The Write Way Café does something a little different today by interviewing one of the blog's partners. HiDee and Lynn have featured a large variety of talented authors on the blog for a number of years. Today, Lynn Crandall answers the questions we've asked others so you can get to know her a bit better.
When did you first have the thought you'd like to write a book? Was that first thought related to writing romance?
Casually, I made up stories to tell my younger sister when we were both very young. I wrote a short one-act play when I was twelve. My best friend and I were the only characters and we performed in front of our church. It took me awhile to discover my passion for writing, and in particular romance novels. That first book will never see the light of day. I wrote it in longhand with a pencil in a notebook and it took two weeks. Yeah, not good, but it was a start.
What was your path to getting this book written and published? What type of research did you do?
My first book was published by Kensington, then it took me a few years to juggle my way through family, a day job, and writing to produce another novel. That was titled Dancing with Detective Danger, a romantic suspense. For that story, I interviewed police officers and detectives to help me write about private investigator sisters and their private investigator and police officer heroes. The heroine and the hero carried emotional scars that I needed input from a counselor and real people who had experienced those particular traumas. I do Internet research to get background and familiarity with various elements of the story, but I really enjoy first-hand interviews.
Where did the idea for your story come from?
Dancing with Detective Danger was an exploration of family working together and creating family out of people beyond their biological family. I feel our commonly held beliefs for how family occurs and behaves is often far from the real experience of family. I wanted to explore different ways of finding groups where we get a sense of belonging. All my subsequent books, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance, carry that theme of what makes a family, within the context of the developing love relationship, of course.
Why did you pick the setting you did?
I only write stories set in the Midwest. There is so much natural beauty everywhere, but I like the variety of the Midwest. So whether the setting is a fictitious town during a Michigan winter, a rural area of Minnesota, or a big city located on one of the Great Lakes, nature is a frame for the characters’ experience. More recently, I’ve been having fun pinning setting images, which include housing fitting the characters, natural landscapes, town scenes, and other relevant elements, in my Pinterest book boards.
Are your main characters completely imaginary or do they have some basis in real people? Do they reflect aspects of yourself?
My main characters reflect their individual stories. They are imaginary, but sometimes they may be an amalgam of a variety of personality types. I believe people are born who they are, but are also shaped by their life experiences and behave out of patterns and beliefs, rather than their true selves. Part of their character arcs demonstrate dealing with their understanding of who they are and learning about their true selves and how they want to express their values. So, in a way, that experience for characters reflects my personal goals, abstractly.
Did you face any blocks while writing the book, and if so, how did you handle them? If not, what's your secret?
I wish I had magical secrets that would prevent blocks. The closest thing I have to a secret is personal, and it is to write. It’s not unusual for me to get bogged down and not write, which makes things worse. Over and over, when I just sit down and dig in, my muse is there with things to say. And I always say a big thank you to my magical, invisible writing team for showing up, because the next day may begin the same way. I really admire writers whose writing is hard won and they just keep soldiering on regardless of level of support, amount of available time, or bouts of discouragement.
What have been surprises you've encountered while writing the book and after?
With each book, I have been happily surprised at being able to write, and finding that I like what I’ve written. I get pretty attached to my characters and their trials. For instance, in Probabilities, as I was writing I realized I was going kill off a young boy’s mother. I really struggled with that. How could I take away his mother??!! I cried during writing the scenes regarding her death and the child’s life after. That was surprising.
What did you learn? For instance, what did you learn about yourself, your process, the writing world; about technique, skills, and your goals?
I love words and streaming them together, and reaching for a way to produce the kind of immersive experience I want readers to get. I always strive to improve my skills. But beyond all that, what I’ve learned from writing is that for me it is a vehicle for personal growth, purpose, and having more and more joy becoming more and more who I really am.
Tell us about your writing space and how or why it works for you.
I lust after the writing space Tom Selleck had in the movie Her Alibi. It was upstairs on the second or third floor in a kind of large attic room with windows and books and disorganized order all around. But…I have a desk in front of a window, two tall bookshelves to my left filled with books I turn to during writing, a shelf with little things that inspire me or tickle my imagination, and filing cabinets. I would love a writing space in a personal library, and a much bigger desk, which would still be orderly in my own disorderly way.
What are some of your favorite books and why?
Books that have taken my breath away include Persuasion by Jane Austin because of the characters’ palpable aching for each other; Jane Eyre because of the absolute devotion the main characters have for each other; and the Dark Materials series by Philip Pulman for their tremendous depth. I credit Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series with teaching me everything I needed to know about myself. I could go on, because there are the Harry Potter books, the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson, and on and on.
What are you working on now?
Presently I am writing a contemporary romance I’ve tentatively titled Love and Cherish. It is a runaway bride story that is challenging me.
Would you like to try your hand at writing a different genre? Which one and why?
I have written romantic suspense, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and a children’s book. I’ve enjoyed writing them all, but I am keenly interested in writing women’s fiction and plan to start one this summer. I also dream of writing dark fantasy.
If you were not a writer, what would your dream job be?
I would never not be a writer. LOL But I also would like to study and be knowledgeable about art history.
What aspect of writing gives you the most trouble?
I’ll admit, writing skillfully to show not tell keeps being a challenge.
Who is your favorite hero/heroine?
I’m going to be selfish and pick from my own books. Even picking from those books is hard. I love them all. But because Quinn in Probabilities is not a typical romance novel hero, I have a soft spot for him.
Lynn Crandall lives in the Midwest and writes in the
company of her cat. She has been a reader and a writer all her life. Her background is in journalism, but whether writing a magazine or newspaper story or creating a romance, she loves the power stories hold to inspire, empower, and uplift.
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