A Sunset in Sydney by Sandy Barker / #Interview #BlogTour @rararesources @sandybarker

On 9 juli 20202 juli 2020 door elsinBarker Sandy - A Sunset in Sydney2 reacties

Holiday Romance Book 2

Note to self: dont sleep with your flatmate after a curry and three bottles of wine especially if hes secretly in love with you and wants you to meet his mum.

Cat Parsons is on the run. She doesnt do relationships. After ten years of singlehood even the hint of the L word is enough to get Cat packing her bags and booking herself onto a two-week holiday.

Q&A

Did or do you like to read comic books/graphic novels? Which ones?

When I was very young―around six and seven―I was obsessed with my aunt’s Archie comics. She is only ten years older than me and was often my babysitter. She would bring around stacks of the comics and we would read them together on the sofa. I thought I was very grown-up.

Whom did you inherit your love for books/reading from?

My parents. They were both teachers and we always had books in our home. My favourite times were when we’d go food shopping, and I’d get to choose a Little Golden Book to add to my collection, or when we went to the library. I would read for hours in my room, sitting on the window seat my dada made for me.

When you need a murder victim or someone you can diagnose with a serious disease or someone who is involved in a fatal accident do you sometimes picture someone nasty you have met in real life and think ‘got you’ LOL?

I think a good villain is someone who is the hero of their own story and that they need to have clear motivations for being awful. I have sometimes been ‘inspired’ by people I’ve met who have irked me or who were mean to me, but even those characters often redeem themselves in my stories.

How do you come up with the names for your characters?

I think names need to fit personalities. For inspiration, I will trawl through lists of the most popular baby names from the year that the character was born. Sometimes that will give me the exact name, and other times it will spark an idea.

Do write other things beside books (and shopping lists 😉 )?

I blog a lot. My blog started as a travelogue in 2008, but since then it has expanded to include writing and ‘life’. I am also a content developer and editor for an education company, so I will often spend entire workdays writing educational materials.

If your movie or series would be made from your books, would you be happy with the ‘based on’ version or would you rather like they showed it exactly the way you created it?

Either way―I would just be thrilled to see my characters and storylines on screen. As I write travel fiction, my books are quite visual and I think they would lend themselves really well to being filmed―the The Trip series with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan.

Who would you like/have liked to interview?

I would love to interview Lindsey Kelk. It was reading her I Heart series of books that inspired me to embrace my dream of becoming an author. Actually, it would probably be a terrible interview, as I’d likely end up drooling all over her in awe. JK Rowling would be another author I would love to interview. I’d ask her about writing in two (very) different genres.

Do you have certain people you contact while doing research to pick their brains? What are they specialized in?

I have a network of author friends who are helpful with a range of things, including nomenclature and idioms from different parts of the world. They also help with early reads to give me insight on how to improve my stories.

Is there someone you sometimes discuss a dilemma with?

My partner, Ben, is a terrific sounding board when I get stuck on a plot point. Even if I don’t end up going with his suggestion―and I often do―those discussions will usually spark something in me.

What is more important to you: a rating in stars with no comments or a reviewer who explains what the comments they give are based on (without spoilers of course).

Honestly, I am grateful for both. Four or five stars and no comment will always make me smile―thank you, reader!―but a written positive review can really make my day, sometimes my week. I aim to write enjoyable, relatable fiction that makes people’s hearts sing, and when that happens and readers tell me, it’s magic. If a reader doesn’t like my book, a thoughtful explanation will soften the blow of a low rating.!

Thank you, Sandy Barker and Rachel’s Random Resources

About the author

Sandy Barker is an Australian writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list and a cheeky sense of humour. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.
Many of Sandy’s travel adventures have found homes in her writing, including her debut novel, a contemporary romance set in Greece, which was inspired by her true-life love story.

Author Links

Website: https://sandybarker.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandybarker

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandybarkerauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandybarkerauthor/