Author Interview with Award Winning Mystery and Paranormal Novelist, Patricia Simpson
Please welcome Patricia Simpson to our Featured Author Q&A series at Writer’s Fun Zone. Enjoy!
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About Patricia Simpson
Ms Simpson has won numerous awards for her fiction, including Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, Career Achievement Award, and has been a finalist in the RITA awards and for Best Indie Paranormal of the Year. When Patricia isn’t writing, she can be found exploring islands, singing, painting (walls AND canvases) or walking her two little pooches, Freddie Mercury and Penny.
On to Our Interview!
Q: Tell us who you are and what inspires you to write
A: I’m an award-winning writer from the Bay Area of California. I have won numerous Reviewer’s Choice Awards, a Career Achievement Award and have been nominated for Best Paranormal of the Year. My most recent book has made semifinalist status in a major competition, and is still in the running as a finalist.
I am inspired by the what-ifs of the world, haunted Victorian homes, the possibility of parallel worlds, and all things unearthed by archeologists—especially if they can’t be explained.
Q: How did you get to this place in your life? Share your story!
A: I was raised in a remote Montana town, where we had to drive for three hours just to buy shoes. I spent a lot of time reading and making up stories in my head while rumbling around in a VW van with no radio.
Since grade school, I have continued to make up stories, even though life sent me on a graphic design/IT career path. While holding down a demanding full-time job at a major university, I wrote for Harper, Silhouette and TOR. I am now enjoying indie status.
Q: What are you most passionate about?
A: I am passionate about characters who come into their own, through courage, perseverance, hard work and love. I believe we all have the capacity to do great things, if we believe in ourselves, learn to tune out naysayers, and stay the course. I hope that the heroes and heroines of my stories inspire readers to pursue the best version of themselves.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process, routine, and/or rituals around your writing?
A: I write first thing in the morning for three hours while distractions are at a minimum. I edit in the bathtub later, which serves as a stepping-off point for the next day’s writing. Once I do the edits the next morning, I am pulled back into the story and continue to the next section. This process works for me!
Q: What are a few challenges you faced in creating, marketing, or publishing your creative work? And your solutions to them.
A: Marketing is the biggest challenge for me. I have done the blog circuit, video interviews, Amazon ads, BookSirens reviews, trailers and more. I love talking to others about writing, but I’m not certain how effective this type of marketing is! I recently learned that publishing a book involves a $3000 fee up front. That’s a lot for an indie writer to invest without an advance.
Q: What do you wish you had known before you started writing fiction?
A: I wish I had known the statistics about author incomes. I expected so much when I first got published by HarperMonogram! (Visions of Central Park apartments, townhomes in Charleston…)
However, even knowing that most writers make 5 cents an hour (if that), I would still write. I’m a writer. That’s what I do. That’s what makes me get up in the morning. No one pays me to breathe. And for me, writing is as essential as breathing.
Marketing, on the other hand…
Q: What’s next for you in your creative work?
A: I’m in the midst of a new mystery series based in California wine country, where I once lived before the fires induced me to move. So, on to Book 2!
I recently read an excerpt from an Anne Rice novel (she’s my hero) on social media that really has me thinking about her lush writing style and her ability to go deep into a character’s POV. What a talent!
That excerpt has inspired me. I may write a paranormal again in that style. It is so seductive. So evocative. I don’t care if it has too many adverbs…LOL.
Q: Is there anything else you wished I’d asked? Please share!
A: Who are our favorite authors? I think who we like to read says a lot about our own writing and world view.
Also, I would like to hear what other authors think about traditional publishing. Is it a dying industry? Do we really need them anymore? Who will replace them as curators of good fiction?
ABOUT YOUR BOOK
Apothecary, Book 1 in The Londo Chronicles
In a dark and twisted version of Victorian England, Joanna Wilder moonlights as an unsanctioned apothecary who treats the ailments of her fellow citizens. But there is no cure for her sister’s waywardness.
When irresponsible Eva disappears five days before her government-arranged wedding, Joanna risks her life and reputation to search for her sister in the treacherous streets of Londo City. She is determined to see Eva married off. Only then will Joanna be free to live life for herself.
During her search, Joanna discovers the last place Eva was seen was a medical clinic, run by enigmatic Dr. Gabriel Stone. Something about the doctor isn’t right. But Joanna must place her trust in him when she is badly trampled in a riot started by Eva and her rebel lover.
As Joanna lies dying, Gabriel is forced to make a life and death decision: let nature take its course or try an untested medical procedure. Secretly in love with her, he undertakes the procedure. Overnight, Joanna starts to change into something not quite human.
As Joanna hatches a risky plan to save Eva and her rebel lover from the noose, she uncovers secret after secret about her sister, her own newfound powers and the dark world she lives in—but most of all about the doctor who has played God with her life.
She may never forgive him.
Connect with Patricia Simpson
Website: https://patriciasimpson.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimpsonAuthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatriciaSimpsonAuthor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-simpson-567b1043
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patricia_simpson_author
