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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