite author?
Answer: i actually have 2 favorite authors, for 2 different reasons. My first would have to  be Anne Rice. Who wrote interview with a vampire and all the other vampire chronicles that went along with them . I love her work because ......(thinks) she takes you back to a world you wish really existed . From the french quater of new orleans in the 17th centry  she gives you the glitz and glam of that era and you cant help but be sucked into her world where her carachters seem more humn than the preternatural beings that they are, we all have a friend thats over the top likes being center of attention just like her vampire Lestat. And we also have the shy recluse of a friend like Louis the rational down to earth vampire.

My second favorite author is Catherine Cookson. She pulls you into a world that DID exist. She described the poor conditions and hardship of the people in her novels and as ive recently said some writers write from experience and thats what she did . She wrote stories of what was happening then around her as it was happening, from coal mine collapses to the rich looking down on the poor as still happens to this day . She tells the story of the people.

8.       When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Answer: when i could put pen to paper.

9.       What is the hardest part about writing for you?
Answer: for me the hardest part is motivation, some days i just cant be bothered to write and i become lazy and then ...BANG... out of nowhere an idea will pop into my head and i have to write it down before i forget it and then it could end up being hours before im even seen again downstairs haha.

10.   Do you have a favorite character from your books? If so, why and who?
Answer: ummmm, im not sure as im not published yet as ive said so im still delveloping my characters as i go along. I like Bastien Haywood from my book Ocean Of Memories. Hes had to deal with so much in his life from basicly being told he is the cause of his mothers death and his father hates him for it and would beat him and tell him he was worthless and wished he never existed, so you can imagine how that young child must have felt to be constantly told “i dont love you i dont want you.” he basically shuts off his emotions and becomes hard to anything around him. He likes to joke and tease and have a bit of fun , hes cheeky and witty and very sarcastic when he wants to be. But when this young boy comes across this girl who has no one he sees himself in her and he wants to protect her from the world he dosent want her to feel like “well your not wanted your not loved” he dosent want her to feel what he felt and he tries to protect her from all that deep down hes just a lovable rogue.

11.   How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Answer : this is actually my first book ive written and havent given up on. See i can begin something get bored of it then months later pick it up and write some more on it. But Oceans of Memory has me hooked as if its telling me this story HAS to be written

12.   Do you do research for your books or does it all come from your head?
Answer: sometimes i do research especially for places that are real places i want the area they are based in to have truth to it

13.   What is your favorite colour?
Answer: i have 3 Black , crimson red and royal purple

14.   What is your favorite food?
Answer: anything im constantly eating , but i do like spaghetti bolagnese  

15.   What is your favorite smell?
Answer: fahrenheit aftershave , drives me crazy, its like human catnip to me haha

16.   Do you have any strange habits?
Answer: ummmm not really other than i bite my nails

17.   Where are you from? Do you still live there? If not, what do you miss about it?
Answer: im from London in the United Kingdom of Great Britan , unfortunately i no longer live there, i moved with my parents to Ireland when i was 9 and im now 28 so over half my life ive lived in Ireland now. I miss the public transport system as its very bad in the west of ireland in Mayo especially in the town i live called Ballina.  Theres only one bus a week down to my parents and that will not drop you back into town !

18.   Ebook or print? And why?
Answer: i would have to say PRINT. As you can never beat the fresh smell of a newly printed book

19.   How do you keep your writing different from all the others that write in this particular genre?
Answer: i write not for the sake of getting it out to the readers i write for myself. I write  my book how i would like to read it if that make any sence? And if i like it then i let some of my friends read it and get their oppinions on it and so far its all been good feedback and they are demanding to read more which is also a plus as you want the reader to be begging to find out what happens next.

20.   What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?
Answer: i dont think theres anything they would be surprised at , im just an ordinary 28 year old woman who rents her 4 bedroom house and has 2 children who are 8 years and 1 year old. Im just an ordinary family orientated woman who in her spare time when she gets it likes to write a few pages on the computer . Im quite boring when i re-read thos last few sentences hahaha!

**Thank you Victoria for spending the day on my blog!!**

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