Interview Tricia McGill.

by

William E. Darke

 1) Your books have crossed traditional boundaries, encompassing romance, science fiction/time travel, paranormal, and the detective genres. Is this a conscious effort to diversify your novels?

No, it just happened that way. I've always written what takes my fancy at that particular time. When I started writing full time I tried my hand at category romance, but soon found that didn't suit me. I like having a wider cast of characters, love my villains, love going back in time with my characters, so it was inevitable for me to write across the genres--but I still need to have a large share of romance in my stories and insist on that happy ending.

2) Do you have a loyal readership that follows you from genre to genre?

Yes, my readers let me know that they enjoy my books. But as with all readers, they tend to have their favourite genres. I think that my stories are all character driven and readers tend to cross genres with me because of this.

3) Having touched on the police/detective theme, are you ever tempted to create a recurring character like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone?

No way. I've only ever written one detective into my stories and this is Sean in my romantic suspense, Shrinking Violet. I'm not really fascinated by police work and would rather spend my time researching past times. I don't think I have enough interest in detectives and most likely won't ever touch on that subject again--but who knows where my muse will take me.

4) You mention on the Wings web site that you have called Australia home for many years? Where do you hail from originally?

I was born in and spent my formative years in North London. My husband was born in the same hospital as me (Highgate)--but eight months apart--and brought up about 5 mins walk away. We came to Australia to join my sisters--two of them had lived here for some years, and one for a year and I never had any desire to go back to live.

5) Are all of your novels set in Australia, or have you based any of the stories in other countries?

All my contemporary romances are set in Victoria, Australia. Oh, one is set in Tasmania.

My futuristic, Amaryllis, is set on another planet, My Time-Travel Until Eternity is set in Ancient Britain (450AD), and another TT White Clover is set in Scotland (1050). Traces of Dreams is set in North London. Looks like they are all set in Australia or Britain. I'm not a great traveler so tend to write about places I know.

6) Tell us about the plot of your latest book, without giving everything away of course.

Irresistible Challenge is about two different facets of love. Amy must choose between two brothers. The love she has for one is a deeply passionate infatuation that begins in adolescence and lasts into adulthood, the other the comfortable placid love shared by close friends.

7) Do you draw your characters from life, or are they purely from your imagination?

I suspect that we as authors draw parts of all our characters from people we know, but for the most part the characters in my stories are strictly figments of my imagination. I've always thought that my heroes probably end up as gentle but strong men because they contain the best part of my father, a gentleman in all senses of the word. I've tried to write angry, dark heroes but always fail. I can write a nasty villain or two but that's because I don't care if my readers hate them. And I've led a charmed life so, luckily, have never had the misfortune to come up against anyone I really despise in this way.

8) Do you plan to go on exploring different genres with future novels?

I have no idea at this stage. So far, I've followed the urge when it strikes and this takes me off on a tangent. I spent countless hours researching the Vikings for my current WIP so would like to write more historicals set in that period.

9) Which genre is your favorite?

I really love Time-Travels and guess I'll always be writing in this genre. I love to throw my characters back to a time when they have to learn to survive without all the modern conveniences.

10) Does your family take an interest in your writing? Any budding authors there?

My sisters are my keenest fans. But no, as much as I keep trying to coerce them into writing their life stories,they are content to let me do that.

11) Last--So what's next for Tricia McGill?

I have another contemporary romance, A Lonely Heart, due out at Wings ePress in October this year. I'm currently working on a Viking Time-Travel. Because my romantic suspense, Shrinking Violet is a finalist in the 2006 RWAu Romantic Book of The Year Award I was invited to submit a short story to the Australian 'Woman's Day' magazine. Mine has just been bought by the magazine so Second Chance will be featured around August/September.