Interview Allison Knight

by

Rosine LaFata

1. Allison, how many books have you written?

I've written fourteen complete books and I have at least twenty starts that are waiting for me to finish. <bg>

2. Have you been successful in publishing all your manuscripts?

Nope! But I did manage to get my first book published and I'm told that was very unusual.

3. How do you find time to write with a family?

I didn't start writing--seriously--until all of my children were either in high school or already out in the world trying to make their way. However, I had a hard time working and writing, but I found that as soon as I got home from school (I taught school) I could devote two hours to my writing. I also discovered that I could write after dinner. That gave me a good three or four hours a day. I even had the week ends for my school work.

4. What gave you the idea for BARGAINED VOWS?

I'm afraid I can't say just where the idea came from. The ideas for my books seem to just float in my brain until something creates a spark and the book has a beginning and an end. Only one book came from something I experienced and that book has yet to be sold.

5. I see you like to plot your stories, how do you handle it when the characters tell you what they want to do?

That's always been the fun in writing. More than once my characters have gone their own way and there is nothing an author can do about it. The character decides to tell the story. If you try to force them into a preconceived plot, they do rebel. With the first book I wrote, one of the minor characters insisted on dying and no matter how I wrote the scene, she died. Since then, I've let them do their own thing. If they don't go off on their own I begin to wonder if something is wrong with the plot.

6. Are all your manuscripts in the Gothic genre?

I started writing Gothics as an exercise to learn how to stay with the principal character's point of view. It worked so well, I loved it. I found that I have a gothic voice. But, I write in all the romance genres except time travel.

7.      Have you developed any other preferred genre to read over the years?

I read everything I could get my hands on when I was younger. I joke about staying up all night to read a good book then trying to teach school the next day. I was always lucky enough to have a local library close as I was growing up. And my mother was a reader. But, I loved stories with a happy ending. I read historicals, romance, detective stories, medical stories, even some biographies. However, I've always perferred stories that have a happy ending.

8.      I see you are also published with Kensington. What made you decide to be published with Wings?

Wings expressed an interest in the Gothics. Not everyone can write with a gothic voice. Nor can they manage first person. I really like both, the voice and first person.

9.      How does your family feel about your writing?

They are very supportive. They have to be. I can't find the time to clean, the laundry often sits in the washer or the dryer. And, my husband takes care of my computer and my printers. He also does all of the promo work that leaves my office.

10.  Do you foresee changing genres in the future?

I'll probably continue to write romance. I hate books that have no happy ending or who leave you in the middle of a problem with no resolution. The romance formula, that the book must have a happy ending, pleases the romantic in me.

11.  Who is your favorite character out of all your books?

Now, that's the easiest questions to answer. The hero of the book I'm working on at the moment. In the gothics, it's the heroine of the book I'm working on at the moment.

12.  Can you share your ideas for keeping yourself disciplined to maintain a writing schedule?

Actually, the only way for me to maintain a schedule is by means of a calendar. I take a month at a time, write all of the appointments in and the times and then I list what book I'm working on and how much I want to get finished on that day. Sometimes I fail miserably. An emergency, a computer problem, something unforeseen happens and my schedule is thrown out of whack, but I cross out what I planned to do and reschedule. It works for me. But, I find that others find this method too restricting