20 July 2015

Author Q&A Session #50: With Eliza Redgold


Hello and welcome to an all new author Q&A session and today we have the contemporary romance writer, Eliza Redgold, whose new historical fiction, Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva just released. So let's welcome her with a warm hug and let's chat with this amazing writer.

Read the review of Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva


 

Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Elizabeth. Congratulations on your upcoming book, Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva. How will you express your feelings about this book that has already won the hearts of so many readers?

Elizabeth: What a lovely thing to say. I am so glad readers have taken Godiva to their hearts, because she certainly won mine.


Me: When were you first inspired by Lady Godiva's life that led you to write a full-length novel about her?

Elizabeth:
Well, I do like Godiva chocolates! Seriously, I got the idea while writing about the popularity of the word lady (I’m an academic as well as an author). The legend of Lady Godiva intrigued me and I became inspired to write my own version of her story.


Me: You write contemporary romance, what urged you to change your track and pen a historical fiction? And which is your favorite historical fiction?

Elizabeth:
I wrote my contemporary romances and historical fiction at the same time. I like to put my work away for a good while, so I tend to work on something else

Writing historical fiction takes me into another world more than writing contemporary romance but contemporary romance helps to engage the senses in the here and now. One of the first pieces of fiction writing advice I received was to use my senses, so I decided to ‘romance my senses’ in my own backyard, by exploring the region where I live and writing about them.

The first of my short contemporary romances, Black Diamonds is set in the world of delicious truffles, and Western Australia is a wine and truffle region, so that was no hardship. Yum! Next I explored the extraordinary birdlife in Broome, which became the gorgeous coastal setting for Hide and Seek.  The third in the series is a novella Wild Flower. It features tiny, rare orchids that bloom on Australia’s southern ‘rainbow coast’. The other location for Wild Flower is Singapore, where I used to lecture, and now stop to see the orchids too.


Me: Since it is a historical fiction that is only based on historical facts and events, how did you research for this book, Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva?

Elizabeth:
I travelled to Coventry to do some research and became fascinated with the history and the myth.

Here's a link to the article I wrote for The Australian about the visit I made to Coventry:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/travel/two-times-a-lady/story-e6frg8rf-1226365868086
and a recent piece about my trip  in The Coventry Observer:
http://coventryobserver.co.uk/news/australian-academics-inspiring-coventry-visit-leads-to-godiva-novel-6771/


Me: Tell us one trait of Lady Godiva that intrigues you the most.

Elizabeth:
I’ve described Godiva as loyal to a fault. What I mean by this is I started to wonder – what did her loyalty, expressed in her famous ride, really cost her? Her virtue? Her heart? Those questions (and more!) are explored in NAKED.


Me: How will you describe your journey so far as an author?

Elizabeth:
It’s been an amazing ride!


Me: Was it always your one true dream to be an author?


Elizabeth:
Every New Year’s Eve I write a list of dreams. Being an author is always top of my list. It sure is wonderful when dreams come true.


Me: What other passions do you have apart from writing?

Elizabeth:
I love to travel. It’s usually combined with a research trip. I also read a lot, I enjoy audio books and I watch plenty of movies. I’m also a quilter. For me, it helps to put the pieces of the plot together. To be honest, I also spend a lot of time dreaming.


Me: What's next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell us briefly about it.

Elizabeth:
Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva is the first in an historical fiction trilogy that brings back the story of a ‘Legendary Lady’ to tell it from her point of view and twist her tale. I also have a pair of Harlequin Historical romances being published. They explore the passion beneath propriety in Victorian London. The first (coming in November 2015) is called Enticing Benedict Cole. It’s about an artist, a lady and a secret love.


Me: Thanks Elizabeth for joining me today on this interview session. I wish you luck for all your future endeavors.

Elizabeth:
Thanks for having me at Book Stop Corner.
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Elizabeth's Bio:


Eliza Redgold is an author, academic and unashamed romantic.

Eliza Redgold is based upon the old, Gaelic meaning of her name, Dr Elizabeth Reid Boyd. English folklore has it that if you help a fairy, you will be rewarded with red gold. She has presented academic papers on women and romance and is a contributor to the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction. As a non-fiction author she is co-author of Body Talk: a Power Guide for Girls and Stay-at-Home Mothers: Dialogues and Debates. She was born in Irvine, Scotland on Marymass Day and currently lives in Australia.

Her forthcoming historical fiction "NAKED: A Novel of Lady Godiva" is to be published by St Martin's Press, New York.

By day a mild-mannered university lecturer with a PhD, by night she is also a wild-mannered writer of historical and contemporary romances for Harlequin.

"Writing makes me braver. It has inspired adventures (and misadventures!) in travel, nature, art, literature and even gastronomy. I hope my books will inspire you too! They’re for people who love a good story, but want to discover new things. They also feature adventurous heroines who are prepared to take risks in life and love. Though in life and in love, of course, things never go quite as planned … If that sounds like you, read on ..."



Connect with Elizabeth on: Website | Twitter | Facebook 

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for having me visit at Book Stop Corner!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My pleasure and honor to host you on my blog!

    ReplyDelete

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