Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. She has recently released the second in her contemporary series, The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense with paranormal and time-slip ingredients.
Time to chat with Anna!
What is your latest book?
My latest book is called Smoke in Her Eyes. It is the second in a trilogy, The Wanderer, featuring Helle and Jason. They first saw the light of the day 3 000 years ago when they met and fell in love, but things did not end up peachy-pie back then. In fact, their first life ended in pain and blood, very much due to Jason’s betrayal of Helle. Since then, he has been reborn over and over again, searching for Helle, the woman he can never forget and who lives in his heart. She has tumbled through time, has no memories of earlier lives—until the day she claps eyes on Jason and realizes she knows everything about this man she has never seen before in her life.
Their story is not an easy one—being reunited with your ancient lover comes with a lot of challenges. I have further complicated things by ensuring their nemesis from their first life pops up this time round as well, just as determined to rip them apart now as he was then.
What else have you written?
Smoke in Her Eyes is my fifteenth book. I am the VERY proud author of a time-traveller series called The Graham Saga which is set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland. This series features my time-traveller Alex Lind who has the misfortune of falling three centuries backwards in time to end up at the feet of escaped convict Matthew Graham. She thinks he’s some sort of oddball. He is convinced she must be a witch. But somehow they overcome their initial reactions and go on to forge a marriage that will survive everything life (well, their author) will throw at them. Let’s just say Alex is of the opinion I have made her life excessively exciting…
I have also written a four-book series, The King’s Greatest Enemy, set in medieval England featuring Adam de Guirande, his wife Kit, and something of a political quagmire as various factions struggle to control the very young king, Edward III. I loved writing this series, weaving my fictional characters into the life of real historical characters and events.
What do you think some of the greatest misconceptions about indie authors are?
That we are sloppy peeps that do not take our craft seriously. Yes, there are indie authors that publish stuff that should never, ever have seen the light of the day, so badly written is it. But there are also indie authors who invest a lot of time, effort and money on delivering a professional product. I think that most readers don’t really care if the book is mainstream or indie—but it pisses them off if they buy something that is badly edited, badly formatted. As it should…
How often do your characters surprise you by doing or saying something totally unexpected?
Like every day…Seriously, sometimes they are a pain in the butt. Like when I present the hero with an opportunity to act heroically and he chooses that moment to look at me with anguish and admit he doesn’t know how to swim.
“What?” I exclaim. “But she’ll drown if you don’t help her!”
“And how am I to do that?” he asks, staring at the dark waters in which poor Noor is presently floating. “Dearest Lord, what have you done to my poor wife?” He glares at me. “Shouldn’t you have some sort of list of what my skills are? As a medieval knight, when would I have learnt to swim, hey?”
He has a point. “Just get in there. Now.” I frown. “I’ll make sure you can swim—a little.”
What part of writing a novel do you enjoy the most? The least?
I love the first re-writing round. Usually, I’ll write the novel over a couple of months after which I will set it aside and let it mellow. And then I take it all out and start re-writing it. It’s a bit like unwrapping a Christmas present, albeit there are moments when I cringe at what’s on the page.
I am less thrilled by the proof-reading. Once the book has been professionally typeset, I sit down and read it through for one final time. It stresses me out as I know this is my last opportunity to catch any errors. Obviously, I don’t catch them all, which is why the moment I have the final book in my hand, you can bet it will magically open to a page with a typo in it. Fortunately, through the combined efforts of my editor and me, such errors are very few.
Is it important for you to know the ending of a book before you write it? The title?
Yes. I need to have some sort of goal to which I am working. Mind you, the road is rarely as straight as I thought it would be, as my characters tend to have a lot of opinions along the way. (“No,” Adam de Guirande tells me. “I will not do it. Never.” “Oh, come on,” I wheedle, “would it be so bad?” He fixes me with a look out of icy grey eyes that makes me sigh and decide this particular scene needs to be rewritten…) As to the title, no, I do not need the final title, but I must have a working title. Right now, I have a WIP with the title “No Wolf Howls Alone”. I’m not sure the title will survive the final editing, but for now it captures the mood of the story.
What is crucial for me is to create a cover image early on in the process—sometimes before the book is written. I need a visual to focus my work, somehow.
Some writers edit excessively as they write; others wait until a novel is finished to do the bulk of the editing. How about you?
I do a bit if both. As I am writing that first draft I will generally start every writing session by reviewing what I wrote last time round and do a rough edit. But the real editing work doesn’t start until I do that first re-write. As an aside, I don’t think an author can properly edit their own work. Using a professional editor is, IMO, a must.
