CONSTANCE BRETES INTERVIEW
CONSTANCE BRETES INTERVIEW
MFRW :
CB :
How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing ? I put a lot of my personality and life experiences into my writing . Mostly humorous things that happened to me . In Blue As Sapphires , I had an incident with a squirrel that I added to that story . In Jade ’ s Redemption , the incident of Jade falling in the creek actually happened to me .
MFRW : Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why ?
CB : Yes , I do believe that humor is important in fiction . However , it takes special skills to write something as humorous . My stories tend to be about ordinary people with extraordinary circumstances , down to earth and realistic . I think to portray real-life stories , humor is one of the most important aspects of the story telling . If we didn ‟ t have humor in our daily lives , it would certainly be boring , and I try to apply that same idea when writing .
MFRW : What is your writing routine once you start a book ?
CB : Once I start a story , I can spend as much as ten to twelve hours writing the first draft . Sometimes , when I go to bed , ideas start coming to me , and I ‟ ll grab my iPhone and use the “ Notes ” portion on the phone and write it out . I do the same if we are driving somewhere , or if I stop in to a bar for a drink with my husband . Sometimes , I need a change in scenery to help me write . I have my iPhone with me constantly , and if the battery goes dead , as it sometimes does , I got pen and paper in my purse . I started a Christmas story on December 18 , 2017 , and I am now getting it ready to send to my editor and it is January 17 .
MFRW : What about your family ? Do they know not to bother you when you are writing , or are there constant interruptions ? Are they , especially your significant other , supportive of your work ? Do you ever ask them for advice ?
CB : No , I don ‟ t have a lot of interruptions . I don ‟ t have a family nearby , and no children . It ‟ s just my husband and me , with our fur babies . My husband is very supportive of my work . I always ask him things from a man ‟ s perspective , or , for instance , when I wrote Book of Love , the heroine ‟ s car constantly broke down and she needed the handsome hero to keep fixing it for her . I had my husband work out all the car problems and solutions for me . In Blue As Sapphires , I had him work with me on the correct terminology for sapphire digging and gold panning . He ‟ s much more knowledgeable in that than I am . He does that a lot for all my books . I ‟ ll run scenes by him to see if I got the facts right and so on .
MFRW :
CB :
What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries ? I love basket weaving , and making jewelry , and my husband and I love going gold panning , looking at ghost towns , and digging for sapphires . I also go in spurts when it comes to reading . I read for enjoyment , and I read for knowledge . Sometimes I just love to sit down and read a romance .
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