Do you have any advice for first-time authors?
First of all, write the story that you want to read. Do not try to second-guess what will work on the market—in fact, assume that no matter how great your book, it will not make much of a ripple on a market that sees thousands of new titles every month.
Secondly, invest in a good editor and in good cover art.
What do you like best about the books you read? What do you like least?
It depends on what sort of book I am reading. I devour romance books, specifically romantic suspense and historical romance. In these books I am guaranteed a Happily Ever After (phew) but I do want there to be tension along the way. When reading crime, I want the plot to be convoluted and multi-layered, keeping me guessing right to the end.
Something I have a major problem with, no matter genre, is head-hopping. I detest when the point of view (PoV) jumps back and forth between the characters involved and will likely throw said book at the wall in frustration. For me to engage in a book, I need to be in one character’s head at the time. I have no problem with multiple PoV characters, though, as this adds layers of complexity to the narrative. In fact, when reading romance I require to have the story told both from his and her perspective.
Do you allow others to read your work in progress, or do you keep it a secret until you’ve finished your first draft? Can you elaborate?
While working in that first draft, no one gets a peek. No one. But this doesn’t mean I don’t discuss my work with a few chosen people, more along the lines of “do you think this would work?” (usually directed at poor hubby while miming a stabbing) or “is this a realistic reaction from a traumatized child?” I also share a general outline of the work, just to gauge if my selected audience thinks it will fly.
We all know the old saying; you can’t judge a book by its cover. This is true. However, how much importance do you place on your book cover design?
I think professionally designed covers are really, really important. Some authors are extremely talented artists and can handle this themselves, but I need help. I also think that a cover can become outdated, i.e. that fab cover from five or six years ago may not quite fly today, for the simple reason that trends change all the time.
I have worked with the same cover artist since I began publishing. I trust him to produce a good cover based on my vague instructions, but ultimately the product must click with me and with the image I want to convey. I am fortunate in that Olly from MoreVisual Ltd usually gets what I want and has the patience of a saint when we iterate.
If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
I would settle down in one of Malmö’s busiest cafés and study how people interact, what ticks they may have, how they talk to each other, IF they talk to each other, what they may be discussing, how girls look at boys and boys look at girls. And all the while I’d be piling up little sparks of inspiration, all the way from “wow, my next female protagonist is deffo going to wear boots like that” to “he has stirred and stirred and stirred and stirred for like an hour now while staring blankly at nothing. Must go into a book.”
And while I was invisible, I would probably take the opportunity of really studying the baked goods on sale up close.
Care to brag about your family?
I do. But I won’t. My four kids are all adults by now and prefer it if they do not figure too prominently in their mother’s more public life. One has to respect that. But I will say that out of all the things I have done & achieved in life, NOTHING comes close to the pride my four kids make me feel. Always. Even when I’m pissed off at them.
What’s your favorite film of all times? Favorite book?
Favourite film: Gone with the Wind. Well, it used to be—I saw it like twelve times when I was very young and impressionable. Since then, I haven’t dared see it again, worried that I may be disappointed. But then, when Clark Gable goes “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” I think I would still go all misty-eyed. If not Gone with the Wind it has to be The Sound of Music. Whenever I see it, it makes me happy—and has me driving the family crazy for days afterwards by singing various songs from the movie.
Favouritie book: Very, very difficult question. I don’t think a person who reads as much as I do really has one favourite book throughout life—things change, as they say. But there are some books I will always return to, principally among those Here be Dragons by Sharon K Penman, Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and The Source by James A Michener.
What are three things you think we can all do to make the world a better place?
It would be good if we could resuscitate the art of conversation, of intelligent discussion. If people actually listened to each other and their arguments in various issues maybe the world would not be as polarized as it is. It scares me, this growing tendency to see life as black and white, an “either you’re with me or against me” approach that can only lead to growing divides.
I also think we all need to substantially reduce the amount of meat we eat, whether it be beef, pork, lamb or poultry so as to reduce the negative impact on the environment.
Likewise, we have a collective responsibility to do something about plastic and trash in general. If all of us took ten minutes a day to pick up the trash we see, the world would at least be cleaner if not better…
What simple pleasure makes you smile?
Home-made cardamom buns hot from the oven and served with tea
Sitting against a south-facing wall in March with the sun in my face
Swimming naked in the lake by our country home
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